________ Bucket ?

Did you say "scrap"?  If so, you're probably a quilter or know one really well.  Of course it's a scrap bucket: it's a bucket made of scraps but it's also made for scraps.  I know, I've gotten a little too silly about a fabric bucket, but when I get to mix language and quilts, I can't seem to control myself.

And if you think my silliness is tedious, maybe it's good that you don't get to see me when I'm off the meds!  It's not pretty.

So, back to the bucket (cause that's more interesting anyway), I saw a photo on the Quilting Board about two weeks ago and decided that I had to make one.  I think there may be directions, but I decided to wing it.  

I started out by using the waste basket in the studio to draw a circle about the size I wanted on some old fabric from mom's stash that I should have tossed out.  It's yellowed and smells of moth balls, and has blotches of blue ink (or something unrecognizable) and couldn't have been very pretty new.  But I couldn't toss it, so I decided it would make a good "prototype fabric"--my word for fabric used to make my own patterns.  

Once I had a circle, I decided to use some scraps and some unused blocks rejected in other projects.   I measured the perimeter of the circle to get the width measurement for the bucket sides and chose the height based on the size of the rejected project block.  

I sewed scraps together and added them to the reject block to get the width I needed, then quilted it with large feathers and scrolls and squiggles--basically anything--just to get finished quickly.  In the end my winging it worked out beautifully, and what should have been the pattern, well, it IS the bucket.....ugly fabric, scraps fabrics, and rejected block.

I didn't see this blue stain till after the fact.

To help it stand open when empty, instead of batting in the bottom, I used a heavy interfacing and added some thin wire in the top.  Of course, the interfacing was adding during construction, but the wire was an afterthought.  

I simple slipped the wire into the binding and fed it through until it went completely around the top. Then I cut the wire and pushed the cut end into the binding so that the wire is completely enclosed in the fabric.  Now I can shape the top to stay open so that when I toss scraps in, it's easy to dunk them.

I also added two large handles that stick out from the sides to make it easier to grab and also so they will flip up over the top of the basket to make carrying easier.  All in all, I'm really pleased with my scrap bucket.  


Richard was a bit impressed but Adam begged me to make him one just because it's cute and looks fairly useful.  He's not getting one, of course, but it was funny that he wanted a fabric bucket for no real reason.  Imagine him going on a job with his tools in a pretty, quilted fabric bucket his mom made!  Now that's a man!