Thursday, June 1, 2017

Dumpster Diving 3.0 - The Flimsy



With Dumpster Diving 2.0 off the design wall
I spread out all of the 80" lego-scrap strips.




I started sewing the lengths together,
pressing seams open as each new length was added.




First there were ten lengths sewn together.




Then there were twenty lengths attached (on left).

Side note:  
I knew all of this would shrink in width
(each length from 1.5" to 1")
but it is always dramatic to see it happen.




Look at all that glorious scrappy goodness!




I added a few more lengths to the mix . . .




. . . and soon there were 30 lengths sewn together.



Forty lengths sewn together.

Only one more group to be added . . . 


Double click to enlarge any of the photos

Once everything was sewn together
I measured the width (48")
and shortened the overly long length.

As a complete bonus
I have a 14" x 48" piece that will make
a beautiful table runner for our dining room
and a 2" strip that can be pieced into its backing.




And - without further ado - here is
 Dumpster Diving 3.0

48" wide x 62" long

I did not set out to make two quilt tops 
but that is exactly what happened
when I listened to those long-collected scraps.


* * *



Now about that row of paint cans . . .

This is DH's last week in the office -
which is actually the room next door to my studio.

His long-time telecommuter office space
will soon become my new design studio.

The smaller room down the hall
(my current design studio) 
will become our new shared home office.

There's lots of cleaning out, painting,
and shuttling of things from here to there
about to happen over the next few weeks.

It's all going to be good!


Quiltdivajulie
-----------------------------------------------
"Nothing adventured, nothing attained."
Peter McWilliams

42 comments:

Mystic Quilter said...

Just glorious Julie - my kind of quilt!! Thanks for sharing the process with us and have fun spending some time now organising the shared office, hope we get a peek when it's finished.

Chookyblue...... said...

This quilt is lovely..... I love moving thru the colours.......

Gale Bulkley said...

What a wonderful explosion of colour. Congratulations to your husband on his retirement.

Pamela Arbour said...

I love it! What an even special extra bonus is the table runner. Just gorgeous!

Linda Swanekamp said...

It is so beautiful that I can hardly stand it. So much color and texture in such a simple design. Lots of long seams to keep straight!

Kyle said...

I wish I could dive into a dumpster and create what you just did! It's glorious. What I especially like are the small strips of the lighter shades of each color that seem to cross the lines into the neighboring groups. They give the piece a sparkle.

Mari said...

Gosh, Julie, this is awesome! So much to look at and beautiful all together. Who would have thought this much loveliness could come from a "dumpster"? Just amazing. And on a side note, I see those paint cans and just think that there's a lot of work ahead for someone!

gayle said...

Glorious scrappy goodness is exactly right!!!

Kat Scribner said...

It is gorgeous! and the tablerunner .... looks like wall art to me.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

WOW~~~ just WOW!!!! and please send me some of your sewing time devotion!!

Amy, a redeemed sheep said...

Spectacular!!

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

Oh my goodness. I cannot imagine how many hours went into this top! Just beautiful. mary in Az

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

Such brilliant rainbow scrappy goodness - I love it! It's amazing how much difference the shrinkage makes. Congrats on your bonus table runner.
Good luck with the studio & office renovations - I hope you'll share the process and the results.

Monica said...

Love it! And gosh, the chance to redo your studio space sounds wonderful too. I'm sure the new perspective will carry through to your work. Exciting times!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

This is my favorite of the 3 quilts, the unplanned leftovers quilt.

Paulette said...

Completely gorgeous! I love all of your dumpster diving quilts, but this might be number one for me. Wonderful how it came about.

Ann said...

A gorgeous finish plus a table runner. Legos is a good name for the block shape but your quilt is much more sophisticated than a child's toy and definitely not trash as Dumpster implies. Congratulations.

Nina said...

Its beautiful, something I think I would like to try soon. Not sure I have so many of those beautiful fabrics. Thanks for sharing and can't wait to see more of your projects. Nina, CA.

Magpie Sue said...

Yummy! What a great way to use those strips. I'm going to have to make a note of this for future reference. :-D

Jennifer said...

WOW!!! that is one fantastic quilt- one of the best ever, I'd say! great collection- and great job in the finish!!! (and I love the table runner too! the great thing about those is that we can enjoy them so much, since they're prominently displayed in a public/high travel area...)

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Delicious! I love it and the table runner too!!

Cathy said...

Love the rainbow! What a wonderful effect. This is my fav of the 3 Dumpster Dives.

Nancy said...

Your dive produced a wonderful result! The color glows.

Cherie in St Louis said...

It looks even more like a color waterfall now that all the strips are sewn together. I really, really like this one....would you grant permission for me to copy the idea?

em's scrapbag said...

Fabulous twofer! Love these newest additions of the dumpster dive series.

Louise said...

I love this strippy, scrappy, dumpstery goodness! Now I want to go sew all my 1.5" strips together...

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Wow.......you,made it so straight. Mine would have be all crookedy and no so straight. I am, ever impressed with that fact!

Sheila said...

Love this quilt top! So colorful. Lots of fun happening here. Love your blog and look forward to every post. Thank you for your inspiration.

LynneP said...

LOVE these last few quilt tops you've shown. Such glorious color!!!

Kaja said...

Mine would be wonky too!

Kaja said...

Fantastic! I may have to copy this at some point (with due credit of course).

Angie said...

Gorgeous finishes - what an amazing play of color! Good luck as you move through all the upcoming changes!

Edith said...

Wow, what a beauty.

claudia said...

I love that quilt!!!

PaulaB quilts said...

Better than any rainbow, so full of life!

Kaja said...

Thanks for linking up with AHIQ. It's hard to know which of your Dumpster Diving versions I like best now.

Ann said...

It's a winner!

audrey said...

So much color! Really fun to see this!

Preeti said...

How the bleep did I miss this gorgeous, spectacular, stunning beauty of a quilt. Honestly, it also shows off that you have a boatload of scraps in every color possible, sure to make every quilter green with envy, but that is a separate story. For now, I am just going to drool over this Dumpster Diving Flimsy. Kudos to you!!!

B. J. In Virginia said...

Thank you for using a quote from my sister's book for "Important Words" - I believe in these words myself! I love your Dumpster Diving quilt. I'm going into my huge collection of 2 1/2" strips to see what I can find for a walk quilt.

B. J. In Virginia said...

WALL quilt!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Hi, BJ - I adore your sister's book where I found that quotation. Sorry to have to respond here but you are a no-reply blogger so I don't have an email address for you. The strips for Dumpster Diving were cut at 1.5" wide by random lengths. If you make a version using this concept, I'd love to see it!