Monday, January 07, 2008

How small is "too small"?!?

I can't believe I'm saying it, but I am tired of 1 1/2" squares! That's right - I said it!
Step #2 had 900 1 1/2" squares. (Done)
Step #3 has 720 1 1/2" squares. (Halfway done)
Step #4 only has 120 of these squares. (Not started yet)
And so I took a wee break from the squares today and jumped ahead to Step #5 to sew something different...don't tell anyone!
On the Stashbuster's Yahoo group there has been some discussion this week about how small is "too small" of a piece of fabric you would keep. I keep everything - even the seam trimmings from paper piecing blocks and very rarely throw out anything except snips of beige thread. I put the tiny scraps in jam jars and line them up on the shelves of my sewing room. Here is one of my shelves. I will sometimes sort through the bits and take out specific colours to make a mini quilts such as I did for this quilt. But mostly I just admire the pretty colours and it makes me feel happy. So here is a photo of what I was doing tonight...cutting off the dog ears, putting them in the jar. Looks like I better look for a new jar...this one's getting full. There's probably still room for the other 180 snips to fit in!

7 comments:

Clare said...

Crumbs (LOL). If I can get a 1/4 inch seam on all four sides I keep it, if I can't I don't. If I did this house would be swamped in fabric. I love the jars though.

Anonymous said...

As I was cutting the ears off the 512 halfsquare triangles I was making for a mystery quilt I am in, I wondered what I could do with the bits.Thinking that was crazy I threw them in the trash.Now I could pull them out and bottle them or maybe you would want them and I could send them to you.Hahahaha

Libby said...

A very happy and colorful little shelf *s*

Tracy said...

Love your jar collection!

Your colors are wonderful! I can hardly wait to see all those little blocks come together.

Darlene said...

Wonderful collection of jars with oh so pretty snippets of threads.

Sweet P said...

What happens if you run out of room for jars? Maybe I'll find a really big jar when I move and work on filling that one with the bits of fabrics left over from trimmings.

BTW, your jars do look cute.

Gina said...

I love your jars. The smallest I keep is a 2.5" square. I have got a load of 1.5" strips though for log cabins.

love and hugs xxx