New idea.To me anyway
 

My sister loves scrappy quilts. She took scraps left over from all the quilts she has made and made a quilt just with those scraps.
I decided to save mine and make a 12in square out of the scraps in the same pattern as the quilt. Like I made a sail boat, rail fence etc. Just made an extra square with every quilt I make and then make a quilt out of all of them. Has anyone ever done this before?

Wonderful idea!

i've not done it. i've seen postings here of quilts from orphan blocks. but i don't recall someone doing the extra block on purpose. i like the idea

I have made 2 quilts so far from scraps from previuos quilts. I am working on another one and will have at least two more to go. On the last one I did use fabric I don't plan to use for the borders.

I am making string pieced blocks using the fabric from each quilt I make. Eventually I'll put them together in a 'memory' quilt for me.

I always make an extra block and stitch or pin it to a pillowcase that I will be using to store that particular quilt in eventually. It's a "label" for that p.case and I also have an extra block in case of damage to the quilt.
Peggy

Great idea!

Great idea, thanks.

Great idea!

I'd like to see how that comes out for you.

I do it all the time no fabric wasted in this house,cost is so high these days of quilting and living.

I have been making scrappy quilts for quite a while. I make quilts for charities and some of the prettiest ones are made with scraps. They have an old fashioned charm about them. I save all my left-over fabrics, and put them in a box. I have friends who bring me scrap fabric from their sewing projects and I also get scraps from Freecycle, so I have scrap
quilts in progress almost all the time. Making 30 or more quilts a year can be expensive, but with the help of those who like to see things used, rather than tossed in the trash, I can make more quilts to keep people warm.
Scrap quilts take us "back" to a time when we had little and even scraps had value. Originally quilters did not have a lot of money to spend on supplies, thus the stories about them using newspapers inside their quilts, as well as people's clothing. I recall people using the phrase "waste not, want no!" more ofthen when I was a child, than they do now. We have had abundance for so long, but now people are beginning to return to their more frugal ways. Quilts do not need to cost large amounts of money.

June in Cincinnati

I too make lots of scrap quilts. Always begging friends for their castoff fabric. We scrappers may be the new gurus of the quilt world if prices keep going up and relative income down.

most of my quilts are scraps i hardly ever use just two or three fabris i liked the ones mom used to make oh i told my age 73 in two weeks

I think these are called sampler quilts, when every block in the quilt is different.

It would make a great sampler quilt too. Good idea. I have said I was going to do this. But, I am always so glad when I finish that last block that I don't want to make another one. LOL

I would love to see one of these quilts! Great idea!

I will have to try that.

I just love this idea!

I'm new to quilting and I collected a lot of fabric for my first quilt top. I ended up cutting 95% of that fabric into the 5" squares I wanted. I had enough fabric for two tops. I like your idea of making the blocks and adding to them each time you make a quilt.

Great idea. You'll always have a reminder of quilts you've done.

with extra blocks from a quilt I make placemates also. But the extra quilt block quilts are nice.

I use my scraps to make not just scrappy quilts but also rag quilts.

For scrappy I just sew everything together and than square it off to how big I want it to be.

For rag quilts I'll sew squares, retangle, strips and such together than cut them into rag squares or rectangles, stars, hearts, flowers, etc and create one of a kind rag quilt. I have one right now that I had purchased fabrics purposely to experiment with using five or six different ones and cutting some of it into 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/4 inch strips sewing them together and than cutting it into a rag square. I'm mixing these up with sized squares of various colors I used to intermix them in the lap quilt. For the back I'm using an explosive colored material for back rag square so they will all be the same.

My next step is to sew each rag block in free motion quilting instead of doing the traditional X across it, then I will sew it all together.

I just used a bunch of extra rail fence squares with scraps to make a quilt for my Dad...

Sounds like a neat idea to me.

I LOVEEE your idea. Oh I wish I had thought of that when I first started making quilts. It's not too late to start tho! Thanks for sharing such creativity!

I have one started from scraps. If I actually worked at it I would have it finished by now but it is NOT on the top of my "to do" list!!!

Amen to that June. It is good to meet someone who seems to be as frugal as I am.

since moving here i am starting to collect things up again. so whenever i do make triangles for squares i also sew the small points i have left into squares and leave them on the vine after assenmbly sewing them together. later will use them for a mini . i like your idea of actually having a finshed block though instead of waiting till later. good idea

we do it in my guild all the time...ODD, orphaned, test blocks, etc..folks bring them in and when we get 12 we put together a top for charity! It is great fun!

A great ideal, I'll do that from now on.I have made some blocks and saved but it was to keep a copy of the pattern
that I wanted to save as I don't have but one pattern book to my name, and when I see a pattern I like on here I just
make one block up to have it as a reference for later on. Thanks for the ideal. :)

Have you ever made a crazy strip quilt? They are very easy, and you sure can use a lot of scraps in one.

I do similar things out of scraps, your idea sounds really great.

Please explain to me what a crazy strip quilt would be. Just need to be able to picture it. Thanks, Teresa