Wednesday 17 September 2014

Scraps of the Scraps Quilt


I love the moral of the scrap quilt. The idea that no matter how ugly some of the tiny pieces hidden in there, the overall effect is one of beauty. I've needed that reminder lately. In fact, I think I've needed it so much that I really gave this quilt everything I had, in terms of ugly fabric, leftovers, leftovers of the leftovers. I've needed it so much that a few weeks ago, all that ugly fabric sewn and cut and sewn and trimmed down, down, down into teeny, tiny hourglass blocks, that I burst into tears in fear that it might not be true. Maybe I won't like it. And maybe that will say something about us.


Colourful squares that were made into a custom drawstring quilt nearly two Christmases ago, gave leftovers that became a table runner for my mum last Christmas, which gave hundreds of discarded leftover, half-sewn hourglasses. They didn't begin to be enough for this chequerboard quilt. I emptied and sorted and sewed my large, overstuffed, glass jar of scrappy triangles. (EMPTIED! I have used ALL those triangles-from-binding scraps!) And still they weren't enough. And then I took the plunge. That risky, exciting yet terrifying, plunge into my charm square box for all those pieces I'd bought before I knew beautiful fabric (sorry, my taste in fabric) existed. I sewed them together, cut them, sewed them, trimmed them into terribly sad little hourglassess. And then I cried.


And then (evidently), I kept going, sewing these tiny squares together into bigger, and bigger squares, until finally, I knew that everything was right with the world. I backed it in flannel and quilted it on each side of every second diagonal seam. Then I bound it in aqua, which, compared to any other print I auditioned, seemed to make all those tiny hourglasses shine! Maybe the prints that seemed misfits at first, become beautiful when matched with the right environment. Maybe there's a moral in that also?


20 comments:

  1. Thank you for this. I have to say though - I have examined every shot trying to find where you hid the 'ugly' fabrics - and couldn't spot any I didn't like.

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  2. Your quilt is beautiful... Not an ugly fabric insight ; )

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  3. Now this is some scrap vomit I can get on board with! I think the white has allowed everything to breathe, and provided some unity to the design. I'm all sorts of jealous right now!

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  4. Congrats!! You have made beauty from scraps! It's fresh and exudes and all over happy feeling.

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  5. This quilt makes me happy. Such a beauty - and the moral rings true!

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  6. It's beautiful and oh so happy.

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  7. It's beautiful ! I agree with Molli about the white letting everything breath. Gorgeous :)

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  8. It's so happy and lovely Jodi! Did you have a method for the layout of the hourglass blocks in the checkerboard or was it random?

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  9. Love it. So glad you pushed through and finished - it's fabulous

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  10. A lovely finish! Beauty comes from the most surprising places I think. This just goes to prove that it's not all what you see on the surface when you first look at something (or someone) but that within that thing there is beauty to be found. Good for all of us to remember.

    Love the silly faces too. :)

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  11. This is one beautiful quilt!!!! It just makes my heart sing to look at it.

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  12. What an accomplishment! It's gorgeous gorgeous! It's like people. We all have that not so nice part of us, but zoom out and look at the whole person--beautiful.

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  13. It's really fascinating how the uglies don't show up ugly at all when you do it right. That's always one of my best challenges--trying to incorporate some older fabrics into my quilts in a way that I still like them.:) LOVE your quilt!

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  14. when I saw the first picture I actually said "wow" out loud - and then to read that it comes from fabric you hate! It gives me hope that I might actually use my fabrics that I bought early on (before I knew what I liked)... thank you for sharing this, it is SO beautiful. Both the quilt and the message! :)

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  15. You have made an absolutely gorgeous quilt. I'm not sure if I've ever commented before but I love your quilt! I have been reading your blog for close to a year now I believe. I did a purge this summer of all my unlovely fabrics too and found that I ended up loving the end result as well. It's kind of amazing isn't it? :)

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  16. What a treasure!! How small are those hourglass squares ~ 2 inches?

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I so love your comments! I read all of them and reply when I can. If you don't hear back, I'm lost under a mound of scraps or outside jumping on the trampoline with the kids. Jodi. xx