Things to Do With Leftover Batting Pieces

Unless you always make quilts the exact size of the batting you purchase, you are eventually going to end up with a bag (or more) of pieces you have trimmed off the pre-cut packaged batting.

I usually buy the same type of batting, so if I end up with a couple good sized left over bits I can piece them together using a fusible quilt batting tape. That is an easy way to create another batting large enough for quilt. I try not to use fuse than 2 pieces of batting a quilt. “Frank-in-batting” isn’t my thing. I worry that too many pieces fused together aren’t going to hold up in a quilt over time. I have tried piecing batting together using the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine but find that using fusible batting tape is faster and gives a flatter seam.

So, what else to do with the smaller pieces?

Small mats for dogs and cats to donate to your local animal shelter is a great up to use up batting and fabrics. If you are making mats for dogs*, use sturdier/heavier fabrics like pre-washed flannel or home decorating fabric. You can use regular quilting fabrics for cats as they don’t tend to chew on their bedding!

But a new idea, suggested by one of the places our guild donates quilts, is to make burp clothes for babies. This is a great idea, because it can use batting scraps which are smaller than ones that work in other projects. I used washed flannel as top and bottom of the burp cloths I made, with a cotton batting between the layers. Gauze fabrics would be great as well. You do need to use a fabric which is absorbent. I chose to just sew around the edges of my burp cloths, but this would be a great way to try out new free motion quilting designs or to experiment with the programmed stitches in your sewing machine.

I've also used a couple 4 inch square bits of batting as my first underlayer when I make little square pincushions.

These are just some ways I’ve used my left over batting. I’m sure there are lots of other ways to recycle your leftover pieces!

*If you click on the link about the fabrics in the dog mat post, it will take you to Spoonflower.com My shop there is closed so the fabrics I used are not longer available for sale.

Analogous Color Studies Continue

Analogous colors...they are colors that are right next to each other on the color wheel. Above is an example of a very warm palate. (It is August after all)!  Orange, red orange, red.  The pinks are tints of red and give the block added interest.

Analogous colors in Nature.  Red, red-violet, purple.  Warm colors moving toward cool colors.

And finally, the entire color wheel -- pincushions embroidered with summer flowers.

I do love color!

There will be one more post in this series in September. That one will show my finished Summer Challenge Analogous Color Quilts.

Indigo Quilt: Part One

The indigo quilt that I discussed in my post on July 11 is cut out and ready to sew! 

The featured indigo fabrics are Shweshwe from South Africa.  Every bit of this fabric is precious--I only had 4 fat quarters and one half yard.  I needed to cut it carefully!

I ended up with a couple strips too narrow for this project and a few scraps.  It was too late in the day to start a big sewing project but not too late to use some of those scraps for a 4 inch square pincushion!

The fabric's logo is 3 cats, printed on the back of the fabric.  I found one cat's face on a scrap. I sewed it into the pincushion's top, wrong side out!  Can you see the kitten peaking through the pieces?