teaching with a big shot


For the past couple of Sundays I've been at a knitting and patchwork shop just outside of Leeds called The Skep teaching Bonnie Hunter's scrappy trips around the world blocks.

This pattern is perfect for using up random fat quarters or strips of fabric that you have in your stash that you don't like too much (it's also perfect for those favourite fabrics too).I've made quite a few of these quilts now, they're fast, they're fun and they use up a lot of fabric.

When you use the 2.5" strip die to cut your strips it's also really REALLY fast to get all of your fabric prepared. I've got to admit I get a bit carried away when I'm cutting strips and end up cutting far too many every time!

We had a whole basket of strips to play with, some were lovely, some were quite interesting (to put it politely!)

But I encouraged everyone to grab a mix of colours and prints to get the full effect of the pattern

and I think you'll agree, the results were lovely! There's no such thing as a fabric that's too ugly in a scrap quilt - when it's pieced into a scrappy block you don't notice the 'ugliness' and instead you see the colour or the tone. The big shot is perfect for cutting scraps, and keeping them under control in smaller pieces that can be easily sorted and stored.

You can make your own 'jelly rolls' with the 2.5" strip, or mini charm packs with the square dies, sort them into colours and keep everything nicely organised. Believe me, it makes you feel ever so slightly smug and pleased with yourself when you turn a big pile of scraps into manageable pieces for easy use!