Mari, you are right, that is a great name for this quilt. So it shall be.
Rebecca, when you said what I wrote yesterday, "Having a stash is pretty cool, but being able to make practically an entire quilt from fabrics in your scrap bins is pretty amazing," it was both amazing and terrifying, I know exactly what you mean.
Way back in 2013 or 2014, I made the blocks for this quilt. (MHT2MEM) I made the blocks from scraps that came out of the little accessory bins where I store all my tiny scraps.
After I made the first block, I put the leftover bits back in the little bin.
The box looked no emptier than it had before I got started. But it was an AHA moment for me. If I could make a 16" square block out of scraps in this bin, and the bin was still pretty full, how many other blocks were waiting in the little bins...
And then my brain exploded when I looked at all the fabric in my stash. OH SCRAP! It was indeed a terrifying thought, knowing how much fabric I had, and just how many quilts were hidden in there, waiting to be discovered. All that fabric... I had better get busy.
Until that point I had pretty much made "Arty" quilts. Once I realized just HOW MUCH FABRIC I had, I started making quilts that would USE IT ALL UP.
I made the first scrap slab triangle quilt as a way of using up the scraps. I confess before I started there were some bins that were just overflowing with fabric and the tops would barely close. Now it's better, but there is still a hell of a lot of fabric in my stash and in my bins. I'm not getting any younger, and I want to be the one to use up all that fabric before I meet my maker.
So, Rebecca, the answer is most definitely YES. It is in fact rather terrifying that the quilt All Together Now was in my SCRAP BINS waiting to be put together into something greater than the sum of its parts.
So if you have fabric, MAKE QUILTS! They don't have to be fussy to be awesome. Look, I sewed my black scraps into made fabric (slabs) and then cut them into triangles and added side triangles and will have a pretty cool quilt when all is said and done. It isn't rocket science.
If you need help you can get my Scrap Slab Triangle tutorial here, at my Etsy shop. It is an instant download so you can get started right away, but you will also need the Tri-Recs Ruler set.
7 comments:
You always totally amaze me, and you always make me look through my bins of "scraps". Thank you for pushing all of us forward.
Love your scrap system, I have them in different containers and bags and have lost complete oversight and that’s paralyzing. Also the thought when I make something out of all my scraps I still have enough uncut fabric to start a quiltshop is overwhelming. I try not to think about it too much, happy thoughts, I’m already making a scrapquiltfrom HST’s, I just have to cut the last pieces to the right size and start sewing it all together. Take care, Shirley from the Netherlands
A most excellent post!
Gotta say that I consider the quilts you have been making art or "Art".
Big A or little a they all make a statement of balance in line /design, color and flow. That takes an eye and a will to make it so.
It is amazing how quickly one can build inventory, and how long it takes to use it up. I started tracking my ins and outs in 2017 and have a goal of using up a net 100 meters a year. Four years of tracking later, it still doesn't look like my stash has gone down! But the pile of finished quilts is definitely getting bigger.
I am so inspired by your slab quilts. I too collect scraps. It's hard to find a use for the crumbs - less than 2 1/2", but I like this idea of making fabric and putting them to use.
People know I make scrap quilts and so they donate bags and boxes to me. I end up with a lot of fabrics that have a lot of contrast and have a hard time using those. I like fabrics that are blenders or low contrast. I like how you keep some things the same (color or value) so there isn't so much contrast within the block.
Would love to hear your ideas about using high contrast fabrics.
I like your comment "I want to be the one to use up all my fabric before I meet my maker." I think that secretly all quilters want that! (So they can Live Long and Prosper!)
I hadn't seen this MHT2MEM quilt before. Hmm, I could do this one out of my fabric bins. Maybe start with the bitty scrap bags...
Post a Comment