Starbound Quilting And Tiny Scrap Sort Progress

Hello Quilty Friends! Just a quick update on my quilting progress since our last chat. A little over half of the Starbound quilt is finished, and since it’s entirely ruler work, it’s taking a bit more time. I’m hoping to have it off the frame by Thursday evening. You can find more details on this quilt and pattern by clicking here.

I spent a couple of days bouncing between quilting and sorting tiny scraps. I dumped them all onto the cutting table, thinking I’d cut them as I sorted....bad idea. There are way more one inch and larger pieces than I expected. So, they’re now sorted into “trash” and “keep” piles, and I’ll cut them little by little as I find the time. I’ll keep you updated on how long it takes.

This scrap bin had a few surprises, I found some applique circles and simple applique leaf shapes. I’m pretty sure they ended up there by accident, since I never throw away applique scraps. Of course, I added them to my applique scrap box. By the way, if you’re curious about making perfect circle appliques, I have a picture tutorial and a video tutorial you can check out here.

I was shocked at how much fabric was larger than one inch. Cutting them into usable pieces is going to take some time.   Sure, I could just toss it, but…sigh…the battle between me and the tiny fabric hoard is real.

Which do you think has more fabric, the keep pile or the trash? I considered weighing them on the kitchen scale but decided it didn’t matter. Regardless of how much the keeper box weighs, the cutting journey is going to be long..

The pretty little fabric scraps are in the trash. It’s hard to let them go.....sad but true. I’m emotionally attached to them. If you’ve ever seen the show Hoarders, that’s me when it comes to fabric. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go rescue them. 

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Scrap Saver System ~ One Inch?

Starting a fabric scrap saver system takes some thought, and it should fit your quilting style. What’s my style? I’m not really sure. I just know I love fabric and quilts. I do know I’m drawn to bright fabrics...think of a box of crayons without the black and brown. And with fabric prices always climbing, I like to hang on to every bit, because sometimes those tiny scraps turn out to be surprisingly useful.

For my scrap system I'll be cutting the strips and squares 1", 1.5", 2", 2.5, 3", 3.5", 4.5", 5" and 6.5". 

Wide backing fabric scraps will not be cut or put into the scrap saver system unless they are less than 5" wide.  The way I see it those larger long pieces of fabric can be pieced into a wide backing.

 This post was inspired by Carol.  She commented on my last post which was about cutting fabrics for my new scrap saver system.  She wanted to know what I planned to do with the 1" strips.

Well, years ago I made the quilt below with 1" squares. They were scraps from my Promenading Tulips quilt.  It was a spur of the moment thing, I didn't plan to use them until I saw all the cute little scraps on my cutting table and thought, "they are too pretty to put in the trash".

Around the same time, I made this mini Ocean Waves quilt, also scraps from the Tulip quilt. The HSTs were created using the flippy corners method. This mini quilt is currently in storage, and I don’t want to dig it out to check the finished size of the HSTs, but judging by the cutting mat in the image, they appear to be about 3/4" finished.

I enjoy working with tiny fabric pieces now and then, but not all the time. The quilt below was also made using leftover flippy corner scraps.

And let’s not forget applique. The center of the flower shown below is smaller than half an inch, so as you can see, small scraps are definitely a good thing for me.

We took the long way around to answer Carol’s question, but the truth is I only have one project in mind that uses 1" strips...the OMIGOSH quilt pattern by Sue Garmen. I bought the pattern 2-4 years ago but haven’t been brave enough to start. The quilt finished size is too small for my taste, I prefer large, bed sized quilts. So, using her pattern, I did the math to make more blocks. Looks like I’ll need to start saving a lot more scraps—probably about two years’ worth! HAHA!

Now it's confession time.  I save pieces smaller than one inch.  However, in the last few years I've limited myself on what I can save.  Not every tiny scrap is saved anymore.  Rules have to be put in place for fabric hoarders like me.  My rule is... I can save it if it will fit in this drawer.  As you can see its pretty full and there's quite a few 1" strips.  Hmmm....if I add them to the scrap saver system it would free up space for more tiny bits of precious fabric in this bin!

It's been a while since I last dug through it ...so while I got it out I had to dump it and take a look.  Notice the TINY pieces less than 1".

Oh, what the heck I deserve a little playtime, let's dump it all!

This picture lets me know the hoarding isn't quite as controlled as I like to think. HAHA!

Smooshing it down so it will fit back in the rolling cart.  Looks like there's more room in there than I thought!  Yah!

EDIT This post was written on Wednesday morning and was set to publish on Friday.  Well Thursday morning I woke up, walk past the sewing room and saw the scraps of a fabric and made a major decision.

I think it's time to let go of anything less than 1".  I don't know what happened while I slept but if you're reading this, I'm still feeling the same.  The tiny scraps need to go.  

The way I see it now is...there's more fabric in my sewing room than I could possibly use in my lifetime.  Should the need arise for itty bitty pieces of fabric I can cut them from larger pieces of fabric.

So, it's settled.  I'm going to start purging this drawer and putting what I can into the scrap saver system. It's going to take a day or two (maybe more) to sort through this bin, press and cut anything 1 inch or larger.  

 By doing this I'm bending my own rule for the scrap saver system which was to only process fabrics from current projects. 

Up to this point my scraps have been sorted by color and stored in drawers under my quilt frame. For years I thought it best to leave them as they were until I had a plan for them. To process all of them into a scrap saver system would be overwhelming.   

 

  About 10 years ago I started cutting my scraps using Bonnie system, but it quickly became scary and overwhelming.   My plan now for these bins is to never add new scraps to them but gradually try to work them into the scrap saver system as I make quilts from them.

Why the big shift in how I feel about fabric scraps?  A YouTube channel called From Small Things.  I've been watching her channel since the first video was published, about a year and half ago.  And in that year and half she has swayed my opinion on the scrap saver system and how to best use your scraps without being overwhelmed or having way too much of them. It'll take a few years (if ever) for me to get to where Sue is with her system but I'm going to give it shot.

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Scrap Saver System Reboot ~ Quilting UFO Scrap Quilt

Back in May, I decided to start a scrap saver system...again. The picture below was taken on May 3rd. I’ve tried this before but quickly became overwhelmed because I have so many scraps. This time, my plan is to cut only the scraps produced from current projects, with the exception of blue jeans and flannel shirts. My husband’s holey old flannel shirt has been waiting nearly a year to be taken apart, and I finally tackled it this weekend.

The picture below is what I accomplished on May 8th.  There are strips and squares ranging from 5 inches down to 1 inch, along with some circles cut for the yo-yo quilt I started last year. 

The leftover scrap 3-patch units from the Purple Iris quilt were added to the orphan block storage. 

This weekend was spent cutting up the latest scraps and putting away the larger pieces that were too big for the scrap saver system.

Right now, the scrap saver system is small. The plan is to keep the scraps visible because, as we all know, out of sight is out of mind...they need to be right in front of me. That’s also how I’ve been tackling UFOs, and it seems to be working. I’ve finished a lot of them over the last two years since I started keeping them out in the open in clear containers. 

I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect clear containers while shopping. The larger one came from Meijer’s tote section, the two smaller rectangular ones are from the Dollar Tree, and the square box is an Art Bin from a Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box a few years ago.

For now, everything can fit into the larger box.

I recently picked up a clear food storage container at the Dollar Tree. It’s a bit flimsy, so I wouldn’t trust it for carrying food, but it’s perfect for holding strips of fabric.

Flannel and denim are stored separately in a drawer under my longarm frame, and it’s getting pretty full. I probably have enough now for at least two full sized quilts. That’s what happens when you tell friends and family not to throw out their worn out jeans and flannel shirts.  

With all the fabric sorted and stored away it was time to load another quilt to the frame.  

We all have our favorite part of the quilting process. Normally, anything other than the actual quilting would be my favorite. But for some reason, I’m on a roll and really enjoying the quilting itself right now. While I’m in the mood, I might as well keep going. So yesterday, I loaded another quilt on the frame, and right out of the gate had to spend a little time with Jack the Ripper. At least I caught the error early. This little mishap didn't discourage me in the slightest.

Not too long after the mishap it was time to shut down the sewing room for the day.  So, I took a quick look at what I had completed.  Looks pretty good except for one little missed piano key. 

 Today is going to be a busy day with little to no time for quilting so I stuck a pin in it as a reminder.

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Posies and Pinwheels ~ UFO Finish

Today's UFO quilt top finish is a quilt made with the scraps of the quilt in my previous post.  

Finishing at 48 x 48 makes her a great size for a baby quilt or spring table topper.  

The backing was pieced from the remaining quilt top scraps and the backing fabric I used on the other quilt mentioned above.

The pattern for this quilt came from a magazine, but the chances of still having that issue are slim since I’ve given away about half of my magazine stash. So, I just went with the first name that popped into my head and put it on a label.

A few days after making the label and sewing it to the backing I stumbled upon the image below on Pinterest. This is the second or third time this happened recently, it's kind of weird and spooks me.  Is the web paying attention or the powers that be? (insert Twilight Zone music) Anyway...Much to my surprise there was a link attached to the image.   The link went to a stand-alone pattern and in the description for the quilt was the when and where it had been published originally.  I'm pretty sure I gave that magazine to my aunt a few years ago who had just started quilting.

The name? Little Blossoms...so much cuter than Posies and Pinwheels, but by then it was too late. The label had already been made and sewn to the backing. I also realized I’d left out some appliqué, and knowing myself, it was probably to make the quilting easier.

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