Monday, November 9, 2009

Fleece quilts from scraps

I have a really hard time throwing away scraps. I just think I need it some day. Especially when it comes to scraps of fabric. I have several boxes of just scraps. And to my credit, I have used those scraps for different projects. Remember the bags we made while my nieces were here? From the scraps box...but that could be a completely different post...things I've made from scraps.

This weekend I got the crafting itch. It's been a while since I've spent some time in my craft room. We've been spending most of our time working in our backyard getting it ready for sprinklers and lawn and a better garden area. I wanted to make another fleece scrap quilt. I made one exactly 1 year ago and something in me needed to do it again.

Several years ago (probably 5 or 6) my sister picked up some fabric scraps from somewhere, maybe the DI, I'm not sure. She kept them for a couple of years, then she passed them onto my mom who kept them for a couple of years. My mom was cleaning out getting ready to move and she gave them to me. I packed them up and moved them with us to CA and them moved them to CO. As I was unpacking and settling into our new house in CO, I went through all my fabric boxes to see what I had and to pick out some projects. I looked in the big bag of fabric scraps and decided I was never going to use these, I had no idea what I could even make out of this weird fabric. It was a fleece of sorts, but a bit like carpet (but really soft). I finally gave up and threw the bag of scraps in the trash. Not even 20 minutes later I ran to the trash to fish out the scrap bag. I just couldn't do it. There must be a use for these. I finally decided to make a blanket for us to use to while watching TV on the couch. I cut squares out and it was not as big as I wanted so I added some flannel squares from the same flannel I used for the backing to make it a little bit bigger. This has ended up being the warmest quilt in the house. We love it!


After a church service project last year, there were scraps of fleece left that were about to be tossed into the trash when I asked if I could take them home. The bright blue plaid and circles fleece I got free from Craig's list last year. The grey squares came from a failed fleece jacket for sewing class my sister did in school. My mom didn't want to waste the fleece as it was expensive so she had my sister unpick everything and then she stored the fleece for however many years and finally cleaned out and I took it. I knew at some point I would have a use for it. And the other squares are scraps from projects I've worked on.


For the back, I used some navy flannel I've had kicking around for years and didn't know what to do with it. I stitched it all together this weekend and then tied it. I'm thinking of giving it to my brother for a wedding gift for when they are too poor to heat their house and need a cuddle blanket for the couch. I'll have to see when the time comes if Ryan will actually let me part with the warm fuzzy blanket.

4 comments:

An Ordinary Mom said...

I wish I still lived near you so you could teach me all your fabulous skills :) !!

Anonymous said...

In have lots of scraps of fabric all kinds i dont know what to do with them

Anonymous said...

I recently used leftover fleece for a backing for a playmat for my new grandson. I used two colours in a diamon harlequin pattern. My daughter then asked me to make one for her friend's baby. As I didn't have an even amount left I had to use the two colours in a more or less scrappy 'mosaic' pattern with a plain border to make up the size! You have now given me ideas to use up the rest of my fleece. Many thanks.

nellou said...

So glad I found you! I have lots of remnants of various colors of fleece and have wanted to make a quilt but wasn't sure about it. Now I am ready to go! Thank you sew much!