I May Have A Scrap Problem... February Progress and March Goals!

Hi, all!

How did February fly by so quickly?  Yes, it's a short month, but it still seems like it went by in a flash.  Despite its brevity, though, I managed to make some serious progress on my February Scrap Attack goal!

This was my February goal - to use up the t-shirt scraps to make at least one beach blanket.  You can see the monstrous pile of t-shirt scraps I started with in this post - my first step was to reduce all of them to usable pieces.  I decided to cut them into the same width chunks - in this case, 15" because that was the widest template I had that would fit on most of the shirts - and it cut a bunch of pieces!  I didn't worry about the length of the pieces, just the width.   So now I have a big tub full of cut pieces all ready to go!

Then I got busy sewing those pieces together - no interfacing on these pieces, to keep the expense down and to make it lighter - because this is a heavy picnic blanket!

This picnic blanket is about 75" square, so just the weight of the t-shirt fabric is pretty substantial.  No batting for this one, only a fabric backing - but I had the perfect backing on hand.  I've been saving this fabric for years because I knew it would be perfect for a picnic quilt....

Not quite sure what it is you're seeing?  (And I'm sorry if it gives you the shivers - I've found that people either love it or hate it!)

And of course, because I have grandchildren, and because those grandchildren love to color, I saw those great big color blocks and wondered, "Is there a way the kids can color on those and then it washes out so they can do it again?"

Not wanting to experiment on the quilt (just in case it DIDN'T wash out!) I grabbed a piece of t-shirt (out of the never-empty t-shirt scrap tub) and a new box of Crayola Ultra-Clean Washable Markers.  Had a little fun putting together a test piece, then ran it through the wash and dryer (gentle cycle, regular detergent, hot dryer).

Et voila!  The only thing I could even see a shadow of was the yellow heart in the middle, and I really had to look for that.  So for added fun, I can hand the markers to the kids at the picnic and let them decorate to their hearts content!  How's that for an added bonus?

I also kept up with cutting up scraps - I swear this is addictive!  And it's a good thing I discovered the "small wire basket" technique - because when I drew my goal for March......

Eek!!!  This is a big one, folks - take a look at tub "C" - next to my sewing machine for perspective...

...and look at the mess inside that tub!  This one's gonna take forever, folks - and not only do I need to cut it up, but I need to make a quilt out of it to meet this goal by the end of the month!  

I'm already starting to scope out pattern ideas for this project - it's always exciting, kind of like getting ready for a new baby!  So stay tuned...

And hey, if you need a little inspiration (yes, there's a pun intended there!) take a look at this quilt I saw on Crazy Mom Quilts' blog!

Y'all, those 4-patch blocks are made with 1.5" cut squares and measure 2.5"!  Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts has started on her own, and I'm thinking that this might be a great use for the 1.5" squares I've been cutting.  It might be daunting to figure out exactly how many of those little 4-patch blocks it would take to make a whole quilt, but it would be pretty easy to just start making them, don't you agree?

And one last inspiration shot that really warmed my heart - after posting a tutorial for another 4-patch quilt last Sunday, a reader sent me a picture of the quilt her group made using the pattern.  This one will be going to a senior center at Christmas time!  It really makes my heart happy to see what people make after seeing something they like here...

So now it's time for you to share what you did in February, and what your goal is for March.  I can't wait to see what you've been up to!

Hugs!

Sarah