Wednesday, November 2, 2016

I May Have a Scrap Problem... But I'm Working On It!

Hi, all!

Hard to believe it, but it's already Wednesday!  But I've been a good girl this week, playing with my scraps, and I've got some pretties to share with you - some of my own, and some inspiration!

First up, I want to share the finished version of some scrappy sewing I shared back in September...



These are the two pillow covers I made with the scraps from my major Artisan projects!  I embellished them with some big stitching in perle cotton, and I just LOVE them!  

And also, this week I managed to not just work on Lilli's annual quilt, but I finished the top!!


We had some beautiful sunshine this morning, so I was able to get a "stained glass" shot of this one.  And yes, those are photographs in the centers of the larger blocks!  I've had a lot of requests for a tutorial for this quilt, so I'm going to try to post a tutorial next Wednesday. This is a great scrap buster quilt, and really easy to personalize with photos printed on fabric!  So keep your fingers crossed that I get that tutorial finished in time....

And now for some scrappy inspiration!  Last Wednesday night when I walked into the "sweatshop" at church, I saw this on the wall...


Isn't that just gorgeous?  We had a huge box of 60's/70's vintage bark cloth donated to us in all those lovely fluorescent colors, and Rita decided to use some of them to make a rail fence quilt.  I think we're going to have a lot of fun playing with these - there's a lot more where that came from!  We're making quilts for our 2017 senior class this year and these fabrics are perfect for teenagers, don't you think?


And I came across this beautiful scrappy quilt on Instagram this week.  That grey background is the perfect foil for all those saturated colors!

Now for some fresh inspiration from my Oh Scrap! Pinterest board...


This is a great way to use the fabric from men's shirts - something my stash is overloaded with!


And isn't this a great variation on string blocks?  I can see using this one to move my string quilt along a little faster - I'd only need half as many string blocks!


Oh my goodness, what a great disappearing nine-patch!!  I love that the quilter used a solid red consistently as her center block - it gives the quilt some unity, even though it is completely scrappy!  Also, notice how small those blocks are?  I'm guessing the 9-patch blocks  are made with 2.5" squares... Just imagine how much scrap this one could use up!!


And this quilt just makes me smile!!  I love the riot of color, the rectangular blocks, the rainbow-y-ness... It's perfect!

You can find the original links for the last four quilts on my Pinterest board, Oh Scrap!

So - - - I'm off to write a tutorial!  I have a question for you - have you ever used photo fabric in a quilt?  If so, what has your experience been?  What product did you use?

Hugs!

Sarah

16 comments:

  1. Hi Sarah, I made one photo quilt for a graduation gift. I used Tailor Sew-In Colorfast fabric sheets for ink jet printers. It produced gorgeous, sharp colors of the photos but I found it to be a bit stiff and my more modern sewing machine did not want anything to do with it. I used my old machine and that worked through the fabrics just fine. You can see a picture here: http://slamminthescreendoor.blogspot.com/2013/06/feeling-love-and-graduation-quilts.html

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  2. Now that I'm back, I'm attacking my scraps again. Thanks for all of the great ideas! Rainbowyness :)

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  3. I have never used photo fabric in a quilt. I think it would take me 12 forevers to make the d9p with such small squares.

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  4. the quilt with the sunlight behind it looks like stain glass to me - pretty. I love all the scrap quilts. I tried the photo paper once for making quilt labels and thought it very stiff so I took to using Bubble Jet Set and make my own http://quiltbug.com/articles/bubble-jet-set.htm - I am not sure how it would stand up to more than a couple washes though as I only wash quilts now and then so far the labels have faded slightly on some of them but not all

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  5. Never used photo transfer in a quilt, but I'd be interesting in reading about it. Another tool in the tool box. The wee D9P is lovely and so different from the one I just finished with 6" squares sewn into the 9p. After Christmas this will get studied further.

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  6. I like all of the photos of quilts, but that bright, bold rail fence is amazing! I love the colors! I've never used photo transfer, so I can't help you there. I hope to play with my scraps today too! Wendy at piecefulthoughts@gmail.com

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  7. i have made several projects using photos printed on fabric and like the printer fabric sheets made by EQ works best. the main difference in the sheets is the backing; it can be very difficult to remove some of the paper used on some brands. the sheets can be ordered on line and i buy mine at quilt festival in the EQ booth. love your for lille.

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  8. These are all so pretty!! I would love to see your tutorial on the photo quilt- Perfect for scrapbook lovers, how neat!!

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  9. I don't remember what brand I used, but the last one I bought to put through my printer was too stiff, I had bought one a few years ago that was great though.

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  10. Some great scrappy inspiration. Lilli's quilt looks great! What a fun memory keeper.

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  11. I never used photo fabric in a quilt, so I can't help you with that. Lilli's quilt is very charming. Loving all of the colorful, scrap-busting quilts.

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  12. I used 4 photo's in a small quilt in the late 90's. There was a shop in town at that time that developed film and he printed my photos into printer fabric he had. I didn't ask what brand it was. Of course he had top notch printers and the photos are still excellent in the quilt. I would like to find another shop that can do that.

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  13. Love the bark cloth quilt! And the disappearing nine-patch -- that block has been one I've wanted to try for a long time. One of these days!

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  14. What good timing (for me) for this post. Just bought fabric for $1 a pound! And, it's quilt shop material from a place that does jelly tolls, etc for major fabric makers. This is great for quilts for Hospice--or anyone! So glad I stumbled onto your blog!!

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  15. Well done, Susan! Great scrappy projects :)

    -Soma

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