Scrap happy; or, what to do with all those leftovers

It is a truth universally acknowledge that the more sewing one does, the more the scrap pile grows, and so does the need for ever-increasingly large scrap baskets.

Scrapping

Personally, I view scraps as a higher form of stash - a very virtuous form of stash, because they do not speak of grand schemes left undone or projects never got round to - they are evidence of industrious activity, of stash cut into, of potential realised, and thus don't engender that guilt by association which can assail the heartiest souls when gazing into the abyss of stash beyond any human need, stash enough to take the keenest needlewoman into old age and beyond.

A modest proposal

My smallest scraps are rapidly outgrowing the modest basket on the window sill, and those of more robust dimensions jump off the shelf whenever I open the stash cupboard to indulge in a little therapeutic folding (usually when I have some sort of imminent work or study deadline which calls forth the most ingenious forms of displacement activity).

Scrap happy

So I was most enchanted to find a book for the scrap happy when I was spending my Christmas book token.

The title is Sunday Morning Quilts which is evocative enough, but the sub title is Sort, Store, and Use Every Last Bit of Your Treasured Fabrics (note the Oxford comma, for which I have a soft spot). It is by two very talented quilters and bloggers, Amanda Jean Nyberg (Crazy Mom Quilts) and Cheryl Arkison.

Not only does it have the most enticing patterns for quilts made from scraps ...

... almost as good as a slab of cake

... there are sections on how to manage your scraps and even how to increase your stock (just hack into all those hopeful fat quarters, perhaps?) ...

... and more fun than filing paperwork

... not to mention a pattern for colour coded patchwork scrap baskets. I want shelves just like that (well, maybe not the orange, but definitely the red and the blues).

The slab method of making scrap blocks inspired me to make this scrappy potholder - I decided that I wouldn't mind if the Head Chef made it greasy and scorched, because it was so quick to make, and just used up tiny leftovers (and more quilt batting leftovers too, yippee!).

Scrappy or what?

I just made an 8.5in square slab and layered it with similar size squares of quilt wadding, Insul Bright (for reasons of Elfin Safety), and plain backing - although you could make that scrappy, too. I used some leftover premade wide bias binding - and for speed and utility's sake I just zigzagged round the edge to fix the front rather than hand stitch it. Too much of that sort of effort and I would have to forbid the Head Chef from using it, and this is not for display, just for everyday.

So Cheryl and Amanda Jean have quite opened my mind to the whole scrap universe, and made me realize that as long as one dimension is more than 2 x 1/4in for seam allowances, then really very few scraps are too small to keep. This concept has also freed me to throw away the really tinies, which can then be composted and thus recycled another way.

Oh what a good girl am I - recycling, reusing, ever the thrifty housewife. Forgive me if I go away and polish my halo.

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And if such virtue is, quite understandably, just all too much for you then do go and visit Susan and indulge yourself with her wonderful, decidedly unLenten, recipe. Then after that drop by and say congratulations to Annie, who is handing out blogoversary presents and cups of tea, and if you are feeling lucky then lickety-split your way over here to join in with the biggest and best raffle that Blogland has ever known with lots of the most covetable prizes.

Phew! The weekend starts here, I think ...