selvage play

As some of you know, I'm on a self-imposed, non-necessity fabric buying ban until I make a dent in my selvage stash.  Back when I made that commitment, I envisioned finishing the selvage 16-patch I started last spring and calling it a success.  (The idea being that it'd be impossible to finish that particular quilt if I kept adding new selvages to my "collection").

Then along came Victoria Findlay Wolfe's workshop prep for SewDown Nashville.  First up on the supply list?  "Scraps - a nice big, generous bag of colorful scraps."  Turns out the only (organized) scraps I had on hand at the time were about a dozen ziplocs full of color-coordinated selvages that were either too skinny or too short for my 16-patch project (I'm using 2" x 8.5" strips for those blocks).

So naturally, I gathered them up and took the whole grocerybag-ful down south last month.

Being me (and thereby predisposed to monochromatic color schemes), I initially set out to make my 15 Minutes of Play fabric from one bag at a time.  And then as I found myself working from my cool blue bag, my (hilariously entertaining) workshop neighbor Jessica (@alittlegressica) offered me a purple Lizzy House print.  I hesitated a moment, but figured what the heck, purple and blue are analogous, so I used it right away and switched back to my blues.  And then another purple came my way (this time an AMH).  And a few minutes later, Jessica handed over a generous selvage off of a mustard AMH print she was using for her own "made" fabric.  I again happily accepted, but this time proceeded to dig around for the appropriately-hued baggie so I could put it where (I felt) it belonged.

But before I could catalog that scrap, a little voice in the back of my mind said something along the lines of, "Self, VFW's whole idea of 'play' is about breaking out of your comfort zone and facing your fears head on."  So I took that mustard scrap and nestled it right next to the blue and purple strips I'd been using.  

And you know what?  I kind of like it :o)  And while I won't have Jessica around to throw in any more contrasting curve balls, I do have a nice little assortment of selvages that Daisy of Ants to Sugar just sent, so I'm thinking random pulls from those will be a nice (albeit less witty) substitute.

Of course I have absolutely no clue what these will ultimately become, but it's safe to say I'll be crossing things off my "not to do" list with each new little panel of "made" fabric.

Here goes nothing!