Scrap Happy March 2023

After knitting a lot of socks, I used the remaining yarns for a blanket. There were still some scraps left over, sometimes not longer than a meter. But you know me, I don’t throw anything away.

I  made little circles, 50 pieces so far, that’s a lot of ends to weave in. And I still have some scraps left.

I have some ideas on how to use them, but nothing special yet.

There’s a group of people who are posting on the 15th of every month, introducing projects made from scraps. Hop over to their blogs to see what everybody else has been creating. Not everyone is posting every month, but it’s always worth visiting their blogs. If you want to join them, please contact Kate or Gun.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti, Debbierose, Viv, Nóilin, Karrin, and please welcome our new members Amo and Alissa

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Tiny & Fiddly – finished

Tiny & Fiddly, batik fabrics, shirt fabric, machine pieced, size 53 x 43 cms

Tiny batik snippets (offcuts from a past project) sewn into random rectangles, then machine appliquéd onto fabric from the back of a shirt. For the backing, I used a plain white shirt back from an abandoned project (after removing some appliquéd circles), batting is a leftover piece that came in just the right size.

 

One Design, Series 2

I had a few blocks left over from another project, just the right size for my Freestyle Squares.

cotton batiks, machine pieced, panel size 30 x 30 cms

Art nouveau pond lily

Art nouveau pond lily panel, embroidered motiv appliquéd onto commercial cotton fabric, size 30 x 30 cms

Another pull from my stash, the embroidered motif from my abandoned pond lily project has finally found a home in this panel.

Pond Lily

Pond Lily panel, commercial machine embroidery, polyester fabric, cotton fabric, size 30 x 30 cms

Motif cut from an old cushion cover. About three decades ago I was planning to sew a quilt with lots of different pond lily blocks. The project was abandoned long ago, the panel was pulled from my stash recently.

Ammonites

Ammonites panel, crochet, machine piecing, appliqué, craft felt, sockyarn, cotton fabric, size 30 x 30 cms

Another page for a future book, felt panel pulled from my stash of ufos

(Almost) One Design #2

One design panels, made with pieces from a fabric sample pack, strips and bindings cut from stash fabric, buttons, size 30 x 30 cms each

Introduced before, but now I’ve added backing fabrics and bindings. The panels will become part of a book project.

Inspired by an article by Deborah Boschert, One Design, Many Quilts (Quilting Arts, Issue 82, August/September 2016), although mine aren’t exactly the same design, just similar ones.

Circles

Circles (Freestyle Square #27), re-used embroidered bit from an abandoned project, embroidery on batik fabric, buttons, machine piecing, size 30 x 30 cms

This year, I will be returning to my Freestyle Squares, among others. Currently 27 in total, I have introduced most of them on this blog already. One of my goals for this year is to finish them with backing and binding so they make single pages for a proposed book project. Each book will consist of single pages and there will be a sleeve to hold the pages together. On the list are a lot more pages for a whole set of themed books.

So many things in my stash are calling my name. There are a few old projects with not a chance to get finished, not ever. They will be vandalized abandoned and their pieces will find a home in a new project. A lot of ideas for using things from my stash will have to be thought over.

And I will be working on a smaller scale when it comes to new projects. My attention span and patience on projects aren’t what they used to be, I need a quick finish these days.

A world trip in textiles – #1 India

I have started a new series of squares, exploring textile techniques and designs from all over the world. My first piece is a koudi-style panel, inspired by an article I read some time ago.

koudi panel, cotton, batik scraps, basting thread, size 30 x 30 cms

Koudi and Kawandi are made in the villages of Karnataka in southwest India. They are quite similar, although there are some differences.

A traditional Koudi, made by the Indian community, has random squares and rectangles. Often white cloth is used in the corners, and motifs specific to their culture are quilted on the white base fabric.

A traditional Kawandi, made by the African-Indian tribe of the Siddi (Siddhi) is more medallion-like, made of concentric squares and strips. Often designs resembling African woven textiles are incorporated, you find log Cabin style patterns in the corners, also small patches sprayed randomly across the quilt.

Both Koudi and Kawandi feature layered appliqué, sewn and quilted at the same time, mostly entirely by hand. Small folded fabric squares, the phula (corner flowers) are added to the four corners. When the last piece of cloth is sewn to the center, in traditional pieces a few grains of rice are added before you put in the last stitches, to ‘feed’ the quilt.

(source: Traditions From India by Jovita Revathi Vas in Quilting Arts #107, October/November 2020)

Scrap Happy December 2022

Another panel made from the unused brown and neutral tiles from the Colour Wheel project. I had to make a few additional light squares.

I’m currently making decisions re my artwork and I’m planning for different things in 2023, so this may be the last Scrap Happy post for a while.

panel size 33 x 37 cms approx.

There’s a group of people who are posting monthly on the 15th, introducing projects made from scraps. Hop over to

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule (me), Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti, Debbierose, Viv and Nóilin

to see what everybody else has been creating. Not everyone is posting every month, but it’s always worth visiting their blogs. If you want to join them, please contact Kate or Gun (top of list).