Aunty Lee's scrap quilt

[Abbigail]

Oh my! That sure looks like a lot of work! Very nice and I think I like the back as well as the front! I hate to throw anything away too. My scrap bin is overflowing now so I need to start sorting through them soon and use some up. ~Abbigail~

[Littlebit]

Wonderful Lee ) Cindy she is not kidding about the scraps - she loves them!!! Send them to her and make her day )

[Leetec]

I actually got the idea of doing this from a tip in a quilters magazine. You know how you chain piece but when you come to the end of a chain, you grap a little piece of fabric and sew through it and then cut the thread. This person said to cut your scraps into whatever size you like then put them by the machine in two piles. Grab the top square from each pile and sew them together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. When you start your next chain, you put the sewen together pieces into another pile. This person then sewed them into four patches and so on until she got a quilt the size she wanted then she stopped and started a new profect.
So I cut my scraps into 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 inch squares. I put the 2 1/2 by my machine in two piles and started using the tip. Instead of sewing them into four-patches, I sewed them into strips until I got the strips to be the size I wanted. This ended up being a king-sized quilt. I used the 4 1/2 squares as a first border on the front and on the back.
The quilt I'm working on now, is a double 4 patch with 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 inch squares. I'm using flannel and cotton mixed so all my scraps will be going into this quilt. My next project I will be taking 2 1/2 inch squares made into half-square triangles. Wish me luck!
As you can see, I don't lay out my scraps and decide in advance where to place them. I try not to put two of the same fabric together but if it ends up that way I don't take it out. This quilt is truely as random as I could possibly make it. I really do enjoy making these scrap quilts and it's really not as hard as it may look. It does take time to do it using the "end of chain method" but it's well worth it. I love to look at this quilt and remember. "This piece of fabric was in such and such a quilt." "So and so gave me this piece." "Oh, I got that when I went to such and such a shop with so and so." And best of all, "One of the wonderful Forum ladies gave me that piece." You'll be amazed, once you make a quilt like this, you won't be able to give it up because it'll have so many memories in it. I can give away almost every quilt I make because I'm usually making it for a specfic person. But these quilts are all mine.
I have to tell you, Linda sent me a box of scraps that had some wonderful Christmas fabric in it. I took those fabrics and made them into a Christmas wallhanging with it. Boy was she surprised to get that project in the mail, made entirly of scraps that she had sent me! That was a lot of fun!
So, anyone who wants to send me scraps, please know that they will be very loved.

[DouceFleur1]

WOW!!! Lee! This is gorgeous! There are lots of hours of work in it! Great job!

Denise

[katiekoala]

Lee you can look forwad to some of my scraps!!we have just had a project at our quilting group in that everyone cut the scraps into 2.5x2.5 squares sorted into light med dark and then we weighed them then tipped them all in a big box and everyone just grabbed handfuls until you received the same weight as you added to the box then we had to make a scrappy nine patch quilt out of them and there were some very interesting quilt tops made!lol.

[live2quilttwo]

That's a great idea to use them as you chain sew and what a beautiful quilt !!
I'm a little more anal (LOL)so I would probably be more selective.....only in that I would'nt put any 2 of the same fabric together, but then again yours turned out great.

Ruth

[lorettav]

Lee your quilt is beautiful. That is exactly what I am doing. I just pull out a scrap and sew. It is almost finished.

[sadiedaisy1]

Lee, that is fabulous! I love the label on the back explaining it all too. What are the smallest size scraps you want?? Thanks for the tips & inspiration!

[Geneva2]

This is a great way to use your scraps. You've made a beautiful quilt.
I love the splashes of yellow. It really pops.

[Leetec]

Thank you all for your compliments. Anyone can do this, it just takes a bit of patience to cut up your scraps. Decide on a size then go at it!

Katiekoala, I can't wait! I'll bet eeryone had a lot of fun with that challenge!

Lorettav, I hope you will post pictures when yours is finished.I'd love to see it!

Sadiedaisy1, I try to keep scraps that are at least 2.5x2.5. I used to keep smallerones and sew them to other small ones but that got to be way too tedious. In the quilt I'm doing now I have some 1.5 but that's too small for me. Now I toss, even tough it makes my heart break, anything smaller then 2.5.