After making 16 quilt blocks from a bundle of hand dyed fat quarters, I had a pile of scraps leftover. I did a bit of playing and turned them into crumb blocks. (Rather large crumbs, so perhaps crumble blocks is more appropriate?) They sat around on my cutting table for a couple weeks while I worked on setting up my new studio, and I tried to figure out what to do with them.
Usually crumb pieces are turned into quilt blocks, but I didn’t have that many scraps, and wasn’t really feeling it. Overall, I felt like they were useless as they were, and wished I could make something truly useful from them. A zippered pouch? Would only use up a bit of my stack. Same with pot holders or a mug rug. I scoured the internet for ideas, and found tutorials for a few fun projects, which got me thinking… Why not make a bunch of small, useful projects???
First I used up my biggest pieces making some nice thick pot holders. The fat quarter bundle came with some long sample strips, so I used them as binding.
I didn’t have quite enough large scraps for backing, so I found some quilting cotton in my stash leftover from another project. I like how the deep teal contrasts with the muted color scraps. I used my walking foot to stitch in the ditch.
Next I made some simple zippered pouches from the Dog Under My Desk tutorial. I used the same deep teal as lining and used up some stash zippers. They will get split rings added into the loops.
Next I made two pairs of drink coozies. I was able to cut the backside out of larger scraps, and use up the last of a package of fusible fleece and some scraps of Velcro. The first set is made from crumb scraps.
This second set used up scraps from making Flying Geese blocks, by making smaller Flying Geese. I used more of the sample card strips to fill in the space at the ends and sides.
My final project was the neatest one I saw online. I had never seen anything like it… a phone cord weight! It’s a little weighted bean bag, with a loop that contains Velcro to keep your cord from falling back behind the nightstand. My fabric was a little thin, so I actually added a layer of fusible fleece to the pieces before stitching it, and I’m glad I did. It’s sturdy without being stiff, so you can also use it to prop your phone up at night if you want to. I’m fairly sure I’m going to make one of these for everyone in my family for Christmas. I again used scrap velcro, and found some glass beads in my stash that came free with something, that weren’t really my style, or a good size for things I usually make. Now they’re being used, albeit invisibly.
I also managed to use up 2 different nearly empty spools of thread, and 4 nearly empty bobbins, all of random colors in the same muted palette. Now the bobbins are empty for a new quilt project, and more bits and pieces have served their purposes.
Finally, this is what I have left from the scraps and crumb blocks… Now what to make with the last few bits? A few more pouches? Couple more phone weights? Something else entirely???
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