Denim Scraps

I'm still not feeling great, but I am trying to get something done. Yesterday I decided I'd pull fabrics for a quilt, and start cutting out two quilts (one already has the fabrics together) I pulled some fabrics, but when I looked at my cutting table, I realized I would need to be some cleaning up of a few things before I could cut much. I had a big pile of denim scraps from my jean deconstruction binge early last month. These scraps were too small for the project I was cutting for at the time, and too oddly shaped to want to put them with my denim stash. I have chosen a couple different patterns I want to try with the denim, so I knew which sizes I could cut and would work with my plans. I hadn't tackled the scrap pile before now, but it was time.

This is a good representation of the type of pieces I had in this pile. Any large pieces were already stored with my denim stash in its fancy cardboard box ;-) These were the odd bits, and there were more in the pile than I thought there were. I was only able to cut for 20 or 30 minutes at a time before I needed a break. Like I said, still not feeling great. I started working on the denim yesterday. I didn't think I'd have much time to cut today, because I had the twins all day, but DH was home, and he took them outside for a couple hours so I could have some peace. I cut some while he was outside with the twins, then again during their nap. I was so close to finishing the stack I went and cut some more after dinner. 

Here is what is left of the denim scraps. Since I was cutting for specific quilts it was a little easier to decide what sizes to cut from each scrap. I basically just started with the largest size I could cut from each scrap. Since I was saving down to two inch squares, there are a lot of denim bits in my trashcan, but none bigger than that.

Speaking of my trashcan, I had been using just a small trashcan next to my cutting table, but I was tired of having it fill up so quickly when I was cutting or trimming bits of batting. I save any larger pieces of batting and piece them together to make usable battings, and I save even 1 1/2" squares of fabric, but still, when I am on a big cutting spree, especially of scraps when there are all kinds of odd shapes, or when I am trimming a bunch of string blocks, the little trash can was filling up all the time. DH had to go out to buy a new weed eater, so I had him pick me up a kitchen sized trash can to go next to my cutting table. SUCH an improvement! I must be a little odd to be so happy about a new trash can :-)

There are still a few things on my cutting table to deal with, but even now I can likely start cutting for the quilts I wanted to cut. At least the denim is all dealt with for now. I will have to break out the larger denim pieces to cut more of the sizes I cut the last couple of days, but that can wait until I am actually ready to start those quilts. I'm not planning on doing any sewing until the weekend, but I'm hoping to get quite a bit of cutting done. Having a bunch of quilts cut out and ready to go works well for me, because I love to piece, but have to psych myself up to cut. I don't hate cutting, it's just something I procrastinate on, and then go overboard cutting a bunch all at once. I've learned to deal with my odd habits, and it all works out in the end.