Scrappy-ness!

I've had a few days off from work so I have been holed up in the sewing room making stuff for my shop.

I still had my scrap box out from making the scrappy coin block for the Tag Square Bee. It all looked so inviting that I couldn't help having a play!

First of all I made this needlebook and pincushion. The needlebook is made of offcuts from the coin square plus some old jeans and felt. For the pincushion I made 2 squares of stripey scraps then cut them into triangles, mixed them up and sewed them back together. That is the bottom below. I put a few tablespoons full of rice in the bottom which has given it a nice weight. And you can't beat a button and some sashiko-style sticthing to finish things off nicely.

I bought a range of storage tins earlier in the year (for the shop) with different themes of old photos on them. I just couldn't resist keeping the sewing kit ones for myself (there are 2).

The needlebook and pincushion fit so snugly.

I bought a stash of 'reduced to clear' gutterman thread at the Scottish Quilt Show with this project in mind. Now all I need is to add some extra haberdashery stuff (buttons, braids, tape measure, thimble, scissors) and I have my first Christmas present made! But who is it for...

I was so pleased with the way they turned out and there was still plenty in the scrap box, so I decided to do a simplified version for the shop. It was fun making these little strippy rectangles.

And these little log cabin squares. I just kept the patchwork for the top and used some of my thicker furnishing fabric for the bottom.

 But they still get rice and a cute button! I made 6 for the shop and an extra for a birthday present this week.

And here are the needlecases, bound with colourful furnishing fabrics. No button this time but I couldn't resist finishing with the simple embroidery on the front.

 I made 7 of these and I really love them. They look so nice all together, like a little fabric library!

It's amazing what you can do with all those scraps! These didn't take long and would make great Christmas presents.

And if that isn't enough sprappy-ness, I have also signed up for a new swap! It is another Flickr group called 'The Scrappy Hoop (a modern swap)'. This is the first round which is quite exciting. I have wanted to do a hoop swap for a while but keep missing sign-ups. I think the idea of this one is to use modern fabrics (pieced or appliqued) instead of just embroidery, whish is great as my embroidery skills aren't too great.

Here is a sneak peek of my efforts so far. I'm very impressed that everyone in the group seems to know what all these fabrics are - I don't have a clue, as usual!