ScrapHappy May

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.

I’d fully intended to have my little scrappy fabric-covered drawer unit ready for today, but it kept getting pushed to the back of the queue. Never mind, I will get it done for a future post. In the meantime, I have a small scrappy project I did get done and another one that’s singing a siren song to lure me away from other more constructive things.

Firstly, a small key pouch to go in my colourful backpack, using scraps of the backpack fabric and pieces from the Harlequin coat. I had some leftover piping I couldn’t bear to throw out, and it seemed to be telling me it would look very nice around the outside of a small scrappy pouch. Keys are hard on bag linings, and this one is double lined to preserve the interior of my lovely new bag. The zipper is a recycled one from an old pair of pants and actually determined the size of the finished thing, the ribbon pull is a scrap from a garment swing tag.

The other thing is all the fabulous Harlequin scraps. I simply cannot let them go. I trimmed them out very frugally to tidy shapes, throwing out only the barest slivers. Jigsawed together, they form a piece about 80cm square. I would need to join all the pieces together with sashing, but it would be a spectacular piece of scrappiness, and I believe there might actually be the potential for at least part of another garment in there. Maybe a waistcoat/bodywarmer? These bits are all basted to the charcoal grey 60% wool batting, so it’d be moderately cosy for the forthcoming not-very-cold North Queensland winter, and although there’s not enough for a whole anything, I could easily cut a pattern and piece something together using some other fabric to supplement it. No silk lining on this one, of course, but I have plenty of quilting fabric needing a home.

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 genuine 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). The list below is the most current one I have, so if you’d like me to update something, let me know in the Comments. Please note that Jule has asked to come off the list as she will be turning her attention elsewhere for a while, and we are delighted to welcome Hannah for the first time.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith
 Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Debbierose, Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,
Amo, Alissa, Lynn, Tierney and Hannah

We also have a special one-time guest appearance by Kym’s blog, The Byrd and the Bees, featuring creative scrappy recycling by her husband, The Engineer. You’ll find it here, so do pay a visit.

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