16 Patch and Sorting the Scraps

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Not much sewing got done here last week, just my 16 patch blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in light blue.  Lots of pirate squares in here, plus bugs and chickens and Clifford the Big Red Dog, etc.  

I like sharing these blocks with quilters.  You get how much fun it is sewing little pieces together.  People who don't quilt (like my great-grandfather) are often mystified trying to understand why we buy fabric, cut it up, and sew it back together.

Maybe I'd get more time to sew if I wasn't spending so much time buying fabric!  The last few weeks have been amazing, and the Endless Stash is even more endless, if that could be possible.

The best Stash Enhancing eXperience of every year is the annual rummage sale at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, held just over a week ago.  This is a MAJOR event, and I am so thankful for all the people who donate fabric and other items, and for the volunteers who organize, price, and staff the sale.  This year, the museum made over $17,000.00!

For all us shoppers, it does not disappoint!  Pictured here is the regular cotton yardage I bought, after it was washed and folded.  There are fat quarters, half yards, one yard pieces, and quite a few pieces with multiple yards.  All the sizes are approximate, of course, since these were donated fabrics and not cut to measure.

Next are the flannels!  When the prices are this amazing and the prints are so cute, my resistance is easily overcome.  There are giraffe prints, and monkeys and cats and trucks and ABCs and everything!

My first love is scraps, of course!  And I brought home all of these from the sale.  I already had a stack of scraps from the yard sale a couple of weeks ago, so these got added to the pile.

Then last Wednesday night on the way to quilt group, my friend Nancy Queen of Scraps gave me a big bag of mostly novelty print scraps for kid quilts.  Plus another friend brought two big bins of yardage and scraps to the guild meeting from a quilter relocating, and I snagged some of that too.

So now what?  The yardage was easy to put away, although some bins are suffering from overcrowding. But in order to use the scraps, I have to sort them.  This is my system, for what it's worth.

I divide my scraps into Big Scraps and Cutting Scraps.  Big Scraps are cut as needed for a project.  Cutting scraps are trimmed and stored.

This is the resulting pile of Big Scraps.  I call them Big Scraps if they're at least 6 in. wide but less than a fat quarter.  They're rubber banded together by color and stored in a bushel basket.  This works well  any time I need a specific color, or for the RSC.  When a color is called, I can pull out a bundle and start cutting.

An ironing board can be a good place to sort scraps.  As long as Snicklefritz the cat is elsewhere!

The coast is clear, he's sleeping in the dog bed.
 

Here's the Big Scrap basket after the sorting was done. Wonder how many quilts I can make with this?

So now it's down to the Cutting Scraps.  Some of the pieces will just be trimmed into squares or strips and stored until the right project comes along. As I'm trimming, I'll also cut these scraps into pieces I need for current projects and to make kits for myself. 

Like this one!  The small squares in the box will make 9 patch blocks in green or aqua/blue (right in line with the RSC!).  The striped fabric came from the museum sale and will be alternate blocks. For borders, I'm thinking a narrow blue inner border with a wider green outer border, but I could change my mind once the blocks are made, so I haven't cut them yet.

Meanwhile, back at summertime...

We spent a lovely day at a local lake.  Buddy is holding up a rock he found, and Little Guy has his sand toy.  That's Grandpa in the background.

These guys really know how to pose!  They were on a hiking trail near the swimming area.

Our little strawberry patch is making us all very happy lately.  Summer is such a tasty time of year!

Have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy