A Hand Made Christmas

 

4sets of Potholders from scraps

Another 4 sets of Potholders from scraps

Christmas has come and gone for another year. Hope everyone's was wonderful. I spent the last few weeks prior to the big day doing lots of baking, sewing and knitting. My projects were mainly for family so I didn't dare show pictures here of what I was doing. Now that all the gifts have been delivered and opened, I can share them with you.

Old embroidery test pieces used as back of potholders

Potholders for my sisters and daughters, made from squares leftover from my mystery star quilt and some machine quilted/embroidered blocks for the backs. Three of the smaller ones were made from 9-patch blocks that were in mom's collection which I inherited.

                                                                 

A couple of the sets were made with leftovers from this table runner. I call it Crazy Holly and it is my third finish in the New Year's Eve challenge.

 
 
Knitted slippers for two of my grandsons. I have another two pair I am still working on as well.
 
A wooden trinket box that my granddaughter saw and told me she wanted on the morning of the 24th. I brought it home and was able to stain it that afternoon and spray varnish it late that night so it would be ready to wrap in the morning. She was surprised and really loved it! That made it all worthwhile.

Finally, I made a set of Junior cook sized oven mitts that I, unfortunately, forgot to take a picture of.

Scrap Happy!

I love the look of scrappy quilts.. I've been admiring many that I have seen online while blog-jogging. On Quiltville, Bonnie has shared her Scrap Users System and I'm sure most quilters have heard of it. If by some chance you haven't, click on the links and check it out. She also shares many wonderful patterns to use up your scraps!

Feeling the need to do some organizing, I worked for a few afternoons to organize my scraps. I dug out the plastic bins (sure wish I had stock in THAT company) and began to cut strips and squares. I just cut strips of various widths if the piece was at least 12" long. If it was shorter, I cut it into squares. After spending many hours of cutting, my 'organized' scrap stash all fit neatly into just 4 video storage boxes. They aren't even anywhere near full. :S Is it possible for a person to not have enough scraps?? YUP, it sure is.

A woman on a quilting forum site that I frequent was chatting about clearing out her sewing room of quilting fabric if it was anything less than 1/8 yd. She was going to TOSS IT INTO THE TRASH. Having heart palpitations, I sent a message to her saying I would LOVE to have any scraps that she was getting rid of. I'd could pay the postage OR send fabric in return for her trouble. Sadly, I never did hear from her so, I imagine, all that fabric was sent to her local landfill. :-(

HOWEVER, another lady by the name of Karen sent me a message saying that she had a box of scraps that she'd be happy to send me!! We made arrangements and the box arrived at my door today!

Now, I'm sure some people will think I'm loosing it to be so HAPPY over a box of scraps but I am over the moon! I'd estimate that about 1/3 of the box are pieces that are already cut into strips and squares.

There are some larger pieces, even some fat 8's and fat 4's! There is a whole pile of 2.5" strips in black on white and white on black prints... there are also pieces of beautiful hand dyeds. Here's a picture of it all on my livingroom floor. I tried to seperate things mostly by color as I unpacked the box.

Karen, I can't thank you enough! My brain is spinning with ideas to use these!! I know that one of the first things I will work on is a scrappy quilt for charity.