Friday Favourites - Scrappy Fabric Rug

It's awesome when friends just get you. They know what you need, when you need it, or anticipate the joy they can give you. After the last few weeks it was so perfect to have this awesome rug arrive in the mail.

Amanda Jean made it for me. She is such a generous person and I'm really quite lucky to consider her a friend. Now, she may have finally got tired of me talking about how much I wanted one of her scrap rugs. Or maybe each of her showers had their own already? I'm going to go with she was just being her awesome self. It was quite a surprising birthday present.

Right now I'm not sure where to put it. I actually just did some spring cleaning and rearranging in my living/dining room. So it sits in the now dining room, hosting an up cycled table. It sits, rather like its own piece of art, in front of the picture window. Seems like a pretty good spot for now. That way I get to see it every day and think of my dear friend.

Now, I am no expert in knitting or crochet. That means I don't know exactly which technique she used to make this one (I think it is crochet?). But she has provided tutorials for both crochet and knitting one of these rugs. What an amazing use of scraps!

One Day - A Quilt

One Day

40'' x 50''

Made for Hubby's best friend's new baby boy. As soon as they announced they were expecting my Hubby informed - not asked - me that I would be making a quilt. Rather than take offence I gave myself a pat on the back that he appreciates this gift as much as a recipient. And this little quilt is now in the baby boy's hands.

The whole quilt came together quite fortuitously. I used the map fabric I had left from this quilt. The couple who are parents of this baby boy are world travellers. In my imagination I live vicariously through the adventures they've had. Hubby actually picked that fabric when I decided I would use this block as the basis of the quilt. In addition to the map fabric I used a variety of low volume prints in blue, green, yellow, gray, and orange. Some of the prints were even from the couple's wedding quilt!

The map fabric is a little odd as it isn't exactly geographically correct. This is not what Canada and the US look like! But the outside borders are there. If I cared to research things in the history books I'm sure I could find a year to associate with this geography. For now, we all get the idea.

The quilting is done with Aurifil 50W in white, as was the piecing. It is a combination of grid work and dot to dot curves around the map sections of each block. Together, it creates a wonderful texture.

This is Hubby's other contribution to the quilt. He insisted that one block with Australia be placed upside down. Sure, whatever.

Finally, when it came to selecting backing fabric Hubby stepped in. He and his best friend have always bonded over cars. And indeed, this guy works at a car dealership now. So the car print was the only choice! I guess it really is a travel themed kind of quilt.

One day the world will be his to explore.

For One Day

Selvages.

Because I use a lot of fabric, I seem to hoard a lot of fabric, I have a lot of selvages. A few years ago I started saving them (instead of... GASP! throwing them away). They filled my giant jar slowly and steadily. Then they ended up all over my basement as the kids got their hands in the jars. Recently I cleaned up my jars - strings were donated for charity quilts, snippets got sewn together a bit, and the selvages were sent away.

You see, I may keep the selvages. I may admire the selvage quilts you find, but I have no real interest in making one. I've got enough want-to-dos on my list that a selvage quilt will never find its way to the top of the list. So I packed them up and sent them off to quilty friends who would make very good use of them.

It is easy to get caught up in making every single cool idea you see. So easy to think you need to keep everything for one day. I just saved my stuff for someone else's one day.

And now my jar is empty, all ready to be filled as I play with fabric again.

Quilting Pieces Mystery Box

Our beloved neighbours are moving this week. They welcomed us when we moved here nearly 10 years ago, treated us like their own children, and embraced our kidlets like another set of grandkids. We've shared many a bottle of wine and Sunday dinner. I've taken care of their cat, and I hate cats. But we would do anything for them. So when he showed up with this random box on the weekend I couldn't help but say yes when the last thing I need is any more stuff in my house. Besides, the less they move the better. I'm a good neighbour until the end.

This is one of those boxes that makes you excited and afraid at the same time. You can see why...

What a treat to dive into this box! Patterns, notions, fabric, and so much more. A bit of history of someone who sewed in their family. And a bit of sewing history.

Loads of fabric scraps! My guess is that the fabrics range from the 30s-60s. Not sure of the fibre content of much of it, but some pretty sweet fabric. There is a lot more than what you see here.

A few sewing patterns. This horribly offensive one too. Interestingly, I think there is a nearly finished version of this skirt in the box (just missing the waistband) and it is gorgeous. Actually, there are a few nearly finished articles of clothing. And clearly they were made by someone with the tiniest waist ever.  I doubt I would get anything over one of my thighs! But, oh, the fabric.

A quick glance at this makes me laugh because it encompasses a lot of what a produced, slick book includes these days. Only 10 cents! I'll be keeping this one for reference for sure.

Vintage zippers anyone? If only I knew how to sew in a zipper. There were these and so many more trims and notions. Fun little bits and bobs for clothing. And they are sitting on this funky yarn pillow. Sadly, it has seen better days, but still pretty cool.

Then there was this! Roughly twin sized and made quite nicely. Full of fabrics that make me drool and get excited. I plan to finish up this into a lovely quilt. Seeing as the box came from a family member - they think a great aunt - I think this should go back to the family. My neighbours' daughter and husband like it so hopefully it will make it's way back to them by Christmas. What a find, and a what a treat to explore someone else's bit of history. Quilting Pieces indeed.