Waste Not, Want Not

Waste Not, Want Not

Here's the third quilt I worked on during our two weeks at the campground. I brought along a storage bin full of 2½” half-square triangles cut from scraps left over from other quilts. I've been collecting these for quite a while; the top wouldn't close on the box.

They were sorted by color, so finding coordinating fabrics was easy. I chain pieced the triangles, then pressed before sewing into four patch blocks. My Singer Featherweight, Annie, breezed right through this project.

After we got home, I arranged them on my design wall to balance out the colors before sewing them into rows. To fill in the sides, I used 4” triangles from another of my remnant boxes. Neutral striped borders made a nice frame.

I quilted with white thread and a walking foot, using a zig-zag utility stitch. Waste Not, Want Not is the perfect name for this bonus quilt. It finished at 52” square.

I didn't even use half of that storage bin, can you believe it? There's probably enough left in that one for two more quilts. I just can't keep myself from saving little bits of material, especially my favorite fabrics.

I try to schedule a day every few months to cut scraps into most used shapes and sizes: triangles, squares, strips, and rectangles. It pays off because I sort them by size and color, which saves time and reduces storage space. I always have something ready to sew for borders, blocks, or whole quilts.

Accuquilt dies used:
55018 Value Die Half Square Triangle 2½”
55031 Half Square Triangle 4½”
55032 Strips 3½”
55017 Strips 2½”