Sunday, May 4, 2008

i love my scrapbox

I've said in the past, on flickr, that I love my scrapbox. I have a printer paper box with a lid full of scraps. They have come from many places. My own sewing, quilt friends near and far (you know who you are), friend's mother's and grandmother's bits of stash, my own mother's hand me down scraps. My mother even gave me a shoe box full of 2" strips that she used for making log cabins. She said she was tired of them. And between you and me, I can see why! There are some ugly strips in there.

playtime

I like to create from my scrap box. It is like a treasure hunt to dump the box out and go searching for fun pieces. I create "wonky" log cabins from my scrap box mostly (here is a tutorial - not original but how I do it). But I have also created some of my smaller quilts almost entirely from my box. I love to use lots of fabrics when making something. Why use a fabric twice and definitely not three times in the same quilt. The more the merrier in my book. I love the scrappy look.

And I think I realized recently why I love my scrapbox so much. There is none of that "unfold a piece of fabic, iron it, cut what you need, fold it back up nicely, put it away nicely - repeat again and again and again....". I dump my box, dig, find what i want, maybe iron it, cut a bit off or use the whole thing, and throw the unused piece if there is any back into the pile on my bed, and stuff the whole mess back into the box when I'm done. And sometimes when I'm working from my box, I will take some of the bigger pieces and just cut strips from them and toss them back in so that they will be ready to use. A small part of me wants to slice up my whole stash! But that wouldn't really be using my scraps now would it? So I guess I will stick with my current set up.

My biggest goal right now is making a wonky scrappy I spy log cabin quilt out of my scraps. If you sew for any children in your life, you will have left over bits of usable i spy pieces for the centers, but you probably have lots of "leftover" pieces that no one wants to spy. Frog legs, horse butts, butterfly wings, puppy tails etc. Here is where you can use them up! I just slice all those leftover bits into "logs" for my cabins. So you can spy the centers and bits of other things too!

wonky scrappy I-spy Log Cabin
here you can see the cat and chicken, but do you also see the aligator, frog, cherries, stars and fish? None of those extra strips were big enough for anything, until now!

here is my quilt so far:

Wonky Scrappy I-Spy Log Cabins

My box is getting quite full - stuffed to the gills is more like it. So my dear friends, I may in the near future, offer up small little envelopes of scraps to you for free! If there is any interest. And under the condition that you may get a few uglies in the mix. And that you may not send me anything! What do you think?




******important notice**********
You may have notice already, but if you haven't you will. I must confess, that I am horrible about responding to comments. I could say that I get too many to respond to - ha! not true. I could pretend that I'm too busy with life to get back to you. Again, not true. I mean, life is busy, but we are all busy and it is all about priorities anyway. The truth is........I'm a big fat lazy butt. It's true and you should know that. I do read my comments. I love my comments from you. And I do check you all out and see what you are up to on your blogs. And if I there is something that needs to be answered that is asked in the comments I will answer it at the end of the next post. Ok? Just so you know before we get to far in this relationship, I'm a lousy responder. Still like me?

19 comments:

Christie said...

yeah, still like you ;-)

love my scrapbox too & for the same reasons i think

that quilt you are making looks fantastic, how big is it? nice work

Donna said...

Your quilt looks great. I have a lot of the same fabrics in my scraps. I have been thinking recently about getting rid of them, since some of them have been used in 3 or 4 or 5 different quilts. Maybe you have inspired me to make one more run at them first.
Thanks, Donna

Maya Madhavan said...

I love your idea. I've been looking for fun things to make for my son and a wonky I Spy log-cabin is cool.
Thanks!

jacquie said...

This is fantastic! Inspired me to get back into my scrap box this week and make some more scrappy cabin blocks! Thanks.

Tonya Ricucci said...

What a wonderful idea - this quilt has so much more energy and fun than the standard I Spy settings I've seen. I love your mix of colors - gorgeous. I'm the same way about comments, so no worries there.

Tine said...

I still like you! I think I'll sew an I SPY like this for my son... I like the wonky log cabins so much! That's if I ever finish the one I'm working on now :-D

Helen said...

Oh Sarah! Your scrap box could be a cousin to my scrap box! LOL The wonky log cabins are looking fantastic!

Home ec new Haven said...

I love your quilts!
Thanks for sharing your method...an I-spy quilt is on my (long) list of things to do but I know I would stress over how-to.

Wanna trade a ziplock bag of scraps?

jmb_craftypickle said...

Funny lady!! I just realized the other day that some people respond to all of their comments--then I thought that I had made the mother of all blog Faux PAX--glad that you do too!! Love the box--I have been using a round tub thing, I think that I may be moving up to a box. Great quilt!!!

LauraJ said...

love ya! and your quilts! And your stash! And your scrap box! :D

Lisa said...

I have a little scrapbox and then ... I have a huge scrap chest. That doesn't include the larger scraps taht I am going to try to get rid of at our guild garage sale this weekend. Want any? :-)
Love those log cabins!!!!!!

susan said...

i still like you!! i like the idea of using frog parts, its funny.and hey, great way to learn your bits!
i would love some of your scraps. my scraps are in a large jar, so needless to say i dont have a lot. i am loving your quilt, but then you already knew that. i sent your dress out today!

Julie said...

Ilove your quilt
what a great idea...
makes me what to dig into my scraps and make my 4yo daughter a log cabin i spy quilt...she would love it.
thanks julie

DIANA said...

hi Sarah!!i am very happy to know you have opened a blog!!!so i will be here sometimes!!thanks for the tutorials!!you are great!!and don't worry about answer to this comment!!i know you will sometimes take a look on my blog!!Diana from Italy.

susan said...

me again! i am tagging you for a meme. go check out my blog for the details! that is if you ever check your comments!!

Unknown said...

I am always trying to tame my scrap box! I love this design.

http://thelittleredhen.typepad.com

Tracy said...

I LOVE this! It is so happy!

Purple Pam said...

Your wonky I Spy is so colorful.  What fun to dig through the scrap box and come up with something so entertaining!  Congrats!

Katie said...

I really love your scrap "I Spy" log cabin. My scraps are all over - mostly in baggies. My excuse for not replying is my poor computer skills. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.