Did You Know........A New Challenge!

Just looking at my majorly large (again) pile of scraps and bits and wondering (again) what to do with them all and I got to thinking....one of the piles is a trial pile of orphan quilt blocks where I tried out a design and then thought, nah...I would go mad if I had to make a whole quilt out of that!

Others are trial blocks where I thought, 'I love that but what about the colour...' and me being me, I could not throw the proto type away. And so they built up. Now it is ridiculous. Again.

I am obviously not going to change so my next thing is to find a way to use them.

Mats are useful so if you have some orphan blocks, don't think BIGGER, think smaller! You may be closer to some finished items than you think.

Idea number one is that any orphan quilt block can become a mat! I know right, how simple is that! Mats are useful. You can use them on the table as a mug rug, mismatched coasters, placemats, under vases and pot plants and as teensy mini quilts. Think dolly quilts for little people in your life.
Anyway, here is my first find in the scrap basket....

Really loved the way this mountain turned out but it was too small. That is the problem with designing. Win some and lose some. Even the losses can be made good though.

Now you will have to add some pieces. Today's example is one that I made to see if I could make  a wonky mountain for a larger project. Turned out that I could but the trial piece wasn't quite big enough. So I put it aside and started again.

Well it might not be big enough for a quilt or cushion but it is a perfect mug rug and you might not believe this but I don't have one of those!

I have auditioned some fabrics to go with it and then I started by adding one large neutral piece to the side of it and a black and white underneath.

Then I decided that this would not be a bound piece but a bagged out project. This meant that I had to hunt for a scrap of wadding (those build up too!).
Then I needed backing fabric. I put both of these together and then did the bagging out thing....

I trimmed next and clipped across the corners to reduce bulk.

Turned out and closed the gap. My choice of quilting this time was a channel quilt in concentric rectangles....

And you can now see the strip of monochrome underneath and the neutral on the side.

And I found a leather scrap and one of my beloved Chicago screws to make a hanging tab....

You will love these screws! One try and you will be addicted for life - no more bending rivets!

And we are now down one orphan block! These would make a great gift and the leather and brass detail brings it bang up to date.

Something else to consider too, have you thought about making your table setting more boho by making it deliberately mismatched? Seriously, instead of all the same (I hate repeating designs to make a set), consider one linking feature like shape or colour and then plough through the scraps.

Well back to the drawing board for the next one now. And I get to drink that coffee!
See you soon!
Debs
xx