A Bag of Flannel Scraps--This Project Starts With A Square

Three of the four piles of scraps sorted for a small quilt

My friend Martha liked sewing with flannel. Over her lifetime, she made a lot of flannel quilts. She also used flannel as a backing for some of her quilts. She gave away most of the quilts she made.

In her scraps, there was a two gallon zip lock bag and a zipper bag that once held sheets. Both were over flowing with flannel scraps. In the zipper bag, I discovered a started project of potholders. Last August, I finished the potholder project that she had started. I posted about it here. I decided that I would make a coin quilt out of the remaining scraps.

There were more scraps than I thought! I sorted the scraps into four color ways. In one of the color ways, I noticed some floral squares. There were nine squares. I believe Martha would have called them 5 1/2 inch squares; but, some were larger and some were smaller than 5 1/2 inches!

I trimmed the squares so that each one was the same size which meant that I trimmed them the size of the smallest square which was 5 1/4 inches. I placed the squares on the design wall.

From the purple chunk of fabric, I was able to cut four squares. Martha was such a giving person that I decided to place the purple squares as a plus sign or a positive around the center of the project! She gave her quilted items to brighten a person's days.

From the dark green fabric, I was able to cut nine dark green squares. I distributed those in the remaining spaces. I needed more floral squares. As I looked through the smaller scraps, there were a few half squares of the floral fabrics so I stitched those together. There was one rogue half square that was similar; but not the same floral fabric. I used it too. In the end, I came up with 12 squares.

Floral print square that was the start of the project

 I liked the center "panel" that I created. I stitched it together.

From there, I began stitching the bits together to make sashing. Once I had pieced the smaller bits together, I took another look at the remaining scrap strips. I trimmed the strips to the largest size possible and placed them in an arrangement that interested my eye.  I stitched any smaller bits from these strips into the string border. Eventually, I "grew" the bits, chunks and strips into a panel.

Scrappy top

It currently measures 35 inches wide by 45 inches high. My goal is to have a finished quilt that is about 40 inches by 60 inches. I've decided that I'll purchase flannel to finish the top after "social distancing" ends. I could order fabric on line; but, I'd rather support my local businesses.

Regarding Covid-19, worldwide there are 1,201,591 confirmed cases. 246,198 people have recovered from it; but, 64,703 people have died.  In the United States, there are 310,016 confirmed cases. 14,607 people have recovered from it; but, 8,438 people have died. In Oregon, there are 999 confirmed cases and 26 deaths.

We have continued staying at home following our same pattern as last week. My classes for the month of April have canceled as did the guild meetings. We held our CCQ board meeting via Zoom.

The granddaughter with the fever has had it for a week. Her mom thinks she is on the mend as of late yesterday. Her family continues to remain in social isolation. Her parents have worked from home all week and the granddaughters have been completing supplemental learning from their school. We have FaceTimed almost every day and it has been good to see them and hear them!

Our London daughter, who has also FaceTimed us daily, reported that 708 people died from Covid-19 in the UK yesterday. She said that the line to get into the grocery store can be long. When she was there yesterday, there was no toilet paper; the freezer section was empty and there was no soap. She asked if there were eggs available and an employee asked if she wanted large, medium or small. My daughter said large. The employee left to get them. When the employee returned, she handed my daughter a package of six eggs as that was all one person could buy at one time! Our daughter said she wanted the eggs enough that she stood in line to purchase them. She said it took her about forty minutes to complete her purchase!

Our daughter continues to work from home and to stay in unless she needs groceries. People in the UK have a stay in place order until mid June. She has been riding her Peloton bike for exercise and is glad that she has it!

I'm thankful that all my family is safe. I am thankful that there are a number of quilt alongs available during this time. I am thankful that I have plenty of projects to keep my hands occupied while we wait for the infectious period to end. Stay safe!