From The Two Inch Width Scrap Bin

 

It's a top!

Courthouse Steps

40.5 x 54

Whenever I am blessed with a box of scraps I go through them with my little ruler in hand and measure the width. Scraps less than 6 inches in width get sorted by scrap width. Any scrap greater than a six inch square gets sorted by color and I call those scrap chunks. 

I was looking at my overflowing 2 inch width scrap bin and decided to make a plan to try to empty it.

The first thing I did was pull out all the longest strips. Most of those were greens and browns. I used the greens and some of the other colors of scraps to make 14 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps blocks. 

12 blocks made a nice sized child's comfort quilt. 

I started some 11 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps blocks with brown and cream scraps. 

I have made the first round on 35 blocks. 

Right now they measure 5 inches. I think I pulled enough brown scraps out of the bin to finish the blocks. If not I will cut 2 inch width strips from brown scrap chunks. 

When I saw the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for January is blue I pulled out all of the blue 2 inch width scraps. I decided to make 8 inch unfinished Courthouse Steps in blue and light neutral scraps. I will make as many blocks as I can each month in the RSC color. 

Before the RSC color was called I played around with some gray scraps. I have seen two different blocks called Streak Of Lightning. One uses squares and 2x 3.5 rectangles and finishes st 9 inches. The other uses 2 inch squares and finishes at 6 inches. I decided they would make good use of some smaller scraps on the bins do added them to my list of RSC projects.

So...with the blue scraps and white and black squares for the "streak" I made 6 blocks.

This is the scrap with my scribbled instructions for the other Streak of Lightning block I saw several places online.

I made four blocks. When I put them up to take a photo I quickly realized a streak was not going to form. I think I need A and B blocks. B needs to be the same configuration but with darks in the light position and vice versa. 

I made a few Easy Breezy blocks. This is an RSC project from last year. I only need a few more blocks to meet my goal. 

I also made some Four Patches with the blue scraps and black. That is in prep for Buckeye Beauty blocks. I need to make some HSTs from blue 3.5 inch scraps so maybe that is the scrap box I will tackle next. The Buckeye Beauty blocks were a RSC project started last year and I think I am only half way to my goal so I will continue to make these from scraps in 2026.

Oh...one last thing with blue 2 inch scraps..I put some aside to make 25 patch blocks. A few months ago when I was working with orphan blocks I noticed I had thirty 25 patch blocks in the red,white and blue orphanage. I made those blocks several times when I had blue scraps leftover from making patriotic quilts. I decided to pull those out and make more blocks and add sashings for a comfort quilt. 

And sew on...

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I have been feeling dizzy the last few days do I have been taking it easy and napping a lot. I finally feel a little better today. Not sure what that was all about!

A Coin Top

Coins

60 x 78

It's a top! 

I think I started making these in 2024 to use up some long 2 inch width scraps/strips. Last year I also cut a lot of quilt back trimmings into 2 inch width strips to use in these. 

I strip pieced these. I sewed together 2 strips 2 inches in width and length divisible by 3 and then cut them into 3 inch sections. The resulting strips are variable lengths. 

It sounds easier to make than it is. I decided the top should be 24 rectangles across and 52 rectangles down. Since all segments were variable in length I sometimes had to cut a segment shorter and then use those pieces in another column. I don't use  design wall so I knew some colors were going to end up next to each other. That doesn't bother me. And I also tried to start each column with yellow or orange segments so those colors are all at the top of the quilt. 

I tried to keep all of the darker colors at the bottom of the quilt. 

WITB (What's in the Box, Bin, Bag) is the theme in my sewing space for the month of March. I'm wondering how many boxes, bins and bags I can empty.  

I'll keep score:

Box - 1

I'll also be working with yellow scraps this month because that is the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color. 

And I don't always follow the challenges issued by the Scrapbuster group but this month the challenge is 1.5 inch scraps. I have some of those! 

And sew on...

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

It's been a rough couple of days here with all kinds of mishaps; however, I'm trying not to let things get me down. Dreaming of spring and flowers to come sure helps!

I finished a book - The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz. He originally published it under the name of Leigh Nichols in the 1990s. It's not the usual Dean Koontz type of book; however, it has the same underlying theme as in all of Dean Koontz books - good vs. evil and good wins.  A woman is hypnotized and her memory purged of her life's memories and she is given a new identity and false memories. Eventually with the help of a nice man she finds out the truth. 

Singing The Blues - Verse 3

Sixteen Patch

6 inch blocks

I now have 99 out of a goal of 120 blocks or 130 blocks if there's enough scraps for that many. 

I started making these last year (or was it year before?) to use up a lot of 2 inch width strips as well as a little pile of chunks of green.  So I've been making them a few each month with scraps in the color of the month alternating with greens. 

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color for February is blue. I have a lot of  blue scraps to use this month. I actually use scraps to make my RSC blocks and usually have blocks going for any width size scrap I come across. I have a few folks who share their scraps with me and when I receive them I usually sort them by width size if smaller scraps that are less than a fat quarter. If larger than a fat quarter they are sorted by color and put with yardage of same color.   This week I worked mostly with scraps in a bin of 2 inch width scraps. 

Going where the scraps take me!

 Easy Breezy

6 inch finished

Using 2 inch width scraps in RSC color and one other plus neutral scraps. 

Bonnie Hunter Tutorial

And sew on...

RSC ScrapHappy Saturday

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

I received a box of treasure yesterday from Sherron. It was full of some of some orphan blocks and fabric. I have to say most of the orphan blocks are hand appliqued and very beautiful. Won't they make some gorgeous comfort quilts! 

What's In The Box?

I've been processing a flat of 2 inch width scraps. Some scraps were given to me. Some were from leftovers. Some I sorted out of one of my boxes of stuff I swept off of the cutting mat. Some were 4 inch scraps I cut lengthwise. 

Well, anyway, what was in that box?

I started with the longest pieces and made four 6 x 9 Zip blocks.

Then if a piece was long enough to cut 8 HSTs with the Easy Angle ruler then that is what I did. I used them as the corners on 4 inch finished Indian Hatchet blocks.  I have a little box of sets of four 2.5 inch squares that I also use to make these blocks.  These were inspired by a vintage quilt. 

Then while the Easy Angle ruler was out I cut some HSTs and made Broken Dishes blocks. With this batch I now have 105 of them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these little 3 inch blocks. Maybe I will combine them with squares for donation quilts.  For now I just make them and they are in the Parts Department. 

Then I made 3 inch bow ties. With this batch I now have 520 of them. I'm thinking I need 900 of them for a BIG quilt. 

Then I cut squares. From L to R - stacks of single 2 inch squares; stack of pairs of 2 inch squares; stack of 4 identical 2 inch squares that will go into the Monkey Wrench workbox to be used with 3.5 inch HSTs whenever I get around to making them. 

The neutral pieces will go into the little drawer of neutral scraps. 

Anything less than a 2 inch square and greater than 1/2 inch was sewn into strips for a future Chinese Coin quilt. 

And sew on...

 

Scrap Processing: 2 Inch Pieces

Indian Hatchets

4 inch finished blocks

inspired by a vintage quilt

I recently received a very large box of very small scraps from a quilty friend. I immediately started sorting and making blocks to add to my different collections of small blocks. The first scraps I pulled were what looked like at least 2 inch or a little bit wider but less than 2.5 inches width pieces - some long, some short. 

The Indian Hatchet blocks use four 2.5 inch squares in addition to 2 inch pieces. The four 2.5 inch squares I had previously cut and had ready in a parts box.   For the Indian Hatchet corners I sometimes use 2 inch squares but sometimes I also cut triangles with an Easy Angle ruler. 

Sometimes they end up a little wonky but I'm all right with that - wonky or not they are cute little blocks. 

Zip Blocks

6 x 9 inch finished

Instructions for the block found at Klein Meisje Quilts

Bow Ties

3 inch finished

I think I have over 400 of these now. 

Four Patch QSTs

QSTs finish at 3 inches and Four Patch QST finishes at 6 inches. They will be an alternate block for Four Patch blocks made last year. 

I cut the QSTs from 2 inch width strips and use an Easy Angle Companion ruler. Rather than waste the beginning and end of the 2 inch width piece I cut an HST at beginning and end of the strip with the Easy Angle ruler. I've been turning those HSTs into little Broken Dishes blocks that finish at 3 inches. 

2 Inch Squares

After I make all those blocks any leftovers get cut into 2 inch squares for the Parts Department. (Yes, I need a new cutting mat. Look at those grooves. Groovy, in this case, is not a good thing). 

And, if there is a piece less than a 2 inch square and at least 1/2 inch wide then it gets sewn into strips for a future Chinese Coins quilt. 

And sew on...

I think the 2.5 inch pieces will be processed next. Or maybe the 1.5 inch pieces. Time will tell. There's a few other things going on in the sewing space in addition to scrap processing. 

 

Trippin'

9 inch (finished) Trip Around The World (TATW) blocks made with 2 inch width scraps. 

I've been throwing 2 inch width darker colored scraps into the TATW project box whenever I process scraps.  My box was pretty full of strips so I figured it was time to make a few more blocks to add to my collection. 

With this batch of TATW blocks I now count 42 toward my goal of 48. That will make a quilt 54 x 72. I was first thinking I would make a quilt with 7 x 9 blocks but I kind of wanted to keep the blocks in multiples of four. 

So now that I am so close to my goal I'm going to see if I can rustle up a few more scraps to finish up 6 blocks. I'll first go through my box of quilt back trimmings since I haven't sorted through there in awhile. 

I'm not at all sure I really like the very scrappy TATW blocks. Maybe I'll like them better when they are put together into a top. 

I made these similar to the way Bonnie Hunter makes them except my strips were 2 x 12.5. 

After I made the TATW blocks if there was a piece of the strip left over I made Broken Dishes blocks that finish at 3 inches. Aren't they cute?

And I added more Bow Ties to my collection. I'm aiming for 900 and have about 1/3 of them now. 

Then if there was not enough for Broken Dishes or Bow Ties I cut squares. The stack on the left has two identical 2 inch squares of each fabric. (There wasn't enough for the two little squares to complete a Bow Tie block).  I was thinking I would make Four Patches with those but couldn't decide what to combine them with. Neutrals would make the blocks look too much like the Bow Ties. Then I thought maybe I would combine with reds but then thought I would make Four Patches of complementary colors. Then I thought I would combine them dark and light of the same color. And then I thought I would put them aside for later.  The pile on the right are 2 inch squares. I have a box of different sizes of squares to use in future projects. 

And finally...if there was not enough left for a square but the piece was greater than an inch wide then it went into a strip for a future Chinese Coins quilt. 

And sew on...