Scraps into Buckets...double-dipped finishes

I didn't have as much time this week for sewing as I had hoped, but on Wednesday I played hookey from school, which helped very much. Last week I started work on a new project using the blue scraps and left over scraps from other projects. 

I really should not post these but they are so cute, and I'm desperate for something to write about. Aww, it'll be okay. 

But, I can't tell you anything about what they are for, of course.  I thought you might enjoy the eye candy though. I guess it's okay to call these eye candy...I plan to use the smallest one to hold candy so there's that. 

 There are many. Lots. A whole lot. Seven right now. But I still have some of the quilted fabric. So guess what? Yes indeed. There will be more. We'll see how many. And what sizes. 

The thing is I've been double-dipping, of sorts. First I sewed the scraps together, then I quilted it, then I turned the quilted fabric into baskets. Second, one of the "patterns" that I'm using requires that I cut the corners off the fabric. Those corners, it turns out, can be sewn together. And if sewn together correctly, five of them will make a small basket.

But wait! There's more! (Sounds like an "As Seen On TV" ad, doesn't it?)  Two of the corners make the bottom of a long basket. So I'm using scraps to make scrap baskets; then I'm using the scraps from the baskets to make more baskets. 

How cool is it that by the time I'm done, I'll have created and used every scrap of the fabric I made from scraps? 

          Linking up with these favorites:

Crazy Mom Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Busy Hands Quilts

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Brag About It @ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies

More of the Little Things ~~ Finishes

As I was sewing earlier in the week, this mess kept getting in the way. When I had to rip out a perfectly good seam because a scrap had attached itself into the seam, I decided that enough was enough! 

I had to do something about the scraps that were spilling over the edges onto the floor and now into my sewing. I thought about finding a bucket in Richard's shed, but that would have required lots of cleaning and washing. Nah. I'm not one to wash a ratty old plastic bucket when I can whip up one in very little time. 

And, of course, since it's to be a scrap bucket, I made it from scraps. Some of those very ones that were bugging the heck out me by getting in the way.

I really wanted a bucket. One that would hold its shape and sit up straight and tall so that when I'd toss scraps in the right direction, I'd get it into the bucket. Maybe the ugly plastic one would have worked after all. But this one is much prettier.

To make it sit up straight and tall, I used four layers: the backing (which doesn't show in this picture) a layer of heavy Pelon interfacing, a layer cotton, and my stitched together scrap fabric.

I quilted it lightly using a wavy stitch that now looks as though it goes around and around the bucket.

I tried to keep the inside clean and low key so that I wouldn't be grabbing at a fake scrap--one that was sewn into the bucket. Instead, the inside is a light gray and off-white. It's pretty big also, this dark picture show what a pack of needles looks like inside--small.

 One of the things I like most about using scraps for projects is that I end up with a fun, changing design. Every time I turn or move the bucket, there's a different design and color, despite that I used some fabrics a couple of times.

One reason to use fabrics two or three times, is to give the bucket a cohesive look in the overall design. I really do like this little project. 













 Doesn't it look good on my sewing table? Now I have a large scrap bucket on the worktable and a small one on the sewing table. I wonder if I really have that many scraps...

This did not make a dent in the scraps! Well, not much even though I used scraps for every bit of it, including the batting, Pelon and backing fabric. 

Because there are so many scraps, I thought I'd make a few more pincushions. I know, they don't use up much scraps, but I am working on a large project and didn't want to get too far away from that. So here are some pictures of the pincushion that did get finished.

I know, that's lots of pictures for a little pincushion and a quilted bucket, but I like them so! What do you think? What projects are you working on?

Linking up with 
Crazy Mom Quilts  
Sew Fresh Quilts
Confessions of a Fabric Addict  

Bags and packages and buckets...

Apparently I'm not good at saying "Thank You."  On Saturday when two friends from my current bee group came for a play date, Erika gave Kelly and me each a little bag that she'd made.  Check it out--a pretty little bag! 

Open it up to discover, Yay!, a mini-charm pack and thread wax. How sweet is this?!  Yes, I do like it all.

Check out her very well-made gathers.  And the fabric!  Could a seamstress like it more? 

That was Saturday, then today I received this in the mail.  Of course, it didn't look like this: I played with the picture to remove some information.

I like packages.  Especially when I'm surprised by them.  I'd assumed that the Michael Miller Co. had run out before they got to me.  I guess they didn't. 

So I opened the package and found--ta da!

Michael Miller's Glitz 

After a little photo session with all the fun things, I decided to get some work accomplished.  I cleaned.  First, the refrigerator.  Oh no, I do not have photos of that!  You would not want to see the science experiments that were going on.  I will say, though, that when the in-laws came by, my mother-in-law complimented the clean fridge, but that's all you're getting.

After all the pats on the back I figured I was on a roll and should go into the studio, where the scrap pile was almost as high as the laundry.  I tackled the scrap pile.  Piles of yellow, tan, and green, meant a fairly well-kept studio.
    

I even put them away, something I never do with laundry! Wait for it, yes!  I did return the buckets to their rightful places in the cabinet.  Another pat on the back!

What have you done lately that deserves a pat on the back?

"the collective whole is my stash"

Pinterest photo

I was reading Rachel's post at "ps I quilt" (one of my regular reads). Lisa Lee's comment, "To me the collective whole is my stash" really spoke to me.  How succinctly Lisa Lee said exactly what I was thinking. 

scrap basket I made for a non-quilting
friend who gives me her scraps

The post asked about the difference between scraps and stash.  Before long, I began wondering why there has to be a distinction. 

Oh, I understand that there are those quilters who are a little OCD and need lines.  But some of us are a bit more laid back, and others simply don't know or make distinctions between scraps and stash.  I'm in the last of the three, sort of. 

I do now separate scraps simply because I have a way of doing so: this dark blue fabric basket--made from scraps. (I wrote about it here.)  But scraps are, in my mind at least, still part of the stash.  I make an effort to use the scraps so that they don't build up to overflowing, but I don't get crazy about it. 

I don't know that it matters as long as your system works for you.  For those who don't have a system, take your time in setting one up.  I have been in my studio for years and only recently began separating scraps.  I'm not sure that I even like this new way either, so I'm going to try it for a while.  If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the system I was using before: everything goes on the shelves.  In the meantime my little homemade scrap basket will do.
Happy Quilting,
Mary

________ 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!