Tiles Take Two

Right now, I don't actually have a leaders and enders project prepared, because I can't seem to pick one. I'm using my slow project (which has roughly 4 million curves) as leaders and enders, but I hope to get a new one picked soon. I got my last one bound, and it's making me feel even more pressure to get a new project picked already! :)

This quilt is my most recent leaders and enders, and I used the Sunset Tiles pattern by Jeni Baker in Scraps, Inc. Vol 1. I've made the pattern before but I messed up while assembling and some of the rows are sewn together incorrectly, which messed up the pattern and made it pretty out of square. I love that quilt, though, and I wanted to have another go to try and get it assembled correctly. It's set on point, and it was the first time I've done a quilt on point, so it's understandable I messed up, but still disappointing. 

Plus, the pattern is a great one for leaders and enders. It's simple to sew, the pieces are a great size to use up scraps, and color placement within blocks is a non-issue, making it pretty perfect for a leaders and enders.

I made this version a bit larger, and like my others, I backed it with denim to make it more durable for picnicking. I don't love the colors quite as much as the first one I made, but a friend on IG said it's cheerful, which I think is a great way to describe it. 

Sandhill Sling

I mentioned last time that in lieu of participating in the Super Secret Swap for Sewtopia, that I wanted to make myself a swap package, so to speak. I wanted to give myself permission to make something hard that I've wanted for a while in the pretty fabric. I intended to justify purchasing fabric if I chose, but in the end, I used fabric from my stash. I did have to buy a couple pieces of hardware, but otherwise, I had everything. I love being able to turn to my stash for most of the things I need. It's really fun to shop your stash and not be limited by what's available at the quilt shop. 

I decided that what I really wanted, what I had taken screenshots of most for a possible mosaic for the swap, was a sling bag. I purchased the Sandhill Sling pattern by Anna Graham of Noodlehead over Black Friday and settled on making it. 

Luckily, I have a nice selection of canvas in my stash, including a lot of Rifle Paper Co, and some Ruby Star. There are some really phenomenal canvas prints out there, and I settled on a floral Rifle Paper. It went great with a large scrap of Essex linen and I opted to line it with a postage stamp print by Rifle Paper, though I didn't have enough. I made the pocket out of a starry print by Rifle Paper, right? I'm pretty sure...

And, I used zipper by the yard for the first time. The pattern uses a double head zipper, and I found some YKK zippers at my favorite Etsy shop, Zipit, but then I realized that a lot of people are using zipper by the yard for their handbags because the manufacturer (not YKK...) are making nylon zippers with metallic painted teeth so you get the benefit of looking like a metal zipper without the difficulty of shortening metal zippers. I found a different seller with a nice variety and ordered a few different tapes with some pulls, but I went with the one I had originally planned, a gray and white striped tape with silver coils. I think it turned out so sharp, and I'm so glad! 

The bag went together pretty quickly and mostly easily, although I did break for a couple of weeks in the middle while I worked on the quilt top for my fabric challenge project. I managed to finish it, and the backing, and had a couple of days before I could get up to a different shop for the Aurifil thread I picked out for quilting (which I ended up going in a different direction, but that's another post...) so I finished up the bag. 

It was mostly easy until the very last finishing step, which is brilliant, in that it allows you to have a fully finished lining without binding or hand-stitching a hold closed, but it was tricky. I can't even describe it easily, but it's brilliant. I found a 505 glue stick at my local shop while I was buying batting for my challenge quilt and it helped a lot with basting for the final step. 

Now my biggest decision is whether I want to start using it now or whether I want to save it like it's a swap package for sewtopia. It's only about 5 weeks away at this point...

A Devon Pouch

I'm not a perfectionist, not really. I did tear the zipper out of the first pouch I made for the Sewtopia Swap, twice, but I'm not a perfectionist. And yes, if you were reading closely, you caught that "first" I put in front of pouch. Which strongly implies there is, in face, a second. And if you caught that, you would be right, but it doesn't make me a perfectionist, it really doesn't.

The thing is, I was just really questioning the pouch I made. It wasn't my best work. I didn't like it. I tried, and I thought I was making good choices, but it just didn't work. First, I accidentally cut the embroidered panel too narrow, so I had to make the pouch more narrow than intended. Well, the actual first was the fact that I chose the wrong color thread for the dark linen I embroidered. But, instead of redoing it at the time, like an intelligent person, I persevered. I reasoned that sometimes things don't seem like they're going to turn out until you're done and then they're fine! I reasoned that it was a gift for a random person I don't even know and it was very possible they would LOVE it. I reasoned that if I made a matching chapstick key fob, and filled the pouch with extras, it would make up for the deficiencies I saw in the pouch.

But all the reasoning I could muster couldn't change the fact that I did not like the pouch I had made and I felt badly giving something I did not like in a swap. 

So, I made a new one.

Pouches really don't take all that long, I probably spent more time talking myself out of making another one than I did actually making another one. 

I tried to do better work on this one. I added tabs to the zippers on the top. I used good fabric (even though it was all scraps). I did all the right things. 

And I love how it turned out. If you did a blind swap right, you shouldn't want to give away what you make, and that's exactly how I feel right now. 

I have to keep telling myself, I can make another one. I can make another one 

I used the Devon Pouch pattern by Sotak Handmade and it went much better than the pyramid pouches. I used a Rifle Paper Co print for the focal fabric on the front, a natural linen for the exterior, and blossom fabric from Riley Blake in green for the interior. I have more of all of it, so I really can make another one if I feel so inclined. 

I'm so glad I went ahead and did it.

And now, I'm starting work on my Super Secret Swap project. 

Spoiler: I decided to make MYSELF a super secret swap project 😂

I was going to sign up, because I want to fully participate in Sewtopia. BUT, I decided that instead, I'd just make exactly what I wanted for myself. So I'm making a Sandhill Sling and I'm using the good fabric, including a floral canvas by Rifle Paper Co for the focal print on the front and a cute stamp print from the Bon Voyage line by Rifle Paper for the interior. It's going to be GREAT. And I'm going to buy myself the treats I would want as extras and take them for myself. Yes, it's fun to get surprises picked especially for you. But I wasn't sure if I'd be up to it enough when sign ups happened, and I didn't dare sign up. Of course, I'm doing loads better now, but I didn't want to risk disappointing someone else. Plus, when I looked through past hashtags, people have gone NUTS on their packages and I didn't want to spend $50+ on extras alone. 

So, I'm making a swap package for myself. :) I think it's brilliant. 

I'm in the first prep stage and I always remember at times like this how much I hate interfacing. It's my least favorite part of sewing bags. But, it gives good structure, sigh. Hopefully I'll have a finished bag to show off before too long!

Mid-February Already?!

I don't have any big quilts to post but I have finished a few things, and I'm expecting a couple quilts back from the quilter soon. I have one at my custom quilter's, and she texted a week ago that she was getting started on mine, which is exciting! And I have one at my regular quilter, that is waiting in line for an edge-to-edge. I also have a finished top that I need to decide what to do with; do I want custom quilting, or just a regular panto? Decisions...

Other things I've been working on are pouches for Sewtopia and belated teacher Christmas gifts, which I'm helping my girls sew and which are not done, yet. They are now cut out and pinned, but getting girls to sew when they don't want to is hard. 

I am really excited for Sewtopia, even though I'm going alone...I keep crossing my fingers my friend will get a ticket, but so far she hasn't had any luck on the waitlist. :( I want to participate in the Sewtopia Swap, and I thought it would also be nice to make little pouches for my tablemates, since I don't know anyone...so I've got those done. 

This is the pouch I made for the anonymous swap. It didn't turn out as great as I'd hoped; I used the zipper I had that I thought matched the best among my stash, but it's too light, and the fabric I embroidered on is too dark for the thread I chose. I did use a cool Tula print for the lining, the same one I used to make a chapstick key fob. I hope it's good enough even though it didn't turn out like I'd hoped; I'm finding I'm having a hard time judging because it's different than my expectations.

And these are the pouches I made for my tablemates. I tried the large one first, because I wasn't sure how large it would really be, but it was too big, in my opinion, so I made three of the smaller ones. It's a tricky pattern; I used Sotak Handmade's pattern, and I don't know if I'm doing it wrong or what, but I end up with fabric that isn't completely stitched down. It's basically enclosed, and I guess as long as you don't wash it, it'd probably be fine, but I handstitched it closed because you could also see the stitch lines for the other side through the gap it left. Shrug. It's not my favorite pattern, I'm pretty disappointed, actually. But it's okay. I got them made, and I think they're cute! The fabrics all came from scraps, so score!

We had sewing night last weekend, and I also got a bunch cut out for my Candlelight quilt, so I'm looking forward to starting to sew that. 

Scrappy Chain

I got my Irish chain quilt bound a couple weeks ago and am just now getting around to blogging about it. I did take a bit of time to decide what to bind it with; at first I thought I should use an aqua fabric, and so I decided to pick up a solid because I don't love using prints on bindings (it feels like a waste, same thing with backings...) but in the end, I went with a low volume. I really like the stripe as a binding, and I like that it doesn't stand out the same way a darker binding would. So often I treat them as focal frames, and I think sometimes a quilt doesn't need that. 

My binding is still a tad wavy and I'm getting frustrated by this. The backing is regular quilting cotton, a cut I received from a friend who was destashing. I thought the wavy borders might be due to the minky I typically go for, but this is not minky. It's also not quite as bad as normal...still, I'd like to figure out what I'm doing wrong. 

Scrappy Sampler

I have returned from our long trip across the pond and am still sorting out jet lag, bah. I hate jet lag. This time has been especially rough, for some reason. Not sure why. We had a fantastic time, I got to do just a bit of sewy tourism when I stopped at Frou-frou in Paris and Liberty in London (and took in lots of inspiration in tile floors and colors, etc...) and I picked up a couple of UK sewing mags in the airport before our departure flight. Maybe I'll share more of that later, for now, I have a quilt I finished up a few days after we got home. 

I had picked up two quilts from my quilter a few days before we left, but didn't have time to bind them before our trip. I did have time to pick out binding fabrics, and I thought I needed to buy matching thread for one, but I ended up using some from my thread box luckily. 

The first one I finished is one I've blogged about before, here and here. I started making these sampler blocks way back in 2016, many of them from the Sampler Shuffle that was coordinated by Pat Sloan. I supplemented with some blocks from a Summer Sampler and some other traditional blocks, and then I had plans to try my hand at free motion quilting it on my domestic. I sashed it with a magenta from my stash that wasn't quite the best match but I didn't care because I knew it was a first go at FMQ and didn't expect much. I got the backing ready, and then it just sat. And sat. And sat. For years! I didn't really want to quilt it myself, and so I never made time for it. 

A few months ago, I was clearing out a drawer and found it and decided it was time to make a decision. Finish it or get rid of it. I opted to finish it, but it was really small because I was going to quilt it and wanted to start with a doable project. I'd say, crib size. I don't do crib size. So, I took it apart and then made another few blocks and made a bunch of hourglass blocks to set them with. That made it lap size, and I took it to my quilter, and here we are. The end! 

Haha okay, not really. What else about this quilt...well, I made it from scraps, in a narrow color scheme. I think most turned out pretty decent, some I really love. I'm happy to have this UFO done. I didn't realize it was as old as it is until I went looking for when I started it and realized it was 7 years old. I think I've been in a clean out mode, lately, I'm not sure why. But it's been really gratifying to use up fabrics I don't want anymore for scrappy backings, and to finish off spools of thread from my thread box, Which I did for the binding. And the backing on this quilt, consequently. I just didn't think of it initially because I did the backing months ago when I took it to my quilter. 

Scrap Pouf

I saw the free pattern on Closet Core for a scrap pouf and immediately wanted to make one. I've become somewhat self-conscious about my fabric waste over the past few years, and I've tried a few different things to mitigate all the waste. At first, I looked into recycling the scraps. I already try to be very judicious and save in my scrap bin anything usable, but that can get out of hand, and there's always something that gets cut off. Eventually, I learned that a local food pantry that takes donations also advertised that they could reuse or recycle textiles, so a few times, I dropped a bag of unusable scraps off, and included worn out kid socks and undies and things. But it was hard to verify that they actually recycled, and I felt a bit bad about that, saddling them with my trash. A friend told me about H&M's textile recycling program, but at the time its as paused for covid...and then I found this free pattern for the pouf and thought it would be a fun way to use up some scraps and upcycle unusable scraps. 

It came together pretty quickly, and the only changes I made were to fuse interfacing to the pieced center instead of interfacing individual pieces, and to make the side taller. I didn't think a short ottoman was what I wanted. I think interfacing pieces might have been smarter, but I don't think it turned out poorly. And, when I made it, I was at a sewing night with friends and had my serger out but not my domestic, so I only serged the seams. This turned out to be a bigger error, and I had to repair it. Which is why you're getting a blog post, honestly, since I actually made it a while ago. I reinforced the seam that burst, and did so with a shortened straight stitch and an additional pass with the serger, and then I also reinforced the top seam as well. 

While I was at it, I decided to try to restuff it. I've had problems with it not holding its shape and I worried this was because I used lighter weight material, although I think it wasn't forbidden in the pattern. I had already sewn up a sack for scraps using an old piece I no longer wanted, and I put that inside so that if I ever needed to wash it, or change out the scraps, they would be contained. But, there were also a whole slew of worn out kid socks I had just stuffed in there. I opted to remove the socks and old clothes and will take those to H&M to recycle next time I'm in the area, I'm still using that service for worn out clothes. I reserve the pouf space for fabric scraps. I'm saving up for my next pouf (and hopefully I'll have more luck on my second go!) but I also added a bunch today to fill it in. 

So, to help with the shape, I stuffed more scraps in, and tried to shake them down into the pouf. Then I pulled the excess fabric of the sack up as much as possible and instead of just knotting the end like I had, I took a long selvage and tied it around the base as tight as I could.

 SO, I hope that without much space to move in the sack, it will help the scraps keep their shape a bit better. So far, it looks promising. Fingers crossed! A word to the wise: a scrap stuffed pouf is HEAVY. Mine is all the heavier because it's taller, of course, but even still. Packed full of scraps, it's heavy. Just in case that wasn't obvious. :)

Travel Pouches

I always think I can just whip up a pouch and it will be totally fine. And when I'm not careful, I'm inevitably disappointed. They are simple, but they do require a bit of care and finesse. Case in point, one of my twins wanted to make something for my sister, just randomly. I figured I'd made enough pouches to help her through it without re-reading instructions, and we just went for it, using the zipper length as a guide for how big to cut the fabric. 

I neglected to topstitch the fabric next to the zipper, though, so it tends to get stuck...

See, just a bit of care. 

The other day, I had an idea for a travel solution. I want to take a some loose silverware on our trip. We'll be doing some picnicking, I'm sure, since it'll be easier with kids, but also we'll be buying plenty of pastries and I'd love to enable sharing by taking a butter knife. I looked at travel sets, but the knives look pathetic, and I realized that they're just smaller utensils in a zippered pouch, often made of silicone or similar. I realized I could easily make a pouch, and I have some oilcloth, and then use some old silverware.

I couldn't find my old silverware, but I was able to buy some really inexpensive silverware from Wal-Mart. We're talking 3 knives for $1.25. Cheap.

But I was nervous about making the pouches because I needed them short and long. And I didn't have a pattern for it specifically...and oilcloth is trickier than quilting cotton...

I measured the knife, and then used Sotak's Essential Pouch for loose directions. I didn't make a contrasting bottom panel, and just went for it. 

The first one turned out okay, but not great. I used a metal zipper, which I think look so great generally, but it was obviously an exact length and I think would have been better 1/2" longer. The second one I used a regular wide purse zipper, and I also made the boxed corners just a tad smaller. I think it turned out better. And now we have two, one for gluten free silverware, and one for non-GF silverware. Obviously, utensils can be washed, but they'll go in the pouch unwashed after use, which would contaminate the pouch. So, two.

I also tried to make a small coin purse. I found a great yoga style security waistband that you wear under your clothing, and I thought it would be more secure to keep credit cards in a pouch that would be less likely to fall out. It's pretty secure, but I haven't used it yet, and I can just see a slim credit card getting pulled out by mistake and misplaced, which is the exact opposite point of the waistband. So I used a tutorial from Sotak Handmade for a small coin purse. I found some coordinating scraps and it went together really quickly.

The only hiccup was the very end when I turned it out and needed to sew the opening closed. She had you baste the inside panel all the way around and then add the exterior panel and leave an opening for turning. I didn't see any point in basting, so I just went for it, but that meant both the interior and exterior had holes  that needed to be closed. But what really didn't make sense to me in reflecting is that she had the hole to turn on the exterior. I think it would make more sense to have it on the interior. If I make another one, I'd try that.

It's also a tad small for a credit card...but it's nice that it's so small, I guess? I am undecided on whether I'll take it or not. Or make a slightly larger one. *shrug* I am very worried about pickpockets this trip; Europe is reportedly more crowded than ever before, and I'll have four children I'll be trying to keep track of and manage. I'll be pretty distracted, which makes for a prime pickpocket target. So I want to protect myself as much as I can. We'll see! 

Scrap Quilts: Irish Chain Edition

I have far too many scraps. And I'm not very good at using them, not really. My problem is that I save pieces that are far smaller than I should because I *might* use them. I do, on occasion, use excessively small pieces, but not super often. Another problem I have is hoarding those scraps. If I have a large-ish scrap and I need a smaller piece, I'm loathe to cut it down if I cut off a large but not large enough piece, because then that piece I'm cutting off is wasted.

Yes, I have a problem. 

So, as you can imagine, I have a lot of scraps. I wanted to do a scrap quilt just as a quilt instead of my usual leaders and enders project this year (I have a great one going right now that I think will turn out so good!), and I saw a simple Irish Chain quilt in a monochrome color way with low volume scraps on Instagram somewhere. They're not groundbreaking, of course, so it could have been anywhere, but I think it might have been on A Crafty Fox, she has a lot like that. And I think Diary of a Quilter has a tutorial...

Anyway, I decided to wing it, because I know how to sew nine patches. And  I did it in aqua. I opted to sew with what I had, so some got sewn as strips and then subcut, and others got sewn together as individual squares. 

Against my better judgement, I decided to alternate the nine patches with single squares of fabric. I should have sewn nine patches together with just low volumes for the alternate squares, but in my head I thought that might get too busy. However, I think the way I did it is too plain. It did make it quick, though! 

I don't love this top. (It is fully sewn together, now, I just didn't get a pic of it while it was daylight before I folded it up and delivered it to the quilter...so you'll have to wait until it comes back!) AND, somehow I still manage to get blocks mixed up as I sew rows together. I ended up with a couple of background squares way too close together even though I did lay it out before I started...weird. I mean, weird that I clearly haven't figured out my method for getting rows to my sewing machine in order, even though I totally think I have, and I've been sewing quilts for a lot of years by now. Oh well, that's what seam rippers are for, eh?

I exclusively used scraps for this top, and I decided to use a piece of Anna Maria Horner fabric that I was given for the backing. It's a turquoise and it doesn't really match my aqua tones super well, though there are some that are a fair enough match, and it has yellow and red and pink and citrine flowers in sort of stripes. I didn't think about lining up the stripes before cutting and luckily I was able to flip one piece around and have it work out well enough...sigh. But, the backing was FREE, and I'm all about that for a scrappy project, lol

Fira Top

I think it's pretty common to work on clearing things out during the first part of the year. One of the things I decided to work on was clearing out some old linen scraps I have from other projects. I love the linen from fabrics-store.com, but they only sell in full yard cuts, which means that I often have a lot left over, but not quite enough to do a lot with. And, I've also been thinking how nice it would be to use cloth napkins at the dinner table. Jeff's aunt uses them and just has a drawer full of eclectic cloth napkins, and a friend we stayed with in New England last fall also had a drawer full. They were so much nicer than our traditional paper towels, and I figured they'd be a great way to use some of this fabric that is crammed on my shelves.

But, I didn't want to use it for napkins if there was enough to use for something else, AND there were a couple linen items I wanted to make before the summer, so those items shot up the priority list so I could make them first and use any leftovers for napkins. 

First was my Fiore Skirt. I was short even, and had to use some scraps in a slightly different color. But I love how it turned out, and it cleared a piece from my shelf. 

Next up was the Fira Top, a pattern by Liesl and Co. I love that it's casual with interesting details. The cover photo is a top in linen, and it looks perfect. And I thought a linen top might just be the thing for our upcoming summer trip.

I made a muslin first to check the bust since it comes in different cup sizes but I am not at all comfortable measuring my high bust. I tried, again, and I think I'm an A/B cup in most patterns which really surprises me because so often shirts (RTW, mostly, but even some handmade) pull at my bust. What was annoying was that I sewed very quickly and not carefully because I thought I was just checking the bust, so the darts looked HORRIBLE in the muslin and I couldn't tell if it was the stiff cheap muslin fabric, or if it was the careless way I sewed the darts, or if it was the actual dart and I needed to adjust it. I asked a friend, and we decided to leave the dart placement, but shorten them by about an inch. I decided to just go for it since otherwise it fit, and hope for the best, which is not generally a wise strategy, but it worked out this time!

I really love how it fits and I think the color and fabric are great. Because of the nifty assembly, the yoke is double layered, which means it's a bit heavier than the rest of the top and I'm worried that might get a bit hot. Additionally, the neckline facing is lined with interfacing, and I always have problems with interfacing (maybe I should move away from SF101?) after the wash and find it ALWAYS needs pressing. So, we'll see how this one does. If it has to be pressed after washing, it probably will not make it on the trip, since I can't guarantee an iron will be available, and that's disappointing because I think otherwise it's a lovely top. Aside from pulling the dart back an inch, I didn't need to make any other fit adjustments. It's nice and long for me, which is unexpected since I'm so tall, and the neckline didn't plunge too low, which often bothers me on shirts. I find I get cold if the neckline scoops too low. The instructions were great, like all Liesl and Co patterns.

And, I had enough leftover fabric to make one napkin. Slow and steady! 

First Quarter Status

I end up hearing a lot about quarters when my husband talks about work. Quarterly goals, statistics, all sorts of things. I'm sure you do, too. And it just kinda bleeds into life, right? Well, I suppose really, it's okay, I mean, we are 1/4 of the way through the year already (Really?!) and I thought it would be a good time to check in with some in progress things. So here's my status.

I have two quilts at the quilter's that I'm expecting back any day now. They've been out for 6 weeks now, so it's about time. They are my All the Good quilt and a Christmas Shimmer quilt. No rush on either of them but I am starting to get antsy!

I just finished my sampler WIP, and I'm excited to have that wrapped up. It's waiting to go to the quilter's when I pick up my other two, along with my Little Women economy block quilt.

I am also working on my EPP WIP, and I've appliquéd (is that the right verb?) the EPP center onto a piece of fabric I've had in my stash for ages. I made a daughter a pair of pajama pants and had just enough left over for the center portion, which is great! I've also pieced the strips of churn dash blocks. Next up, I need to trim the center to size (I cut it large just in case it shrunk down while piecing, or in case I wasn't quite centered with it). That's got me a bit nervous, though, so I've been avoiding it, haha.

And, I'm working on a linen top right now. After I finished the sampler top, I decided to try this Fira top out of linen. I made a muslin to check the fit at the bust, and the darts were not happy (possibly due to the stiff muslin fabric, possibly due to my quick careless sewing since I thought I was checking the bust fit and not the dart placement...). I made a slight adjustment to them and I'm working my way through this pattern with a scrap of linen from fabrics-store.com from a different project. It feels good to use up leftovers! And, as long as I don't need the rest, I'll have enough to make a napkin, which I've also been slowly working on. I thought it would be nice to have some linen napkins, and that I would use up what I have left that isn't large enough for something else. They'll be mismatched, but I think that will just add to the charm. 

(Checking on the fit before I top stitch the yoke down on the shoulder)

So, next up are finishing the Fira top, finishing the EPP medallion quilt top, hopefully binding my quilts when I get them back, and then I want to make a couple of t-shirts for the summer in some specialty knits I bought from Salt Lake Sewciety. One is a merino wool, and the other is an athletic material. 

Fabric Friday Week 18: March 3

I've felt stymied a bit with fabric pulls the last couple of weeks. It feels like all my pulls really feel the same. It feels discouraging, if I'm honest. This last week, I pulled out my scrap bins because I want to work on finishing up an old WIP, a sampler project I started years ago. I had 49 6" blocks that I had sashed together with a magenta solid, and I even had a backing prepared. It was small, but I wanted to try my hand at free motion quilting on my domestic, and I felt like it was a doable size. 

But...it never made it to the top of my list to work on because I just didn't really want to. So last month, I decided that I needed to get rid of it or do something about it. I decided to take it apart and do something else. I did some math, and figured that to make a quilt the size that I like quilts, I could do a 10x12 layout, alternating my sampler blocks with hourglass blocks so that it would form a bit of a star pattern. I'd need 60 sampler blocks, so I needed to make more, and I've been working on that this past week. I'm up to 53 now, which is progress. 

I'm using scraps for the blocks, of course, so I've pulled out my scrap bins and they were sitting on the floor. Instead of turning to my drawers of fabric this week for my pull, I turned to my scraps, and this is what I came up with. I think it works pretty well. Not sure I'd use it for a full quilt, but I think it's decently balanced. 

In unrelated news, with my scrap bins out so I can pull fabrics for my sampler blocks, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of scraps I have and should probably work on a scrap project soon...

Slopes Scrap Quilt

I've been pretty into Amanda Jean Nyberg lately, I have her book, No Scrap Left Behind, as well as the one she co-authored, Sunday Morning Quilts. I love them both. And this is a quilt from No Scrap Left Behind that I just had to make. She calls it Slopes for how the blocks are angled gently to give it a sloping appearance, almost like mountains. 

I don't think mine turned out nearly as effective as hers did. She used exclusively cool colors, and it's a lot more unified. And I think some of my blocks didn't get the angled cuts quite right, like not angled enough maybe, so the gentle sloping action isn't as pronounced in all the rows. But, it was one of my first attempts at an improv scrappy project and I struggle with fabric waste. By which I mean that I am loathe to use the perfect color if I will have to cut off an unusable scrap to make it work. So, I tried to use strings that were pretty close to the right size (or twice the size so I could use it twice...) and that meant I needed to use a greater variety of scraps because I just didn't have enough cool colors to make it work.

Also, I really try to put my own color scheme onto a quilt pattern. I don't want to copy it exactly, because I want it to be mine. But sometimes, that means it doesn't quite work out. It's okay.

Since it's not really perfect, I"m glad I didn't put any effort into making it much larger. It's a respectable throw size, but not as oversized as I usually go for. 

I still really like the pattern, and my box of solids is still overflowing, so maybe I'll try again? Who knows. 

For the back, I opted to collect all my flannel scraps from previous backings and piece them together into a scrappy backing. I was just a tad short, so I bought 1/3 yard of flannel to finish it off. 

Slopes quilt, designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Following the Leader

I love using leaders and enders. I see so many benefits, and very few drawbacks. It "saves" thread (although, does it? *shrug*), it DOES help fabric not get sucked down into the stitch plate, especially when you're sewing triangles, and it's like getting a bonus project without a lot of extra work. Additionally, with the way I use leaders and enders, I get to use up scraps. It's pretty much my main scrap quilting method. I should maybe sew more scrappy quilts, but...not right now. 

Some drawbacks I can see are that I tend to feel guilty if I DON'T use an ender for some reason, and it does rather clutter up my sewing desk, because I keep my pieces all ready to go behind my machine. 

Nevertheless, I find leaders and enders exciting, even though I've been making them for many years at this point. I love when I get close to finishing and seeing what I've worked so long on come together. I love how interesting scrappy quilts are to look at. And I get excited to start a new one. The excitement has not worn off yet, haha. 

This is my fourth completed leaders and enders and this one is entirely from scraps. My others have been *mostly* scraps, but this one is completely scraps, which makes me pretty proud. I opted to use this one for another picnic blanket, so I backed it with some denim. 

I was inspired for this one by this quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts. And interestingly, she was inspired by a vintage quilt, so apparently, it's an inspiring design. She provided a tutorial, but I did not follow it. I did use the final block size, and these are TINY. But, I love that I got to use up a lot of smallish scraps, and it also gave me a good opportunity to weed out a lot of scraps that are tinier and I really should let go of. These pieces are all 1x3 finished, so they started out at 1-1/2" by 3-1/2". In my opinion, 1-1/2" is pretty small, so if something was narrower than that and not a good length, I tried to let them go. I still have pieces way to small in there, and maybe someday I'll use them to create some fabric slabs or something. We'll see. 

Anyway, another departure from her tutorial is that I chose to make them into 9 patches instead of piecing long rows. This made more sense to me, and I think it made handling a little easier. Pressing wasn't always perfect, but that's okay. I also made it a lot larger than hers. By the end, I was pretty tired of piecing little rail fences, but I think it was worth it. It's a great size for a picnic blanket. 

I did try to follow her color scheme, which was brights on the outside and low volume on the inside, and I treated this like a kitchen sink quilt--any color was okay. For the most part, I think that aspect was okay. I regret using the black solids, and the ones that are more mid-toned that don't read well enough as a light or a dark. I feel like there are far more of those than there should be and it disrupts the design that the rail fence should produce. But that's okay. I did manage to use a lot of scraps that I knew I could use somehow, these border pieces from doll panels. I used more than I think I should have, but they were the perfect width and the colors are perfect. These are just three of the different borders I used (the two horseshoe colors and the aqua arch/rainbow. The lavender strip and the red with pink and white arches strip in the photo above are also border pieces from panels; there are a lot in this quilt!).

Of course, Halloween costumes got in the way of binding it and now it's too cold to actually use it, so we'll have to wait until next summer. *sigh*

Oh, and I did the math. There are 1,728 individual scraps in this quilt. Whew! No wonder it took YEARS. It's a 72" square quilt. 

Following the Leader, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed Oct 2022

Seattle Quilt

 I’ve been admiring scrappy quilts lately, especially the work of Amanda Jean Nyberg. I’m still sad, years later, that she discontinued her blog but I’m glad she maintains her instagram for now. And with all that scrappy goodness, I’ve felt inspired to just sew. 

After finishing a more finicky pattern, especially, I was tired and really wanted to just sew. And I have loads of solid scraps that seem to multiply and never get touched. I decided to try out some improv scrap quilting and opted for a log cabin. Not very imaginative, I know this has historically been a staple of modern improv. But I’m still pretty new to improv and it’s a staple because it’s effective. So I went for it. I chose a color scheme of mostly blues and grays with accents in pink and yellow. 

I tried to be judicious on my scrap usage because I hate wasting fabric and didn’t want to cut pieces down by less than I could use elsewhere and that really drove a lot of the design decisions, which means some blocks aren’t necessarily very sound color-wise. That’s okay. I’m pretty pleased with my first go, even though there are blocks that aren’t effective. 

I was surprised it felt smaller than I expected. It’s 60x70, with 10” blocks. It’s a reasonable size, but it still felt small. It’s okay. I was really running out of scraps anyway. Rather, I was running out of different appropriately-sized scraps. My solids box is still overflowing, haha. 

As I was getting ready to make this quilt, I sorted out my solid scraps. I had them in a cardboard box because they outgrew my plastic scrap box they had been in. They’re still in the cardboard box, but I separated them into a few different groups and use bags to keep them separated. I have grays and blacks, warm neutrals and browns, blues, greens, and yellows, reds, oranges, pinks and purples. I struggle with solids storage. I also have some solid cuts in my stash drawers, but some are so small they’re barely big enough for a binding. But they’re mostly still intact so they don’t really seem to fit in scrap storage…it’s a problem. I’m trying to reevaluate how I store them, so I might switch things up. We’ll see. 

I pieced the backing from some of those larger small cuts that I don’t want anymore. Colors purchased for specific purposes that are now finished, and pieces that are too small to be usable. It’s not pretty. But it’s the back of a scrap quilt and I think that’s fine. I’d rather use it than have it languish in the drawer, and using it on a backing feels less wasteful than donating it or discarding it. 

I got it back from my quilter and had to wait to bind it because I had other pressing things. I was finishing up piecing the block components of the All the Good quilt and didn’t want to put on my walking foot, and then I had to dive into Halloween costumes. With those finished, I was finally able to bind it. Yay! The binding is scrappy from leftover bits of bindings from other quilts, in the colors of this quilt, so I thought it turned out great. And, it means that this entire quilt (save the batting...) is made from scraps. I think that's pretty great. What is not so great is the wavy binding. When this has happened in the past, I thought it might be that I was pulling the quilt and the binding unevenly, and I guess I must have been doing that this time. This time, I was too lazy to move my serger that sits next to my sewing machine, because this quilt isn't *that* big, but it looks like I needed the space. Oh well...done is better than perfect...

I thought about a possible name while I was binding, and it was hard. I thought about the colors...the wonkiness, the log cabin block...I felt stumped. And then I thought about Seattle, which often has such dreary weather, and gray and blue seem very Northwest to me. But when I've visited, we've always managed to get a few days of sun, like the bright pops of yellow. And Seattle, like the Northwest in general, is a little wonky and weird, which we love, right? Plus, I asked for a wavy quilting design, which kinda looks like waves, an Seattle is on the Sound...So, Seattle. *shrug*

Travel Scraps

 My Patchwork City Sampler was such an undertaking. I did a fair amount of fussy cutting, which can leave your fabric just in shreds. Or rather, holey. As I got ready to reintegrate the fabric I had set aside for the quilt back into my stash, I decided to clean it up a bit and also opted to see about making a quick scrap quilt from the cleaned up bits. I chose a scrap pattern I've had on my list for a while. It's from Scraps Inc, volume 1 and it was designed by Camille Roskelley. It's called Delightful. I loved how she offset the blocks and I love the simple block construction. With the larger centers (I think they're 4 1/2" to accommodate leftover charm squares if I remember correctly...) I thought it would be perfect to use up some of the novelty prints I had fussy cut from. 

I pulled out a bunch of the prints that needed to be trimmed up and then I had to pick a background fabric. This was really tricky and I opted to go bold for a couple reasons. First, there were enough prints that  Was using that had white or light backgrounds that I knew I needed something for them to stand up against. Second, I figured I could experiment with something bright and bold on a scrap quilt that I didn't necessarily care about, something that was extra. 

I went with Kona in curry, one of my favorite yellows. I figured, it wasn't too bright since it's a muted yellow, and it was more fun than a blue or a gray. I tried to audition it next to some of the prints, but it was really difficult to tell. It looked like it would work, so I went for it.

But it did NOT turn out awesome. I really thought about not having it quilted even. In the end, I hoped that quilting and binding would help finish it up and I would like it better. The picture here actually doesn't look as terrible as it does in real life, haha. 

It helped only a little. It's definitely not a great quilt. You know it's bad when your quilter tells you when you pick it up that the back is really fun, haha. But I am proud of myself for trying something out of my comfort zone.

I used some leftovers for the backing that I didn't anticipate wanting to use in the future and the backing turned out okay. Maybe better than the front, lol. 

It's okay. It really is. It was good practice and I think it's nice to remember that everything doesn't have to be perfect. That not every time we set about to create something, it will work. And now it sits in my closet. It can come out if we needed a quilt for warmth, or for some other utilitarian purpose, but I doubt it will come out to decorate. And that's okay.

Remnants of Dreams, pattern by Camille Roskelley, long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed 2021

Scrap Stash Plus

When I saw Emily Dennis's Scrap Stash Plus tutorial, I immediately wanted to make one. I recognized in it the Inside Out pattern designed by Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew, which I own already, but loved the alternating background Emily used. And the rainbow. So good. 

It took me a while to get around to actually making it, though not too long. And as it happened, I didn't expect to finish it as quickly as I did. I brainstormed a color scheme (I opted to go for a partial rainbow, just pink to green), and then, because I was working on some pretty big and demanding projects, I decided to just make a couple blocks to give myself a break from the tough stuff. 

But, when does a couple of blocks ever stay a couple of blocks? I continued on with my harder project (I think it was the Patchwork City sampler...) but I added in a few of these blocks a day and became thoroughly enamored with them. I made it a bit bigger than the throw size, but a few rows shorter than the twin size, and it's the perfect oversized throw for our family. I love the scrap variety, I didn't reuse a single colored scrap (though I had to reuse a lot of the low volume scraps because I just didn't have enough). And I love the rainbow/ombre effect. 

I backed it with a navy blue minky and it's lovely. I bound it with Kona Curry, even though there isn't any yellow in it, and I think it's the perfect bright-but-not-too-bright complement. 

Also, side note, as I cut out the background, I realized that for one block, I had miscalculated with my scrap and I was one 2-1/2" square shy. It happened to be a print from April Rosenthal's Midnight Magic, and I just happen to live in the same city she does. I reached out to ask if she had any scraps of the print and she graciously gave me a whole fat quarter! Quilters are the best people. I was so grateful. 

Scrap Stash Plus, quilted by Abby Latimer, completed May 2022

Passages Quilt

 This quilt came about unexpectedly. 

I had visited Corn Wagon Quilt Shop in Springville and they had a pile of Moda scrap bags. I'd always been fascinated by these scrap bags; they seem slightly less expensive than a jelly roll (though, it doesn't seem by much...) and you get a variety of good sized scraps. But, just about everywhere that sells them online sells them on a mystery basis. 

That is not me. 

I don't even buy any of those subscription boxes, though I would love a surprise in the mail, because it's so hard for me to justify spending money on something I might get and absolutely hate. There are a lot of great Moda designers that I would enjoy receiving scraps of. But there are also plenty that are way too traditional for my taste, and then the fabric wouldn't get used. 

No thanks.

But, seeing them in person...that was different. I could peek through the window, and one was already open! So I got to see what it was. They had Ruby Star Society scrap bags and I found one I really liked. It was a mix of multiple lines, and they worked together well. I added in some from my own stash and bought some solids to go with them, and came up with this design based on some that I had seen on social media. It's made up of two different blocks made in the same way, like a 3 sided log cabin block, one with 2 rounds and one with 3. It reminded me of doorways or a covered walkway, so I called it Passages. I opted to make it large enough for our guest bedroom, and then after, I made a couple of throw pillows to go with it. The Essex linen is metallic and I used a rust orange color that I think works well with the quilt colors. I backed it with a Robert Kaufman wide back that I had purchased for my bed quilt, but when it arrived, I knew I couldn't use it on my bed. It's stiff and rough. My quilter, Abby Latimer, said that she heard that white prints are really tough to manufacture so that may have contributed. Maybe. But I don't mind putting it on the guest bed. It doesn't get used often, and I don't mind not encouraging guests to overstay their welcome ;-)

long arm quilted by Abby Latimer, completed March 2021