Thursday, August 1, 2013

Love Those Scraps

I've been working with scraps lately and having a great time. Unlike a friend of mine who says "I don't like scraps--too much like eating leftovers," I really love scraps (well, actually I like leftovers, too). Most quilters who promote the use of scraps say to put them in a box or sack and just reach in and take whatever you come up with. Afraid I'm not that relaxed about the process--I like to pick and choose what I sew to what, so I suppose I'd say I like Controlled Scraps.

Scrap Quilt 1, Log Cabin
 Both of these quilts start with a square or rectangle about 6"-8". I chose mostly strong primary colors in busy prints and then added strips to enlarge to about 12"-13". In Scrap Quilt 1, I added strips to all four sides; in Scrap Quilt 2 I only added strips to two sides and varied the orientation of the square (upper right, lower left, etc.), with the guideline being what was the most colorful and interesting layout. All squares are not the same size, so the actual blocks are somewhat disguised. The rows had to be the same size to fit together. Scrap Quilt 2 has a striped border; Quilt 1 has no border.
Scrap Quilt 2, Offset Log Cabin
The cat didn't realize I was only spreading the top to take the picture, but he knew where the center was.

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