Inspired by Bonnie Hunter at a recent Guild meeting, I have pulled out the scrap bins and "shopped" at home. I don't know why I hadn't been shopping at home all along! Years ago, inspired and fired-up by the very same quiltmaker, I took all of my scraps leftover from other projects and dutifully cut them up into squares and bricks in usable sizes, employing Bonnie's 'Scrap User's System'. I labeled my bins accordingly and put them under my cutting table, it's where they live. Occasionally I would get them out, the granddaughters like to create using the bins of pre-cut small squares for doll-sized quilts; but other than that, they languished-- out of sight, out of mind. I had forgotten the most basic premise of this system, the reason I spent all of those days weeks months cutting up the scraps in the first place, this is designed to be the Scrap USER'S System, not the Scrap SAVER's System! During Bonnie's inspirational program and spectacular show-and-tell of her myriad of finished quilts she kept reminding those of us in the audience to shop our own stashes. Yes, she said, go and buy new too, mix it in; but remember: for every yard of already owned fabric that you use you are earning yourself a pass to purchase that much more. Hmmm, I wondered, how much do I have already stashed that needs to be used up. How can I earn myself a pass to buy more without guilt attached? I set out to shop at home and see what was right under my nose. The first bin that needed my attention was that of the 2.5" X 4.5" bricks; the bin was crammed full of so many that the lid didn't fit anymore! (see, Scrap SAVING was getting me nowhere!) I removed the contents and while straightening and sorting these pre-cut rectangles I grouped them into contrasting pairs by fours. I chain-pieced them together.
There were lots and lots of pairs (times four)!
Then, I cut the paired bricks diagonally from corner to corner.
I shuffled the pieces to make two Twin Sister blocks, one positive and one negative. These were then sewn together as shown and trimmed into one 5.5" block, unfinished. I did this over and over.
The results are above, a start to a charity quilt; more rows will be added to make it a nice, usable size. Next month our little mission church is beginning a quilt ministry to create donation quilts (and blankets and afghans) for disaster relief. This is but a small seed that will grow toward that effort. I am feeling quite pleased to have spent such a small amount of time, in reality, making something from what I already had. But this newly-inspired me didn't stop there, oh NO!
Gregory needs a big boy quilt on his bed to replace his tattered and thread bare Picture Play Quilt. (Nothing thrills me more than to have a quilt worn-out from love! 💗) He said that he would like one that is tan, green and blue. I designed a few layouts in EQ8 and he selected his favorite (above). My original plan was to shop for fabric when I'm at Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival later this week. But then I remembered that I have my own home shopping club! Back to the bins: for squares and rectangles that meet the criteria. How much more fun will this one be? A tan, green and blue quilt made from pieces that Nana has saved (and now is USING!). I am giddy with excitement. I don't feel one bit bad about shopping outside the home for a consistent sashing and/or border fabric; not at all. What do you have in your own home that you can "shop" for? You might just be surprised!
Oh, and in case you think that this new-found excitement and inspiration may wear off; not a chance. I bought Bonnie's newest book at the meeting, I'm good for months years!
Life is Good!
10 comments:
I love Bonnie's Leaders & Enders ideas! I just keep plugging along with those and will have a lovely cozy scrap quilt or two one day, almost like magic. :-) I have scrap bins but basically anything bigger than a 2.5" strip goes into a bigger bin that I sell at Peaks by weight (we call them Chubbs). I recently acquired TWO stashes from ladies who were downsizing. I now have 29 boxes total. Oh my. I guess I need to do MANY more scrap quilts. :D
another convert! everything you said (and bonnie) is sooo very true...i have shopped from my scraps plenty of times. right now my 2.5" strip shoebox is chock full and i have found a few patterns using them...oh what fun to revisit old fabrics AND practice that old yankee mantra....use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!
Bonnie is my hero. I love her philosophy on quilting.
Yes, I think this is the year of make do, use it up, wear it out! It's amazing what we have squirreled away in those bins, just waiting to be re-shopped and finally seeing light of day. Have fun!
Brava! Feels good to reap the benefit of cutting all those pieces down. I’ve made a lot of different quilts from my precut bins. I do find the 1.5” squares and strips multiply fastest and are harder for me to use. I’m thinking Chinese coin placemats would be fun.
I started cutting my scraps into Bonnie's system years ago, but only just started. Then as I was working on quilts I found I often wanted pieces that weren't the sizes I had been cutting. I wished I had left some of my scraps alone so that I could cut a different shape or size. So I quit pre-cutting. :) But I still love to shop from stash.
I also love Bonnie's patterns and have made many, but I cut as needed.
Isn't she a fun presenter? So real and down to earth!
Your blocks are very cute. I love the way they are constructed.
Shopping the stash is the best part -- finally finding "the" project to USE that fabric purchase from the past. And your quilts will have more depth and interest!! Wonderful post!!
Yep, I too started cutting scraps using Bonnie's system years ago, and need start using these pieces. Have you found EQ8 much of a learning curve from EQ7?
Great job! I’m off to retreat and will be working on her Tumbler quilt a leaders and Ender project from a few years ago.
You and Bonnie are inspirations! I have been using Bonnie's Scrap User System for years also but I too end up saving more than using...
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