I started a project this summer to combine a couple of sewing spaces into one. This turned into quite the project, organizing my scraps into color-coordinated piles and figuring out a way to store them where I wouldn’t lose track of what I had. Well, you wouldn’t believe what I found stashed here and there among my sewing stuff!
I must have had an orphaned block or two from every quilt or demo I have done for the last five-plus years. I began to lay them all out. As I found them, the ideas started to flood in. These blocks weren’t all the same size, but I figured if I could get them to a common size I could make the mother of all scrap quilts! Haha!
I went to the design wall and began to “build”. I decided on an 8½” diamond as my common size, meaning I could use two 8½” triangles to fill up the same amount of space.
I thought a color graduating layout would allow for some oddball different shades as I worked with what I had.
In some cases, I sewed the smallest units together to build bigger units and then added a random black and white stripe or other graphic print to fill where needed.
I could have just sewed more of the same color in these areas, but there’s something fun and unexpected about adding these stripes. And in a way, it pulled all those crazy blocks together with a little bit of a common theme.
The colors came together, and I just worked on it as I had time. It was on the design wall for a little while, and every time I walked by I would grab more pieces and arrange another block worth of scraps. I have to admit it did start to get exciting once the colors were all laid out. I was on a mission to use every last scrap…. Haha, dream on!
Once I had all the blocks formed, I trimmed everything up to 8½” diamond by using my Large 60-Degree Diamond Ruler. Most of them were already about that size with an odd strip hanging out here or there.
I sewed the blocks to each other in diagonal rows. I pressed the seams between blocks open, to make for less bulk in the intersections, and sewed the rows together into two halves. Then, I sewed the final diagonal seam to join the two sides and it was done!
But wait, there’s more! Of course, I had a million flannel scraps and strips from other backings. I decided to just sew a bunch of those together for the back. I pressed the seams open between each of these strips to disperse the bulk.
I quilted it up with my go-to straight lines, meandering back and forth, to fill up the diamond shapes and it looks quite cool from the back.
I added a striped binding to cap it all off. Now, I am the happy owner of the mother of all scrap quilts!
Boy, is it a happy quilt too! Just look at all those colors. It’s fun to think back on the quilts they came from and projects that have come and gone. This quilt tells a story!
I was also thinking this process can be done with any shape. I can see adding square blocks together, or squares and rectangles into a common size. You could make your colors shade or work them into big block units and then put those together… the possibilities are endless 🙂
Happy Sunday everyone,
Krista
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