Sunday, January 1, 2012

12 X 12 - Getting Started

Our twelve scrappy projects for 2012 will be detailed in posts tagged "12 X 12" throughout the year. Want to know more about our Scrappy New Year Quilt-along? Click here.

Today, we are going to start collecting and prepping scraps for two projects - a scrappy pet bed and a super simple scrappy quilt.

The start of this first project is super easy. You need a container for "throw away" scraps - like a paper bag, a plastic bag or an empty tissue box. Something you can tape to the edge of your cutting table or just a small box that sits on the table. As you trim edges, threads, corners, etc., toss those scraps in your bag instead of the garbage. This is the kind of stuff I'm talking about:


We'll use this filler to make a doggie (or kitty) bed. If you don't have a pet, perhaps you know someone who does. You could even make one for a local shelter or Humane Society. It's amazing how fast this piles up - you'll be emptying your small bag into a larger one in no time! 


Later this month, we'll make a muslin pillow for the stuffing. Then you can empty your small bag directly into the muslin. Once it's full, we'll make a washable, quilted cover (from stash fabrics) for it! You can have one of these going all the time - I'm sure you'll have no problem finding people to give these to . . . and you'll be keeping pounds of scraps out of the landfill!

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Our second project is a Scrappy Squares and Rectangles Quilt. Starting this second part involves just a little more work.  To begin, let's go through our stash and sort it by color. Yep ... the whole thing. I know - not my favorite task either. But, remember - we are going to reduce our stash this year! The sorting we do now is prep work for a lot of projects that we will be working on this year. Already have your stash sorted? Well, you can relax this week (show-off)!

Paper grocery bags, empty boxes or plastic storage boxes will work. I think you need at least ten containers, but you may want more. With 10, you can sort them in the following groups: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Black, White, Multi-colored, Holidays. I'm also going to sub-sort within each container. I'm dividing them into two groups - solid (or read-as-solid) and prints.

That's it for right now. Start collecting those scraps and sorting fabrics - next week, we will begin cutting and piecing our scrappy squares and rectangles blocks and later this month, we'll whip up the muslin insert for our pet bed.



3 comments:

  1. I absolutely love the idea of saving the scraps you can't sew with for a doggie or kitty bed. I will be doing this from now on and donating to the local shelter!

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  2. I already have a bag of those little scraps that's about to burst- I'm set to go! :D

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  3. How fun! I have a bag of tiny/stringy scraps ready to go, kinda a duh moment when know i know to use it as stuffing :) Cant wait to see whats in store for next week.

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