I felt the need to deal with my scraps last weekend; for the last two years I've been throwing little snippets and strings into a seagrass basket, and it was full.
So I sorted it out into little scraps, and longish strips, and large scraps, and then started sewing them together.
It;s lovely mindless work, no decisions to make; if two pieces are roughly the same length just feed them through the machine. I had a lovely time, enjoying the simplicity of sewing, not even caring if it was a proper quarter inch seam. I love crumb piecing because there are no rules to obey, you just do what the pieces dictate.
I only finished three blocks, but I sewed nearly all the small scraps together into larger pieces.
Next time I work on this project I'll concentrate on using the strips and large scraps to build the blocks large enough to trim to a constant 10.5" square. None of the blocks will resemble each other, but that's the way a crumb quilt should be.
Last time I did this I ended up with this top; it's still not quilted, but it's on the list and waiting it's turn. I like it a lot; it has something in it of just about every quilt I made in the last 10 years, and I love looking at it. It's not something I'll get tired of in a hurry.
9 comments:
I find it interesting how you put your crumbs together in some of the blocks. Your design sense still shows through.
Love your scraps and your crumb blocks! I recently completed a string quilt top using only strips cut from my fat quarter stash and it was like a trip down memory lane remembering where I got all of the fabrics. So, I understand where you are coming from regarding your crumb quilts.
love, love, love your blocks! oh my I should try this someday too!
bet it is so much fun to just sew and not think about the design either, little mini quilts each block are!
Kathie
You have managed to express something I have loved but not put my finger on before ... this is definitely why I enjoy piecing the scraps together! No decisions, no self-doubt, and the result is always quite charming.
How utterly charming and natural! I love the top you have yet to complete, and also, the new blocks.
Thanks for sharing the crumb blocks. I love how they turned out. Such neat work.
I love crumb blocks too - it is a bit like making a fabric jigsaw. I have been making my crumb blocks 9" and find that a bit too big - it gets harder to finish them off to that size.
I have a bin that is overflowing and know that it is time to make another crazy quilt. I like your idea of throwing in some orphan blocks to give it a different look.
Wow in ten years of quilting I have never heard of crumb blocks, string piecing yes, but crumbs no.
What a great idea, certainly makes me feel very grateful that I have kept all those scraps - with the original view to using them in applique - but I think a crumb quilt is going on the to do list!
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