Jewel Box

I think most of my life as a quilt maker has been spent making scrap quilts.  I’m fine with this.  In fact, I think I excel at scrap quilts, if I do say so myself.  I love making them and the satisfaction I get from seeing my scrap bags whittled down is high.

My latest quilt is, you guessed it, a scrap quilt.  This one is quickly rising to the top of my favorite quilts.

It is made with all Denyse Schmidt fabric, which I think really stands out with the black background – like little jewel boxes.

These blocks were possible because I save ALL the small pieces of scrap fabric – pieces that most people would probably throw away.  Those little corners are only 1”x1” finished squares.

I know some quilters don’t like saving small scraps, or some trim all their scraps to 5” squares, but not I.  Maybe it’s the frugal person in me or just that feeling knowing there is something I will be able to use a little scrap of fabric for, that I can’t toss them.  And saving small scraps pays off big time when you can make something like this out of them.

When I started this quilt I hadn’t planned for it to become this big, but I realized I already had a quilt back I could use – a vintage bedsheet that pairs perfectly – so like the crazy person I am I made 21 more blocks.  I wanted to use most of the sheet so there wouldn’t be much waste (hello frugal me again) so I made more blocks and will only have to trim the back once I’m done quilting it.  Plus, I had more than enough scraps to make more blocks so it all worked out.

I have already started quilting this one and I can’t wait to show you the finished quilt with the very cool vintage bedsheet as the back.