aashley333

I usually make them into zipper pouches.

Lena1952

LI Diva, your quilt is lovely! And I will certainly keep that idea in mind for future quilts. I had way too many orphans and end up with two quilts about 57” x 78” and still had blocks left over! So I’ve been collecting them for a while. LOL I had originally thought to donate both quilts but as I worked on them it became clear this was my quilting history and I need to keep them for now. I will certainly go back and check out the remaining blocks and use your idea for another quilt.

QuiltMom2

I love the idea to make a strip to increase the size of backing. That looks fantastic.

Pagzz

Lots of good ideas already. I learned from a great teacher in Texas that you can put the blocks together then overdye them with a color to get them more compatible - I think using yellow was one suggestion though other colors would work too. - it would tone down the brights and unify the neutrals.

cashs_mom

That's a very cute idea, Gemm.

KalamaQuilts

I make practice blocks for everything plus leftovers, so about every 3-4 years I'd send a box to a friend who like the make orphan block quilts. Now I run them thru my accuquilt heart die and make them into Have A Hug hearts to hand out. They are fun and quick to make. I love handing them out. In the park where we are staying tonight I took one in to the owner as a small thank you for all the beautiful little flower beds there are here, it is a delight, and when I came out a Navy Veteran was coming in so I have him one and thanked him for his service. He nearly cried and told me all about his ship.

b.zang

Great question. I've known about orphan blocks for years yet continue to let mine accumulate. I keep thinking "maybe this year" as some women in the guild have been making orphan block quilts and it doesn't matter if the colours match or the fabrics are ugly, the quilts all look fine in the end. But there are plenty of other ideas here beyond the orphan quilt that sound pretty interesting. And many thanks to Lena1952 for your description of how you lay out your blocks. You've made it sound possible. Last year my guild did a tin can challenge in which we all put a metre of fabric into an opaque container with our name on top. At every meeting we traded around and made two blocks to add to the container using some of the provided material. The result is a pile of blocks that have only one bit of fabric in common and can look pretty different. My container ended up with some different sized ones in spite of the instructions. Putting the blocks into a quilt seems like it will be like an orphan block quilt.

Lena1952

B.zang, I won a guild BOM collection that were all supposed to be one size. Turns out there were 4 different sizes! I added strips to one or two sides (sometimes several strips) to make them all the same size. I don’t have a photo of the quilt but the added sashing strips wiggled their way around and through the quilt. I normally would have added strips to all sides but this quilt was a “what would happen if” quilt and I loved the end results. Apparently, I quilt the same way I cook: flying by the seat of my pants! LOL

magicmoonmusings

Karen Brown at Just Get It Done Quilts has two great tutorials for using orphan blocks:

Fast and Easy Gifts Using Orphan Blocks and Scraps

Fast and Easy Quilt Layouts Using Orphan Blocks and Scraps

cat-on-a-mac

pot holders -- add a backing, layer of insul-brite, layer of batting. Quilt them a little bit, then I just zigzag around the edge (I hate doing bindings on such small items!)
works great for smaller blocks, 6-8 inches.