Apparently?
The quilt is the current situation.
They are having their time in the sun.
At Vintage Market Days this past weekend, quilts were everywhere. We saw people making quilted jackets and quilted wrap skirts and quilted vests and quilted purses and pinwheel scarves and belts. And then there were quilted pillow covers and quilted vases and quilted picture frames and quilted covered boxes.
wow
It was a whole quilt-a-palooza.
My sister Whitney and I were so inspired. We also wanted to make with quilts. We wanted to be quilt makers and quilt makers and quilt creators.
But I told her I wasn’t sure I could. I felt so sorry for the quilt. Someone poured their heart and soul into making them. You can see small stitches. All that time. So much effort – just to turn into a tissue box.
Whitney understood.
Whitney got it.
Maybe we weren’t meant to be quilters, she told me.
And then?
Two hours later, she rushed to the booth with this.
A whole bag of quilt scraps.
somebody.
somehow.
He speaks quilts.
And she became really good friends (in about 10 minutes) with a woman at a booth selling bags of quilt scraps for five dollars.
At the end of the day Whitney came back to the booth and felt like it was a quilt Christmas.
This is how we unpacked the Pennant Quilt Flag.
Isn’t this pretty for a banner?
And this little cutie with a sun bonnet.
I thought she was Holly Hoby.
But Whitney told me her name was Sunbonnet Sue.
There were tons of red and white quilt scraps like this one.
So fitting for this year’s semiquincentennial at Cape Cod.
And little pieces of quilt scraps like this.
There were pinks and blues and yellows.
Look only at the smallest stitches.
There were quilt blocks like this one.
Some were a little stained, but you can use parts of these blocks to make art.
And cutouts can also be used to create objects.
Check out this heart cutout from a pink and red quilt.
It was a moment I will never forget. We sat in the booth at the end of the day with our laps and our hands and our booth table covered with quilt scraps and we dreamed up all the projects.
Tons and tons and tons of ideas.
So I wanted to share.
14 uses for vintage quilt scraps
(According to Carienne and Whitney)
1. Stitch a piece of quilt onto a gutter frame and embroider a small word in calligraphy underneath and frame it as art.
2. Cut and sew the letters to the back of the jean jacket (perfect for a quarter).
3. Make a flower by cutting leaves and flowers from quilt scraps and sew them onto the tote bag.
4. Cut out quilt circles, turn them into polka dots and stitch them onto the basket.
5. Line a basket with quilt scraps that are stitched together.
6. Cut Christmas trees from quilt fabric and use a sewing machine to sew them onto paper cards for Christmas.
7. Cut out the quilt leaves and glue them to the branches to make the flower arrangement.
8. Take an existing apron and sew the quilt scraps onto the apron pocket.
9. Take a square of quilt fabric and make a pillow and fill it with polyfill.
10. Make mini stuffed pumpkins for fall from quilt scraps.
11. Cut out the heart and glue it to the top of the wooden box.
12. Make a mini table top quilt from scraps for the side table.
13. Cut out the letters and stitch them to the front of the journal with the embroidery leaves.
14. Make a wreath by cutting leaves from the quilt fabric (a quick note on all these “cutting” out projects-we agreed that you might have to stitch them and then cut them so the fabric stays together. If you work better with an existing pattern).
And of course?
There is always a tissue box. 🙂
WHEW.
I know it was a lot (and we were actually just getting started).
I wanted to give you a little glimpse into our crafting mind.
So stay tuned.
This is now Quilting Project Central.
The quilt is scrappy, will travel. 🙂
Dt. I would love to hear about it.
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