Scrap Management

Anyone who's quilted for any length of time has already found out that quilting defies some of the basic laws of physics.  For example, if a quilt pattern calls for, say, 4 yards of fabric, you go to the fabric store, buy your 4 yards of fabric and make your quilt top.  BUT, at the end of this process you will in fact have 3.94517 yards of fabric LEFT OVER in scraps.  Yes, it's true.  Ask any quilter.  And if you put those scraps in a bin of some sort you will have even more scraps, as they multiply when we're not looking.

So it's not surprising that scrap quilting is such a huge industry, really an entity unto itself.  Like all quilters, I've made my share of these projects.


Here are 2 little ones that I made when I first started quilting.

This one I made maybe 2 or 3 years ago.  It's an eye jiggler, isn't it?  It's actually a very easy pattern of taking a standard Courthouse Step block, cutting it up, and reassembling it.







But recently I've discovered a new Scrap Obsession:

Yo-Yos!!  These little beauties truly eat fabric scraps.  And they're fun and easy to make, thanks to the Clover Yo-Yo makers you see in the picture.





I haven't done nearly enough projects with these as I would like.  But a few things have been really fun, and I like how they turned out.

This is a simple coat of a lightweight fleece material that I've had for a long time.  I embellished the sleeves with yo-yos and buttons.

Here is the other sleeve.  I also put a few on the pockets.  I followed Linda's First Rule of Embellishment:  If some is good, more must be better!

Flip-flops are practically year-round footwear here in Florida.  So these have gotten alot of wear.









I've collected a few quilts over the years, too.  Here's a scrap quilt I picked up at a yard sale years ago.

The picture doesn't do justice to the fact that this defies logic on pretty much every level.

Here is the back.  A horse, a ship, the feather pen on the bottom, there's also a picture of a castle as part of the print.  Huh?  What?

I'd love to meet the maker of this quilt.  I'd give her a big hug, then say, "HONEY.  WHAT were you THINKING?"  Then I'm betting cocktails would be in order.