Friday, July 7, 2006

Scads of scraps

I got back to working on my scrap quilt last night (see the posts from last week). I settled on a midnight blue frame for around the larger Broken Dishes blocks. That is sewn onto the center. All the rest of the half square triangle squares are trimmed, pressed and stitched into pairs. Tonight I'll stitch the pairs together to form more little Broken Dishes blocks. I still haven't counted how many triangles there are - hundreds and hundreds I'm sure. I'll post a picture when I have those blocks sewn onto the center.

I also did some organization and sorting last night. Two weeks from tomorrow I'm renting a table - $5 - at the "yard sale" behind my favorite quilt shop. I'm taking lots of the things I'm no longer interested in - hoping they will turn out to be someone else's "treasure". I'll put low prices on everything as I hope to sell as much as possible. No - I won't spend the "earnings" on more fabric - I don't need it! Instead I plan on making an extra payment on my longarm and getting some more longarm supplies that I've been wanting.

I'm re-evaluating how I cut and store my scraps, taking some ideas from Bonnie's Scrap User's system and adding some of my own. I'm re-labeling all my plastic boxes, readying them for newly cut scraps. I've put quite a few box contents into ziploc bags to sell - like my Christmas fabrics that keep appearing no matter how many things I make from them. The scariest thing I did was combine all my "uncut scraps" into two big containers and set them out to work on. I can't believe how many there are! I knew the large white box was jammed packed with scraps, and I had 2-3 other totes that were filled loosely. I jammed everything from them - and I mean jammed - into the big paper bag. When I look at them I have very mixed feelings - knowing it'll take almost forever to get through them all, but also excited to revisit all those pieces of fabric. I think - no, I know! - I'm obsessed!

Forest Jane wanted to know why I was wearing a sweatshirt in the pictures since it was so hot. We were lucky - it cooled off nicely in the evenings, and mornings were also cool. The heat started around noon and lasted until about 6:00 or so when a little breeze would come up. That's usually the way it is in our mountains - we've been there only once when it didn't cool off at night, and that's when it was over 100 in the daytime. I think our temperatures were around 88 to 90, dropping to the 60's at night. I think it was around 9:00 on Saturday morning when Rebecca took the pictures, so it's probably in the mid 60's.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh yes, when the sun goes down, my sweatshirt goes on as it cools down so much usually-oh, you brave woman putting all your scraps together like that...I did the same and then had to add another few containers..I need to come over and just cut scraps with you to get motivated! good luck with your sale..pardon me for staying away LOL...I don't need any more fabric temptations!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that Forest Jane asked about the sweatshirt... I just wondered quietly.

My advice on the yard sale... (I come from the something is better than nothing yard sale troupe) & use the "make me an offer" selling tactic! You might get more that you would have asked. & If you are not "too high" someone might take something that other wise they would have thought was too much...

All of this saves you from having to price everything before hand - only to find that your pricing matirx does not JIVE with the shoppers...

If you are not busy pricing stuff, you can be culling more stuff to sell!

Anonymous said...

Patti,
I cut my way through about that same sized container early this year---took me three days of steady cutting but you could have heard me holler clear out in WA when I was finished.

Now I either fold stuff back with the remaining yardage if there is enough left or just go ahead and cut it and put it in whatever sized/value strip or square it is. I have no scrap bag NOR do I intend to get one piled up again. Too much work when I would rather be sewing. So far that intention has stuck.

Anonymous said...

We're 'sweatshirt people too. My husband laughs and says it's the standard U.P. Wardrobe, a sweatshirt and shorts. It gets down to 48 degrees at night 85 in the day...I completely understand.

Impressive organizing. I have a wicker basket things just get tossed in. I need to get better at it. Maybe one night watching a movie...

Have a great weekend.
Melanie

Anonymous said...

Patti, it sounds like you had yourself a wonderful and *relaxing* vacation. Definitely feeds the soul, doesn't it? :o)

Anonymous said...

so I'm hearing you say that there likely wont be a large bag of unsorted scraps for sale cheap on your tabel??? :-(

Anonymous said...

Have fun playing with all your scraps, maybe you can set aside a little time each day to work thru them? Scrap quilts are such fun, remembering all the projects you've done as you find the pieces of fabric.
*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)

Anonymous said...

Dear, dear Patti, you are making me smile with my face and my heart..*S*
I think I just read "obsessed with scraps"...LOL. A year ago my final words about myself in my complete profile were "addicted to scraps"...oh my!!
They are both a blessing and a curse. At least we'll always have raw materials to work with...right??? Hugs for some heavy duty cutting, Finn
I'll have to go and see, when, but the Depression block was one that piqued my interest earlier this year..so of course a new UFO was born. Joanne at Rocking on th porch jumped right in and made on too..*G*

Anonymous said...

I did this about 5 months ago and was very happy that I got them done and all sorted out. Once you finish it's so nice to be able to grab from the bicket or drawer and start sewing!