Scrap therapy

I was clearing my sewing space and decided to just finish some 'stuff' up before I start anything new (What?! You've heard that before??!!) Well anyway, my plan was going well as I had a few handbags cut out and almost ready so they were quick to think about :-)
But then suddenly a bag of scraps caught my eye...



I decided I couldn't throw them out. I'd make blocks, blocks are better that strips... and blocks became more blocks...


I made 52 or so of these very scrappy log cabins. They work out a 6" finished size. Not sure what I'll do with them yet...


But once I started I couldn't stop. Definite scrap therapy and fun to do :-)



On the homefront, I awoke this morning to a small child chatting away about something. When I opened my eyes he was colouring....



his legs, his hands, my bed sheet, my elbow...

Scraps? Yes, please!

Erm, well that's what I always say, but when I went to tidy my sewing room I noticed that I was becoming a scrap collector LOL! 'Grumps' put a curtain rail up in the spare room where I have a temporary sewing space and to enable him to get to the window, I had to move my sewing table which I have now admitted was far too large for the space. So large in fact that I could hardly sew at it. Sounds crazy, but it allowed almost no space for a chair in front of it before meeting the bed. Sooooo, the table has come out, I've had a little tidy and I have reduced 2 bags of African scraps into...



55 (untrimmed) string blocks and half a bag of almost useless crumbs which I will probably just send to DS1's nursery. One of the bags came from an SA friend and I have had them for ages, the other bag was scraps from blocks I've made. Oh, it's good to use scraps!!!

DH allowed me to sew in the lounge for 2 nights. I got to watch tv and just sew, sew, sew. I'm thinking of doubling the blocks by adding a black HST to each...



But at least now they are more usable in this form.



I have a few swaps to attend to and then I plan to attack another box of scraps! Those string blocks are fun and make up really fast.


On the T-shirt front, the "mom' phoned to say that twins loved their gifts and DH said he saw one of my dinosaur t-shirts at kids tennis coaching that afternoon.


Of course you can never get kids to pose...



However, he did wear his for 2 days so I'll definitely make some more soon... keep your eyes peeled, because if I get really good, I'll put some in my shop :-) or you can custom order one [sewkalico at yahoo dot co dot uk]

Spot the difference

Anyone got any good ideas for some big navy triangles? Don't ask, just don't ask!! But I managed to cut them too small, first cutting the most enormous squares and then cutting the diagonals only to find when I attached them that I hadn't added a seam allowance! I can't believe I did that - although now I am pleased, because that means that this scrappy quilt gets to be even scrappier. I have used bits of my absolute favourite colour: plum. I didn't have one big piece, but I used my raspberry (or is it plum LOL) Fossil Fern piece that I was saving (not sure what for), some plum stars and some other plummy purples. I am a few triangles short so feeling virtuous that I am not buying backing fabric because I will be piecing a scrappy back, I placed a little order with Chris for some other plum stars. I hope it will arrive tomorrow, so I can keep the momentum going on this quilt top.

Not much sewing, but soon...

Yesterday DH moved the wardrobes up to the new bedroom, this meant unpacking them all and repacking them again. It's amazing how it's easier to unpack than to repack. Somehow you can't just sling it back in as before, you feel the need to tidy it back, weird? Not like me at all LOL!
Here's the view from the new bedroom window

Here's an action shot of DH vaccuuming the carpet so that I have no excuse, but to repack the wardrobe...

Here's the view from the en-suite


So not much sewing done, although I did make a few decisions and did some preparation along these lines...

1. I am going to use my stash to piece together a backing fabric for my scrapbuster top and I will not be buying backing fabric. So I went through my boxes and chose fabric that I had liked at one point, but couldn't see myself using for a while as well as left over fabrics from other projects that would remind me of things when I turn the quilt over..Now I just need to sew them all together!

2. I am setting the scrapbuster quilt top on point and I am not buying any fabric for this purpose. In fact last night after packing some of the wardrobes back, I cut out the setting triangles (after much mathematical muddling on my part) from a large piece of navy fabric that I had. I was pleased to use this up as I had bought it by mistake! Don't ask, let's just say it looked like black when I bought it online LOL. The squares had to be 23" so it was a real fiddle to cut, but they are done now and waiting to be attached as soon as ...

3. I washed the fabrics for the hospital quilts, I hope to make a start tonight. They are very simple so I hope when I visit Vicky tomorrow, I will have at least one or 2 to take with me... this will depend on how my day pans out! As well as if I get the fabrics cut, ironed, pinned, sewn... Where does one find the time?

Boomerang scraps

I felt very virtuous last week when I gave a big bag of scraps to Jack's nursery.... corners from snowball blocks and lots and lots of little strips. And today I felt warm and fuzzy to see lots of little toddlers sticking bits of fabric to paper. Here is Jack's creation. I wanted to clear out (especially after watching a programme on TV last week about hoarders who all had Obesssive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - I have OCD for fabric definitely! -) so I was in turmoil about taking his artwork home. Would that be adding my scraps back to my stash?