As I posted a few days ago, my 2.5-inch scraps have continued to reproduce, so it is time to try a new quilt.

This photo caught my eye the other day…..

Since I had so many black and white scraps already cut, I decided to work on something along this line, but I really didn’t want it to be symmetrical.

SO….step one was to create a bunch of three-patches with a black square on each side of the white ones. I first laid them out this way…..

As I looked at it further, I realized that it still wasn’t exactly what I wanted to make.

I pulled out a graph-paper notepad and drew this simple design….

….and then started laying out something similar on my design wall.

It was time to add the colored scraps, starting with the squares to the left of each 3-patch.

When I first started piecing, I counted how many squares I needed and then pieced that number together.

Then I remembered that each row needed to have the seam allowances going in opposite directions.

YIKES this may be more complicated than I thought!!!

I had the idea of piecing together a LONG chain of patches and then pulling off however many I needed for each row.

I started by going thru my scraps and pulling 30+ from each color group. I pieced them into two-patches, then four-patches…..

….then 8-patches….

….and so on!! When finished, I had a LONG strip of scrap squares…..

Come back on Thursday, and I will show you the process of piecing!!

When talking about why quilters hold on to their scraps, I once heard a teacher remind us that the scraps cost the same as the yardage!!

I hadn’t ever thought of it in that context and found the comment to be intriguing.

SO…..I ran some numbers and figured out how much the fabric for my scrap quilt TOPS would have cost. At $12 per yard….

$123……

$37……..

$75……

$56…….

$33……

So….a grand total of $324 worth of fabric that could have easily been thrown away!!

AND, if I think about the backings, which all came out of my fabric stash, I can add another $300 to the total for this year.

I don’t mind knowing that I have saved over $600 by using fabrics that were in my stash or scraps and ready to use.

Now let’s see how much more I can use up before the end of the year!!

As I said, it is now the YEAR of the SCRAP!!…

.

I was excited to show you this finished quilt……

….and even more excited to think how many of my 2.5-inch scraps I used.

Surely I must be almost out of them!!!

Not so much!!!

These are the ones leftover…..

YIKES…..

So I spent a few minutes putting them back in color order…..

I was ASTOUNDED at how many were left….

….especially the number of black squares and white squares….

OKAY….those need to be the basis of the next scrap quilt.

A quick google search for scrap quilts using black and white provided a number of ideas but this one seemed doable for me…..

So this is my inspiration……where can I go from here!!

Even though I haven’t shown you the rest of the quilting on this quilt, I just can’t wait to show you the finished product!!!

This quilt has been in process for several years but I only worked on it at guild retreats, and at least two of those retreats, it never came out of the box!!

So….I am thrilled to present……

The color placement of the red squares did exactly what I was hoping and I love the diagonal strips that show up in the design.

AND, the quilting made a huge difference…..

I had planned the circles around the red squares, but the other “phantom” circles took me by surprise!! I LOVE when that happens!!

I had hoped that this quilt would use most of my 2.5-inch squares, but alas there are still a LOT left….

So, now I am thinking about ANOTHER 2.5-inch square quilt and it is starting like this……

One reader has suggested that I may need to turn my theme from “Summer of the Scraps” to….

Keep coming back for more!!