Scrap Coasters

Scrap Coasters

I have bags and bags of scraps from my projects–pieces that are too big to throw away but too small to put back with the folded yardage in my studio.  Getting them out and playing with them is a fun way to sort of jump start my creative brain. I’m always amazed at the serendipitous combinations that I happen upon when I’m just sewing pieces together. I’ve had a busy time the last few weeks as my younger son needed supervised driving hours to get his driver’s license, so I’ve been spending a lot of time as a passenger in the car.  This is the kind of project that’s good to get back into the creative flow.

Coaster Quilt

Scrap Quilt

Anyway, this week I had a project and a goal–make sets of coasters from the scraps to offer at the holiday shows I have coming up–and maybe to give as gifts myself!  At right is one of the sets done in bright colors and soft blue. I’m really happy with these.

But I kept thinking what a great quilt these happy squares would make, and before I knew it, there was a new quilt composing itself on my design wall. The idea behind this piece is similar to the process I’ve used in my color block series with solids–I pick a color scheme and get a selection of fabrics that fit–in this case just scraps—then sew the units together fairly randomly. Once I have enough to put up on the design wall, I arrange and rearrange them until I’m satisfied with the design. I haven’t really decided what to call this one, but Coaster Quilt will do for now.

Now I need to get back to the coasters!