Tuesday 22 February 2011

Warning - Picture & Scrap Heavy Posting

You may know that I love scrappy quilts ... they are the quintessential quilt to me ... anyway ... a little while ago I got some scraps of Civil War Repros (from Christine - thankyou Christine) and my friend Helen (having nothing of her own to do - not!) made this quilt for me.  All I had to do was supply the 2m of beautiful cream 1seeded quilters muslin that I got from "The Quilt Patch" in Launceston along with the scraps
I had from Christine.   So this beautiful quilt turned up miraculously in a week or so ... Thank you Helen...Helen also made me a cushion from the left overs - I am so lucky


This quilt is from Bonnie Hunter's book "Adventures with Leaders & Enders" and the pattern is called "Sisters Nine Patch"






























 The mail came yesterday with Bonnie's new book "Scraps & Shirttails II"  ... I love the patterns in this book ... very nice ... my brain is ticking over at a terrific rate, going through all the fabrics I have, what scraps, lights and darks and what I can use for backgrounds ...mmmmm
 I love this pattern ... I need to make this quilt!
 And not so long ago I went to The Quilt Patch in Launceston (having not been there for many months) and spied this book ... look at that delicious quilt on the front cover ...



Why would you not want to make this quilt ... even the cat likes it!




So there lies my problem ... spoilt for choice.

I have been quilting for eight years now ... so have accumulated fabrics that I will never use as a whole piece in a quilt, lots of scraps, lots of partial fat quarters that no one in their right mind would have even purchased in the first place (had they known anything about quilting 8 years ago - lol)


So over the past little while I have been tidying up my scraps ... I have started a scrap bin system as recommended by Bonnie Hunter ... it works - I am amazed at how much you can salvage from fabric you would consider almost useless ...  look at these bins ... these are the strips in 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3.5 inches wide.


See the little red mouse ... Merlin left him there for me this morning ... good little toy mouse catcher that he is!
 Then I have culled my bins of bigger bits of fabric ... found these plaids and more neutral toned fabrics ... all that I have used in past quilts ... so do I cut them up or just keep them ready to use as setting blocks or sashings in scrappy quilts .. have to ponder that some more.
 A whole heap of beautiful plaids in yellow/green/oranges ... I got these when a local quilt shop closed down and I couldn't resist the bargain ...  they would look fantastic in a Bonnie Hunter style scrap quilt ... wouldn't you use them??
 Then there is this bin ... full of stuff that I probably wouldn't use in a co-ordinated quilt ... but some bits that I couldn't bear to part with either ... yep cut 'em up and put them in a scrappy quilt or 10.
Oh but wait ... there is more ... left over from quilts I have made ... see the chicken wire fabric - I made some really nice naive applique chook quilts back in 2004 ... but am I going to use this fabric anywhere else ... nope, cut it up and put it in a scrap quilt.

So you see where I am going with this ... I feel like I am obsessed ... I have spent my whole lunch hour today writing this posting and thinking about scrap quilts ... Do you do that??   Obsess over an idea and can't get it out of your head until you at least make something of a start towards that quilt ... In the past week I have sorted and put together three UFO's ...all in their little boxes ready to be sewn ... at least I will be ready for retreat this year!

Okay back to the quilting machine now ... I am catching up with my backlog after two months without a working machine ... Thank you everyone for your patience.    And if you got this far through reading my post, thank you ... I hope I have inspired you to get out your scraps and make something useful like a Scrappy Utility Quilt ...Happy quilting for now ... Jane x

7 comments:

Leeanne said...

Oh I love that nine patch quilt too!! I would love to get that book. I too use Bonnie's scrap user system, it works well for me.Yum yum scrappy quilts!!

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

That is all I have been doing all year, using up scraps and shopping from the stash too.

Anonymous said...

I love your post, love your quilt and there are so many memories in those scraps.

Happy quilting
Christine

ps. Yes I too have Bonnie's new book and will make a few of those quilts

Raylene Smith said...

damn it Jane, now ya gorn and dunnitt, lol...looks like I'd better order yet another book, or 2....I look at those piles of fabric and I think to myself, what on earh possessed a person to buy those fabrics???lol...cos for some reason, a lot of them seem to be in bin...now, how did they get there??? oh, my lordy, lordy...there are some ugly fabrics...but...they do make GREAT scrappy quilts..I love scrappy quilts..you could use some of the bigger pieces and put them together for the backing..which is what I'm going to do...and if you want to give that poor deprived cat a taste of the real thing...I have plenty here...lol

Raylene Smith said...

damn keyboard...it's meant to say..to be in my bin...lol

Jane Monk said...

You are a hoot MIss Raylene ... I tell you I have enough scraps to create 100 quilts I am sure! I am on an almost no buy this year ... my mind has turned to using what I have so I am glad I looove scrappy too!

quiltjude said...

OOH I do love that plastic box of material, my dear sister who has just recently passed away left me a big plastic box of material and every now and then I go through it and find a project to do, although it makes me a little sad I still love it. :)