Orphan Blocks Redeemed!

We all have them - leftover blocks from quilts or other projects, but we're not motivated to make more so they can fit into another quilt. Everyone can use a tabletop trivet or potholder, right?

I made two (maybe more) quilts using the Bella Collection by Lotta Jansdotter for Windham Fabrics. This is from 2012. They are fresh and modern and I loved working with them.

Bella fabrics from 2012

Here is the first quilt I made. It was improvisational and I had hoped that a magazine would have picked it up. Pink slip! I guess they didn't want to figure out how to pattern it. I called it Bella's House. It hangs in my house year round.

Bella's House. Beautifully quilted by Kathy Gray.

I made some simple trivets and stitched them together and patterned this for Creative Grids. One of my daughters owns this. Two strips sewn together and then cut with a 60 degree ruler.

Here's one of my orphan blocks. I since removed the white triangles on the sides.

Orphan block looking for a new home

I had a little bit of that tree and bird print (in Bella's House) that I put on the back.

And here is the front. Just straight line quilting. This is for my middle daughter's birthday and none of my girls like the "swirly-twirly" type of machine quilting I tend to do! Minimal is the word.

Spiderweb trivet about 12" high by 13" wide

Here is another quilt I made with that Bella collection. There are 3 different blocks in this quilt. It is still a quilt top as I don't enjoy quilting something this large. And I'm still not sure about the border. It'll come to me - someday! First, without the border. These are 11" blocks.

Bella Cobblestone quilt center

Then I added gray borders and some leftover 2" EPP hexagons.

My Bella Cobblestone quilt with borders (56" x 56").

Bella Cobblestone quilt in process

I had one leftover block and here she is quilted and finished as a trivet. Very minimalistic.

And the fabric is so cute on the back! These are the sweetest birds.

Orphan block becomes a usable trivet.

Now I'm pulling a variety of orphan blocks out of my drawers and closets. They don't need to become quilts. And they are SO easy to quilt.

I hope I gave you an idea for how to use up a few of your own orphan blocks