Thursday, September 22, 2011

When you screw up...just make something else!

So, I was merrily cutting and sewing, making dozens and dozens of little flying geese to be used in the Crumb Along.  I think I made about 80.  Then I moved to the next step, which was to use the flying geese in stars.   I quickly realized that I'd made mine completely different from Jo's, and they would not work in the stars. 

Jo started with rectangles that were approximately 1 1/2" x 2 1/2".  So did I.  She used triangles cut from squares that were 2 1/2".  So did I.  But she sewed her triangles on differently, and ended up with little squares.  I trimmed all mine back to the size of the original rectangles, thus rendering them useless for the stars. 

I will happily make more little square flying geese so that I can make the stars for the Crumb Along. I therefore had several dozen little rectangular flying geese to use for something. Several months ago I had started a medallion quilt (starting with a center block and working out) with leftovers from other projects.  It has a center block surrounded by a border of rectangles, and also has two white strip borders.  I sewed a bunch of the little rectangular geese together and added them to what I'd created already:


I'll call this Mish Mash #1, since I know there will be more. And there will be more to this one. It now needs another border, and then I'll decide where to go after that.

While I'm showing a quilt beginning using lots of scraps, I'll tell you about what happened at my first guild meeting last month.  A woman (I don't know who she was) came up front with a large white garbage CRAMMED FULL of scraps from two recent quilt projects.  She asked who it was in the group who made doggie beds, and she donated those scraps to be used as filler for the doggie beds.  I wanted to jump up and scream, "I'll take them!!!!" but I'm new, and all I could do was cringe. I later noticed during the show and tell that no one had a scrappy project of any kind.  Now I'm not going to assume that no one does scrappy quilting, but that day, no one was showing anything.  So I'm going to take my queen-sized scrappy log cabin quilt and this little medallion piece to show them that even the littlest crumbs can be used in great projects.  I want to make the point that even our scraps cost $8-$10 a yard - so they need to be used, not put inside doggie beds. 

7 comments:

Michele, a distracted quilter said...

I am cringing along with you and while I'm no longer shy about asking for the scraps and discards at classes and retreats, I once was (thought it made me sound desperate and broke), so I can understand why you didn't say a word. Clever use of the geese.

I love those boomerang blocks. What great colours. What is the boomerang project?

Cindy said...

lol....i would have done the same thing!! :D...i love your scrappy start.....its darling!

Eden said...

Ugh! And I bet they were really nice fabrics too in that scrap bag. What a waste! I love the little leftovers quilt... You could call it "quilts warmed over" or something like that! I think the rectangular geese would have worked for stars... I don't think they have to be square, but your were put to good use anyway!

Neabear said...

I am glad you found a way to use your flying geese! Looks great that way!

~Linnea

Pattilou said...

I love what you've done! It really has personality!

Charity said...

Oh, my goodness how did you ever stay in your seat. I love my dog, but fabric as dog bed filler I could just cry. Especially as one who can't always go out and buy large yardage for projects.
Bonnie would be disapointed as every little bit is important and useable. Glad your making good use of what you have. I say go show it off at your next guild.

Coloradolady said...

Well hats off to you for keeping quiet. I am afraid I would have stood up and made a complete fool of myself. I love your leftovers and what you did with them. That is so cute!!