Gail Kreek gave us a wonderful demonstration on what to do with out small fabric scraps.
She collects her scraps and has them in sandwich bags in each colour. From there she picks out the scraps and sews them together in strips. When there is enough of them together she cuts into blocks then puts them together in a "quilt as you go" method. The block is attached to a batting block and that is sandwiched with a block for the back. On the front side and back side of the block she sews a strip of sashing with a 1/4" seam. The blocks butt against each other. She then brings over the sashing and machine sews to the front side of the adjacent block, then hand sews the back sashing.
Gail's next method of using scraps is to make a Crazy quilt block. With a backing fabric, she applies a centre piece that has 5 sides. She then uses the "flip & sew" method around this centre piece until the backing fabric is filled with scraps. The Gail trims this block. She also adds decorative stitches from her machine to decorate the block. She uses this technique to make bags, trivets, and even a very small needle case.
Baskets was the third method Gail demonstrated this morning. She buys 3/16" clothesline rope at Canadian Tire. She then wraps 3/4" strips of fabric around the rope. She starts to coil the rope at one end with a straight stitch to keep the coil together. This part is the hardest as it is hard to keeps the tightness on the coil. Once that is established she then switches to a zigzag stitch and with the rope to the right side she starts to stitch around the coil. If it's a trivet you want just keep going around flatly. But to make a basket - once you have your base size determined you start stitch the rope at an angle and keep going until you have the right height for your basket.
Gail's book reference for baskets is "It's a Wrap" by Susan Breier.
Eileen Hogan showed us her scrappy Spider Web quilt top she is working on. Another use for your scraps.
Thank you, Gail for all the great way to use our scraps.
This Let's Quilt Day was going to be an all day session. Members are preparing to be there for the day and work on their projects.
