What can I do with a bunch of scrappy 4" squares? I've been cutting them out of my scraps, as I get them. I never thought much about what I was going to do with them. Any ideas?

Make a scrappy trip around the world quilt, half sq triangles, pin wheels, small sunbonnet sue or sam appliques or you could sell them in lots of 100 or so. Make some charity quilts out of them and donate them to a local charity in your area. crafty_linda_b

Trip around the world?
Nine-patches? (That would be a better on-going project, as you cut sets of 4's and 5's, whereas trip has to be laid out all at once.)

I have been cutting 4 -5 and 6 in squares from scraps .I must have 700 4 in blocks. I am sure there is plenty we can do with them. I probably won't ever get these all sewed up. :D

Choose 128 very light squares and 128 darker squares.
Layer in pairs, right sides together.
Draw a line across one diagonal.
Sew 1/4" on each side of the drawn line to create half-square triangles. You will have 256 total.
They could be set like this.........

Jan in VA

Love It!

That looks wonderful!

Jan in VA
Thank you.

That's wonderful

Wow Jan, what a great idea! Thanks!!

I make depression blocks. Sort of like a mini trip around the world. Instead of assembling a whole top at once, I can just make a few or more blocks when I want to do something mindless and store them away until I get enough to put together.

Jan in VA,

I love your quilt. Scrap quilts were always my favorite. We have a quilt that hubby's grandma made MANY years ago that she used fabrics from her 3 gradson's clothes...and I think I see some women's fabric in it too. Before his grandparents died back in the 80's...they had to move from a big house to a small apartment and in packing and sorting we came across 2 quilts and a buggy blanket (they were PA Dutch). Oldest brother wanted the buggy blanket and hubby and other brother got the quilts. We got the best deal...LOL. What is amazing to me is fabrics that you never thought would like right together look awesome in a quilt.

You can also set them in any log cabin arrangement, moving darks and lights to form the design.

Our guild did a swap and the sizes sound about the same. I made my own paper piece unit for the block. It is not someone's published block. It is simple and the arrangement looks great. I made A1, A3, and A5 in the same color family for each block. The larger HST was a black - could also be a light, just needs to be consistent, with A2 being the same as the HST color family. The arrangement ends up with lights and darks like the other great suggestion you got. I like the chance to introduce a few other shapes of similar colors in the block. We made them 4" finished and it was a quick sketch. You could make it any size you like. With paper piecing it FLEW. The photo was below is my EQ7 paper piecing template. Good luck

Did you mean A1, A3,and A4 are the same color family? Would love to see a picture of the finished product. Sounds like a great way to use scraps.

[quote=Jan in VA]Choose 128 very light squares and 128 darker squares.
Layer in pairs, right sides together.
Draw a line across one diagonal.
Sew 1/4" on each side of the drawn line to create half-square triangles. You will have 256 total.
They could be set like this.........

Jan in VA - I love your quilt. This is what I am saving my 4 1/2" squares for. Have a lot of the darker ones, now need the light. I also love the border you did. Nice job!! :thumbup:

great minds think alike, Jan!! Yours looked so much like some we did a long time ago. Ours started with 6" squares I think.,

Aren't those wonderful!

The half-square triangle is probably the most versatile block we have. I urge you to put them on a design wall and just play!

Jan in VA

pic of depression blocks, FYI:

whoops, someone beat me to it! lol