Quilt Patterns for Scrappy Quilt Projects

Raid your stash to make this table mat and matching coasters. Add a personal touch by finishing this project with large, hand-quilted stitches.

Cranberry reds, sage greens, and rose petal pinks combine with a range of neutrals to create an appealing pattern in this simple bed quilt.

Gather up all the polka dot prints you can find, then combine them to make a bright and colorful throw.

Keep fabric swatches for your next quilt project close at hand in a charming "scrap" book. Stash it in your tote bag or your glove box, so it will be on hand on your next trip to a fabrics shop.

A traditional block and a stash of Halloween novelty prints inspired designer Lila Taylor Scott to work some design magic. "I knew that I wanted to use a Log Cabin block, but I changed the size of the dark logs to make the finished project more intriguing and different," Lila says. It also meant the quilt would not be too dark. Lila then set the Log Cabin blocks so that they showcase and frame the pieced quilt center. "Novelty prints are wonderful for this type of quilt," Lila says. "It's like putting a costume on a quilt, and it becomes its own character ... a little trick, a little treat."

Collectors of 1930s reproduction prints will enjoy this wall hanging or small throw featuring the Everything But the Kitchen Sink collection by RJR Fabrics. Use solid white sashing strips, then black-and-white prints in the sashing squares, setting triangles, and border. This provides an unexpected checkerboard look, which is a nice contrast to the soft pastels.

Triangle-squares rotate this way and that to create the overall diamond pattern. A variety of feed sack prints are held together visually by the use of a single solid blue fabric.

Make sure your passion for quilting shows -- even at your desk! Save those bits of fabric and turn them into a customized mouse pad that tells your story.

Using Judie Rothermel's Charleston IV 1850-1865 collection from Marcus Fabrics, quilt tester Laura Boehnke created a quilt in classic pinks and browns that hearkens back to Civil War days. "Churn Dash is such a familiar early quilting pattern," Laura says, "I wanted to reproduce it in vintage colors reminiscent of the quilts our great-great-grandmothers might have made."