While I was working on my Christmas projects this year, I had a stroke of genius... or maybe just a stroke!! :-) But, I just couldn't get this crazy idea out of my head. Where are my manners? I am Joan, popping in for a visit from "MooseStash Quilting". I have long been a fanatic about saving scraps and threads and itty bitty things that would make anyone who is OCD crazy, I am sure. But there was this eureka moment, while working on my Christmas project last November. I had all these little corners that I cut off my blocks. You know, the ones left over, when you stitch on the line and then cut them 1/4" away when making, flying geese for example.
After you press open your little piece, you get these dog ears.
And you know they have to go!!
Which leaves you this...
Now we are on to something!!
We need tulle, you know the stuff with little tiny holes in it. I put a piece of fabric under it, so you can see it. It's really hard to photograph. 
We are also going to need some water soluble stabilizer. I like the woven kind personally. Now layer the tulle on top of the water soluble stabilizer and stitch around the edges. We need 2 of these one for the top and one for the bottom! :-)
Dog ears!! Yep we need dog ears. And you thought I was crazy!
With the water soluble side down sprinkle on your dog ears.
And now for the fun. We are going to take this little sandwich to our machine, drop those feed dogs and start quilting. Nothing fancy, just some loops and wiggles, something to keep things together. Once you have the entire piece somewhat stable, you can start quilting the bejeebers out of it. Bejeeber: A very technical word that is about the same as "heck" or "mess" or "stuffing"... You know, whatever favorite word you like to use!! :-)
It's fun to change out the thread colors and scribble away. It really does need to be pretty densely quilted so when we dissolve the stabilizer, everything stays put. Here is my finished piece.
Then off to the sink, to dissolve the stabilizer.
What I am left with is this fabulous piece of fabric, just waiting to have an art quilt designed for it!
Close up!Sooo....
Remember those little pieces - the ones the dog ears came from?They make up great pin wheel blocks. And just the right colors to match our art fabric!! Who knew!
So I gathered a recycled zipper and some polka dot ribbon and I start to play. A zip up shirt is what popped into my mind, and don't you know that every zip up shirt has to have a matching brooch. It is a rule, I'm sure!
So here you go. My Valentines version of an art quilt.
And from left overs from this Christmas Quilt...
Who'd a thunk!
Now...
stop on by the MooseStash for a visit
I have a jar full of thread and a bag of dog ears...
What's a girl to do??? You gotta help me!!!
Please??
Have a fabulous Valentines day!!
And don't forget to show us your " OCD Art" quilt!
A big thanks to Madame Samm! It's always a pleasure for me to be able to share with so many talented people. You "all" keep me inspired, each and every day!
:-)
25 COMMENT HERE:
Ok, I panicked for a bit...I got up thinking something was wrong...I looked for your post...I know it was there, I had added the title....but it was not there for posting...I am thinking oh oh oh oh lol.
Sew I start going through the dates, did a search, then had an aha moment...I bet I dated it for last year....NOOOOOO didn't do that ...I dated back to 2002 not 2012....WELLLLLLL time has flown but not that much...blogs were not even around much then....OK, sew here you are....I found you my dear JOAN, now I am wide awake....lol
SEW Good Morning, love your post, and sew glad I found you...off to bed xx
Now people think me a bit crazy in the tiniest pieces I save! This is so clever - made bookmarks with this method, but just love your mini.
I always sew the triangles together right away but haven't saved the dogears before. What a great idea! Now my husband really will think I'm insane if he comes into my area and sees a jar or a ziplock full of dogears. :)
This is lots of fun. Trust Joan to play with this! Love it. Thanks, M. Samm.
I would never have thought of that Joan - too cute! blessings, marlene
Oh my goodness, I sure did not mean to make your heart rate go up so early in the morning!
:-)
I have been saving my cut off triangles for years. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet. I have never thought of saving the dog ears. Now I need a really pretty clear jar to put the dog ears in. Might as well show off all those pretty, tiny triangles. Thanks for the inspiration.
I was with you the whole way....I understood, when that creative moment strikes....you gotta run with it...good job!!
oh dear. I'm trying to reduce stashes not make more. but yes, totally makes sense to save dog ears!
Very cool idea. I'm continuously amazed at what others create.
Good Morning Joan.....all is well now, sew I slept in lol. Now dof ears and scrap threads made this.....ok, I am in absolute awe lol
So cool! To think I just vacummed up a million of these little dog ears. Now I need to start saving them!
Wow - next quilting workshop guess who will be gathering up the dogears! Thanks for sharing! Love the results!
Quilters amaze me in their ability to make art out of the tiniest of fabric. Nothing warrants throwing away! Before long, we are going to see a TV show called "Fabric Hoarders..Saving Quilters One Fabric Scrap At A Time"
Blessings
Gmama Jane
I love your post! I'm a very new quilter. My first squares were with HST that I made 2 out of each set of fabric by sewing 1/4 from each side of center line. It was great...no waste. It bugged me to make flying geese with the large amount of waste. Thanks for showing a way to use it all!
That is very clever. I love how it turned out.
Haha! Thank you soooo much! Now I don't feel quite so odd about methodically saving my dog ears and narrow "straightening" strips to put in the compost pile, because I think you've got the OCD thing even worse than I do ;-) Carry on! :-)
And my friends think I'm crazy because I save the cut-off triangles for some future project!! Just wait til I tell them how you save the dog ears, lol. Another creative project from that fertile mind of yours, Joan. Love it!
I always stitch those triangles and then cut them off and save them for tiny projects...but the dog ears? Wow! Never seen this done before - amazing!
Aren't you clever. Now you are taking reuse recycle to a whole other level.
V for Victory.
Oh, I've actually done this and thought I was the only one crazy enough to feel bad about throwing about those tiny scraps! Of course, I think you are VERY smart!
I used to save all the threads and fabric bits and made many a craft projects and embellishments with them back in the day. It will be fun to watch all the new sewers come up with fun projects for their newly saved bits.
When I saw the "V", I thought V for Violet, my DGD. I may just have to make her a special valentine using your very cool technique.
I recently started sewing the leftover triangles together to save, but never would have thought of the dog ears. Too much! I have been saving my smallest bits to make a cat bed. Not nearly as creative. You rock!
You are truly a quilting diva ; WOW !! I have a stack of HST triangles and keep thinking I can do something ; but what ? And to see your creativeness here just blows me away !!!
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