Thursday, July 27, 2017

Scraps Are Love {Guest Post}

Hi folks, I'm thrilled to have a guest post for you this week from Louise about the special value of scraps, especially for charity quilts.  I hope you'll read and enjoy!


Hello! My name is Louise and I blog over at Quilt Odyssey. Kat asked me to write a guest post while she is away for the summer.

I'm a fairly new quilter, having only taken up the hobby about three years ago. I had no fabric stash at all, and started by buying a few fat quarter bundles. Of course, I had no scraps. After making my first lap quilt, a blue and yellow floral and butterfly design for my Mom, I actually threw away the scraps. Why would I need to save those small pieces? It was several months before I started reading quilt blogs and discovered that entire quilts could be made from what I casually tossed in the garbage can. I still regret that little pile that ended up in the landfill.

I bought more bundles and made more quilts, and started saving my scraps. The very first thing I made with them was a Covered In Love block, my first collaborative "bee" creation. It was fun to make, and I felt good about contributing to such a good cause, but mostly it was just satisfying to get rid of a few scraps.

Meanwhile, I was still making quilts for friends and family from brand new fabric, carefully shopping for just the right colors and motifs that I hoped they would love. I'm particularly fond of using novelty fabrics to capture someone's interests: a beer-themed quilt for a cousin, sweet doggy faces for a friend's granddaughter, fun scooters for my husband. And I discovered the love and joy that comes with sewing gifts, the meditative time watching the fabrics pass under the presser foot, while thinking, "Oh, she's going to love these beautiful yellow flowers!"



But my scraps? They were just sort of extra bonus fabric available to try some new blocks, and often ended up in Kat's hands. Then one day, I had an epiphany when Kat wrote this:
I checked in today with one of the chaplains who delivers these quilts and he said, "This is a wonderful, powerful gift. [I] placed the Route 66 quilt on a bed Tuesday and the family cried and cried.  He had lived for many years in Amarillo and it was on the quilt! It was perfect!"
Kat had sewn a quilt using scrap/remnant Route 66 fabric, and it ended up in the hands of just the right family. In their grief, they connected so emotionally to that memory of their loved one. And that's not the only time a personal connection has been made through these quilts. The wide variety of colors and themes, sewn out of our scraps, has produced Just The Right Quilt for many, many grieving families.



Each time we select a fabric for our own loved ones, we open up the possibility that it is also the perfect fabric for a stranger in need. Your aunt loves purple? So does another aunt. Tiny butterflies on a 2"x2" scrap? That will certainly be found by the family of another butterfly fan as they sit by a hospital bedside. After all, we humans long for connection, for meaning, especially at times of sickness, grief, and loss.

Scraps now have been elevated in my stash to much higher status. They are the basis for the very best charity quilts. I believe that scrappy quilts provide extra visual and emotional interest at a time when people are searching for meaning and comfort. I'm deeply moved by the chaplains' stories about how the families often find a special connection hidden in their quilt. So I try to make my own donations full of little glimpses of flowers and birds and scooters and Snoopy and music and much more. Maybe something will resonate, providing a bit of light and love during a dark time.



By passing along the fabric that we filled with love the first time around, we do so much more than make efficient use of our stash. We touch our common humanity. And by combining my scraps with yours, we create something larger than each of us. Did you know that Kat puts a special label on the back of each Covered in Love quilt? She writes the names of each of us that has contributed a block, the backing, the quilting, the binding. Some of the labels have a dozen names, a whole cadre of loving strangers who have stitched in solitude to make together something that quite literally covers a family with love. Powerful stuff from scraps of fabric.



So as you sew donation blocks or quilts, use your scraps with pride. Tap into the joy and love as the fabric passes through your machine and your fingers. Think to yourself, "Oh, she's going to love these beautiful yellow flowers!" even if you've never met her and never will. Your scraps are destined for greatness.

Linking to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

23 comments:

  1. Lovely post! I enjoy using scraps and what you have written makes me realize how they make charity quilts very special. Have a wonderful day and thanks for sharing!

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  2. Great post Louise! I firmly believe donation quilts always find the perfect owner. And scraps really are perfect to use when they have love and caring added.

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  3. Louise, thank you so much for your guest post. It has made me look at scraps in a whole new light.

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  4. Thanks for sharing your post. I threw out my first scraps too, but soon learned to love those little bits. Thanks for encouraging the "non-savers" out there. Better than saving... USE those scraps!!

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  5. Louise, I also was touched with reading the chaplain's comments about a particular fabric bringing extra meaning to a grieving family. I am obsessed with novelty fabrics. When giving away donation quilts, I often wonder which particular fabric will speak to the individual who receives it. Thank you for the article and the photo journey through some of kat's previous block drives.

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  6. Love reading about your approach to scraps. Will be following your blog now to see what you sew up on your boat. Blessings:)

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  7. Well now, Louise, this is a well written, well thought out, and dynamic post. You've blown me away with your compassionate insight into the beautiful quilts you've been making and passing along to brighten others' lives. What a wonderful post to read first thing in the morning before I start my day. XO

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  8. Louise, I couldn't agree with you more. So neat that you make charity quilts. Thanks for sharing!

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  9. What a marvelous post, Louise!! Wonderful explanations of why scraps matter.

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  10. You always do such a nice job with your scraps and I am sure they are greatly appreciated by the recipients.

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  11. Oh Louise, this post truly touched my heart. My favorite thought about scrap quilts is that they "provide extra visual and emotional interest at a time when people are searching for meaning and comfort." This was one of the top posts I have ever read.

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  12. Wonderful post Louise, you painted a beautiful picture with your thought provoking words.

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  13. What a lovely post! Thank you for putting into such wonderful words what so many of us feel about contributing our time and skills to quilts for people who can be comforted by them. I love sending blocks to Covered in Love, and plan to continue that for as long as I can!

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  14. Louise and Kat,
    Oh my, what a wonderful post. This touched me to tears (friends at work are asking me if I'm okay - I cannot confess to reading a quilting blog that moved me to tears!). How touching that family found comfort from that Route 66 quilt, and how fabulous that it made its way to them. This puts a whole new spin on quilting, and certainly one I need to get involved in. Thank you both for sharing this sweet story with me/us, and Louise I will check out your blog. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  15. Thanks for this beautiful post. I didn't know that Kat added a label with all the block makers. What a great touch.

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  16. as a fan of scrappy quilts myself I love this post... lots to think about...

    Hugz

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  17. Scrappy quilts have always been my favourite and after reading your post it has given me a further insight into their meaning.

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  18. Oh, Louise, that is a very profound and thoughtful side to charity Quilting that had never occured to me. I will not think that the scraps are silly any more.

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  19. Such a lovely heartfelt post! I think that aspect of the heart is what I love about quilting!

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  20. Hi Kay,
    Loved the post bout the use of scraps.
    I put 6 blocks in the today for you.

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  21. HI Louise, Thank you so much for your very eloquent and meaningful message.These examples of scraps pieced into blocks and quilts are so lovely, and they certainly do provide much visual and emotional interest. Thanks again for a most thoughtful post. 😊 Best wishes, from Marina and Daryl Lynn

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  22. I have a box of blocks backs and stray blocks for Kat. Please email address. Hollyj3154@yahoo.com she has written me before. If the address is the same I can send it to that one.

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