Mini quilt for a conference auction

Last year when I went to the SAQA Conference in my local area, I made a small quilt for the traditional conference auction. The Spotlight Auction features 6x8 textile art pieces which are auctioned off to benefit the organization. It's quite fun to see all the variations on a small artwork that show up during this display.

This year's conference is a virtual one, but the auction is still happening - it will just be 100% online. I decided I had time to make a small piece before the deadline. I started it last week but it's taken me over a week to finish, as I just couldn't decide on the design. I knew I wanted a labyrinth motif, but I started with an embroidered idea -- nope, didn't work -- then cut shapes out of two different fabrics, neither of which was just right. I finally found the right fabric, applied the motif, had a fusible glue accident that took an evening to fix, then had to decide what stitching to add, and found it needed a little something to finish it up. I have a pile of plastic florets that come off of sewing pins that wear out (yes, I save everything) and found that three white ones worked nicely as stars. 

It's finally finished! I'm calling it Night Walk, and it will be making its way to the SAQA auction shortly. It's nice to have a different kind of sewing challenge sometimes, to give you another sewing experience. I hope someone will end up liking this small piece enough to bid for it. I certainly enjoyed seeing it come together. 

Scrappy Desk Bunting!

What do you do with all your teeny tiny scraps? Not the ones big enough to make pocket bags or bias binding from, but the itty bitty ones that generally go into the textile recycling bag?

I don't like to waste anything at all, and thought that there must be a use for these bits, aside from doll house furnishings or the classic confetti fabric. I also like to go thrifting a lot and one of the things I often find is old packages of bias binding. These merged into the idea for some Scrappy Desk Bunting! Cheer up your office with your sewing scraps :)

I have been thinking about this little project for a while, and finally gave it a go using a pile of my tiny scraps from this year's sewing so far. 

I used a length of narrow bias binding and freely cut triangles of an appropriate size -- about 1/2" wide on the top of the triangle. I cut pieces of mostly cottons with pinking shears to reduce any fraying.

I laid them out along my length of bias binding to test the colour balance, then stacked up the bunting bits in that order to prep for sewing.

A bright mix

A more muted colour palette

The process is actually quite easy. I turned the ends of my binding under inside the fold, and then started stitching in a matching colour. The only issue is that it's hard to get started neatly -- be sure to hold your thread tails firmly behind your first stitch so that the stitching 'catches' and your binding doesn't get all knotted down into the feed dogs.

Leave yourself about 1.5 inches of stitched together bias on each end to allow room for pins to hold it up. Then start tucking in your triangles two at a time - make sure they're tucked right up to the top of the fold and stitch along the bias tape, closer to the open edge. This works better if you sew a bit more slowly than usual. If you notice that you've missed the edge of one once you are done, just unpick above that triangle and resew. It's very forgiving! This does work most smoothly if you ensure that the top edge of your mini triangles are even - there's not much room for variation inside that teeny fold.

Then just keep sewing! I found that the optimal length of a mini bunting equals 25 triangles, with a little breathing space between each one, plus that extra length at each end to facilitate hanging them up.

These can be any colour you like -- multicolour scraps with bright bias binding (my obvious preference) or all one colour, or even all one fabric.

You might want to make a holiday themed Mini Bunting with bits of red and green, or silver and gold. It all depends on your supplies -- what little scraps do you have lying around? And which colour of binding is handy? If you make your own bias binding, you'll have a double scrapbuster of a project. 

This is a fun way to use up tiny scraps, and it's a pretty quick project too. I made three in quick succession. I can envision a variety of colours to add seasonal cheer to one's desk all year long! Tucked inside a birthday or celebration card, this would add that little something extra to someone's day. So many ways to sew up our tiny scraps and keep them in use :)