Within the quilting universe, the term scrappy has at least two meanings.

The first is the most obvious—making new cloth by sewing together little bits of old cloth.

But there’s another meaning which goes something like this: Using lots of different fabrics to create something new that’s very colorful and very magical.

It’s my favorite kind of quilting because it makes color selection so much easier. You simply choose a theme (autumnal colors, for example) or a print type (anything dotted) or a color family (such as the black, white and red combination you see here) and start sewing.

Well, no, it’s not quite that easy. But it sounds good, doesn’t it?

Like most quilters, I don’t throw away very much fabric. Odd triangles and very thin strips are the usual contributions to my wastebasket. Everything else gets sorted by color family and stored in large plastic bags.

And then in fits of “I really need to use this stuff up someday,” I start sewing it into some project or another.

Right now, these little scraps are becoming crazy quilt-type squares that are, in turn, becoming coasters for Christmas gifts. I’m working on a tutorial for them that should be done this weekend.

But I thought you might like a sneak preview.