ScrapHappy May 2021
Two more lap quilts. One is truly scrappy, made from donated fabrics which the donor had already cut into strips. I started these blocks back in December, and made two other lap quilts from the blocks in March.
The other just looks scrappy — it is a panel of cheater cloth or “pre-printed patchwork”. My guess is that it is from the 1970s, but it may be as late as the 1990s (based on the copyright dates printed on other fabrics in this hand-me-down stash). I have never been a fan of these brown-toned fabrics, but I do love the small-scale navy blue “sashing”, and I did have fun practicing my free motion quilting around the little motifs. I picked blue floral fabric from the same era for the backing and binding.
I was grateful that whoever cut this square of fabric, had the repeating motifs top and bottom, with the two rows of unique motifs in the center. And I think the fabric is so happy to finally achieve its quilt destiny. 🙂
Both of these will be donation quilts.
ScrapHappy is the fifteenth of each month, and it is a day that Kate and Gun encourage us to use up our scraps! I don’t get something ready each and every month, but I always get some inspiration from visiting the other participants!
Kate , Gun,Eva, Sue,Lynn,Lynda,
Birthe,Turid,Susan,Cathy, Tracy,Jill,
Claire,Jan, Moira,Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon,Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen (me!),Bekki,Sue L,Sunny,Kjerstin,
Vera,Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2,Noreen,
Bear,Carol,Preeti and Edith
Good to see you have been busy! I didn’t realize quilters kept their scraps and recycled them into new works. But it makes so much sense — and those two quilts are wonderful!
I actually have lots of quilt tops from the late 1800s! We quilters can never work fast enough. 🙂 Some day I hope to just apply a muslin backing to them to stabilize them for future generations.
Loving the scraps I see! Cheater or not, it fulfilled its pupose. 1. you got good quilting practice. And 2. it will go to someone who needs the hug made right into it’s stitches!
Thank you, and I love your phrase about the hugs built into its stitches!
I really love that you’ve allowed that second quilt to fulfil its destiny 😀 40 year old projects definitely count as super-Scrappy!
Thank you! Maybe we should work out a formula that gives extra credit for every year of scrap age! 🙂
Great idea, but I foresee some hurdles – do we aggregate the age of all scraps used, or go by the oldest piece, and are age estimates by the quilter herself allowed…? Oh, the can of worms that could open up!
You’re making steady progress on your scraps, and have two more quilts to gift. How many more pounds of fabric do you think you have left?
Excellent progress on your scraps. That second cheater quilt is a real time capsule of style and color. How many more pounds of fabric do you think you have left?
Well, thanks to you, I now know how much of the “Covid 15” I have gained! Because to find out how many pounds of scraps I have left, I had to face the scale myself, and then stand on it again with each bag or bin of donated fabric. Some of it is in large pieces, a lot is pre-cut into squares, and a lot of it is random pieces left over from some industrial production of hospital scrubs. And there is currently 81 pounds (fabric, not my own weight gain, thank goodness)!
And that is after completing 5 lap quilts, 5 pillowcases, and 6 walker bags, with 8 other kids’ quilts or lap quilts somewhere in process! I didn’t count any of that, just the fabrics I have left to work on. And I have taken a lot of the odd-shaped pieces, and trimmed off the selvages, cut the fabrics into 2.5 inch strips, and thrown away the remnants, so maybe 3 or 4 pounds?
Granted I did not figure out the weight of the containers, but I didn’t hunt out each and every scrap either, so I think it balanced out.
Well, I didn’t think my first comment went through, but I guess I was wrong. Oh well.
That always happens to me too — especially when I have written a very long and thoughtful comment. When the internet taketh away, I rarely have the will to go back and re-type them. 🙂
Sometimes there is something satisfying about completing other people’s projects, and the donations will be appreciated.
Thank you, I do love finishing things that other people have started. Someone was asking me if that was common among quilters, and I said, “Yes! I have blocks and tops that go back to the 1800s! We never live long enough to finish all our planned projects!” 🙂
The thing is the people who get them can spend T I M E looking at all the pieces. And imagining what it would have been, dress, blouse, etc. Fun
Oh Susan, you always say the right thing. I do hope someone enjoys looking at them and maybe even finding fabrics that they also had in their family!
wonderful donations and someone will feel so happy when relaxing with these cheerful quilts. I love that you are finally finishing what someone else started.
Thank you, that brings me so much satisfaction too! 🙂
Nice donation quilts! (And I’m so glad you don’t call them “charity quilts” as one of my groups does.)
As usual, you have brought up an interesting point, Mary. I do like the term “donation quilts” better, but I wonder if I have ever used that term “charity quilts;” probably so. As always when I have probably been insensitive, I am curious, what do you not like about it, does it sound condescending to you? I know that the old Bible verse “faith hope and charity” has been updated to “faith hope and love,” — do you think the word charity has gotten a bad connotation from years of Victorian ladies bringing soup to the poor, etc.? I guess we could call them “love quilts” but that would probably encompass all handmade quilts. 🙂
In the spirit of “do unto others”, I would be happier if someone gave me something as a donation rather than charity. I hadn’t thought about why, but I do think it sounds condescending, now that you mention it.
Yes, I do think a “donation” sounds like the person may give you back a donation some day, but “charity” sort of sounds like “we are graciously giving you this, but honestly, we don’t expect much back.” But then, I do read mostly novels from the 1800s so that probably affects my ideas.
Nice use of those strips! And sometimes cheater fabric is fun to work with. We all deserve an occasional quick fix.
You are right, it was fun to have a quick finish enabled by that cheater cloth. 🙂
Very nice looking quilts!
Thank you, Gun! I really love the cat quilt you are working on!
Amazing quilts!