REALLY MESSY!

I'm usually pretty fussy about keeping my workspace clean and organized.  But cutting squares from scrap fabrics is one big exception.  I have lots and lots of scraps of all sizes.  It's simply hard to throw away any piece of material 2" square or larger, so I save them all.  Sometimes when I can't sleep during the night I get up and cut these scraps into usable squares.  Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville.com) promotes what she calls a "Scrap Savers System."  This is my take on that:

It starts with this little basket on the cutting table.  When some rather small piece of fabric is left as cutting what is needed for a quilt, it goes into this basket.  When the basket is full, I take the time to trim the scraps into usable squares, 1 1/2", 2", etc.  There's also a container for triangles, all sizes, and a container for "Strings."  

Back in 2015 I went to visit our older daughter.  Knowing that she would be working full-time while I was there I grabbed a bag of 2 1/2" scrap squares and a bag of 3" scrap squares.  Each day while she was at work I sewed in her spare bedroom, using the squares to make a Split Nine Patch quilt.

Nice, eh?  One of the activities I planned for when we had all the kids and grandkids here in summer of 2015 was billed as a "Treasure Hunt."  I displayed about 15 quilts and wall hangings and let them choose a first, second and third choice to take home for their own.  This Split 9 Patch was one that wasn't chosen.  Later I brought it to IDA where there is a "Fabric Nook"--a very nice fabric and notions section for display there, basically, just to decorate the wall above the shelves a bit.

Brenda mentioned a few times that there have been several inquiries about this quilt.  How is it made?  So I have agreed to come some day in June and "demo" making this quilt.  In order to do that I need lots of 2 1/2" and 3" squares in darks and lights.  One of the great things about this particular quilt is that you can use almost any fabric and it will look fine.

But there weren't very many 2 1/2" or 3" squares in my containers.  So lately I've been cutting up scraps to make enough of the squares for another quilt, and extra so that there is choice in combining fabrics.  This afternoon I finished that.  I have plenty now.

The best way to do it is to spread all the scraps on the floor, in order to dig through the pile and select the fabrics you'd like to use.  This creates quite a mess!

I don't care to have the sewing area looking like that for long!

Here's the result: quite nicely organized into piles of 10 each, keeping track of how many have been cut.  Now I'm all set for June.  Well, almost.  I still need to make up a sheet of instructions for creating the Split Nine Patch blocks.  If you'd like to try this pattern, go to Bonnie Hunter's blog, quiltville.blogspot.ca, click on the Free Patterns at the top of the page, and scroll down to Split Nine Patch.  You'll find all the instructions there.

I highly recommend Bonnie's blog, her patterns, etc.  She's a real resource for quilters!