Small blue scraps....

This is the starting point of making a scrap quilt.  First off, I gather up some of my scraps.  In this case I chose to do blue.  I had two quilts in mind when I gathered these scraps up, but today I'll walk you through the making of one of them.  Keep your eyes on that black basket.

My pieces are pretty small.  I would classify this as a crumb quilt.  I am making strips that only measure 2 1/5" wide by about 10-11" long.  I just grab one and sew it to the first one and continue this process until the strip is the length I am shooting for.  

Now you have to realize that these pieces are my really small scraps/crumbs and that some of them don't even measure 2 1/2" wide.  When that happens, which is often, I grab a similar scrap and sew them together, as seen in the strip on the bottom right hand corner of this next picture.

I keep working like this throughout the construction of my strips.  Grab, sew, grab, sew, piece, piece again, grab, sew, grab, sew....processing a lot of very small pieces.  In the picture below I show you my set up.  The pieces in the middle are the ones that already measure at least 2 1/2" long and the pieces toward the bottom are not big enough.  They will need to find a partner to be sewn to.

Did you notice that black basket!!  It is empty!  I can actually say I am making a small dent in using up my crumbs.  I haven't yet opened that bag on the right hand side of the picture....lol.....but, progress none the less!  Once I have enough strips, I am using a blue solid 1" strip to set them together as you see in the picture below.

I have these four strips sewn together, which makes me feel great!  I'm obviously not done this quilt, but I really enjoyed some quiet, relaxing, fun just playing with fabric and making what other people consider to be garbage into something useful.  

These crumb quilts do take more time, but I am trying to see this as a form of meditation.  Focus on only the small pieces.....grab, sew, grab, sew, piece, piece again, grab, sew, grab, sew.  No rush, no worries, just sew one to another and keep going.  If you are going to try this, it would be much easier if you don't have an agenda.  Don't think of the end product, just keep plugging away to a calmer sole.

Take care everyone.