Scrap Quilting

Boy, could the news get worse? Everyday there's more and more people joining the ranks of the unemployed. I got layed-off this summer, but am thankfully back to work full time. I keep hearing how supporting art programs comes under the title "pork". It's also thought that these are not job creating institutions. I beg to differ, since I work at a museum. I agree we need to spend money on infrastructure, here in Michigan our roads are terrible. But a refusal to support zoos, museums, local theaters and education is short sited. And when those programs are cut, what part is cut, employees! We either spend the money on unemployment benefits or we can actually get something for our money, by keeping people working.

The bright spot in all this is that I am a long time quilter. I began quilting in 1974 and have been seriously stockpiling fabrics since 1981. I have 28 years worth of fabric to make quilts with. And since my favorite quilts are scrap quilts, I'll be spending the next couple of years using "quilt therapy" to get through the financial mess we're in.
If you're in the same boat here a couple of ideas to help you quilt with just your stash:

• piece the backs of your quilts
• use class samples or UFOs you no longer like on the back of your quilts (I got this idea from a lecture at my quilt guild by Sue Spargo)
• if a pattern calls for one color, say pink, substitute with many different scraps of that color
• borders are often an area where you need a lot of yardage of one fabric. Substitute that yardarge with squares of the same color of fabric i.e. many squares of tone on tone blacks can substitute for a single black fabric.
• piece your battings. I save all my batting scraps and sew them together when I need to fill a quilt. I've even used different weights and fiber types and nobody has ever noticed they aren't the same batting
• even bindings can be pieced with different scraps of fabric
• just remember the more similar your scraps are the more it will look like one piece

The pictured quilt is done in a scrappy style. The sashing, corners and border blues are all different. I also used all different brands of batting including 80/20 and 100% cotton. In upcoming blogs I will give away the 12" block patterns, as well as the sashing, corners and card trick borders for this quilt.

I highly recommend working as much with scraps as possible. The more you do it the more you'll like it! Right now I'm piecing a scrappy border for a baby quilt. The weatherman promised our temperatures are going to hit 50 degrees today, so in between the melting snow and puddles I'm going to walk Boomer.

Till next time....Happy Quilting!