December 4, 2017

Quilted Memory Fabric Bucket

When I saw Christina Cameli's tutorial for a little quilted fabric bucket I had to drop everything and make one.  (I made myself finish binding a queen size, yes queen, charity quilt first.)


And why memory bucket, you ask?  You see, immediately I knew what fabrics I would use for this cute fabric bucket.

Three years ago, about this very same time, I was finishing up the Michael Miller Spring Cotton Couture Fabric Challenge.  I remember quilting a test sample, which I still had, of the various cotton couture fabrics to audition the color of Aurifil thread I would use.


I wrote the Aurifil thread number along the selvage so I could remember the thread color.  And the funny thing is, the free motion design I used was Christina's Leafy Lines.


I must have borrowed two colors from a friend because I don't remember finishing the spools.  I placed the Clover clip beside the other two colors I auditioned.



My quilted sample was smaller than the Christina's measurements, but I wanted to give it a try anyway.  I trimmed it down to  7 1/2" x 13 1/2" I decided to use left over bias binding for the cuff.



I sewed the seam with a 1/4" seam allowance and then trimmed it down a bit so I could cover the raw edge with some bias I had just used in making the current Michael Miller Our Yard Challenge.


It would have been awkward sewing the bias with by machine at that angle, so I just hand stitched it down in no time.  Christina's tutorial uses a lining but I decided to skip that part let the machine quilting show a much as possible.  That's the reason I covered up the raw edge.



 The bias strip ends were sewn together and repressed which was 7 1/2" x 13 1/2".


I sewed the cuff to the to top edge and finished the edge with the serger.  To box the corners, I measured  width of the bucket which was 6 1/2" and divided the number by 4 and that's the size (1 5/8") I used for the square.  I had to redraw because I forgot to allow for the seam allowance along the bottom.

If you look closely, I didn't sew all the way across the bottom since that would be cut away.



I cut out for the boxing.


I stitched and overlocked across the boxing.  Now all that's left it to turn right side out and turn down the cuff.


This is what the bottom looks like after turning right side out.


And from the side.


And a close up of the rim.


My memory bucket is perfect for storing thread.  Without the lining you can see the raw edges of the seam in bottom but if quickly fill it up, the seams will not be seen much at all.


So I made the quilted bucket entirely from scraps.  And here's the reason I have fond memories of that fabric.  The quilt I made for the Michael Miller fabric challenge was After Dinner Mints and it placed 2nd at QuiltCon in 2015 at Austin, TX.  It was my first QuiltCon to attend and I was thrilled.


I'll have to write about the making of After Dinner Mints one day.  I will tell you this...in addition to the fat eighths provided by Michael Miller, I used a couple of charm packs and a jelly roll which were all prewashed using my my salad spinner method explained here.

Linking my little quilted memory fabric bucket to Main Crush Monday with Beth at Cooking up Quilts, Finish it Up Friday with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday with Caroline at Sew Can She and Sandra's next Dreami (drop everything and make it) link up at MMM! Quilts.  I am also linking to Bag It with Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Tips and Tutorials Tuesday #26 with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.

29 comments :

  1. I saw that tutorial and tucked it away for future use. Your little bucket is adorable, and I love that it has such fond memories for you. And it has Christina's quilting design! Don't you love when all those little things come together to create the perfect project? Thanks for sharing!

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  2. That's a great little bucket. Awesome fabrics. Will have to check out the tutorial.

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  3. How cute!! I love your idea of eliminating the lining and using bias tape to hide the seam. Thank you for sharing! I now have a quick little project to fill in my sewing gaps!

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  4. What a great way to use up your test panel and have fun memories every time you have some trimmed threads to put in while you sew, Paige!

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  5. I saw this tutorial as well - had not thought of using existing orphan blocks though. Great idea Paige. Yours is adorable and covering the seam as you did is an easy finishing technique. Well done.

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  6. I like the fabric you chose. Cute!

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  7. Great idea for using the old block and fun to be reminded of the salad spinner method. I have a group of fat eights and this will be just the way to do them!

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  8. What a great use for an old block / practice piece! Love the quilt (what a great name!) that the leftover block is from! Thanks for entering your fabric bucket into Elm Street Quilts Bag It.

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  9. a fantastic hack of the tutorial Paige. I love the parsimonious feeling of using up scraps. I particularly love the red vertical stripe.

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  10. I saw Christina's tutorial too, and I like your twist on it with a fun back story! Another project for my list!

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  11. So beautiful bucket and fabrics!

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  12. Great little basket! I did not know you had a serger.

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  13. Your little bucket turned out great, I too was thinking of using my serger when I make mine(someday).

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  14. The little bucket turned out wonderfully! And I love the quilt that gave you the scraps!

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  15. Your After Dinner Mints quilt is perfectly named! Very clever of you to use your test piece for the adorable bucket!

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  16. Everything you do turns out so well and even your picture of you with After Dinner Mints is color coordinated. How do you do that??? I LOVE your version of Christina's bucket! I enjoyed this "process" post very much! Do you have any idea of about how long it took you to complete it?

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  17. That little bucket is adorable. Hmmm. Now you have me wondering if I have any quilted pieces laying around that can be put to good use.

    And your quilt is fabulous. Congratulations!

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  18. This brings back such find memories of meeting you in Austin and seeing your award winning quilt! Thanks for the tutorial on the variations you made to the pattern, I love the way it looks on the bottom of the bucket! I downloaded Chrstina's pattern and plan to look through my practice sandwiches for inspiration, too.

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  19. Of course, I meant "fond" memories!💕

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  20. Your little bucket is so cute, Paige! Great use of a practice piece.

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  21. It's an adorable bucket, and so appropriate for all the memories it holds. I'd love to have one but my sewing room issue is that I have no horizontal space on which to sit the bucket! Table workspace is at a premium, and already taken up with rotary cutting, pressing, and other essential projects.

    I haven't chatted with you for a while. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your parents, and finished your QuiltCon entries in time.

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  22. I saw these the other day and thought they would make perfect gifts. Yours looks good and I can't wait to see and hear more about the quilt behind it. It's definitely a DReamI project!

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  23. That is such a cute little bucket. I need to make more of those kinds of things so I can get rid of the cardboard boxes I use. :) And how awesome that you had the perfect piece ready to go for it.

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  24. Love your little bucket and especially love the story behind it. You make the very best Challenge quilts with great titles--After Dinner Mints. I really can watch a slide show of all of your wonderful creations. P.S. thanks for the pattern link-up; I purchased it even though there was a freebie available.

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  25. I love your little bucket!

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  26. I've been making some scrap baskets in recent weeks, but wanted to make some smaller ones. Thanks for this pattern link!!

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  27. I like your modifications to the scrap basket. Thanks for the description and what a nice way to remember a beautiful quilt!

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  28. Oh this is a perfect DREAMi! Thank you so much for linking up; I do believe you have thrown me a juicy-looking squirrel... Love the pastel colours and the memories this evokes. I also like it unlined too. Christina has some of the best FMQ designs, doesn't she?

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