I create alot of bonus triangles when I prepare a quilt binding. So, my scrap basket is overflowing and it is time to make some quilt blocks! Bonus triangles quickly turn into half square triangle units that can be used in many popular quilt blocks. I showcase some popular classic quilt blocks in my 9 Patch Challenge quilt. (Get all the instructions by email when you sign up here.)

Get organized

Some prior planning is required if you want to make your blocks look more cohesive.  Dark fabrics are my preference for binding a quilt so I need to add some light triangles to my scrap basket in order to have good contrast when sewing half square triangles.

Sort bonus triangles by color

Making several HSTs from the same color lets you build bigger quilt blocks like a pinwheel. Some people like completely scrappy quilts, but I take a little bit more control and group things by color. When I collected enough pinwheel quilt blocks, I made this doll quilt. Someday I want to finish it with big stitch hand quilting.

Watch my video about bonus triangles on the True Blue Quilts YouTube channel.

Hourglass blocks

One problem with the bonus triangles from binding strips is the small HSTs that they make. I want to work with bigger pieces so I started sewing the bonus triangles on the short side instead of the hypotenuse. This makes a split triangle unit, that can then become an hourglass block.

Using the hourglass units as the center of a star block would make a fun scrappy quilt!

Birds in the Air

Pinwheels and Hourglass units are quite popular, but Birds in the Air is another quilt block to make from bonus triangles. This block uses three HSTs and a solid square. I think it would look amazing in a four patch layout.

That is what I have been doing with my scraps.  Do you have a favorite quilt block to use up your leftover units?

I share ideas for quilting half square triangles in this post.