SCRAPS

I got up around 2:45 a.m.--not an unusual occurrence for me.  By 3 a.m. I was in my sewing room, thinking I'd finish the last two 4 by 4's that I started over the weekend.  That would make the 28 blocks of 4 x 4's that I need for a lap quilt I'm working on.  I pulled out a scrap drawer looking for some pieces of material for the pinwheels that come next for that quilt.  Here's what was in the drawer:

It's one of those see through drawers that are stackable.  When I set up my sewing room here I bought a 4' x 8' sheet of melamine and had the lumber yard cut it into two 2' x 7' pieces.  One is set up on six of these drawers, three to a side, and that's my sewing table.  Pretty much the right height.  The other is the cutting table, set up on three of the big drawers with two smaller drawers on top, and under the other side are four medium drawers with two smaller drawer on top.  You can see the set up in this photo:

                         

The bottom drawer held "orphan blocks" which I gave away last week.  The empty space above it is where the scrap drawer was.  Above the empty space is the highest large drawer, another big drawer full of batik pieces.  One smaller drawer above that holds a variety of scotch tapes, and the smaller drawer on the right holds circular knitting needles.  To the right of the drawers is a stack of boxes that hold trimmed scraps: 2", 2 1/2", 3", 3 1/2", and 4"+.  The blue containers in front of the boxes (there are two) hold dark trimmed scraps, one for 2 1/2" and one for 3", and the white containers (also two) hold light trimmed scraps, also one for 2 1/2" and one for 3".  These are ready to be made into a "Split Nine Patch".  That's not the whole of the scraps I have.  In the closet is a very large zippered bag full of unsorted scraps.  These are remnants from cutting out quilts.  It's amazing how they pile up.

I found only three scraps big enough for pinwheels, but I started sorting and cutting scraps into useable sizes.  That's how I spent my whole day, from 3 a.m. to 1 p.m., with breaks for breakfast and coffee time.  Here's the result.  You can't really see how nice and tall these stacks are.  Most are cut squares, but there are also some stacks of strips in each size.

It wasn't what I had planned to do today, but once I started I got in the swing of it and was determined to finish the whole drawerful.

It didn't happen!  This is what's left, and it actually looks worse than it is, because the photo was taken looking down at the drawer.  Tomorrow morning I'll be able to finish.

Most of Saturday's snow has melted.  Because it came down sideways, we don't really know how much we got.  The whole week is supposed to be cold and rainy, snowy.  Good quilting weather!