Scrap quilts are my favorite, super scrappy everything goes in is my personal preference. I find them interesting, every quilt becomes an I Spy quilt, I just love it. BUT, I don't keep very many of my quilts, and a lot of people find those type of quilts a hot mess. Color controlled scrappy allows me to work in as many fabrics as I like, but also make quilts that non-scrap lovers enjoy.
The funny thing is, going color controlled combined with my RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) in my right arm, has really changed the way I deal with my scraps. I found Bonnie Hunter early on in my quilting journey. Her Scrap User System really resonated with me, and it absolutely works for me, though I only save strips and squares, no bricks. I also don't save as many sizes as she does, as I'm trying to simplify my storage.
The last couple of years I've really tried to decrease the amount of rotary cutting I'm doing, to put less stress on my arm. I have enough Accuquilt dies that I've managed to cut the last couple Bonnie Hunter mystery quilts completely by die cutter. I'm hoping to do the same this year.
Now even with a die cutter, there is still rotary cutting to do. To waste less fabric, I like to rough cut my fabric with 1/4" all the way around the shape so if I don't have it positioned just so I can still get the cuts I need. Yes, this wastes some fabric, and Bonnie's methods of cutting strips and using specialty rulers wastes none. I still use those techniques I learned from her on a regular basis! When there is a LOT of cutting that needs to be done, and I'm going scrappy anyway so running out of fabric isn't much of an issue, I've switched to die cutting. I'm being honest here, I have a HUGE stash, and I'm not likely to run out of fabric in my lifetime. Run out of certain colors, likely, but run out of fabric, nope. I am very blessed in that I can afford to waste a bit of fabric, and once you learn how to correctly position your fabric on the dies, you don't waste very much fabric. Last year I made Bonnie Hunter's Mystery quilt and didn't have to trim a single dog ear, because my dies cut them off for me. I was shocked at how much time that saved. So even when figuring in some rotary cutting, I'm still saving time by die cutting, and saving stress on my arm. By die cutting, I'm also not having to sliver trim units, because they come out the right size every time. If you are always oversizing your units to trim to size, you are also wasting fabric. I'd rather waste with the least amount of rotary cutting.
When I started making the switch to die cutting more, I realized my scrap user system was growing faster than I was using it up. The scrap user system wasn't working as well when I was trying to die cut as much as possible. Fat quarters became my go to pre-cut, to give me variety and allow me to die cut. Inevitably, I had leftovers from the fat quarters, which I cut for the scrap user system. I've tried sorting scraps just by color, and even when die cutting, it just doesn't work for me. There is no neat way of storing a bunch of different sizes of scraps, so it ends up a jumbled mess and needs to be pressed before die cutting and that is neither motivating nor productive to me. I can still use the scrap user system, but I spent a couple years busting it down to reasonable amounts and now I want to keep it on the smaller side.
I realized I've had a mind shift about scraps that happened organically, without a lot of forethought, but it's totally working for me!
I've been prepping quilts for next year's sewing.
The pile on the top is leftover space fabrics from Mr. LJ's quilt that I'll be die cutting for a Take Five quilt. The fabrics on the bottom are prepped for a king sized quilt I'll be making for a family member. I'll be using my 10" Crazy quilt die with those. I mostly used fat quarters, but there were also some half yard cuts in there. Anything leftover from those fabrics I cut into 2.5" strips, and if I didn't have enough for a 2.5" strip I cut a 2" strip or stuck it in with my strings. I didn't end up with many 2" strips, so those will go into the scrap user system.
I did end up with a bunch of 2.5" strips though, so now I'll be sub-cutting those for another quilt. I already pulled out those coordinating fabrics, why waste that work when I know they will work together to make a nice quilt? I already know which quilt pattern I'll be cutting, and when I'm done cutting that pattern. I'll evaluate how many strips I have left. If it's enough for a third quilt with the same fabrics I'll cut another one, if not, at that point it will go into my Scrap User System.
Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts calls these type of quilts After Quilts, and she usually uses them to back the first quilt. I prefer to make other quilt tops with the leftovers, and use yardage for the backings, although if I'm a bit short of backing fabric I don't mind making rows of scraps to add to the middle of backing to make it wider or taller.
I realized I've been working this way for the last couple of years, without thinking much about it. I ended up with a bunch of purple/blue/green quilts because I was requested to make a couple of those, and I ended up with so many scraps of those colors I just kept using that color scheme in my scrap quilts to use them up. This past summer I did the same with orange/red/black quilts. When I'm working on the last one or two quilts in whatever color scheme I've been working on, I'm usually adding to the scraps from my scrap user system, because by then the scraps are pretty picked over. That keep me interested in the projects by adding new scraps to the mix, even if I'm tired of the color scheme. If you keep most of your quilts, this way of working would not work well for you. If, however, you are like me and give away or sell most of your quilts, this method of working might suit you just fine. If I'm donating quilts, they'll likely go to unrelated recipients, so what difference does it make if the quilts are made with the same fabrics or color scheme?
This method of making quilts until you are out of fabrics is especially helpful when I'm trying to bust a category of fabrics. A great example of that is the space fabrics above. I had one grandson that wanted a space quilt. I bought a bunch of space fabrics unsure of which direction I was going for the quilt. Now that that quilt is finished, I have a bunch of leftover space fabric, plus I have two space book panels I got in a bag of fabric at a thrift shop. Some of the fabrics are quite realistic and appropriate for teens or adults, and others are more juvenile like the book panels. Because most of the fabrics are large scale, I took all the more realistic fabrics and prepped them to be cut with the Take Five die which has large pieces and won't chop up the fabrics too much. The strips I cut from the leftovers, I'll use for framing the page blocks, or piece blocks to use with the fabric pages from the book panel, along with adding in the juvenile prints I set aside to use with the book panels. I'll end up with several space quilts, busting the entire category of fabrics, and have some fun donation quilts! Very little will be added to the scrap user system at the end.
The first clue of Bonnie Hunter's Indigo Way mystery went live today, and I've got my fabrics prepped.
I changed up her colors as usual, and I'm going scrappy on my teals. I pressed my dark teals and light teals. My "neutral" is purple and coming straight off the bolt. My red is peach, and I have yardage of it.
I'm thinking of using Bonnie's colors in a second quilt made with men's shirts. I've got to do some digging in totes for a deadline quilt that needs to be cut, so I'll decide when I get to the tote with men's shirts in it. If it looks like I have enough in Bonnie's colors, I'll do two mystery quilts. I am not worried about keeping up, I'll download the clue's as they come out. If I can keep up, that's great, if not, that's OK too. I still haven't quilted last year's mystery quilt!
I was originally planning to baste a bunch of quilts in December, and I may baste a couple, but overall I've changed my mind to cutting out several projects I plan on making next year. I've got some empty project boxes, and if I get the quilts cut out I can easily use them as leader/ender projects throughout 2024.
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