Empty Bin!

My goal was to empty this bin by the end of March, and I did it! Every piece of scrap fabric in these bins has been dealt with. Strings and crumbs are in with the strings and crumbs, anything larger than that has been cut into sizes I have planned to use in upcoming quilts. A lot of the scraps have already been used in quilt tops! 

I have been watching lots of scrap fabric videos on YouTube. Mostly what I've learned is that scraps are a very personal thing. Some people don't enjoy working with them, and if that describes you, by all means, give them away, or even sell them if you can. I love working with scraps, but I have learned by trial and error what works for me.

 

I notice that a lot of quilters only sort their scraps by color, and don't pre-cut anything. I do sort crumbs and strings by color, because that is how I use them. I like crumb blocks to be one base color, and not a mishmash of everything. String quilts I sometimes mix up, but if I do mix them I tend to have a color scheme going. I currently have a blue/purple string quilt in the works, but I've done several in autumn colors, but whatever I do it's easiest for me to have them sorted by color. 

Anything larger than a crumb or string, and I only use them if they are cut to size. A bin of messy fabric scraps, even if they are all the same color, does not inspire me, it just makes me realize how much work it's going to take to press it all and get it ready to use. On the other hand, give me a box of scraps already cut to size that I can start sewing right now, that gives me inspiration! This go around, I did cut a lot of rectangles, but that is because I have several quilts I want to make that use them. Normally I only cut squares or strips. My strips are sorted by size, and color. Let's say I need a bunch of 2.5" red strips, I can go grab them because they are all together. Green 2" strips, same thing, I can go grab them. My squares start out sorted by color, but they get mixed up a lot, so normally they are not, but they are always stored neatly in stacks or rows, so it's not that difficult to go through them and pick out what I need. 

I've been wondering how much of our scrap preferences is a result of the way we think, and how much is about the size the our stash. My stash is BIG, so I never worry about the "What if I cut this down into strips, and then I decide I should have cut a larger strip?" Honestly, that question just never applies to me. If I don't have the color I need already cut to size, I'm just going to go to yardage and use a different fabric. I almost always have something else that will work. Maybe it's not as perfect as the scrap I cut up, but the person who's getting the quilt never saw the other fabric so they won't care. If I had a very small stash, that question would pop up a lot, and I could totally see sorting scraps by color without pre-cutting.

I think the size of your stash determines what you think of as a scrap too. To me, with a large stash, anything smaller than a fat quarter is a scrap, and if it's full WOF, anything narrower than 12" is a scrap. If I think it's ugly, it goes into scraps and gets cut up even if I have two yards of it. 

Does that mean I don't like fat eighths or precuts? Nope, I actually prefer buying fat eighths if I want to make a Civil War or 1930's repro quilt, because I get variety without a huge amount of fabric coming in. I don't make a lot of quilts like that, so fat eighths or other precuts are a great choice for that. Because I don't make a lot of quilts like that, as soon as I'm done making the quilt, I'm going to process any scraps and just use them as a color afterwards. 

I like other pre-cuts when I want a fun fabric fix without bringing in a lot of fabric. If I wanted to try using some Tula Pink fabric, for instance, which I have never purchased but I do like, I'd be most likely to get a pre-cut, likely a layer cake since she has some large scale prints. I like Tula Pink fabric, but don't want a stash filled with it, so a pre-cut or maybe a scrap bag if I could find one, would work best for me. I could have fun making one project, and be done with it. 

Last week was spring break for the grandkids, so I didn't get much sewing done, but I finished with the scraps and made memories with the grands, so big win on both counts. I've even got all the scraps (aside from some strips) put away in their correct containers. I'll put the strips away this afternoon. 

So what is my next project to tackle in the evenings while watching TV?

I was given all the fabric in this bin, but I haven't sorted it yet. I already dealt with the small scraps and strips I was given (I've already used almost all the strips). This bin has everything from under a fat quarter pieces to wide backs. I need to sort this and get it integrated with my stash. Wide backs go into the quilt closet with the quilt tops. Anything over one yard goes onto my fabric shelves, fat quarter - one yard pieces gets folded and put into my fabric drawers. That's what works for me. I'm not likely to even think of going into the bin, I need to get it all integrated with my stash so when I'm looking for something I'll see it. There are some great fabrics in here, but I have to see them to use them. If I find any pieces smaller than a fat quarter I'll be cutting scraps again, and that's perfectly OK. 

Sorting the fabrics will give me loads of inspiration, but I'll need to reign myself in. I have two quilt tops to finish, then I'll finally move on to piecing my batting scraps. I should be able to finish the quilt tops this weekend, so April will be Frankenbatting month! I can't spend all month on batting, because I need to make a couple small projects for May birthdays, but I need to at least deal with all the poly batting scraps, and it's a LOT. I'd like to get several quilts basted in May, so spending April on Frankenbatting will work perfectly with my May goal. 

 

Still Processing Scraps

Scraps...the word brings both joy and dread to my heart. If you craft at all, you have scraps. DH has wood scraps in his workshop, DD#2 is drowning in yarn scraps from her crochet projects, and I have fabric scraps, sooooo many fabric scraps. Sometimes I am very good about processing my fabric scraps immediately, other times I toss them in a bin and deal with them later. Later has come, and has been here for about six weeks. When I am far behind on dealing with scraps, I try to do a little bit at a time to get caught up. I can't just power through and get it done in a couple of days. If you can, that's awesome, but I can't. 

I go through phases when it comes to scraps. When I first started quilting, I did a lot of kitchen sink type of scrap quilts. Mostly divided into dark and light, but aside from that, no rhyme nor reason on which scraps were used together. I love those type of quilts, give me a super scrappy log cabin quilt set in a barn raising setting and I'm in love. My family? They want a less scrappy look. I started doing color controlled scrappy quilts and those went over better. In fact, the scrappy quilts that go over best with my family are two color quilts, blue and yellow, red and white, black and pink, brown and cream, it doesn't really seem to matter which color combination I do, but if I stick to just two colors, I can get away with using any fabric of those colors and everyone is happy. I've had pretty good luck with all cool colors, or all warm colors with a neutral too. Since I love autumn colors, I still make a lot of autumn themed scrap quilts. Those get mixed reviews from the peanut gallery. 

I don't keep very many of my quilts, most of my quilts are gifted or donated. Since I know there are all kinds of taste in the world, I just hope that whatever quilts I donate end up with whomever will be blessed by that particular quilt.

I even go through phases on what patterns I use for scrap quilts. One year it's log cabins, I went through a Flying Geese stage, and HST's are always a winner. Some years it's stars, QST's, or rail fence blocks. I like blocks that chain, and create a lattice on the quilt, so Jacob's Ladder, Carolina Chain and nine patches can be good ones.

I started with my scrap bin overflowing, more than twice than what should actually be in the bin.

This is my scrap bin right now, about half full, but considering I've actually refilled it a couple times as I clean up more of my sewing spaces, I'm pretty happy with that. 

While I was cutting scraps, I used whatever I could in current projects, so a lot of what I was dealing with was used immediately. 

The scraps I'm cutting to specific sizes are piling up. All the squares are sizes I always save, the rectangles I'm cutting are for specific projects.

When I am cutting fabrics I treat novelty scraps differently than say a floral or stripe. If I am going to pre-cut novelty scraps into sizes for I Spy quilts, my go to is 6.5" cut squares. I have a lot of patterns that use that size square, and even most large scale novelty prints do OK in that size. If I don't have a large enough size scrap to do a 6.5" square, my next choice is a 4.5" square. I don't use these as often, but I have made a few I Spy quilts with that size. I rarely use 5" squares for anything, but I do have a cat quilt partially cut out that needs 5" squares, so any cat fabrics I found were cut to that size. I have a pretty nasty allergy to cats, but several of my grandkids love them. You can see I have a big pile of novelty rectangles on the left, they are cut 3.5" x 6.5". When I'm done cutting scraps, I'm going to go through that pile and separate the fabrics into a pile of vertically oriented motifs, and another pile of horizontally oriented motifs. I want to make an I Spy quilt using Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern with the vertically oriented rectangles, then, with the horizontally oriented ones, I have a pattern in my head which I'm calling "I Spy a Brick Wall". I'm planning on using solid gray sashing for mortar, and with the addition of squares on some rows, I think I can get a good brick wall effect. I'm really excited about sewing that quilt up, and seeing if it looks as good in real life as it does in my head. 

I had a big pile of 3.5" squares, but those are now used in one of the latest quilts to hit the design wall. 

I had already assembled a few rows before I remembered to snap a photo, so the quilt will be taller than this. Yes, it's a kitchen sink light/dark scrappy, but sometimes I just have to, I love them. 

I did notice several of my scraps would play together nicely, so I cut a quilt from those while I was dealing with them.

I sewed up all these blocks as leaders/enders while I was assembling the orphan block quilts. Now I'm sewing these up into quilt tops so they don't get added to the tote that has quilt blocks in it. I've still not started on the batting scraps, I think that project is going to get moved to April. DH  added another scooter quilt to my to-do list, which is fine, I already had one mostly cut out, but now that I'm working on making another quilt top, I'm finishing up a few more projects that were hanging around, using all of these as leaders/enders for each other. 

I did get a couple more quilts basted, but I'm still figuring out a quilt setup. My Janome had lousy timing to break, but then again, a machine breaking is never convenient. 

This week I've got the granddogs, who I swear demand more attention than the grandkids! I enjoy having the dogs around, but it does cut into my productivity, I can only listen to them whine for attention so long before I give in. I can still work on cutting scraps in the evening, that will be DH's time to pet the dogs! 

Life Is Currently Exceeding My Speed Limit

 You know those times where everything is changing so quickly that you just need everything to slow down? That was definitely the feeling I was getting this week. Some of the things going on are good. I had two of the grandkids for four days, another two I saw two days in a row though they didn't spend the night. All good there, we had an outing with four of the grandkids to Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch which was a blast, even with one of the grands finding out, yes, ostriches do bite. 

That was all fun stuff, playing games with the teens, where DH was lamely trying to say jars are mostly used for protection, so the running gag during the game of Slapzi was explaining how every item on the cards could be used for protection. Good memory making fun.

One thing that was not on the good times list, was my mom has spent the last week in the hospital. We live in a different state, so it was a lot of calling the hospital and seeing how things were going. We couldn't go out there because DH was scheduled for back surgery this morning, which coincidentally, ended up when my mom was having a heart valve replaced. In fact, I had to excuse myself from the room where we were getting the info on DH's procedure, to take a phone call from the hospital my mom was at. They were both in surgery at exactly the same time, though DH's surgery was much shorter, and his was outpatient, so I've got a bag full of dressing supplies and a recovering husband here at home. My mom came through her heart valve surgery like a champ, and she is doing well too, though in the hospital for at least one more day. Although all of that was stressful, the good outcomes put those in the good column after all. 

I had planned to spend March piecing batting scraps together, and that is still the plan, though I haven't started yet. I had a few more quilt tops I wanted to sew together from my February "Let's get these quilt blocks into quilt tops" push. 

I did get the remaining quilt blocks/misc. units into one tote! Considering I started February with almost three times this much, that's a win. I put the tote under the stairs, and don't really have plans to pull it out again until fall/winter, when my goal will be to get the blocks into a smaller tote. I'll always have leftover blocks/units, so I know I'll never have it down to nothing, but since I'm down to one tote, I'd like to keep it that way. If I can sew up the next  blocks I make as I go, there's hope I can keep the extra blocks to one tote. I will dig the tote out of I need a backing just a bit wider, because a line of orphan blocks is a good way to make that happen. Some of these blocks are orphan blocks, some are enough to make a quilt from, but didn't make the cut this time. 

I finished sewing the last of the quilt blocks from the February push into rows while DH was napping. I have four quilt worth of rows sewn, none of which will be getting borders, and I have one quilt center that needs borders. I'll work on getting all of that pressed later today, so I can work on finishing those quilt tops up over the weekend. I have a quilt top laid out for basting this weekend too, but I did get a quilt basted while I had the grandkids. 

I also have a finish!

I sewed this Spring Twist quilt top in a hotel room in Arkansas. The pastel strips were given to me from an acquaintance, the green accent was leftover quilt wide back, and the border fabric was from my mom's stash. That border fabric is OLD. I know my mom made DD#1 something from it back in 1980's. I really think this was a good project for it to shine. 

I went to start quilting another quilt, and I had a part on my Janome break, so it is now in the shop. When it works, that machine is amazing, but I am a really prolific quilter, and I think maybe it's not the right machine for me. I'm also not a fan of the Janome dealer, they said six weeks for the repair, but I've had them take over three months before. Time to weigh my options and consider a change. I have two Bernina 440's and they quilt beautifully, I just prefer a larger harp when quilting. I could just concentrate on quilting some smaller quilts for a bit, or I could get a different machine, time will tell. I am so blessed to have more than one sewing machine, so even a broken part doesn't completely derail my plans. 

Finish #4

 The fourth quilt of 2026 is done! It's queen sized, and since I don't have an immediate recipient for this one it's hanging on the huge quilt rack in my living room. I've made several quilts from this line of fabric, but this is the end of the line. I may have random bits left in the scrap system, but overall, this line of fabric is out of my stash. 

You can see the quilting better on the back. I used a lavender thread, because I didn't want a dark color on all the white on the front, but it shows up a lot on the back. 

I've got the grandkids this weekend, which will be great! It won't allow much time for quilting, which is fine. I've been really productive this month, taking the time in January to clean up my quilting areas made a big difference. 

For March I really want to dive into the batting scraps, but I need to assemble a couple more quilt tops before my remaining quilt blocks will fit into just one tote. Considering I had quilt blocks everywhere, getting them into one tote is a huge win. I haven't kept count of how many quilt tops I've made in the last month or so, but it's a LOT! I don't like assembling quilt tops in the summer, but I've got a plan for most of the quilt blocks in the tote and when I dig it out again in the fall or winter, I'm hoping to be able to get the blocks into a smaller tote. There are a lot of random units in the tote as well, besides quilt blocks. I have a growing pile of orphan blocks in there too. I may go into the tote if I need a bit of extra width or length for a quilt backing. Making a row or column of orphan blocks can be a fun way to make a backing a little larger. I'm almost out of basted quilts, so a basting spree is on my mind, but I want to piece some batting first, so I use the Frankenbattings during the basting spree instead of storing them. I feel like I'm cleaning up the quilting area the really slow way. Sure, it looks tidier now, but It's not until I have a bit more breathing room that I'll feel like it's really working. 

Slow Going

Things are progressing around here, albeit slowly. I haven't done any FMQ in a week. We've had more going on lately than I was thinking we'd have, and I get off track when I can't keep to a schedule.

I'm still assembling quilt tops from blocks that were already made. I found SO many quilt blocks in the January declutter, that I don't want to stop assembling quilts until I can get all the remaining quilt blocks into ONE tote. I'm not down to one tote yet, so I keep making quilt tops. Most of these quilt tops will be donation quilts, and I'll likely do simple quilting on them to get them done. 

I had set aside the first quarter of the year to work on whatever I wanted to work on. I did the decluttering and cleanup in January, and I thought I'd be working on Frankenbatting in February, but I think that's going to wait until March. I've got several more quilt tops ready for assembly, and I'll spend the rest of February working on that. 

One thing that's been going amazingly well, is my dealing with my scraps. I've been cutting scraps almost every evening, and since I had so many scraps from quilt backings, It's really been well timed  to use scraps in the quilt tops I'm currently making. When scraps are 108" long, even narrower strips go a long ways. 

I used leftover backing fabric for the sashing on a couple more Dancing Nine Patch quilts. 

I've been making a bunch of hourglass blocks to alternate with scrappy nine patches. I love hourglass blocks as alternating blocks because it makes the quilt look on point when it's only straight set. The number of hourglass blocks I get from my scraps determines the size of the quilt. If I have quite a bit of one fabric all in odd sized pieces I don't want to stash, I cut them into either sashing or blocks, then I use what I cut the evening before as my leader/enders while I'm assembling a quilt. By the time I'm done assembling the first quilt, I often have the alternate blocks sewn up for the next quilt. By using backing scraps four my hourglass blocks or sashing, I'm making quilts from 100% scraps, since the blocks I'm setting are scrappy too. 

Some of the sewing I'm doing is also using up cut pieces I found while cleaning up. They may be pieces leftover from a finished project, or cut for a project I never made.

I had a stack of 2.5x6.5 cut pieces with white and cream backgrounds. I had some narrow backing scraps in blue that I could cut into 2.5" strips, and this quilt top was born. 

I've still got way too many 6" scrappy blocks to set, but I wanted a break from working with that size.

I put two quilts on my design wall, one with 12" blocks, one with 8" blocks.

I don't mind these blocks set right next to each other, but I only have 18 blocks. I could set it 4x4 and have two blocks left over, but I don't want leftovers, I want to bust these blocks. I went to the scrap basket, and cut out two more blocks. I hope to get those blocks sewn up tomorrow. 

On the other side of my design wall, I put up some 8" blocks. I have 35 blocks, so I can set it 5x7 with no blocks left. I don't like these set right next to each other, and I don't have enough of any more scraps to use scraps for the sashing. I grabbed a slate blue from stash, and I'll cut both sashing and borders from it. There's enough different prints in there already, that I think just a plain sashing and border will calm it down a bit.

Lately when I make scrap quilts I've been more intentional with my color choices, and I make a lot of two color scrap quilts or stick with a more cohesive esthetic. Most of these blocks are left from my kitchen sink days, and I still love those everything goes quilts. In fact, I've started a new
kitchen sink scrap quilt since my 3.5" squares overflowed their allotted space. I'm making a big checkerboard quilt, alternating dark and light but using all the colors. I'll run out of light colored squares first, but by then I'll be able to fit the 3.5" squares left into their correct bin.

Since I'm mostly working with finished blocks, I'm not having to sew that much to get quilt tops done. I've had more Nana time than sewing time lately. I had grandkids for the weekend, and I'm watching a couple of the grands tonight too. Tomorrow will be a day trip with the grands. The weather has been fantastic lately, and around here, you try to do as many outdoor things as you can before it gets too hot. It's been a very warm February so far, which doesn't bode well for summer. I don't like assembling quilts in summer, but don't mind FMQ in summer. I've got so many quilt tops made I'll be good for a couple summers at least! 

My scrap basket is just over half full, when it was overflowing stacked twice as high as the basket. Basically, I've processed about 70% of what I started with. I've gone through what's still in the basket, and I found leftover masks cut out in 2020. If anything, I found that encouraging, because it let me know I do actually process my scraps, I'd have had a lot more scraps than that over the last six years than this. I think the basket mostly fills up when I have to make the fabric room look presentable in a hurry, like if we are hosting a big event, or we are getting ready to leave town and I don't want to come home to a mess. That's when the scraps get tossed on the basket instead of dealt with. I'm hoping to have the basket empty by the end of March at the latest, but I might be able to do it before then. Most of what's left needs to be pressed before I can cut it, where the stuff on top was less wrinkled. I'm making good progress anyway, and the end is in sight, even if I can't finish this month.