Monday, July 10, 2017

30 Years of Scraps

I finished a UFO today! I am trying so far to stick with my goal of finishing one UFO for every new finish. 


All the pieces in this quilt finish at 1x2 inches. There are scraps from maternity clothes I made in 1986, all the way though to scraps from a purse I made in 2016. 30 years of sewing history!!! This is going to be a great quilt to use for napping! I showed this to DD#1 yesterday, and she was looking over the scraps pointing out which ones I had used in making things for her. Dress scraps from when she was little, scraps from her wedding quilt, scraps from quilts I've made her children, they are all in here. It may not be the prettiest quilt I've ever made, but the memories it holds are priceless, so it may be one of my favorites!

I had a little bit of quilter's serendipity going on, and Dino says, "Hi!" to everyone!




I backed this quilt with purple fleece, and free motioned some fans on the quilt. I do use batting, even with fleece backings, and this is a nice squishy quilt. I free handed all the fans, doing one row left to right, the next right to left, which is why my fans are going different directions. 

I also had to do some salvaging of another quilt. For our 25th anniversary, we took a very short trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. I made a quilt from the fabrics I bought there as soon as we returned. It's been on our bed almost 8 years, and it's in sad shape in certain areas. 


Some of these fabrics are just shredding! There was no way to applique over all the areas that were damaged, so I opted to cut the quilt down to a small throw, saving only the best areas of the quilt.


This is the new look for this quilt, and it should last quite a few years more only getting occasional use. 

As I was cutting off the parts I was no longer going to use, some of which was in decent shape, I thought about all the projects I've seen done with cutter quilts like this. Placemats? I never use them. Cute Hawaiian teddy bears? Those would be adorable, BUT do I really want to make them, and do I want to spend the time to make them, and what would I do with them when they were done??? You know what I decided? I decided the cut-offs were not worth saving to me. Could I have done something with them? Sure, I could have. When it came right down to it though, keeping the throw sized quilt was enough for me, and I don't need any more on my to-do list. It felt weird throwing the rest of the quilt away, but I know it was the best thing to do for me. Now that it's done, I feel relief, and no guilt over not adding yet another project to my list. 

I think the rest of this week is going to be spent cutting out more wedding quilts. If I can get all the quilts I am behind on cut out, it will seem like it's going faster, sewing them together. 

3 comments:

Kristie said...

Love your quilts! As you probably know, scrap quilts are my absolute favorite! I think I am going to keep your quilt in mind when I need to start my next scrap quilt! LOL! Love it!
Blessings...
Kristie

Katie Z. said...

Way to go finishing another quilt! On the cutter quilt... I am on a mission to use up my orphan box, and as the collection is already dwindling, I know I'm going to have some odd bits at the end. I am already firmly telling myself than whatever is left at the end of this journey goes either in the trash or to goodwill. I will be out of ideas and it's okay to throw bits away!

sb said...

I have a drawer full of placemats which I hadn't used in years. But Mr B and I are getting older (and sloppier) so I started using them again. I'm even thinking about making more, to match my tablecloths. I've learned to never say "never."