Scrappy

Over the weekend, I finished the square in a square blocks I had prepared before surgery.  I'm now onto the 2.5 inch squares of Christmas fabric leftover from two holiday quilts of yester-year. 

One night while watching tv, I sorted the remaining 2.5 inch  scraps:  dark, bright, light, medium.  But I also sorted by style of fabric: 30s fabric,  novelty, etc.  

That's when I realized it:  I have scrap anxiety.  I've never EVER made a quilt that incorporated a true variety of fabric scraps. 

Did you ever take a quilt class and you were supposed to cut up your pieces, put them in paper bags and then...you were supposed to just randomly pick fabric to piece?   

I could never do it. 

Instead I gravitated to a specific theme or color in my scrap quilts.   Here's an example.  It's an Asian scrap quilt made for one niece using the scraps of a quilt from another niece.

This one I used green and brown scraps for some cohesion:

There always had to be some organization to the quilt.  In fact, 

the thought of mixing batik alongside novelty fabrics makes me physically uneasy.  

I think it must be a fear of really letting go or a longing for orderliness. Order left my life long ago with my second marriage:  more kids, grandkids, dogs, and a loving husband who deposits "stuff" on every horizontal surface in the house.  I'm happy with our crazy life but sometimes I still long for peace and order.

So I decided to do a Pro and Con List.

Pro 1:  I like old scrappy quilts because of the variety of fabrics in the textile.  This is particularly true of first half twentieth century quilts when quilters were "making due."  It ultimately adds to the interest of the quilt.

Pro 2:  I have a lot of 2.5 inch scraps but when I divide them into categories, I don't have enough to make even a lap quilt.  I could make a lot of little projects but my family has enough table runners and wall hangings.  I could use them to make placemats--but oh--I have a whole drawer of fabric and blocks for placemats that I haven't touched yet.

Instead I need to look at this project as an exercise in community building.    If I build a "community" of the different factions, I have enough for at least one lap quilt.

Pro 3:  The fact that I'm so hesitant to do this means that I should absolutely bite the bullet and do it.  It's a good exercise in letting go, right?

Con 1:  What if it's a hot mess?

  

Will I take it apart to save 2.5 inches of fabric?

And that's when it hit me--

IT'S 2.5 INCHES OF SCRAP FABRIC!

Thanks for listening/reading as I argue with myself.

Have a safe and happy day!