I May Have A Scrap Problem... A Little Stashbusting!

Hi, all!

It's been a busy week!  I have to say, I've been doing more stash busting than scrap sewing this week, because of the "A Heart For Texas" pillowcase drive.  I've made more than a few pillowcase kits...

This isn't even all of them - I've put together 47 kits so far, some of which have been sewn up and others which will be sewn this Wednesday and Saturday.  Each one takes about a yard of fabric, so they're eating up the smaller pieces of fabric that have been languishing in my stash!  It only takes a quarter yard to make the cuff of these, and if you're like me, you've got lots of those little pieces in your stash.  It feels good to clean out some of those smaller pieces!

And although I almost forgot it in the midst of pillowcase-making, I did another block for my Gypsy Wife quilt!  This one is called Star Block, for obvious reasons...

Once again, these are batiks from Kate Spain's Latitude line.  I opted for a subtle star in this particular block, using all reds and pinks against the cool color background.  I had to dip into my fat eighth bundle a bit for this one, as it took several 4" squares and my strips weren't quite wide enough in the colors I chose.  But that's ok - that's why I have it!

And I did add one special piece of fabric to the stash this week.  When I was sitting at the beach last week, I got a text from my friend Cassie, with a picture of this fabric...

How cute is that?  I asked her where it was, and said I needed to get some of it.  Turns out she was at Goodwill, and she picked this 1.5 yard piece up for me.  What shall I make with it?

Now for a little bit of inspiration I found this week...

I dearly love this scrappy quilt made by @kristijoy108 - a great use of scraps, and the quilting is perfect!

And while this isn't scrappy, I did have a vision of it made with rainbow scraps in a similar layout.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Lots of EPP, but it could be an ongoing project, rather like a leaders/enders project....

So that's been my (not-so-scrappy) week. What have you been doing to tame your scrap monster?

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have A Scrap Problem... Strumming The Strings!

Hi, all!

Wednesday really snuck up on me this week, and because of that, I haven't done one. single. thing. on my Long Time Gone quilt.   😢   I think I'm mentally intimidated by the only remaining blocks I need to make, which are the foundation pieced pineapple blocks - and I need to get over that quick!!  I really want to put this quilt together and start on Gypsy Wife!

But as I was wondering what I would post on today, I realized - - - I finished a string quilt top today!!!

These blocks were in a large box of string blocks that we had made at church over the past few months.  I took that box with me on our road trip to Arkansas, spending hours pulling the papers off the back of the blocks.  Wednesday night at church, I spent a little time playing with them on the design wall, and discovered that I love this on-point design!

I love the squares created by the center white strips on each string block, and also the subtle diamond design that shows up in the background.

I used up the last of my Denyse Schmidt squiggly plaid for the setting triangles and corners, and I love the way it sets off the string blocks!  

So, no progress on LTG, but a new scrappy quilt top for the quilt ministry!  I'm hoping to load this one on the quilt frame tomorrow night at church so it will be completed and ready to go to bring comfort to someone in need.  Because that's what quilts are for, right?

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have A Scrap Problem... More Progress, and a Fun Challenge!

Hi, all!

Welcome to Fun With Scraps!!  Ok, maybe I've been watching too much Big Bang Theory, but that's what keeps running through my head...  I've been having a lot of fun with my scraps this week, in between my "have-to-dos".  It's nice to have something to reward myself with - - - and I never thought I'd consider scrap sewing as a reward, but the times, they are a-changing!

I've been working hard on my Long Time Gone quilt blocks.  Last week I needed a quick fix, so I pulled out my bonus triangle tub and jumped ahead to the Half-Square Triangle blocks.  Here's the first block...

This block was made with bonus triangles from one of my Scrappy Star quilts from the Stunning Stars quilt-along.  Then I moved on to this one...

... which is made with HSTs left over from my very first bee quilt, back in 2010.  And finally, this one...

...which used leftover HSTs from a quilt I made several years ago.

Then Tuesday morning I grabbed my overflowing string hamper, and pulled out bright and low volume strings for the Courthouse Steps blocks....

And here are my nine Courthouse Steps blocks, all finished!  This was the first time I had ever made Courthouse Steps blocks, and they were fun and easy.

And you know what I've learned throughout this process?  I have a lot more pretty bright scraps than I thought I did!  I've always admired bright scrappy quilts on blogs, but thought I didn't have enough brights to make similar quilts.  It's been eye-opening, to say the least.

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And now, here's a fun Challenge from my friend Annie over at Annie's Ruby Slipperz!  She's started a challenge for herself and anyone else who wants to sew along...

Sew for just 30 minutes each day (6 days a week, 1 free day) for the whole month of May 2017.

You can read more about the challenge on her blog (click here to see the info post).  She's got a giveaway at the end of the month, too!  Sounds like fun to me, and a great way to maybe work through some scraps!  Just imagine what you could accomplish if you sewed with your scraps for 30 minutes a day in May!!

If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #Sew30SewFunMay2017, and tag Annie (@anniesrubyslipperz) if you join in!

How's that scrap monster of yours doing these days?

Hugs!

Sarah

Oops - almost forgot the linky!  Link-up below if you want to show off your scrappy progress this week...  😄

I May Have A Scrap Problem... Use Up Those Orphans!

Hi, all!

Well, I still have a scrap problem, and I haven't had much time to work on correcting it in the last month... but I did have two finishes in the last couple of weeks that kept some things from making their way into the scrap bin, so I'm calling that a win!!

First up, two pillows made from the HSTs left over from my most recent Supernova quilt...

Rather than throw them in the orphan block bin, I decided to take a few minutes and sew them up into pillow covers.  By doing the straight line quilting on my long arm, I was able to quilt them up really quickly, and an envelope closure on the back and some binding to finish the edge made this a fast finish - and they match the quilt!

Then, I had leftover wedges from my Wedge Play quilt, and the shape was so interesting, I really wanted to save them rather than toss them... so I took off the smallest part of the wedge and put sashing between them, then assembled them into a pretty table runner I call Chopsticks!

The straight line quilting on this took a bit longer - I did it on my tabletop machine, and actually did matchstick quilting in the sashing between the wedges to make the prints stand out more.  That takes a lot of time - - - and thread!  But it's so worth it.

And it's so nice to have some new pieces to decorate my house instead of more scraps in my scrap bin!!  

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I also want to share a really unique version of one of the Stunning Stars quilts made by Meredith!

I really love the way she used the bonus HSTs to create the pinwheels in her border - way to go, Meredith!  Wish I'd thought of that myself!!

Now - go forth and slay that scrap monster!!

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have a Scrap Problem... Some Inspiration!

Hi, all!

It's time for another scrappy post, but today I am driving to Savannah, GA for QuiltCon 2017 - I'm so excited! - so I'm just going to share some inspiration with you today.  

First of all, I want to be sure you have a chance to see this fabulous post by Kat of Kat & Cat Quilts.  If you don't know Kat already, she is the brains behind Covered In Love, which was one of our Hands2Help charities last year.  She is also, by choice, a scrappy quilter, and she has a great idea for using up some of those precious small scraps that we hoard...

Bookmarks!  What a great idea!  Her technique is very simple and you can read all about it here.

And here are some pretties I've seen on Pinterest this week - lovely quilts one and all!

Isn't this a cool way to do a charm quilt?  I love the focus point the white squares give this one...

And I have long wanted to do a bookshelf quilt, but wasn't willing to commit to the "realistic" look - and yet I really love the way this one looks!  Less realism, but still gets its point across! And oh, the color!!

I love the background color in these next two - grays can make all those beautiful scraps really POP!

And this one just makes me smile!  You can make this using either four mini-charm packs, or by cutting one regular charm pack in to quarters - a great way to use up that random charm pack you've got sitting in your stash!  

You can find the links for all of these quilts and more on my "Oh Scrap!" Pinterest page - click here to go there!

So - - - do you feel inspired now?  I'm thinking about taking my sewing machine with me to Savannah - wonder if I'll have time to do any sewing???

Hugs!

Sarah

Stunning Stars #4 - "Supernova"!

Hi, all!

It's time for another quilt in the Stunning Stars Quilt Along - and this week's quilt is my husband's favorite!  He laid claim to it before it was even finished, and there's no higher compliment in my book.  So here it is - - - Supernova!

This is a super-simple quilt - made up of half square triangles!  

The layout and color variation is what creates all the movement in this quilt.

I quilted it with radiating lines from the focal star through the diamonds to increase the "starriness" of this quilt.

Once again, I dug through my stash for this quilt.  The top was made using leftovers from the oranges I used for Emmalyn's 2016 annual quilt, and the back utilizes a great Brandon Mably print and some gray and white polkadots.  Both those pieces had been sitting in my stash for quite a while!  So this is another one for the Sew My Stash 2017 challenge!

It was awfully windy the day I took these pictures, but at least there was sunshine to show off those beautiful bright oranges!!

I can see this quilt done scrappy, or in rainbow shades radiating out from the focal star, or shading from light to dark in a single color.  So many possibilities!!  

So - - - are you ready to make one of your own?  Here's how!

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“Supernova”

A Stunning Stars Quilt-Along Quilt

This is a very simple one-block quilt; its secret lies in the layout.

Finished size:  approximately 60” x 60”

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS:  

2 yards of background fabric

2 yards (or equivalent) of print fabric; this could be yardage, fat quarters, or scraps.  There are 50 diamond shapes in the quilt, so you could use up to 50 different fabrics.

CUTTING DIRECTIONS:

From the background fabric, cut fifty 7” squares.

Take your print fabrics and choose one that will become the focal star.  From that fabric, cut four 7” squares.  From the remainder of your print fabrics, cut forty-six 7” squares for a total of 50 squares.

MAKING THE BLOCKS:

Take your background squares and draw a line from one corner diagonally across the square on the back of the fabric. Pair one background square with one print square,  right sides together.

Using the traditional method, make your half-square triangles (HSTs).   You will have 50 sets of two matching HSTs.  Trim your HSTs to 6.5” square.  Don’t skip this step - it will make your quilt go together faster and look better!

Locate your eight focal star HSTs to start your layout.

LAYOUT:

To get a similar look to the finished quilt shown above, use the diagram below to lay out your blocks.  (NOTE: The quilt above has more blocks than this quilt tutorial calls for.  Don’t use the finished quilt as your layout guide!)  

Start with the focal point star in the lower left quadrant, and work out from the star.  Step back often and check to see that your diamonds are going the right direction!  Fill in the gaps at the upper right and lower left edges with half diamonds, splitting up some of your pairs for the purpose.  Assemble the quilt top.  Quilt as desired! 

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If you make your own version of "Supernova", I'd love to see it!  If you share on Instagram, tag me (@fabricaddictquilts) and use the hashtag #stunningstars!

And if you've missed the three earlier Stunning Stars quilt, here are links to those...

"Scrappy Stars"

"Exploding Stars"

"Speak To Me Of Love"

Inspired yet?

Hugs!

Sarah

I May Have A Scrap Problem... Progress and Ideas

Hi, all!

Whew! It has been quite a couple of weeks - sewing for the Stunning Stars quilt-along and battling a cold.  But I didn't want to let another week go by without saying a little something on Wednesday!

I'm still working on the "Sew My Stash" project - working from stash to create the quilts for the Stunning Stars quilt-along.  Since my last update, I made this quilt...

...which helped clear out some of my solid scraps!  Then I went on to this quilt...

...which used four long-hoarded pieces of yardage!  I'm so happy that they have found a come together where they can be useful!

Then I gathered together all my larger orange scraps and I'm working on this quilt right now for this Sunday's Stunning Stars quilt.   My husband loves this one, and has already laid claim to it!

I've seen some beautiful scrappy quilts out and about recently, too...

This beautiful solids quilt showed up in a donation at church recently - isn't it a great use of solid scraps?

And oh my goodness, what a fabulous string quilt!

And speaking of strings, I love this structured string quilt with the low volume corners - different and fabulous!

And look at these wonderful HST/string blocks!  I think I'm in love...

And I want to be sure you caught this recent blogpost by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts - she did a whole post on her top ten tips for scrap quilting - and it's full of great ideas!  Amanda Jean is a fabulous scrap quilter with loads of experience - a fabulous resource for anyone who wants to use up their scraps.  Go check it out!!

So that's what I've been working on recently - using up stash and scraps - but they're still accumulating!  No end in sight - good thing I've still got lots of quilt-y ideas!

Hugs!

Sarah