New Plan for Random Square Rag Quilt and Crumb or Crazy Quilt Blocks

I'm still loving playing with the small scraps of fabric to work on crumb quilt blocks, but since I don't have scraps from a lot of different fabrics right now, I'm sorta at a standstill.  I still haven't found my stupid cutting mats (but in all honesty, I haven't looked much lately) so can't do a lot of cutting for a regular rag quilt right now, but I still need a 'fix'.

It doesn't make sense to go buy fabric just to cut into small pieces for the crazy blocks, so I came up with another plan.  I do want to make a regular rag quilt out of random squares of different fabrics at some point (with each square a single fabric, but each block being different from the rest), so what I'm going to do is buy fat quarters on sale or with a coupon, and cut whatever regular size squares I can from those for the random squares quilt, and use the scrap remnants for the crumb quilt blocks.  I can use my scissors to cut the pieces large enough to make blocks with my rotary cutter and mat later, and still get the bits of scraps to use for the crumb-y squares now.  Win-win!

With that in mind and 60% and 40% coupons from Michael's in hand, another 40% in the Hobby Lobby app on my phone, off I went to see what I could drum up.

Here's what I found ...

Fat quarter bundle from Hobby Lobby

Two fat quarters from Michael's

Aren't they delicious?  I love all the bright colors, but this animal print really made me smile.

With these fabrics added to my current stash of scraps, I should have enough different prints and colors to make a few more crumb blocks now, and can use a coupon every time I hit Hobby Lobby (not sure how often Michael's coupons come out) to get more without breaking the bank.  I think I can afford to splurge for a dollar or two a couple of times a month.

Stay crafty ...

~ Marie Anne

Crazy Crumb Quilt Blocks in the Making

I posted the other day that I wanted to start making crumb quilt blocks, and so it begins!  I grabbed my stash of bits and pieces of remnants from various earlier projects and starting sewing them together in a random fashion.   It doesn't matter if the piece you start with is already fairly big, because once you sew it to another piece, you can trim that and make two (or more) pieces from it.  Then you piece those together with others, and just keeping adding and trimming until you have something large enough to square up into a block the size that you want.

I'm trying to put some pieces in a wonky direction just for a bit of interest, but I haven't done as much of that as I'd like, so will work on that more.  I need more fabric scraps with a variety of colors and patterns before I can go much further.  Here are a few examples of blocks I'm working on now.

You're supposed to do this completely random, but I had small pieces with a whole owl showing, and I couldn't not use them intact.  I figure they will be add a bit of whimsy to my finished piece.  Don't judge.  :)

I have no idea what my blocks will eventually be fashioned into, but I don't have to worry about that just yet.  It will take me time to build up enough of a stash to make the blocks random and not matchy-matchy, so I'll probably work on my crumb quilt blocks in between other projects.   Because of all the seams, I'll have to put a sashing border around them if I want to use them in a rag quilt, so I'm not sure if that will be my goal or not.  For now, I will just continue to build on them until I have enough to decide what size blocks I want to trim them into.

If you want to learn how to make crazy blocks like this, check out Darlene's crumb quilt block tutorials on youtube.  She has a whole series of various ways to make them.  (Word of caution:  she does throw in a word or two here and there that aren't fit for little ears, but very few, maybe 4-5 words in 10 videos.  The tutorials are worth it, IMO).

Someday I'll figure out how to do my own videos, but I will try to show as much as I can in photos here on the blog.  I'll do another post soon showing how you can take larger scraps and turn them into crumby pieces by stitching to other pieces then cutting.

~ Marie Anne

P.S.  This is one of the cutting mat and ruler sets that I have, and I love it!  Unfortunately, I have no idea where my mats and dquilting rulers are since moving.  I guess I should make finding them a priority.

A Crummy Idea - Crumb Quilt Blocks With Fabric Scraps

I posted yesterday that I might try to make a rag quilt out of random squares of scrap material, with no real rhyme or reason.  I asked sewing friends in a Facebook group for ideas on how to get past my need for order, and one suggested that I look up crumb quilts.

Ohmy. I found some youtube tutorials on how to make crumb quilt blocks, and I think I'm in love.  I now have a use for all of the tiny scraps that aren't big enough to make squares of their own!  When sorting fabric yesterday, I had thrown away a bag full of small scraps, but after a few minutes watching the videos, I went right out and grabbed that bag.  Yep, I did some dumpster diving right here at home.

I'm not sure yet how it will work out for rag quilting, though; since there will be so many seams in a single block, they might not rag well, but I'm going to play with it and see what happens.  If it doesn't work out as is, I might try to sew a strip of border around each piece, which would make the four sides more like a traditional block.  Worst case - if I can't use them to make rag quilts, I can make up the blocks and list them for sale, or donate them to someone who can use them in a traditional quilt. Either way, it'll be fun to play with all the colors and patterns and make something pretty out of scraps that can then be put to good use somehow instead of ending up in the garbage.

So today's agenda includes trying to make crumb quilt blocks.  But first ... did you notice anything in the photo above?  I knew right where my sewing machine was and got all excited to start, but something is missing.  In true MA fashion - I have no idea where the cord is!

~ Marie Anne

Random Scrap Rag Quilt Plans

After a whirlwind of listing house, selling house, driving from Ohio to NC, spending a couple of weeks in a hotel with two dogs, finding house, and closing on house all in a span of less than 60 days, I'm finally starting to settle in a little.  There's still a lot to do, but the house is livable and functional, and the rest will come together in time.

I've been working on my office/craft room, and anxious to get back to sewing rag quilts. I think I have everything arranged in here where I have room for my eBay stuff as well as a table for my sewing machine.   I spent quite a bit of time yesterday sorting my small fabric stash, found a few pieces that I'll offer for sale, put yardage in gallon sized plastic bags, and made a pile of scraps and remnants worth saving for a random quilt project.

I hate waste, but I also don't want to hang on to stuff that I'll never use, so I have a plan, and that plan is to not follow a plan, so to speak.

When I work on a layout for a rag quilt, I spend a lot of time working on placement of colors, patterns, etc, and need it to be 'just right'.  In order to use up my stash of scraps, I'll have to abandon that plan.

My new plan is to cut squares whenever I have a remnant come available and sandwich right away and toss into a tote to be stitched with other squares as soon as I have a few.  I figure if I just grab and go, stitch together whatever few squares I have done, I won't be able to stress about whether colors or patterns are right for each other. 

I think I'll cut squares in two different sizes to get the most use out of scrap fabrics.  Hmm .... if I do that, I might even attempt a square-on-square quilt which would make the randomness even more interesting.

Women have been making random quilts from clothing scraps for generations, right?  Can I?  Will I be able throw caution to the wind and work through my love of order to pull off a truly random scrappy quilt?  Stay tuned for updates!

~ Marie Anne

Upcycled Blue Jean Denim Rag Quilt in Progress

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to be making a rag quilt and incorporating some blue jean denim fabric into it.  I found a really cool long flowered denim skirt and a pair of plus sized jeans in good condition at the thrift store, and after washing, made quick work of cutting into squares to use in my rag quilt.

I forgot to take a photo of the skirt by itself, but here are the jeans after I cut off the elastic waistband.  Don't ask me why I took the photo of them inside out, because I have no idea.  They're a really nice denim color, not faded at all (you can see it peeking out at the top).

Plus sized jeans ready to be cut into squares

The rag quilt that I'm working on now is going to be made with 6.5" squares, which will turn out to be 5.5" squares after ragging.  I was able to get 38 nice 6.5" squares from this one pair of plus size 28 jeans. I thought that was a good amount for my investment of $2.50!  When shopping the thrift stores, I try to pick out only the items that are 50% off for that day, and the original price of this pair of jeans was $4.99,  and for that amount of usable denim fabric, that's a very good deal.

Ended up getting 38 6.5" squares from that one pair of jeans

My original plan was to have the rag quilt completely reversible, with each square having the same front and back, but I didn't have enough of the other cotton fabrics (also reclaimed) to work out that way, so I adjusted.  Since most of the other fabrics had flowers, I decided to use the flowered denim squares on the front also, and go with all denim for the back.  I ended up with enough to do blocks of 7x9, so I need  63 squares for both top and bottom (and the flannel filling also).  I'll still need one more pair of jeans to have enough squares for the back.  I have five squares of the flowered denim left so I think I might put one in each corner and the middle square of the back, just for a little visual contrast, and to tie it in with the quilt top. Will wait until I get the rest of the squares for the back before I made the final decision.

Here's the final layout of the front of the rag quilt.  I can't wait to get the other jeans and finish cutting the back squares to I can get to stitching!  

Layout for the top of my reclaimed denim rag quilt

The other flowered and burgundy fabrics are from scrub tops - another thrift store find!

Do you recycle clothing or other items to use in your craft projects?

~ Marie Anne

Denim Rag Quilt, Coming Up!

I'm excited to get started on my next rag quilt, which will include some denim.  I had two pretty flower print fabrics from reclaimed clothing that were similar colors, and since both had blue in them, I thought recycled blue jeans would be perfect to pair with them.

Two pretty flowered fabrics reclaimed from scrubs!

I took samples of these two fabrics with me when I went gallivanting in town this morning, and I found another top with burgundy, and also a nice flowered denim midi skirt and another pair of jeans fairly cheap.  I found a light blue print that I'm undecided about, but will cut up a square or two of everything and see how it looks before making a final decision.  Not sure if I want to use both denims in this quilt or not either.  

I think I want to make a reversible quilt, where each square is the same on front and back, but that's going to depend on how many squares I get from each fabric that I have, and I'm going to commence cutting on the denim and burgundy as soon as they get out of the wash.  

Flowered fabric paired with light blue print,
flowered denim skirt, and blue jeans

These are 6 1/2" squares, but will be approximately 5 1/2" after ragging.  I'd like to make it big enough for a couch throw size rather than baby blanket, but that's also going to depend on the amount of squares I get out of all this.  I'm still fairly new to the whole quilting/rag quilting thing and this will be my first time working with denim, but I'm excited to get started on this project!  More pics to come in future posts as I get the jeans cut up and get my squares laid out for my cotton/denim rag quilt.  Stay tuned!

~ Marie Anne

Rag quilts, table runners, knitting, and more!

I sure haven't been posting here on the blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping my hands busy with one project or another.  I've been posting my antics on Facebook, but then had a 'duh' moment ... why am I not posting it all on my blog too?

I heard about rag quilting a couple of weeks ago and found that it's a lot more forgiving than 'regular' patchwork quilting (which I'll never be able to master), so decided to give it a try.  I love it!  I've finished two baby/lap size quilts and a couple of table runners, and have plans to keep going with a lot more of them and will hopefully get them added to my Etsy shop soon.

Here are a couple of photos of what I've done so far -

My very first rag quilt! Some of the seams aren't perfectly lined
 up, but you can't tell from the front.  Rag quilts are very forgiving!

Made this table runner for my narrow sofa table.  The lighting
wasn't the best, but it's perfect for this space - I love it!

Another rag quilt table runner that I thought
would work for fall/Thanksgiving time of year.

My second baby/lap sized rag quilt.  The colors in this
one didn't come out quite as nice as I expected, but it'll do.

I also stumbled on a cute knit dishcloth pattern that works up fairly quickly, so dusted off my knitting needles and made one last night, and I'll be adding those to the list of things I want to put up for sale in my Etsy store too. MA needs money for the heating bill this winter!  (I'll be posting photos and the link to the knit dishcloth pattern in a separate post).

So .. what have the rest of you been up to?

~ Marie Anne