I made a bunch of blocks for a baby quilt, but when I saw them all together they were JUST TOO MUCH!

Baby quilt with plain yellow sashing and border

So I separated them with a plain yellow sashing and border, and they worked fine.

But wait!  There are still blocks left!  And I really, really, don’t want to do another quilt with plain sashing–boooring!

So I got out my scrap bins …

Plain sashing made of cute fabric

When I finish a quilt, I cut the scraps into strips of set widths (1-1/2 inches, 2 inches, etc) and store them in containers by width.  Then when I need a piece for something, it’s often right there waiting.  So off to the scrap bins I went.

Sometimes I inserted a double-wide sashing

I made some plain sashing, and lots of pieced sashing, and I made it all different sizes.  The goal was “no two sashings alike!”

This was a lot more fun than plain sashing, so I may never make plain sashing again.

I put together units of 4 blocks then joined them to other 4-block units the same size to keep everything even.

Pieced sashing, changing direction

It used up scraps, it got the quilt put together, and it was totally improvisational.

A section of the quilt, showing various sashing–don’t line anything up!

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.When I finished the quilt top, I liked it a lot better than the one with plain sashing.

The finished top with scrappy sashing and border.

Both are donation quilts, about 40 inches square.. Best of all, I learned something making these!  So, if you have some blocks that just aren’t working, try scrappy sashing and a scrappy border.  Most of all, have fun!