Hoarding or What to do with quilt trimmings

Have you watched those TV shows about people hoarding until their homes are uninhabitable? I can SO identify -- As creative souls I've decided that there is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, that we cannot put to creative use. Old books become "altered", newspapers and advertising become the basis for collage, keyboard keys become earrings, and dryer lint becomes a mixed media masterpiece. Where does it all end? I feel guilty if I throw anything away! So to ease my guilt over my increasing stash (a.k.a. hoard), here are some ideas of how to use up quilt trimmings and leftover yarn and thread.

What to do with quilt trimmings

Since I tend to heavily quilt a piece, I always try to make my quilts a little larger than the desired finished size and trim to size after quilting. I would rather have to trim away an inch or two than have it 1/8" too small! I cannot throw away those precious trimmings though.

I make the trimmings into greeting cards, trading cards, and book marks. How about jewelry, luggage tags or a camera strap? I used machine cording as the edging for this book marker; just zigzagged it into place.

I found a nice tutorial on making your own machine cording on Linda Matthews website here. You basically just zigzag over a twisted strand of leftover yarn a couple of times. What a great use for leftover yarn and threads! Now I just need to find a use for the 62 miles of the cording that my current stash could produce.

Satin stitch edging

The red beads from 2 blogs ago have resurfaced in a new form. I have cut them out and will appliqué the circles onto another quilted surface.
Now they look like seed pods to me - seed beads seeds!

I satin stitched (twice) over pearl cotton to make a nice clean finish on the edges. I used the couching foot; it holds the pearl cotton in place while doing the satin stitch. The foot makes it very easy to do; I probably would not have tried it otherwise!

Any little threads that were sticking out after stitching were colored with a black fabric marker.

This is a great finish for ATCs and other small projects.

Art Quilt Group Challenge

I just joined a local artist's group. It is so delightful to spend time with kindred spirits!!

The challenge this month was to create an 8x8 block in oange, yellow and turquoise (OYT). Here is my third attempt at a block for the challenge. With little restrictions, it was tough to know if I should create a complete mini art quilt or something that would be embellished or modified as part of the larger group effort. My other two OYT blocks are here. This one was my favorite bcause of the intensity of color.

In the end, the group decided to not combine the OYT blocks into a group quilt so we were free to take our blocks home. What do you think? Should I make this into mini art quilt or into ATCs (artist trading cards)?

ATCs

"Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali

I've been making ATCs from segments trimmed from a square quilt that needed to be a rectangular quilt.

Moo Cards

I ordered some mini business cards from www.Moo.Com. I love them so much it might be hard to give them away!

Moo is an online printing service that will print your images (up to 100) on the back of each business card. You can edit each card so the image is cropped and positioned just right. Great fun and I am very happy with the weight of the cards and quality/speediness of the printing.  Artists trade ATCs but wouldn't trading Moos could be fun also?