Quilt for Lydia

I'm making a quilt for my friend Lydia. I let her choose her color scheme and pattern: Greens with some coppers and browns in a log cabin pattern. The pattern book I showed her uses one inch strips for the log cabin; I considered using wider strips but I know she liked the intricacy of the pattern.

Therefore this quilt has been taking forever, but the squares are turning out wonderfully. Currently I'm about halfway done with my blocks.

Unofficial benefit

The policy at Joann Fabrics (I work there) is to write-off and discard all damaged fabric and all pieces that are under six inches. As I'm making a log cabin quilt with one inch strips (what is wrong with me??), I feel like this is a horrible horrible waste.

If, however, you happen to be on shift and notice fabric pieces as they are about to be written off and the manager goes for it, you can buy them (at a great discount, too). Which is how I came into possession of the above fabrics.


I made this draw string bag from some "tutti frutti" fabric (I disapprove of that name) that wasn't crinkled. I'm pretty sure I found the ribbon on the ground, but I can't remember anymore.

One aspect in my grand scheme of craft room organization is to put all of my projects into bags like these that can be hung (once I get some hooks...). This one is housing the one inch strips for my log cabin quilt.

I'll still have to have boxes or shelves for the finished blocks, because I want them to stay flat.



You may be wondering how you can get in on these great discount scraps. Well unless you notice scraps before they're written off you can't. You can always ask, however we are not allowed to give or sell you stuff out of the trash.

I've submitted a request that Joann sells these scraps as grab bags. If you'd like to submit a request as well, I would love it if you also left a comment telling me you did so.


Possible Sample Message:

I know that you're policy is to throw away damaged fabric or fabric is that is smaller than six inches. However, I would like to be able to buy these fabric scraps. You could sell them as grab bags that are pre-filled by employees, or bins that customers could choose from. Besides recovering profit from product you currently throw away, you could also use this as a chance to green your image.

What I've been up to...

I got involved in a quilt-along, which was much more fun than originally anticipated. Here is my finished quilt top. The online community (via Flickr forums for the most part) was quite lively for this quilt-along, and very helpful and encouraging. Definitely something I'll do again!

The sashing (the white border around each square) is tea dyed organic cotton. Organic cotton costs a pretty penny, less so with coupons :-) but I feel like it evens out since much of the fabric for the blocks was either given to me, or bought as remnants or from thrift stores.


Speaking of thrift stores, I picked up the back for my quilt yesterday from Goodwill. I chose a queen size 100% cotton sheet with a subtle pattern that I thought would compliment my block colors. I should have some sheet material leftover, since my quilt is a double.


I made this quiltie for a swap on swap-bot. I would highly recommend getting involved in swaps as well. The excitement of getting packages is only outdone by awe of handmade goodness inside them! Crafty people rule :-)


Here's the back of my quiltie. I used a tan velveteen that I picked up off of Craigslist. I'm quite proud of my quilting on this piece. It's a little sloppy, but I was going for that natural look.

Right now I'm working on a log cabin quilt and toilet paper tube projects. I've set my embroidery aside for now. Having already missed the deadline, I figure it can wait a little longer.