Squirrel . . .

In my work life I tend to be very task oriented and can stay pretty focused most days. But in my creative life, I've become so easily distracted. That's why I always have lots of projects going at any given moment.  And the smallest thing can swing my brain in a new direction.

 

 

So, this morning was one of those wonderful "squirrel" moments when I was distracted by something fun.  I stopped in my favorite local quilt shop, The Pin Cushion, just to pick up my Saturday Sampler pattern from this weekend. Isn't the creative conversation half the fun when you go into a quilt shop? The gals were asking me about the program I did at guild a couple of weeks ago about sewing with selvages. And Cindy gave me this little chunk of very pretty selvage.  Aren't the little butterflies sweet?  Manufacturers are being creative with these more often now.

 

So of course that got me thinking about selvages again, which is OK.  In my guild program I just shared some ideas of how you can use selvages.  This is a quilt I made a couple of years ago, with the selvages used as one side of the HST blocks.  The blocks are about 7" square here but could be any size you want.

 

 

I made 8 blocks with the selvages lined up diagonally that I used for this pillow.  4 of them make up the back and the other 4 are the background for the front.  Then I appliqued an "orphan" Dresden plate over it. 

 

 

And the selvages can be used for any section of a block you want.  I have 4 of these basket blocks made, and 1 spider web block. And in the back is a piece that may become a zippered bag.  The possibilities are just endless.  And now I want to make more of these spider web blocks. 

 

Selvages . . .

Isn't this just the cutest selvage you've seen?  I love it when I find unique ones, because I collect selvages and have made several projects using them.

Do you keep your selvages and what do you make with them?

Selvage Half-Square UFO is done

I can check this one off my list of UFOs.  Selvages onto muslin foundations made up half of each half-square triangle.  The black check was my only purchase, other than the backing.  The borders, binding, and selvages all came from my stash.

Big Half Square Triangles

I have all 16 of these 10' HST blocks made, and half of them put together so far. Maybe after work today I can get the other half together.

I've been collecting selvages for quite awhile, and even the ladies in the Wash Tub Club have been bringing me selvages. That is really fun because I get some things totally different that what I already have.

So . . . with all of this collecting, I'm making good use of them.  I think this quilt needs some red in the borders. And if I have enough of the black polka dot I may make 4 more blocks so that it has another row in length. I know I have enough selvages left.