ScrapHappy December 2025 — Christmas Blocks
Recently I did an inventory of all my containers of fabrics, and I have 88! Ranging in size from a shoebox to a suitcase. My aim is to reduce that by a fourth in the coming year, and there was no better place to start than with my tub of Christmas scraps.
Blocks for a Christmas throw.
The highlighted fabric in these blocks comes from two Alexander Henry fabrics from about 2009 — Santa’s Sparrows and Letters to Santa. The pattern is based on Sharon Tucker’s String Theory pattern, which was in the April 2017 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting, and this will be the fourth quilt I have made from that design.
Center block.
The smaller blocks now need a round of white or cream fabrics, enough to be brought up to 16 inches square. I may not get these blocks together into a throw by Christmas, but just as they are on my design wall, they add holiday spirit to the room! Not to mention giving me a sense of accomplishment, for finally using up fabrics from 2009. 🙂
ScrapHappy Day is the 15th of each month. Even on the months I don’t have anything to post, I still think about scraps and how to use them. You can always get lots of ideas for using scraps from these other lovely blogs!
Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Tracy,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin, Amo, Alissa,
Tierney and Hannah
This is going to be a fun quilt! I don’t have 88 tubs, but I have many more UFOs than that and I want to see them finished so that is my goal this year, get things done!
I like to watch The Quilted Forest on YouTube — every year they pull out 12 UFOs and try to finish one a month. I don’t get that many done myself, but I get a feeling of completion from watching them finish theirs! 🙂
Beautiful! This post reminded me to get the wonderful runner from 2022 that you gifted me! Thank you AGAIN!!
Beautiful as always! Have a blessed, safe, and enjoyable day. Mtetar at basicissimple used to be projectsbymtetar on WordPress
Beautiful
Awesome to take on those containers of fabric! I wish you much success in your project (and you can do it, I just know it!). That is pretty holiday fabric and will make a nice piece!
Congratulations on getting this far, and for using fabric from your bins. I like your goal of creating using at least 25% of your stash. That’s impressive. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us.
Thanks, Alys! I have tried setting goals for finishing certain projects, but I just keep moving them from one year’s list to the next! I am hoping that restating my goal will help me accomplish things. 🙂
I’m sure you’ve read this before, but they say you have a good chance of success when the goals are measurable. In your scenario, you might identify what that percentage looks like month by month. One goal might be simply to pass on/donate materials you no longer like. Another would be to pull together materials by project, then set deadlines for each one. Make it fun by setting up a sticker chart of sorts, as a fun way to measure progress so you will feel good about each project.
I did print out a list of the containers and I plan to cross them off as I use them. Most are arranged by color, but some are grouped by theme, and I do have about 15 of them that contain already-made blocks or partially done projects. It always amazes me, when I pull out a shoebox of fabric, how many blocks such a small amount can make! I love playing with all of it and I hope that by re-stating my usual goal, I dig deeper into those bins and find things I’ve forgotten I had. I know you are an organizer — the YouTuber who has helped me the most is Clutterbug. Like a lot of crafters, I fit her category of Bee. I am happy to organize my stuff into micro-categories, but I have to have it out where I can see it or I totally forget about it. 🙂
Fun blocks!
Thanks! These blocks are a really good fit for my quilting style, because I am not very precise. With these blocks, I can just sew strips together whenever I have time, and then cut them to shape when I’m ready. 🙂
Wow! Reducing the fabric stash by 25% in a year is a big goal! I’ll be interested to see how that goes. Happy holidays!
Well, I gave myself a lot of room on that goal. I only have to reduce 25% of the containers! So I might just use up the shoebox containers and not get to the suitcase-size ones. 🙂
A design wall of Christmas blocks sounds a lovely decoration.
Good grief, that is an impressive scrap collection! Bravo on making a seasonal start to tackling the mountain, it’s going to be gorgeous!