Tuesday 2 October 2012

Scrap Attack!

OK, It's Blogtoberfest Day 2 and I've been planning my Linus Scrappy quilt.
I haven't actually made a scrappy quilt before! I've made "thoughtfully random" quilts, but never one with the intention of using up lots and lots of scraps - and I have a lot that need using up, believe me!

So, I Googled scrappy quilts this morning and came across a book called "Cut the Scraps"
I did the "Look Inside" thing, and started to read some extracts. The author starts to talk about how we all save our scraps, but then start to feel guilty about them. She says "Echoes from childhood remind us - Eat everything on the plate, don't let anything go to waste - you paid good money for that, don't throw it away. It's the same thing with our fabric stash. Those voices warn: Don't waste, save the leftovers, you might need that someday, be frugal. But the scrap piles continue to grow. Unused the scraps accumulate in bags and boxes and seem to take on a life of their own."

The "eat everything on the plate" analogy resonated with me - not so much as something I think of myself, but as being exactly what my mother would have said! My scrap guilt is weird, to say the least! I look at my scraps and think to myself - "Just imagine, if I died tomorrow, how awful and embarrasing it would be for my children to have to sort through all those scraps! They just wouldn't understand!" Can you be embarrasssed from the grave?
Anyway, the author went on to say that you should cut your scraps into 3 different sizes ready to use.
I just can't do that! That piece that I just cut up might have been the perfect size for a later project.
I didn't buy the book, but I did enjoy reading the excerpts.
I settled on a Scrap Vomit style quilt similar to the one in Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey's tutorial here

It uses 2 1/2" squares and as I like using Jelly Rolls, I have a lot of pieces that are already 2 1/2" wide.
I decided this is the moment to break into my Klona Solids bundle that I bought at the Festival of Quilts a few weeks ago, and I chose a navy and a turquoise solid, which I will use in every alternate block to give it some continuity.


I will need more than just a fat quarter of each, so I've ordered some more from Backstitch. I guess that makes it not completely scrappy, but never mind, I'm having fun!
I've sorted and pressed the scraps, and tomorrow I'll find time in between the decorating to start cutting all those little squares.

1 comment:

  1. Looking forward to seeing your scrappy quilt in progress. I had a good giggle at you not wanting to cut up scraps "just in case" you may need them bigger for another project! That's me too! Just can't bear to cut, just in case...
    Have fun scrapping :-)
    xx

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