Scrap Bag Challenge No. 1

So as most of you know I am in an extremely busy quilt group.  Our group makes baby quilts for a local pregnancy crisis center.  Since we mostly make baby quilts they go fairly quick so we produce over 100 donated quilts per year.

With that said we also produce an abundance of scraps.  Being the frugal quilter that I am I hate to see scraps go to waste so I am affectionately known as the "Scrap Queen".  Members of the group are always bringing me goody bags of scraps in all shapes and sizes.  While I was rearranging my sewing room (more about the big change later) I uncovered a lot (and I mean a lot) of scrap bags.

In order to fit all of my fabric jewels in my new space I need to do something with all these scrap bags.  Therefore I have set a challenge for myself.  I am going to take a bag and work on making a quilt or something else out of each bag as quickly as possible.  Of course for the first challenge I pulled out one of the smallest bags.  I don't want to frustrate myself to early or I will toss in the towel and they will fill my casket with all those scrap bags.

The rules of the challenge are simple: Use up everything in the bag!

Here is the first bag. I know it may not look like much but I could not turn it down.  The colors were bright and exciting and I am a sucker for small pieces.

The original "scrap bag"

Look at all of those colors!

With these 27 small 4" x 1.5" strips in a rainbow of colors I began to put my design skills to the test.  I decided they were the perfect size for a small keyhole block.  Digging around in my stash I found a music note fabric with all of the colors in the scrap bag.  Now we were making progress. The keyhole block measured approximately 3.5" x 6.5".  

Original keyhole block using the 1.5" scrap

and the focus fabric I pulled from my stash.

Well that was going to make a very, very small quilt.  So back to the design board.  Next I pulled out my personal bags of scraps.  Yes I have them divided into ziplock bags by color.

Using my scraps I created a larger keyhole block using the original as the center piece.  I matched the outside strips with the center 1.5" strip.  I was going for a very scrappy look using different fabrics on each side if necessary.  Below is the larger block.

Larger block with colored strips.

I was getting very excited about how this process was progressing.  The colors were vibrant and fun.  I made five rows of six blocks.  I did have to create 3 additional blocks from my stash to get the correct number of blocks.  

The rows are looking good!

Once those were complete the quilt was rather long and narrow.  I decided I needed to add a 6th row but did not want to make more of the same blocks.  I inserted a row comprised of the focus fabric with long pieces of the various colored scraps inserted in the middle.

The 6th row of focus fabric and long colored strips.

Here is the finished quilt top.  It turned out much more colorful and fun than I had pictured in my mind.  I am pleased with the result. 

The finished quilt top. 

And to think it all started with a small bag of scraps that were destined for the trash had my friend not thought of me.  So, what challenges and inspires you?  I am here to say that I believe my inspiration comes from taking the leftovers and creating something new.  Can't wait to see what scraps are waiting in my next bag. Sew on!

Danna