Monday, July 03, 2006

Makin' do

Last night I didn't feel like working on the applique I 'should' have been doing. I just wanted to do some mindless piecing, so I grabbed those 8 log cabin blocks I had made by mistake and set about putting a border on them.

Rather than just have the orphan blocks sit in a drawer like they probably would have done in recent years, I knew I had the perfect use for them. It was Cameron's 4th birthday on 20 June, and his party was on the 25th. One of my Mum's friends had kindly surprised us with a lovely birthday cake and a whole platter of little cakes she had made to have at his party. I wanted to do something in return, so I decided I will give her this little table topper.

It only took a matter of minutes to add the border, and I had a perfect half yard of something in my stash box to use on the back, so I just needed some batt. This project is only 30" x 20", and I didn't really want to cut a piece off my roll that size, so I rifled around in my scrap boxes and found enough offcuts to make up a batt.

I don't know if it's possible to see in the picture, but I pieced the batt out of 13 pieces. I get teased a little by people in the know about using up pieces of batt that they would throw away, but I figure the less I spend on the batt that can't be seen, the more I can spend on pretty fabrics and thread!

I quilted the blocks quickly in the ditch and did a big meander in the border, then added a binding also from my stash. Later today I will stitch the binding down on the back. It feels good to have something to give away, and made entirely from stash and orphan blocks!

5 comments:

Finn said...

Hi Tazzie, how nice to find your comment over at my blog. I had to pop over and see where you share your corner of the world. And my goodness, you are a very long ways away...LOL. But with this wonderful tool, we can feel connected..*VBS*
So nice to see your quilts, and I look forward to seeing more of them. Looks like you are a scrap quilter first rate!! I love the "Seeing Stars" quilt...and your log cabin blocks are so nice and scrappy! I'll be back to see how things are going.
Nothing to be ashamed of when putting the bits of batting together. What it takes to make it work..that's how we do it!! Hugs, Finn

Joyce said...

I have a huge pile of batting pieces just waiting to be used up the way you did for you table topper. Waste not, want not.

Linda C said...

Welcome to the Stash quilts ring, Tazzie. It is going to be fun getting to know you and the others that have joined us recently.

We piece our batting together all the time at my quilt group. I got two full batts together for our kids quilts without half trying the other day but maybe are a little selective about how wide a piece should be before tossing it--6 inches plus usually.

Shelina said...

I have a bag full of batting scraps too. Okay, maybe more than a bag. I try to use them up with postcard quilts, smaller projects, journal quilts. I have pieced a couple, but nothing with thirteen pieces! Great job using up what you have.

Patti said...

What a good use of your "throw aways"! I have often pieced batting scraps together for something small - works beautifully! Just like Bonnie says - those scraps cost just as much as the rest - even if they are just batting and not fabric.

Welcome to the ring!

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