Raw I ~ Beyond Scraps. Borderline CRazY!

I'm going to say up front ... this is probably the craziest, insane, bizarre, brainsick, psychotic, certifiable thing I have ever attempted in quilting!  Using scraps gives me a certain pride, you know, making something from a pile of bits and pieces.  

Define scraps?  When is small too small, or when does a scrap become useless?  A few weeks ago I would have given one answer, today ... I am almost ashamed to say, there is no scrap too small!  

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  When life gives you scraps, you make a quilt?!

RAW I
18" x 20"

Let me take you on a trip inside my head.  Several weeks ago I had a beautiful pile of hand dyed 'shavings' from half square triangles.  A beautiful bowl of ... crap, garbage, unusable slices of beauty!

I looked at this pile, and wondered what could a creative person do with it?  Initially, I thought nothing.  How could you even sew these together?  You couldn't!  But there had to be some use for them.  (my brain is going in to overload) 

If you are not familiar with Mister Domestic or t_Jaye on Instagram, please take the time to check them out.  Both take bias strips and weave them into the most amazing pieces.  This is where I found my inspiration, my crazy inspiration for this mini quilt.  

What started as an experiment, soon became an obsession!  Raw Edge Weaving.  Could I really weave these pieces into blocks?  One block led to another, and another and another! Before long I had a pile of 2 1/4" - 2 1/2"  blocks.

Mister Domestic and t_jaye, they know exactly what they are doing and where they are going. With me, I was just going!  I liken it to english paper piecing.  I love having something that keeps my hands busy during the evening.  Sewing on a binding or EPP.  I was so addicted after my first weave...I seriously couldn't stop.  

Raw Edge Weaving

My blocks varied after weaving.  It depended on the size of shavings I was using.  In fact, I wasn't even thinking about size...does it really matter?!

With I finished each block, I fused it with a light weight interfacing and stitched just less than 1/4" around the block to keep it together.

The blocks were set aside until I could figure out what to do with them.  That day finally came.

Starting with 1/2" pieces of fabric, I pieced strips together with good old Kona Snow.  I knew using such skinny strips that the lines would be far from perfect, completely intentional.  

The 'X's were hopefully going to be another element that would bring this piece together.  

I played, rearranged and played some more until I found what worked for me.    

The lines on the left represent the first step in weaving.  Strips.  The 'X's became the process of weaving.  Interlacing the fabrics together.  A loose interpretation, but it is improv after all!

I was sure this was it, finished and I was pleased.  Or so I thought.  After posting a picture on Instagram,  someone commented that they thought the strip separating the panels interrupted the flow.  Hmmm...which made me rethink that decision.  I went to bed thinking about it.  And woke up thinking about it.  I love feedback, it is always welcome in my book!

I was determined to figure out this puzzle, new ideas were brewing and I had to see it through.

I spent the morning fiddling.  Adding and subtracting, slicing and dicing.  For some reason I needed or really, really wanted that strip separating the panels.  

Free motion quilting was my weapon of choice here.  With the funky lines and crazy weave, I knew my skill (not perfect) would fit right in.

Grid, matchstick, ghost quilting.  It fit.  The questionable strip...I tackled that with a woven diamond.  

The pieced binding was the final straw.  As you can see it is not perfect and very bulky. 

The back shows the quilting detail better.  I finished with my usual method for hanging and called it done!  

I think the boundaries have been sufficiently pushed!  It's exciting when an idea or insane idea comes together!

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