Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Scrap Busting

I have a serious love-hate relationship with scraps.  I really love scrappy quilts, but the actual scraps kinda stress me out.  I think because they never go away.  As hard as I try, I never feel like I have them under control.  I know I should just get rid of them--give them away, sell them, but then I really don't want to part with them.  When I sew with scraps, I would rather be cutting into stash.  When I sew with stash, I feel that guilt of adding to my scraps pile.  It's really kind of ridiculous and almost embarrassing.  I have started buying smaller cuts of fabric, fat quarters or quarter yards.  That seems to help my guilt.  
Inspiration for these blocks was found here.  Modified a little.  

7 comments:

  1. That sounds so familiar. I add to the neurosis by planning secondary & tertiary uses for the fabrics that I buy. I prefer scrappy quilts so I rarely use the whole fat quarter. So I cut for pattern "A" then "B" then "C" etc. Which means that I don't usually have all of the "number" of pieces that I need for Quilt "B", "C", or "D" when I start cutting for that project, so I have scrap bags hanging out waiting for another dose of scrap infusion. My final oddity - I strongly prefer to do all of step A before moving onto Step B. So the scrap bags don't begin to become empty until I have all of the fabrics chosen...

    (I have given a lot away - not that you can tell.)

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  2. I know what you mean. All those beautiful little pieces. I almost never know what to do with them. But then I'll see one that is perfect for a key fob, or a needle book, or the applique of something else and I just keep reminding myself that it's ok to continue to own them with no definite plan for them.

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  3. I've never thought of scraps as stressing before, but I can see what you mean. My bins are so packed full that I can't dig around without half falling out. Your quilt is a good start to using them. I need to get back to finishing mine!

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  4. I agree that it's soooo much nicer to cut straight from stash. Takes a lot less effort and time. That's why I generally try to sew 'make fabric' type quilts from the scraps. Less precision cutting.:)

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  5. I would love to trade scraps. I love love love scrap quilts but am tired of using my same scraps over and over again. But then, on some level, I still love them and can't bare to just get ride of them. (Thinking of what I paid for them also keeps me from throwing them out. )

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  6. I love scrap quilts, and I love sewing with scraps. If I ever get back to quilting, I mean, when I get back to quilting, I think I'm just going to buy scrap bags instead of yardage. I usually just want a smidgen of this and smidgen of that anyway.

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  7. I love scrap quilts as well. I'd almost always rather use scraps than stash when sewing, but I still end up with way too many scraps. I'm actually getting ready to start a quilt with a pattern very similar to this (from Sunday Morning Quilts) using a lot of my Christmas fabrics and low volume. I love it because it's so simple and "brainless" work. I can do it while helping with kids with schoolwork, watching a movie, etc. Anyway, I love your version! And if you ever do want to sell or swap scraps, I'm always happy to help! :)

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