Friday, June 3, 2016

Using up leftovers


Perhaps you noticed when I showed pictures of my second flag quilt earlier this week that the back of the piece is quite a mishmash.  I'm deliberately using up leftovers in all phases of my flag quilts -- leftover chunks of batting, leftover and recycled fabrics for the quilt tops, and miscellaneous fabrics for backing.  Since I'm constructing the quilt in modules, it's easy to find some poor misbegotten piece of fabric the right size, or augment it, to back a small module.  Sometimes I'm using pieced work that never made it to prime time as backing.






















The yellow composition at the top was made several weeks ago for my drawing and design class -- I got permission from the teacher to do some color exercises in fabric instead of in paint.  Then it made a fine quilt backing.  The log cabin square at the bottom came from somebody else's leftover bag.  The rest of the fabrics were given to me by somebody who wanted to get rid of her stash and didn't know that I don't much use commercial prints.  Except they were perfect for this project.

So here's what some of the back looks like now that the modules have been cut into stripes and rejoined.

My stash of fabric that was too good to throw away but not what I would ever use on a quilt top has gone down considerably, and I'm delighted with the scrappy, miscellaneous look.  Since these quilts are flags, I'm calling the backs melting pots.



1 comment:

  1. Melting pots - I like it. Great idea to use up the scraps, bits and bobs.

    So... Would the irony be too great if they hung it wrong way 'round and it won a prize?

    I once spent considerable time choosing a Navajo blanket pattern, made a lap size quilt of it, corners matched to perfection. I needed some backing and purchased a kokopeli print (hoping it wasn't too twee) and agonized a bit over the quilting pattern, meticulously coordinated in multiple colors of thread to the design. Grandma (who loved native American designs) said "That's beautiful, dear" ABOUT THE KOKOPELI PRINT, and forever displayed "What my granddaughter made for me!" upside down, so no one ever saw the pieced front. Sure coulda saved myself a lot of work by skipping all that piecing. My husband teases me about that to this day.

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