You Don't Always Have to Think Big!

November 10, 2025

That mountain of remnants and scraps can seem overwhelming at times. You want to use them but you aren't sure where to start. A scrappy quilt is one of my favorite things but that can involve a larger block of time that I don't want to commit to or can't commit to at that point....after all, there are only so many hours in a day!

Often times I find myself digging in those remnants and scraps to quickly pop out a smaller project. Of course, the bonus is, I've still used fabric from my scrap bins. Sometimes, I find myself digging into my scraps when I want to tackle some new technique or even some type of project that I find challenging. It makes great practice projects. I guess I figure if I mess it up, or turn out a finished project that has a few flaws then at least I haven't gone out and purchased a lot of new product to work through a learning curve.

I really don't enjoy quilting on a domestic machine but would like to do it more often on small projects so thought I would tackle a quilted tote bag. I dug around in my container that had lots of small 1.5 inch squares and made a bunch of Granny Square blocks. They were tiny, and so cute!

A little sashing from some remnant strips and then I tackled the quilting.

The end result is cute and I'm not disappointed in it, only a couple of very tiny puckers that really aren't noticeable.

The interesting thing is that I was worried about the quilting being an issue, I totally didn't account for how large to cut the bottom corners when boxing my corners. I lost my dark brown framing accent at the bottom of the blocks because I cut them too big. LOL, so no big deal, and my bag has a lovely dark bottom to help hide the dirt from sitting around. But I'm also glad I hadn't gone out and purchased new fabric for this experiment!

There are so many cute little projects you can complete using only your scraps/remnants.

Project bags made completely out of scraps and orphans blocks not used in past quilts.

Table runner made out of leftover 2 inch squares.

It's also easy to make a project like this table runner without even seeming to use any effort. These were sewn as leaders and enders while I was working on a larger quilt. You'd be surprised how quickly you can accumulate a nice little pile just by picking one up and whipping it through as you sew through the steps in another project. I keep a little pile of my scraps on my machine and can easily grab them and then I toss them in a container sitting there.

I'm well on my way to having enough of these to make a couple more scrappy Christmas stockings.

Of course, it's also fun digging through a pile of odd size scraps to make a table runner with a pattern and you're definitely not boxed in to just doing simple projects with squares. So when tackling a big quilt to whittle down my scraps looks like more of a commitment than I really want at the time, I figure it's still better to use a few scraps with these little projects than not tackling anything at all! Plus, it feels good to have a completed project even if it is simple and small.

I guess I think instead of the old saying "think big" maybe we should "think small" once in a while! And now is a great time with Christmas coming up, think of some of the small cute projects you could turn out for gifts just using your remnants/scraps.

Twila

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