Friday, July 6, 2012

What if I . . .

. . . decided to make something with the shirts I have been cutting up and the scrap strips I have been putting into plastic bins?


I have been busy hand sewing the binding on the commission pieces, and am almost done.  Today, while I was stitching away, I thought about the reclaimed shirts and scraps I have building up on my shelves.  I have had several ideas about what to do with them, but never actually started anything.  I decided to do something about it.  I started small to see if I was going to like what I thought about doing.  These nine squares are the results.  They are six inch squares right now.  I have lots of blueish shirt fabric that I can continue to cut to make more squares.  I only got into the yellow/gold/orange strip box today.  I think I am going to continue to make these blocks using as many colors of the strips as I can to whittle down that part of my scrap stash.  I think this will make a great scrap quilt when all is said and done.  Then, I can figure out what to do with the other bins of scraps and the ever growing pile of 2 1/2 " squares.
I am always envious of those of you who are really good about cutting and organizing your scraps as you go along.  I am so far behind in even the sorting, I feel overwhelmed at times.  I was hoping this summer would be the time I would get it done.  Given how fast the days are going, I am not sure this is going to happen, but I will have fun playing with all of it for a while.  I don't know how quickly this quilt will grow, but it will.  Before I know it, I will be looking for backing for yet another quilt.  Oh well.  As long as the local Goodwill doesn't run out of nice used sheets, I will be fine.
Joyful quilting, everyone. 


9 comments:

beth said...

Your shirt blocks are lookin' good!

CeLynn said...

What an awesome original idea! Love your progress so far :)

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Great way to use both scraps! I found the easiest way to sort - was to start. Sounds funny, but once you get into the habit of putting those scrap items in a place it just seems natural. Now when a project is ready for 'clean up' things go into their respective areas rather than shoved into a box or bag.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

I love this. I seem to have a ton or two of these shirts as well. I started collecting them for a single quilt and so far have made three quilts without much of a dent in the shirt box!

This is a great idea. You go girl!

glen

Sarah Craig said...

Use the 2.5" squares to frame the 6" shirting blocks! That ought to knock down that stack!!

By the way, very pretty! I like these!!

Willa said...

Sorting scraps sounds like a fun thing I can help with when I get there, if you want.

Nifty Quilts said...

Looks great! Keep going. I love the bit of yellow in there for surprise. Much better to sew than to sort.

Terri said...

Love the blue and orange together.
Hugs

Tonya Ricucci said...

excellent!