I’m continuing to work my way through the remainder of my red, cream, and blue scraps left over from making the Digital Wave table runner, and I think I can safely say I have used up as much of the fabric as I can. Last week and over the weekend, I eeked out two matching mug rugs.
Red, Cream, and Blue Mug Rugs
I made the mug rugs two sided. Each mug rug has a mostly red side…
Red, Cream, and Blue Mug Rugs
And each mug rug has a blue and cream side.
Red, Cream, and Blue Mug Rugs
We now have a two person set of placemats and mug rugs. As noted previously, this particular table is a bit too small to also include the table runner, but hopefully there will be a new home for it in the next few months.
Red, Cream, and Blue Mug Rugs
I literally had only small, 1″ wide by scant length pieces of any of the fabrics used.
I am not really a scrap quilter, but I have been putting a lot of thought into my fabric selections, choices, and uses. While I may prefer to work with yardage for the majority of my projects, I’m trying to immediately put the extra fabric in a project so that it can be fully used. Sometimes, there will be enough left over that I can add back to my stash. My current solution is to offering bonus patterns for the large scraps in my quilt patterns and making coordinating items like these placemats and my mug rugs. So, be prepared for me to continue to wrestle with the use of my leftovers after each project. And if you have any suggestions for projects you turn to, please share them with us all in the comments!
I really like the way the little stars you have quilted work with the red fabrics. It’s very effective and appealing.
Those are great small projects to use up the rest of the fabric from a larger project. Finishing up using scraps can be a challenge. Mostly I put them all together for a scrap quilt later, but that means I have bags of scraps unused. Every so often, I just give away the scraps and start over again.
I had many scraps from favorite quilts I had done over the years and did not want to part with the scraps because of the fond memories of making the quilts. I ended up using them in what I call my “sampler” quilt. Each of the twelve 17″ blocks captures the essence of the larger quilt, though the pattern is not exactly what was in the quilt in some cases. It won’t be special to anyone but me, but it’s a useful eclectic quilt reminding me of my favorites. (I wish I knew how to send you a photo!)
I love the star quilting design on your pieces. As to the left over scraps, if you have pieces that are larger (10″ or more), you could try making bowl cozies. I’ve made a few for us and we use them quite a bit. I give them as grad gifts too, and have added them in with shower gifts now and then. There are also pint cozies for ice cream – I haven’t made those yet, but they are on my list!
For me, pot holders are a great use for scraps or project leftovers, and of course, these days bookmarks for our Little Free Library.
That’s starry quilting is just so wonderful. Great that you’re able to use up all of the scraps from your projects rather than just collecting them.
I also love your star quilting design which is absolutely perfect on those mug rugs.
With your small living space it seems like a great idea to use up the fabric rather than accumulate scraps. I love Debbie’s idea of the bookmarks for her free library kiosk. That would certainly use up the smallest bits. (Have to admit to tossing some scraps. I have so many. Before we moved I did give away a large amount and sorted mine down to scraps I really like. Still feels like I have too many though!)