SCRAPS, SCRAPS........What Will I Do??

(photo borrowed from Internet)

I hope this finds all of you enjoying these hot summer days. If you find it too 

hot to enjoy outdoors, I am sure you all have a great stash of things to start creating with.

Which brings the topic of "stash".......scraps.

I have a good amount of scraps....from fabric scraps, to pieces of yarn and embroidery floss.

I can't seem to want to throw them in the trash, because sometimes, I only need a small piece of fabric, yarn, or embroidery floss when I am working on a project. 

My dear Aunt Faye loved to spend her free time sitting out on the front porch of her home making  squares from small fabric pieces to later make quilts with.  She didn't go to fabric stores to purchase great quantities of fabric, instead she often asked family members for left over pieces of fabric that were no longer needed after they had made clothing for their children. I have given her pieces from my 

own sewing projects.  

She never used patterns, but quite smartly and creatively,  took those small bits of leftover fabric and

made them all work together to make a fabric square. She did all of this by hand, sitting out on pretty days on the front porch.

Many years ago, when she passed away, she left this quilt to be given to me.  I cherish it. 

Stitched, by her, all by hand.........one stitch at a time.

She even quilted it all by hand.

If a quilt expert were to look at it, they would see that none

of those squares come together at the corners and there is no matching

of any of the strips........it was just a simple quilt pieced all together from

snippets and scraps of fabric and then made into a wonderful warm quilt that could

be used on cold winter nights. 

I have come across this very good tutorial on what to do with all of the scraps of fabric one might accumulate.  It's not about storage, it's about sewing these bits and pieces to make something pretty and functional.

If you are interested, you can click onto this link

SCRAP FABRIC - HOW TO USE EVERY SMALL SCRAP & CRUMB

I haven't much to show you by my own needle. I am still busy stitching away, .........just not finished with anything .  

I did decide to work on tin cans that I have been saving up.  I saw this idea on Pinterest.

I first painted the cans

I then painted them with different designs.  After painting was done, 

my sweet husband drilled holes in the top of the cans and on the painted lids for me.

I used old costume jewelry beads (another stash) and made

dangling strands.  I now have these hanging in the trees of our outside sitting 

area and on the porches.  

They are fun to make.

I hope this finds you are enjoying these summer days and that your hands 

are busy , happily creating what you love to create.

Now is it as if Spring had never been,

And Winter but a memory and dream,

Here where the Summer stands, her lap of green

Heaped high with bloom and beam...

~Madison Julius Cawein (1865–1914), "Heat"