Welcome once again to ScrapHappy Day!
It’s the day my friend Gun in Sweden and I host ScrapHappy, a day for showing something made from scraps.
This month, my scrappy focus has once again been on making hexie flowers from the scraps generated by Days for Girls. You’ll maybe remember this box full of 2½ inch scraps…? Well, it has now been joined by about the same again, and I’ve had to put the brakes on a little, as my output can’t keep up with theirs! Others in the DfG team are now joining in, so future ScrapHappy posts may also show their work – the more, the merrier, right?
To the flowers I showed you last time…
I have now added these!
The quilt is a memory quilt, composed of fragments the sewing team has turned into the Days for Girls kits. I thought it only appropriate, therefore, that the quilt will be named Days Gone By, particularly given the lovely vintage look of the ‘Grandmother’s Flower Garden’ design of this future quilt. The flowers will all be separated by black hexies, either plain or black-based prints, which should make all the colour pop beautifully. I have about 50 flowers now, so it’ll be time to start sewing them together soon.
ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps of anything – no new materials. It can be a quilt block, pincushion, bag or hat, socks or a sculpture. Anything made of scraps is eligible. If your scrap collection is out of control and you’d like to turn them into something beautiful or useful instead of leaving them to collect dust in the cupboard, why not join us on the 15th of each month? Either email me at the address on my Contact Me page, or leave a comment below. You can also contact Gun via her blog to join. We welcome new members. You don’t have to worry about making a long term commitment or even join in every month, just let either of us know a day or so in advance if you’re new and you’ll have something to show, so we can add your link. Regular contributors will receive an email reminder three days before the event.
Here are the links for everyone who joins ScrapHappy from time to time (they may not post every time, but their blogs are still worth looking at).
Kate (me!), Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Johanna,
Joanne, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen and Connie
See you again, same time next month!
talltalesfromchiconia 
You have so much patience and the results are lovely! I am partial to that Kangaroo! Stars and Roos just seem so energetic.
I dispute the patience. I think it’s actually sheer bloody-minded persistence most of the time! I couldn’t resist the stars/roos combo 🙂
It’s all hexies this month! That’s going to be an amazingly zingy quilt when it’s done. Is the plan to auction it?
I think they want to raffle it, rather than auction it, which will result in a more reliable result. It’s going to be a bright one alright, but I’m thinking the black hexies between the flowers will calm things down a little.
[…] you for stopping by and reading my blog today. You are so SWEET! I am happy to be joining Kate @Tall Tales from Chiconia’s Scrap Happy Day. I hope you have a moment or two to check out what the other scrappy quilters are […]
wow, that’s a lot of hexies in a month Kate!
That’s about 2 hexie flowers a night, when I feel like it! I’m really going to have to start joining them up soon.
Two flowers a night is great progress! I made a Hexie quilt with 2 1/2 inch pieces a couple of years ago and those flowers take far longer than expected!
I am creating lots of 1/2 inch hexies with my scraps currently and eventually hope to make an insanity quilt with butterfly’s and flowers in five years or so. 😉 At the moment I have filled one box with hexies but want at least a couple more filled before serious sewing together starts……need to see the colors.
These hexies are considerably less fiddly than yours, and this is not the work of years (I hope!)… I think you’re wrong to call it an Insanity quilt – it’s a Patience & Persistence quilt 🙂
I found the 2 1/2 inch hexies plenty challenging but loved the portability of that project. I was still spending a lot of time waiting for my kids to be done with activities and it was a perfect project to carry in a small ziplock that could even travel in a pocket.
I fell in love with Insanity Quilts online. As most of my real life friends find my obsession with hexies of any size insane it stuck. The small ones are even more portable! Lol
I have a small wicker basket with the supplies I need in it. I can just pick it up and carry it to the DfG sewing group. One of these days, there’ll be too many hexie flowers to fit comfortably, and that’ll be my cue to start assembling…
GREAT post! My grandmother, mother, aunts all made beautiful quilts for MANY years. A lot of them are still here in the closets. My favorite ones grandma made were the scrap quilts. There are a lot of boxes of material and quilt blocks in the basement. I did find someone to take some as well as a few unfinished quilts.
You know, there are lots of drives now in the US to provide quilts to the victims of hurricanes and fires; I’m sure you’d find willing takers of the blocks and perhaps also the fabric. It would be a fitting memorial to all those creative and industrious ladies in your family 🙂
Good idea! Our church, and a lot of other churches and orginizations, do drives for hurricane and fire victims. It’s a really good opportunity to help those who have lost so much.
And it’s very good of you to want to help.
I do love this project, you are just such a good egg.
Awww, blush…. I can make hexie flowers in my sleep, so it’s an easy and effortless way to keep my hands busy AND create something they can use to raise funds.
Great idea and it’s going to look glorious. Yes – a raffle is a reliable way to get a decent price as long as you’ve got somebody, shall we say ‘assertive’, selling the raffle tickets.
I don’t think it’ll be a problem; the group is affiliated with the local Rotary, and they’re very good about putting hands in pockets…
A hexie is a hexie is a hexie …… So great too see how they grow into something beautiful when sewn together. I´ll never get tired of hexies 🙂
Nor will I. Not just pretty, but also useful. A good example of lagom… A little piece of cloth, a little piece of paper. Sew lots of them together and something beautiful and economical happens!
that’s a lovely garden of flowers you’ve got there!
And they’re growing like crazy!
You are tireless! I like this project a lot, both in terms of the look you’re achieving and the theme and especially, the name!
It’s nice to have a variety of handwork for different times… Hexies are evening work, as opposed to pressing, cutting and piecing, which are morning work, or hand quilting, which is afternoon work (it’s all about the light!). The name virtually announced itself, given the theme and the style…
I just LOVE flower garden quilts! You look like you are organized and ready. I like how EPP is so portable. It’s like having a basket of daisies wherever you go:)❤️❤️
I do too, but I find making the flowers much more enjoyable than putting it all together. Probably the reason I haven’t started assembling it yet… Still, it has to be done. I shall see if I can recruit some of the other sewing ladies to assemble groups of flowers and joining hexies.
Your flowers are looking great! I like the kangaroo you fussy cut for that one center. These are big enough to make a nice display when put together. Great progress! I don’t mind putting them together. After a while a system develops and it’s pretty easy and mindless.
I’m trying to find scraps that have a motif I can use in the centres, and the roo was an obvious partner for the stars! Yes, a system’s the only way to assemble; mine is to make large squares and join those progressively, rather than join long strips. This will be my third large hexie quilt (two queen size already under my belt), so I know what’s in store…
I love all your flowers! Stitching them together must be so relaxing! I like how you have the squares ready for the hexis all ready to go. I just have pulled fabric for mine and it’s in a box, but they are larger pieces. I might try cutting the larger pieces down so they are easier to work with on the go.
Cutting them to approximate size really does help the flow, and having them arranged in colour order is another good trick. It’s labour intensive work, so anything that makes it go a little faster is helpful. Another trick is to keep two needles threaded, one with the basting thread and one with the joining thread. I use a greyish, lightish blue (like very washed out denim), which seems to blend well on most colours.
One day I’ll make a hexie quilt. 🙂 I’m still basic squares and triangles.
It’s definitely handwork, but it’s very satisfying and not at all hard.
Such pretty flowers! Of course you have to call the quilt Days Gone By; that’s perfect!
It sort of named itself, really…
Scraps, pretty, useful and handwork to keep you out of mischief……what more could you want?
A wand to wave to join them all up once the flowers are made, but that’s just me being lazy!
Darn I have a spare wand here, if I’d known I could’ve sent it with the mountains 😊
Accio wand! Hmm… that didn’t work 😦
Nope, it’s still here 🙄
Good heavens, this is dazzling and dizzying: ninja quilting I’d say!
Hexies are my secret Spider-skill 😉