Fabric Fun in Michigan!

Well, I haven't gotten as much sewing done here at the cabin in Michigan as I'd hoped.  The first couple of days were dark and rainy, and the lighting isn't very good, so scratch that.  But I did drop in at Delphine's, the wonderful quilt shop in town (https://www.delphinesquiltshop.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/DelphinesQuiltShop/).  One of my favorite things to do is to head to the back of the store, where you can find sale fabrics, very affordable fat quarters, and an overflowing bin of scraps.  Since I love scrappy quilts,  I always stuff a small ($5) bag or a large ($10) one with scraps.

Blue water!  Orange dots!  Pink ladybugs!  Moths (well, the colors are pretty!).

The prints are always the luck-of-the-draw, depending on what classes they've been having.  Lots of times there are squares or strips that had come out just a little shy (e.g., 2-1/4"), easy to quickly trim to a usable size.  It's fun to see fabrics that we don't find at home, and to bring some home lots of different ones without overflowing your stash.  The larger pieces I keep whole to go into bins sorted by color.  

I'm also always on the lookout for neutrals, since they can be used no matter what I'm making.  Any of the scraps (all smaller than a fat quarter) I press and cut into strips or squares as soon as I get them home.  For neutrals, even fat quarters get cut up.  I have a small cabinet (getting too small!) with separate drawers for different sizes of pre-cut pieces.  I'm a puzzle junkie, and figuring out how to get the most usable pieces out of a wonky scrap of fabric is kind of a fun challenge (for me -- I know some of you would rather have a root canal!).  The squares below are 1-1/2", 2", and 2-1/2".

Sorry this is dark, the light was poor but I guess not poor enough to set off the flash!

Of course, there are always bits from odd-sized scraps that can't be used in a quilt.  I saved these for a long time, intending to make pet beds for local animal shelters.  But then I read that the shelters don't really want these, because the scrappy filling gets all wadded up when the bed is washed.  So these leftovers are now intended as the filling for an ottoman!  I found a couple of tutorials on the web, but haven't started anything yet.  But the bin almost can't be closed, so I guess the time is coming!  Nonetheless, when I'm sewing away from home and have to store the bits and pieces in a baggie, it's labelled "DOG" -- who wants to waste time writing "OTTOMAN"?

Cheers, all!  Hope you're having a lovely summer!