Hey Everyone, welcome back to Stash Blasting Wednesday.
We all have them – blocks that didn’t make the cut. I have many left over from the $10 quilt I designed last year for Country Concessions in Cookstown. Plus others from other projects. There are not enough for a quilt but are still very usable and quite pretty.
How about turning them into pot holders? You might say that a 12 inch block is too big for a pot holder but I say it would be great for a man’s hand or as a trivet to put hot dishes onto on the table. The ones I made for my nephew were definitely 12 inch blocks as he has big hands. On the other hand the ones that I made for my mom are much smaller and very thin – she likes thin pot holders – I guess she has more feeling through them when she grabs onto something hot.
Along with using up the extra blocks that are stashed away in nooks and crannies of your sewing room this is also a great opportunity to use up those small pieces of batting that are just sitting around and taking up precious space. Plus a backing fabric will be needed and I know you have lots of pieces in the scrap box that will do the trick.
If some of those blocks go together nicely why not make a placemat. You could even add a border to some single blocks and use up some more fabric – maybe some more of those scraps that are taking up precious space.
All of these ideas – the pot holders, trivets and placemats would make great little gift ideas to give at Christmas or as hostess gifts when you stay over somewhere or go to a summer barbecue.
They are all quick projects and do not even have to be quilted heavily but would be a great little project to practice your free motion on. Another bonus is you can just do a flip and sew which means no binding. (What’s Flip and Sew? Stay tuned for a Technique Tuesday post on that in the near future.)
See? Quick and easy.
How many can you make by next week?
Happy Quilting!
I shared this on TGIFF at Quokka Quilts
I have used ‘orphan’ blocks to make kennel quilts for animal shelters. 12×18 is the perfect size quilt for a small animal, so adding a strip of fabric to each side is a super-quick project that gives a shelter animal something soft and snuggly!
what a great idea.
I love quilt-as-you-go. Perhaps a very random, no design quilt?
For sure. That would work too. I think possibilities are endless, don’t you?
I really like this first blog that I’ve seen by you–what to do with leftover blocks.
I’ve been saving up my extra blocks to put together in an “Orphan Quilt”, when I get enough. Since I work in a lot of the same colors, and in mostly Primitive or Civil War repro style, I’m thinking this will work. I really like the quilts I’ve seen that combine various sizes and patterns in a random arrangement, sort of the ultimate scrap quilt.
We received a gift one Christmas from my Aunt who is a phenomenal quilter….she made a trivet like you suggest, about 12 inches square, and put some potpourri inside….as soon as a warm dish was set on it, a wonderful aroma came up. Very sweet. nice gift when you want to say I’m thinking of you without breaking the bank either with money or time.