So I just completed my second full quilt, and officially love quilting. But I didn't start out with what you would call sucsess. My very first quilt top escaped its dedicates bag in the wash and was torn apart by my old crappy, cranky washer about 3 months ago.

I finally had the courage do do a bit of an autopsy and I salvaged some of the squares... mostly. After the seems being yanked apart and twisted and frayed in the washer what I'm left with is some uneven, irregular sized squares between 4 and 2 3/4 inches. I ironed them out and whats left is actually in good condition after trimming off the frayed edges.

The only idea I have so far, is trimming them down to 2 inches. But I would love some other ideas. Thanks! You guys rock.

Just curious, why would you wash an unquilted top in the washer?

Ouch, you found out the hard way that you don't usually wash a quilt until after the quilting is done and the binding is on. You might be able to salvage those bits and pieces by putting them in the center of a string quilt, built on a foundation. Consider this - cut some muslin squares just bigger than your largest pieces. Put one of your pieces in the center of the square, and add on to each edge of it with black fabric (or any other color that makes your bits and pieces really pop). Trim the squares, put together, and you just might come out with something really beautiful. It will certainly be unique. Don't try to keep the lines straight - let them go at all angles.

It was my first one and my mom told me to. >.< It didn't make a lot of sense to me but I just assumed my mom would be right, because she is so often. I was heartbroken.

Oh that is a lovely idea! Love it!

Well you get extra points in life for doing what your mom told you to. :)

LOL I agree, and you learned a well guarded secret, shhh we're not always right.
but you didn't hear me say that :shock:

You can cut them down, and then sash them. Then square them all up to the same size. :D:D:D

Sorry you had to learn this lesson the hard way (((HUGS)))

I have, using a mesh bag I got at the dollar store. I will do it again because it came out undamaged. After I pressed it out, it looked like I had just finished piecing it.

I feel for you. Would you mind posting pics of some of the squares? Might help in coming up with ideas. Something like larger wonky squares or squares within squares or ?? might work very well. All the best. Happy Quilting.