Do You Love Blue?

The color combination of blue and white is heaven to me.  Blue has been my favorite color forever.  I love all blues.  For me, they all go together.  You can't go wrong. Combining blue with white makes a quilt, a room, an outfit,  crisp and clean.  Denim never seems to go out of fashion, but blue does tend to go in and out of style, even with quilting fabric.  So I have quite a stash.  A really, really big stash.  You have to buy it when you see it. About 25 % of my quilting fabric is blue.

 

My goal this past year has been to reduce my blue fabric stash. I actually have a bag of scraps that I just want to use up. It's pieces left over from other projects and outdated fabrics.

 

 This is Blue Scrap Quilt 1.0

 I made it using 2 1/2" strips to make the blocks. 

 Bailey just loves a new quilt.

 I even have a collection of blue and white plates.

 

The back was created from 9" and 18" squares. That really put a dent in the scrap bag.

 

I have 2 more tops that are waiting top be quilted. That will leave me with enough scraps to make one more quilt.  This has really put a crimp in my love affair with blue and white.

 

 

My Idea Of A Scrap Quilt

Sometimes I sit in my studio and look at all the fabric that I own.  All of the money that I have spent over the years, has certainly been my form of therapy.  If you had to guess how many yards of fabric 

you owned could you do it?  Would you want to do it? I couldn't guess and the thought of it makes me very uncomfortable. 

 As a former scientist, I can figure out a way to approximate  the yardage in my stash.  I can estimate  how much I have by weighing it.  Do I want to do this?  Heck No!!!  It's depressing enough looking at my bulging shelves.  Much of the fabric is outdated and would not be the focus of a quilt that I would design now.  I shy away from fabric stores and quilt shows, so I am not tempted to buy more, at least until I've used up some of what I already have.  If I need to create a project for a book or magazine, then I would be happily forced to buy current fabric, but otherwise, I've gone on austerity.  And yes, for those of you that are not quilters, quilting fabric is like fashion.  It changes from year to year.

But here's the problem.  I probably have enough fabric to make 100 quilts. This means that I could potentially spend years trying to use it all.  And what about the new projects?? And what about quilting all those quilts?? It all makes my head hurt.

So here's my attempt to start using up some of that fabric.  This is my version of a scrap quilt. It's my own design that I created one step at a time.  That's the way I like to design.  I only used fabric from my stash.

 It measures about 57"w x 68"h.

The center of the design is a hibiscus.  The background fabric behind the flower is a feedsack from the 1930's.  I must have bought it about 20 yrs ago.  Some of the other fabrics have also been sitting on my shelves for a long time.  I am thrilled that I got to use them and now they are gone - in a quilt.

To make this a total scrap quilt, I also cut up fabric from my stash to piece together a back for the quilt.  This was instead of using one big piece.  I was happy to use up more fabric for this.

I enjoy piecing the back for a quilt. It certainly adds interest and it makes the quilt reversible. 

And it helps to decrease my fabric stash.

Another Stashbuster

For those that are non-quilters, a stash is the piles of fabric that have "accumulated" in your sewing room.  A stashbuster is a quilt that lets you use up a chunk of your fabric so that you can replace it with new fabric.

The month of January, my quilt guild, Calico Cutters,  has a big sew-in to make quilts for the Chester County Domestic Abuse Shelter.  It takes the place of our monthly meeting.  There's a great committee that organizes it and provides the pre-cut fabric and batting.  Women bring sewing machines, scissors and lunch.  Lots of quilts get completed and those in progress go home with various members and come back in February finished.

I have to admit that I am not a great team player.  I end up spending the meeting going from group to group, socializing and kibbitzing with the many people that I normally don't get to speak with.  So this year I decided to make one of these quilts while I  have been hanging out at home due to the snow.

My goal was to make a kids quilt and use up a chunk of my fabric - a stashbuster.  The palette chosen was blue and green, since I have lots of these fabrics.

I decided to make a take off on a string quilt.  This method dates back to the 1930's and was done on newspaper.  Today we call it paper foundation piecing.I like to use newsprint since it's cleaner.  You can purchase it by the pad at your local art/craft store or if there is a newspaper printing place nearby, you can purchase the ends of the rolls.  Some places will even give them  to you.


This roll will last me for a few years.  I use it a lot for paper piecing.








The blocks for my quilt are 8" cut and I needed 48 blocks.  I cut 8" strips of the newsprint and since it is 36" wide, 12 strips were needed.  I first cut up my fabric into random width strips, ranging from 2" to 3 1/2".  The size of the fabric scrap determined the length.  the strips had to be at least 8" long, but a little longer was OK.  I wanted this to be quick and easy, so if the length was 9" from a quarter yard piece, I just left it.  Even it was 10", I left it.  No trimming yet.

To begin sewing, I placed one of the strips in the middle of one of the paper strips, right side up.

Then place another strip on top of the first, right side down.  Sew along the right edges with a little bit shorter stitch length, so the paper will come off a little easier.  Then lace another strips on top of the first, right side down and sew on the left side.  Press open.

Continue adding strips until the entire length of the paper is filled.  The fabric strips do not have to be straight.  Angling them gives a whimsical touch.

You can see that my strips were all different lengths.  The next step is to turn it over and trim along the edges of the paper.  I bought this 3"x36" ruler at a quilt show and I love it, especially for this type of project.

Then trim this 8" strip into 8" blocks.  Since I used the 36" roll of newsprint, I got 4 blocks from each strip.  There is still paper on the back.

To prepare a horizontal row for the quilt, turn every other block 90 degrees. 

For my 48 block quilt, I made 8 rows of 6 blocks.  After sewing the rows together, it's time to remove the paper.  It's a mindless, messy job and is done best while watching a movie.

 I just want to take a minute to share with you the movie I watched.  The title is "Exit Through The Gift Shop" and it is about the evolution of street art.  Have you seen those black and white faces on phone polls and buildings with the word OBEY?  I always wondered what they meant.  Street art by Shepard Fairey, the same artist that did the Obama posters. Some of these people started out as graffiti painters and evolved over time and now make thousands of dollars.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.

I digress.  Anyway, after all of the paper is removed, your top is ready for the next step.

This was a lot of fun, used up a lot of fabric, requires no precision and has a great graphic appeal.  I have to go and check my stash to see what colors I'll use next.

Top 10 Things

Chanukah has come and gone.  So while most of you are getting ready for Christmas, I have some extra time on my hands.  I thought I would put together a list of the top 10 things I use most often as a quilter and designer, and give you a peek at my workspace. 

(As much as I tried to prioritize my list, it's really not in order.)

  Are there any tools I missed?  

Is there something indispensable or a favorite of yours that is not included.  Please do share.

Wishing you health and happiness in the New Year.

10.  Design Wall

Used for designing as well as my filing system.

9.  Hand Sewing Needles

Lots of assorted needles for lots of different  threads.

8.  Freezer Paper

Found in the grocery store with many quilty uses.

7.  Journal - I keep a journal that includes everything from ideas, thoughts, sketches and inspiration.  I look for the ones that are blank on one side for sketching and with lines on the other side writing.

Great personal reference.

6.  Printer/Scanner

An essential design aid for me.

5.  Threads

I use all types of threads as long as I can put it through a needle.

4.  Embellishments

This is my candy.

3.  Computer

How did we live without them?

2A.  Sewing Machine

I'm a Bernina girl.  I've tried others, but ....

2B.  Rotary Cutter/Mat/Ruler

Had to squeeze this in.  I remember making a quilt  composed of 4" squares in the early 1980's without one.  I have to choose this as a tool that revolutionized quilting.

1.  Fabric Stash

A quilter's palette.