Course, he was picking on me.
This was a chore that had waited too long. My scraps got completely out of control, so much so that I couldn't have used them if I'd wanted to. And, I wanted to. That's where some of the nicest Linus quilts come from. At heart, I am a scrappy quilter like my fore-quilters.
My scraps used to be sorted by size in a Bonnie Hunter scrap users type system. And, it worked great. And, it got out of control. And, I quilted all the strips into race quilts. So, that took care of that. Scraps that hadn't been trimmed to a specific size were sorted by color. I have 10 drawers in those rolling plastic cabinet things that are cheap and easy to use and that people have given me. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, neutral, black, multi-colored. But, that's not how they started. First, I had to straighten that out, which meant emptying three drawers that I'd just been cramming stuff in willy-nilly and sorting that out, then getting the drawers started, then I could tackle the bin.
And, 7 hours in, I was done with the bin and ironing all the squares I found.
I also ironed and folded the red and pink scraps.
And, the neutrals. White and beige.
A lot of my scraps are from garment sewing, so as I ironed, I cut off all those weird shapes that couldn't be used for much of anything but really made it hard to fold and make pretty stacks. I figured I could iron other colors as I need to use them. At least I hope I will. Both iron them and use them. There really is some beautiful fabric in those bins. And, now I can get it out and make it into something.
Self delusion is the best delusion of all.
I'm also quilting the Christmas quilt I've been working on . I can't decide if I'm making a mistake and need to take it out and start again. So, progress might be being made. Or, it might not. But at any rate, I finished all the ditch work. It was going so slow as I tried very hard to keep my thread in the ditch and out of the piecing. But, someone mentioned doing ditch work with invisible thread last week and I decided to give it a go and that really sped things up. Then, I started the background quilting and I think I might have gotten the scale wrong. My quilting might be too small for my piecing. So, I'm looking at it and seeing if I can get used to it. Because, if not, I'm 20% done and it will take a heck of a lot longer to take it out than it did to put it in.
Everybody have a great Monday. It's the start of a new week! And, anything could happen. Lane
3 comments:
Your flowers last post were lovely. We have had our hard freeze, so your pictures were really welcome.
You end your posts on such an encouraging note. I read "And, anything could happen." and in my mind, take the road less traveled, thinking anything great could happen. Not too much of that in the world right now. Your posts are a gift of hope.
You know, once you've cut your scraps down into strips and squares and such, I don't even consider them scraps anymore -- they are transformed into Works In Progress now! My own scraps are in shallow wire mesh bins, organized loosely by color, but they really don't get out of control because I mostly quilt from FQs and only have little bits left that probably shouldn't be saved anyway. I have been keeping even little weird shaped scraps since I started doing applique because who knows, right?
Lane, you're so good, cutting up all those scraps and emptying those bins and drawers. I'm jealous of your readiness to make up a quilt at a moment's notice! I've got a basket full that is a tangled mess and just can't bring myself to dig through it right now. Perhaps after the new year (yikes!). Good luck quilting the Christmas quilt. Can't wait to see it!
Post a Comment