Bits, Pieces and Scraps

I opened a drawer in my craft room, quite by accident, as I was looking for material that I had bought to make a fall table cover.  In this little drawer I found a bundle of pieces, already cut into 2.5 x 5 inch pieces.  I had no idea what I had cut them for or what pattern I had envisioned.  Along with the small pieces I found other pieces ready to be cut on the 5 inch mark, many more pieces of left over scraps as well as a series of 6 x 6 inch blocks.  Google is definitely a most useful tool so I entered in my material measurements and up comes the idea of a scrap jelly roll quilt.

 The bits and pieces that I found (trust me there are a lot of pieces here, enough for at least 1 double quilt)

 Scraps ready for ironing and cutting

Apparently you piece it together however you wish upright, sideways, long or short pieces and there is no wrong way because each one is unique to the creator.  So this got me thinking (a most dangerous sport) that I need to go quilting again.

And what I hope it will look like, but with more colors 
(photo thanks to Christa's Quilts Online)


I learned to quilt over 20 years ago when the older ladies of the Parish of Forteau thought it would be fun to teach me how to make some of those works of art that they produced.  At best I was and am a mediocre student, but it was a lot of fun and a good way to get to know some of the matriarchs of the communities and the congregations.  It was also a very pleasant way to pass a winter evening.  So this skill that has lain dormant for the last 10 years or so has emerged and as I looked at the bits and pieces of materials that were ready to be cut up I found a completed quilt top and back ready to go together, another put together ready for quilting (no picture as it will hopefully be someone's Christmas gift) and of course bits, pieces and scraps ready to be made into at least 1 masterpiece.

The Queen size quilt top that I found, ready to be assembled and quilted

Paths to explore, I thought, would be about new ventures.  Today I learned that it is also about the past and what has been learned along the way, skills that have been acquired and visiting with some old and pleasant memories.  Paths to explore with it bits, pieces and scraps are the things that make up the memories of life, add colour and character.   Our interactions and encounters show us that life is not perfect in symmetry, nor is it monochromatic but it is diverse and rich because of the paths that we travel, explore and allow others to enrich when we enter into relationships.