Scrap Happy

I really enjoyed the comments on my last post.  It’s good to know others have to work to tame the stash beast and some have been pretty successful at it.  Your suggestions were helpful and motivated me to tackle some of my piles this week.  Frances from Quilting Owl has a way to satisfy the urge to keep fabric lines together, at least for awhile.  She keeps the new fabric out for viewing until it is washed and partially used and then it goes into the color storage.  Thanks for that one Frances because I cut off some strips from my beautiful piles that were crowding me out of my sewing room and they are now put away.  Okay, I’m lying.  But, they are on the table in the basement now, sorted by color and waiting for me to put them away.  That’s FIFTY fabrics out of the way in my sewing room!  I think that is an entire year’s worth of collecting.  I cut 1-1/4″ strips for my stars and 1-1/2″ strips for my own version of the scrappy strip quilt Kathie (Inspired by Antique Quilts) showed us on March 5.  After chopping each 1-1/2″ strip into pieces for the quilt I had some crumbs left over to make another one of my favorite tiny tiles quilts.  See it laid out above?

I couldn’t resist putting some of the strips together into rails.  I am going to have fun with this one.  Question…if you start sewing a new project but don’t buy any new fabric does that count as starting a new project?  My opinion is “no”.  Since you already had all the fabrics it’s like you had started that project already since you bought the fabric for it.  Get it?  I can rationalize pretty much anything.

My latest little tile quilt is the one with the brown border.  I’ve always used red so I thought I would try it in a different color.  Once I had all the cutting done all I needed to finish the top was the three hours I got while the hubby took a nap.
One last picture and of course it has something to do with the stars.  This is an idea I stole borrowed from Karen Styles’ blog.  You know the “Friday Girls” star a day project that got me so excited to double down on my own star project?   Shirley is part of that group and she bought a diary to glue her fabrics and jot down a note about what was happening in her world that day.  Genius!  Let me clarify that I am definitely NOT sewing fast enough for a star a day but at least I’ve picked out my fabrics about a week out, cut them (well, sometimes) and packaged them up for when I am ready to sew.  It’s fun and I love carrying my diary and checking out my fabrics whenever I want.  Thanks for the idea Shirley!

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12 Comments

  1. I've been sitting here for a while just drinking in your tiny quilts trying to work out what it is about these ones that is just so great…then it hit me…ITS THE YELLOW! (Note to self – use more yellow!!)

  2. Love the little tile quilts! And love the journal idea–think I'll borrow it too!

    I've wanted to make a calendar quilt for years and doing it with a journal would make that project more fun and keep me focused on the swatch collecting. Win, win!

  3. Your quilts are wonderful. I really need to get started on a couple of these. What a great way to use up some leftover pieces.

  4. The little quilts are great and I don't think little projects count as new if you're using snippets of fabric. I like some of the tips that were shared too, especially the fabric diary.

  5. Love your little quilts Taryn. Shirley's idea was definitely a good one. It's so much fun to go back and revisit fabric and events. I've just restarted Dear Jane and that's like revisiting old friends 🙂

  6. Just to let you know, Shirley is now on small Delectable Mountain blocks and they are growing at an alarming rate. I'm not taking part in this one either. I still love your tile block quilt[minature].

  7. Both your little tile quilts and your rail blocks are just wonderful! I want to drop everything and make some of each, but I.MUST.BE.STRONG!!

  8. I love the colors in your tile quilt! What a cool idea to journal with fabrics! I'd love to try that but know I lack the discipline to keep it going…
    Hooray for getting some fabric organized! I hope it helps you to be creative in your space :0)

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