Planning Projects with Leftovers in Mind

Do you like to work on patchwork projects that are different sizes? I do!
Do you have projects waiting for fabric and can't just go buy the whole store?! I do!
Then you might enjoy this post :) If not, you might still be curious about how I find fabric for projects and keep myself somewhat organized and making the best use of the fabrics that are already waiting to be used in my stash.

To make the best use of my fabrics on hand, I plan to work on projects starting with the one that requires the largest pieces first. It's kind of like planning a big meal for Sunday dinner planning to use the leftovers in other meals. For example I have a project that I really want to work on that has blocks that are less than 3" in size - that project has to wait until I 'make' the pieces for it!

Now this isn't for everyone and it doesn't work all of the time - sometimes the project with small pieces has a deadline and needs to get pieced first. But when it's a project that I'm working on for me or I have a lot of time, then I like to start with the biggest and work my way towards the smaller one.

Here's an example of a project that's waiting for leftovers: 

I've been working on this project for several years. It started when I made donation blocks trying out the slab block design from Cheryl Arkison. She was right - it's hard to make just one! I started to make them keeping one fabric consistent in each block - it's full of trivia questions about Canada. 

Then I gave myself another design restriction to make a block using just greens and tan or just blues and tan. When I sort my leftovers after making a couple of projects, I set aside the blues, tans, and greens into a storage box for this project.

Now this project is slowly moving to the front of  the line as I think I will make a quilt to give as a thank you gift. I have been working on another thank you quilt that has lots of blues and greens in it so I have been making the fabrics to use in this quilt while I make the first one. I should be able to make several more blocks now!

I do have a few other projects that are waiting for their fabrics.

These pieced scrappy 9 churn dash blocks require small pieces too. I kept my white and neutral off cuts from my Canada 150 quilt and they are now designated to be used in this project. I have a tutorial for this block too!

Scrappy 9 churn dash block tutorial

Notice that both of these projects require the same color fabrics - this means I know that I can pick up an extra fat quarter or two in these colors and they will quickly get put into rotation. 

The neutrals and reds might also get set aside and used in this project that I've been resisting - so far! Have you seen these cute little churn dashes?!

That's another bonus with planning your projects - you start to think through the possibilities of the fabrics you purchase. Instead of buying something for a specific project, you might start buying fabrics that could work in multiple projects. This results in different kinds of fabrics being added to your stash which brings possibilities for new directions and projects.

I never even used to BUY red fabric!!

I tend to work for a while on several projects in the same colors but they are different sizes and themes. This keeps me interested and the scrap pile low. When a project gets finished, I decide whether to focus on finishing another one of the projects in this group or to start another one with different colors and start down the path of picking new fabrics for new projects!

Let me know what you think? Do you plan ahead to make leftovers for other projects? Or do you just make one happy scrap quilt? Leave a comment to share with other quilters:)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Scrap Block Making - A Tale of Two Blocks

Time in my space is always more enjoyable when I'm playing. Play for me is some kind of challenge - a new technique, a new block, or a scenario that I set up for myself. This time around I decided I wanted to use up the rest of the scraps I won from Scott Hansen at Blue Nickel Studios. 

There's almost nothing more FUN than playing with someone else's scraps!

The block above is my original layout for the block I'm calling pink and green. a little while I ago I made the mini liberated churn dash that's in the middle of this block. I challenged myself to keep going with the pink and green scraps. The bird fabric is from an older fabric line by Tula Pink. 

Here's the block in progress. As pieces start to get sewn together, there are usually little gaps that need filled in with different fabrics. In this block I like started to change placement of the fabrics {compare to photo above}. This gave me the opportunity to include a little piece of selvage in the block!

My final block ended up a little bigger - and bolder! I decided it was too 'light', it didn't feel grounded or finished. I looked through my stash and actually found some pink solids. These colours are mostly hues - adding white or black to red or green. I rarely use these hues so it's fun to play with them. It's a challenge for me to think about how the colours and fabrics are effecting each other and how they make me feel. This block makes me smile! I'm considering adding a bit more to it and turning it into a baby quilt. Right now it measures about 18 inches square.

This is the initial layout for the second block. It started when I pulled out the lime dots! They aren't a hue of green but made by adding yellow to green - it didn't match the other block so it became it's own:)

You can see in this photo that I was literally playing with blocks on top of blocks on my cutting table. The Rock and Romance block I showed in this post is underneath the lime dot block. To the right you can see the pink and green block. The lime dot block is actually laid out on the plastic bag containing my Halloween 1904 block! Yes, I was kind of in the moment, going with the flow as they say, which ended up with layers of blocks on my cutting table.

Another reason I tend to have more than one thing on the go is that I don't like wasting thread. Since I don't currently have a leader and ender project going {a project that you would put under the needle between parts of a project you are working on so you don't have to cut the thread after each piece} I just kept finding MORE things to sew!

Okay. Back to the block. While I was making the block something familiar happened. It seems that when I'm making these 'slab' like blocks, I change my mind and switch things around. 

You can see that it happened here in the slab blocks I made for Calgary.

I think it's because I start to reconsider all the small pieces being put on the same side of the block. In this case I was also able to spread out the dark rust so that it wasn't all in the same part of the block.

Again I did some final changes near the end of construction. That's part of the fun of making these blocks, you are always re-evaluating and auditioning fabrics. 

I ended up adding a bit of selvage in this block too! Can you see it?


That's the end of my 7 project whirlwind day in my quilting space.


The last one is actual a finished project for a new pattern I'm working on! 
I'll share that with you soon. Promise!

I'm linking up with The Needle and Thread Network - go check out some quilting Canadians!
With Joy,

Sarah Vee

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New Leader and Ender Project - Mini Spools!

Bonnie Hunter got me again!

I passed on the mini bowtie blocks, but couldn't resist the mini spools challenge.

Here's the direct link to her start up post.

The blocks are 3 1/2 inches unfinished. Luckily I had a whole bunch of 1 1/2 inch strips leftover from making my mini log cabin blocks. This photo shows some spool fabrics prepped and ready to go. 

 

It is a leader and ender project, which means it's not a quick finish. With the blocks being 3 1/2 inches big I figure it's not a quick finish no matter which way you make them! But, I do have a whole bunch of 3 1/2 inch squares cut for another scrap quilt that I haven't started and have somewhat fallen out of love with. I could use the squares to make 9 1/2 inch unfinished blocks with the mini spool blocks.

 

To keep going with the use-up-your-stash theme, I could also cut 9 1/2 inch fabric squares from my stash and get a quilt top made even faster. I could do the double 9 patch look with 5 spool/square blocks and 4 stash squares per 27 1/2 inch block. That's a lot of stash used up!

 

For now I'm just happy to have started another leader and ender project. These little blocks make me happy! I'm going to try and post a monthly tally shot to keep my mojo going on this one. Because a little part of me would really like to make a giant medallion quilt with a big set of mini spools all lined up in the center.

Do you have a leader and ender project in the works?

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

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What's up on Monday

I really can't believe that after finally being happy with this basket block arrangement. . .

that I sewed the rows together *WRONG* and ended up with this

 and I think I even like it better!

What do you think?

I took some time on Saturday night and again Sunday to visit blog hop party blogs and get caught up {mostly} in my Google Reader.  So much fun!  I have been forgetting to have fun with quilting - so relieved I remembered and embraced it again.

In the process of all this relaxing and enjoying the flow, I ended up finally finding a happy home for some scrap half square triangles

*S*blocks! Made from leftover 4.5 unfinished half square triangles from this basket quilt. {circa 2009?}  The blocks were inspired by *Z* blocks I found in this blog post by Kathy of Material Obsession. I'm in awe of the medallion quilt too! I'm really excited to play with some more scrap hsts I found to see what letters I can make - maybe more *S*s!

Creative juices are flowing here again - just in time to go back to work {for a couple days}

With Joy,

Sarah Vee

*Your friendly reminder that my Blog Hop Party Giveaway is open until March 23 - comment over here!*

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