WIP: City Samper and a Planning Sheet

Better late than never - almost 3 weeks in to the #100Days100Blocks Instagram sew-along I decided to join in ... and right from the first block I created (Block 20), I just couldn't help but rebel... Only one of the following 4 blocks was pieced strictly by the book.  Can you spot the rebellions?

This sew-along may just have helped me find my sewjo again.

Being late to the party means I need to do a bit of catchup, plus I have no time to sew on Tuesdays so I thought I would do a bit of planning and get the Tuesday blocks done ahead of time.  This means I'm doing the blocks all out of order and needed to keep track of which ones I've done ... so the planning sheet was born!  Born to be wild perhaps?

If you're interested in using this planning sheet, you can download it here (it's A4 - you may need to scale it):

• In Microsoft Word format
• In PDF format

The Princess and the Pea

This reminds me of all the mattresses stacked precariously one on top the other in the Princess and the Pea fable, hence its name.  I have wanted to do a stacked books or stacked coins (??) type quilt since seeing this one by Svetlana of s.o.t.a.k handmade.  The prints are 2 1/2" wide strips of varying lengths, all centred on a Kona snow background.

This is the back of my I Spy a Charm (Matilda) quilt.  I love the idea of double sided quilts - being able to change the look of the bed simply by flipping the quilt over.  It does have drawbacks though, namely having to choose quilting and binding that will work with both sides. 

Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 57" by 80"
Pattern:  improv pieced  
Fabric: Various prints, Kona Snow background.

Binding: Dear Stella Confetti Dots in orange with an accent strip in s yellow Kate & Birdie Paper Co Bluebird Park print
Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday (Crazy Mom Quilts)

TGIFF

Cushion Crazy (Part 1)

I've gone a little cushion crazy lately, here is the first instalment with my version of the Winging It pillow (or cushion as I'd call it) from Quilting Modern.

The puffiness and 3D nature of the cushions make them quite tricky to photograph.

Linking up to:

Needle and Thread Thursday
TGIFF
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
Anything Goes Monday 

My scrap storage: it's not pretty (Scraps 101)

Hot on the heels of Sarah's fantastic scrap storage system is my own ... ah, not at all pretty but cheap and functional scrap storage.

I use old 2 litre ice-cream containers for my scrap storage, one for a colour or group of colours, as well as one for novelty/multi-coloured scraps and one for felt scraps.

I also use a bigger container for white scraps (which I use a lot of), and an even larger container for batting scraps.  The long strips from trimming a quilt before binding end up in here, anything larger than about the size of my laptop is folded and stored with my batting yardage.  I also have a WIP scraps bin, which sits on my worktable - I throw bits in there as I'm working on something and then sort them into colour in a batch.

The advantages of using ice-cream containers are that they are stackable, they have lids, they're free and it's easy to change the number of containers you're using.  You could start with, for example, four containers but as your scrap stash grew you could extend it to eight (for example), and it wouldn't cost you anything other than maybe a few inches around the waist and half an hour to re-sort your scraps.  The downside is they're not pretty.

Some tips I have for scrap storage would be to trim off loose thread and odd pieces that aren't of a usable size, and press them so they're (hopefully) usable straight out of your scrap bin.

So that's mine - it's not pretty, but it works really well, and so long as you've got someone in your house who eats an awful lot of ice-cream then in no time at all you'll have enough containers for your scrap storage.  I totally agree with Sarah when she says it's worth keeping your stash beautifully organised, it really does help you actually use it.

I'm very excited that I'll be linking up, for the first time, to Sunday Stash at Molli Sparkles - hello Glitterati!!  If you're new here, why not take a look around my Scraps 101 series to see what I've been up to lately.

Scraps 101: Organization & Storage with Sarah from Sarah Quilts

Hi! I'm Sarah from Sarah Quilts and I am so pleased to be a guest at mila+cuatro today as part of Scraps 101.

It takes time to acquire an interesting and diverse collection of scraps. You can cheat a little and buy scrap bags, but nothing beats an assortment of small cherished pieces of all your favorite fabrics from years of quilting.

I'm not quite there yet but I am to the point now that I need a system for organization. So when Sarah asked me to do a guest post for her series I knew right away that I wanted to talk about organization and storage, if only to give me an excuse to address mine!

First I needed some baskets. I thought 8 was probably the maximum number of shelves I wanted to devote to scrap storage and also the maximum number of baskets I would be willing to make.

I used the Noodle-head divided basket pattern but I made a few changes. I left off some of the details that I knew wouldn't be useful for this purpose (primarily the divider and the pocket) and I made it 4 inches taller. When I did my first test basket it looked like there might not be enough structure for the basket to stand so tall, but once it was all sewn together it stands just fine. They do hang open pretty wide (possibly because I left out the dividers) but that doesn't bother me.

I pondered for quite a while how I wanted to sort them. I wasn't sure I wanted to sort them by color because I don't often go looking for scraps just based on color. In the end I decided to try sorting by color for now and see how it goes. I'm starting with these 8 categories:

• Low volume
• Blue-aqua
• Green
• Yellow-orange
• Red-pink-purple
• Gray-black
• Strings
• Multi-color scraps

I pinned a scrap to the outside of each basket to identify the contents. I have seen some quilters actually construct the baskets themselves from the color of the scraps they contain, which is a pretty cool idea. I decided not to go that route because I wanted to base the colors of my baskets on the decor of my sewing room. It also gives me the flexibility to decide to change the categories if they aren't working for me.

I used a cool Kokka print I had in my stash. I only had a half yard so I used other prints for the backs. I can always turn them around if I tire of them.

If you're interested in seeing the rest of my sewing room, I've posted a full rundown on my blog today. Spoiler alert: fabric shelf!

Linking up with Crazy Mom!

Playing Postie: Scraps 101

This activity was inspired by this post from El Hada de Papel.  After seeing the envelope clutch at See Kate Sew a while ago I put the two ideas together and came up with this, a cardboard box with the flap from a baby wipes packet as a postbox and fabric envelopes and stamps:

If you have young children you can imagine how much fun they have with this.  I didn't use Kate's pattern, I made my own; and after a bit of trial and error I also constructed the envelopes differently.  The stamps are stuck on with velcro, so they can be pulled off and on, I also added names to some of the envelopes, using iron on t-shirt transfers.  This is great for using up scraps!  The envelopes and stamps are project 6 and 7 of Scraps 101.

 

Linking up to:

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story  

Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum

Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

Building Blocks Doll quilt : Scraps 101

 

Is anyone else inspired by the colours of their kids' lego blocks?  A couple of lego towers Ruby had left lying on the carpet gave me the inspiration for a quilt so I thought I'd try it out using the brown bag technique. 

I took some of the small blocks, matched them to solid scraps from my scrap stash then put the lego blocks in a brown bag and drew them out at random to make two towers, one taller than the other.  I wanted the quilt towers to be the size of the real towers, so the scraps are quite small - they were 1 3/4 inch x 1 and 1/4 inch before piecing.  The background white is scrap pieces left over from Ruby's quilt.

Front and back have two towers, vertical towers on the front and horizontal on the back.  I quilted around the towers (front and back), then added quilted towers of varying length in the negative space.

Front (left) and Back (right)

Good view of the quilted towers

If I make one like this again I'd have more towers and have them stacked at angles like in the photo at the top of this post, to make it a bit more interesting.  This is project 5 of my Scraps 101 series.

Linking up to:

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

TGIFF
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Made By You Mondays at Skip To My Lou 

Grocery bag holder: Scraps 101

Thanks to everyone who took a guess on my last post - it was such a fun way to do a giveaway that you can expect more take-a-guess-and-win type giveaways here in the future.  We had two people guess what it was - the winner is Deborah Gun, check your email Deborah!

This grocery bag holder with a scrappy strip adds a splash of colour and personality to my pantry.  This is project 1 of my new Scraps 101 Series.

To make one of your own, here's an add on to Craftiness is Not Optional's tutorial.  Check out that tutorial for what you need, then find some scraps of varying widths (mine were 1 - 2 inches wide) and 2 and half inches long.

Sew your scraps together to form a scrappy strip 22 inches long and 2 and a half inches wide.

Measure 2 inches from the long edge of your main fabric and pin your scrappy strip lengthways, 2 inches from the edge all the way down, right sides together.  Sew scrap to main fabric using a 1/4 inch seam, then press scrap strip so that the unsewn edge now sits flush with the edge of your main fabric.  You could baste it down an eighth of an inch from the raw edge, or just pin it like I did and treat it like one layer of fabric.

Now go back to Jess's tutorial and continue on from the start.  Instead of cotton tape I used a scrap piece measuring 2 inches x 7.5 inches, which I folded right sides together along the long edge, then turned right side out.  The main fabric of my holder was a thin polyester white fabric I found in an op shop (someone else's scraps), I'm glad I've found a way to put some of it to good use.

See you back here in a few days for some more scrappy goodness!

 

Linking up to:

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest 

A Finish with a Twist - Scraps 101 and a GIVEAWAY!

Here's a Friday Finish with a twist - I'm not going to tell you what I've finished, I want YOU to tell ME what I've finished!  Everyone who takes a guess by leaving a comment on this post will go in the draw for a charm pack of Kensington by Emily Taylor Design:

Want to win me?  Go ahead - have a guess!

I'm launching a new series here on the blog, inspired by Crazy Mom Quilts' 101 Scraps project, which I'm calling ... Scraps 101.  I'm setting myself a challenge to make 101 things using scraps and I want to keep you entertained and maybe even inspired along the way.  There'll be some giveaways (starting with this one), some guest posts, a linky party and lots of scrappy goodness. There will be something for everyone: ideas you haven't seen, ideas you probably have seen, some quirky projects, some ugly projects, some pretty projects.  There might even be ... a quilt.  Gasp!  I know, I know, a quilt made with scraps?  How do I come up with these ideas?

This is my first project which I'll share with you on Monday.  In the meantime, why not take a guess at what it is?  Here's a clue:  It is useful around the home, I've made one before and I have blogged about it sometime since June this year. 

What am I?

This is open to everyone, all correct entries will go in the draw to win the Kensington Charm Pack, if noone guesses correctly then everyone will be in the draw, we'll randomly draw a winner on Monday NZ time.  Good luck!

Linking up to:

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

TGIFF hosted this week at Never Too Hot to Stitch

WiP: Scrappy strip

More brown bag fun with Ruby.  After browsing through Crazy Mom Quilts and seeing how small some of the scraps she uses are I revisited Ruby's play fabric bin (I keep a container of scraps for Ruby's crafting).  I had some scraps that are 2 1/2 inch tall but of varying width (most between 1 and 2 inches).  We brown bagged it again and sewed them into strips. 

I love the effect gained from variation in width as well as the randomness of fabric placement, so I think I really should try some improv piecing.  I'm going to incorporate this into the back of Ruby's Granny Square Quilt, I love the idea of there being something in it that we created together.

Ruby is really enjoying this, she asks if we can sew something together and helps out by pulling scraps out of the brown bag and cutting the thread once scraps are sewn together, so I'm trying to think up other ways we can sew together - I'd love to hear any suggestions you may have for sewing with a 3 year old!

PS - there's still time to enter our current giveaway - the Sunday Funday Giveaway, open until Thursday afternoon (NZ time).

Linking up to:

WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Yellow: Birthday Girl Outfit

'Make-it-up-as-you-go' skirt paired with 'run-out-of-time-so-I'll-just-heat-n-bond' top ...

Scrapbuster Bow Hairtie

I saw this cute Oliver + S Bow Hair Tie but wanted something that was a bit more scrap friendly, especially if you've got surplus 2 1/2 inch strips, so I made some similar but different:

Read on if you want to make some yourself.