Summer 2023 Scrap Along Challenge

Wow, that's a full name, but I think it encompasses everything.

I invite you to join me on this summer's challenge to use up your scraps of quilting fabric and make a quilt or two. I don't know about you, but I often have a sense of overwhelming stress when I look at all the fabric "scraps" I have in my Studio.

The Summer 2023 Scrap Along Challenge will run June 1 - September 30. Everyone who completes the challenge will be able to come to the studio and have their quilt quilted (no charge) or rent the longarm and quilt it yourself (no charge).

I found a picture I liked on Pinterest and started drawing out the blocks. I quickly realized that the piecing was very mindless and was a great project to use as a leader and ender while piecing another quilt or two. It's a simple quilt that will measure 54" x 74" when complete.

The blocks are simple. A 6" square of background fabric and a whole bunch of 2" squares sewn together.

I spent the day today out on the deck and sewed in the shade and made almost all the blocks I needed from my 2 1/2" cut squares. I had to hunt for the brown background units, but made it and even have enough for binding once it is quilted. Next step is cutting more 2 1/2" squares and pressing my blocks before I sew the quilt together.

I have a lot of fabric scraps. I have way too many scraps! I'm a good daughter and brought home lots of boxes of quilting fabric last year when my mum decided to stop quilting. I usually work with Batiks and Hand Dyed Fabrics.....so the challenge has been to use up as much as I can of Mum's fabrics. I also have a few tubs of my own that need to be dealt with.

I've made a few quilts already and have them ready to pass on. But I still have lots of fabric left.

Let's count.....5 large boxes full of printed quilting cottons. Some are from Mum but most are mine. Then I have the same number of boxes full of hand dyed and batik fabrics as well as a large box full off 2 1/2" strips.

As I have been going through scraps, I've realized that when a quilt top is finished, anything more than 1/2 meter gets folded and put on the shelf, the rest is simply thrown into a box to be dealt with later .... NOW IS LATER!

I'll be sharing blog posts in the next few days with cutting and sewing instructions for the blocks. So, in the meantime, collect anything larger than 2 1/2" and start thinking about joining the challenge.

As the summer progresses, I'll share my quilt blocks and my quilts. Consider sharing your progress on my facebook page and let's see how many quilts we can finish this summer and deal with some of that overwhelming stress of too much stuff.

As an added bonus, I'll be donating my completed quilts to a couple of charity organizations.