I've got to wear shades...

I was working/procrastinating on the Hands2Help quilt a couple weeks ago when I got sidetracked by a baggie full of something good.  Not that kind of baggie full, something totally legal in all 50 states.  Quite possibly as capable of inducing a chill state of mind, but without the paranoia.  Not even of the quilt police.

My friend and fellow quilter Marei and I swapped boxes of scrap fabric a while ago, but to call what she sent me a box of scrap fabric is an understatement.  It was a treasure chest!

Among the rolls of strips all neatly cut to usable sizes were a couple of baggies with notes inside, to the effect of "Have fun!" and "Maybe you can create something with these."

Happily, I did!  I made THIS wall hanging from one bag of bitty-bits.

Recently I rediscovered the other bagful—two-inch "bonus" half-square triangles: the corners you cut off some other project and, if you're like Marei and me, and maybe you, you set aside to use some other time. 

I started pulling the pieces out and arranging them in groups of 16.  They were so cute and colorful!  So I sewed those groups of 16 together into 6.5-inch blocks, as many as I could make.

Now what? 

Well, I could sash them or border them, I thought.  What might I have in the stash for that?  Here's a pretty bundle of fat quarters I won in last year's Hands2Help giveaway.  Let's just open these up a bit and see if any of them might do, color-wise.  

Yes, all of them!  Okay, maybe not the ivory one, but all the rest.

Hm, what if I stagger or offset them?  Then I would only need to border three sides instead of four, and isn't that interesting?

Let's make the two side borders a bit narrower and the longer border wider.  If I cut the side borders 6.5 x 3 and the longer border 11.5 x 3.5, that will make the block finish at 9 x 11 inches.  Seems like a workable size rectangle to make a baby quilt or wall hanging.

And that is the story of how friendship, farting around, and flimsies come together.

It is bright, and I like that.  In real life, it's not quite as eye-searingly bright.  I tried to correct somewhat for the dim light of the basement with so-so results.

Now I'm in the process of making a scrappy back.

How have you used your small bonus half-square triangles?  Do you have some lying around, waiting for inspiration?  Do you toss them or give them away?