Saturday, December 1, 2012

________ 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!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well I think you should make one for Adam, mabey pink with a nice lace border. I'm sure he'd appreciate it very much and if not the rest of us sure would! PS... Don't make it to tall because he won't be able to dunk his scraps in it!

Mary Marcotte said...

Thanks, "Anonymous" for your comment, but I imagine that pink with a lace border would more likely be snatched by Marley. The short comment, was mean Will, so stop teasing your brother.

Carla said...

They are rather fun aren't they !?

jenclair said...

Oh, you could make him one with a camouflage fabric!
And one for the snarky boy, Will, too! :)

Anonymous said...

Ouch, the "Anonymous" comment could have just as easily belonged to Rory but an educated assumption places me at the scene of the crime everytime, huh...And is Snarky the new slang for a combination of tall, dark and handsome or dreamy? I've seemed to have forgotten but thanks for the complement! Oh and a camo bucket would be cool if it had a flap to keep shotgun shells from falling out, ofcourse Lane and Rory would want one too and if you could find oilfeild camo it would be even cooler! One more thing...how do I make a URL so I can quit posting as anonymous?

Mary Marcotte said...

I think one might be able to call a Marcotte granddaughter "snarky" on occasion. Here's the deal: you find the oil field camo and I'll make the buckets. If's it just regular camo with oil poured on, let's wait till I finish the sewing to embellish the fabric. And you forgot dad....he might want a bucket, too.

You can just click on name/url and type in your name, I think. If not go to blogger.com and sign up. You don't have to create the blog, just use the url.

Unknown said...

I figured out that i can use my exsisting google settup to make snarky remarks on your blog but i think I'll just try to be positive today. Thanks Jen, i actually learned a new word today even though i'm sure we've both misused it and mom please don't use that world in reference to my girls. Oooh and oilfeild camo is a real pattern but I don't know where to buy some...its all the rage down south and purses/scarves with a little oilfeild camo worked in would be a big hit, you should seriously look into it.