The buzz word of the the quiltmaking world is "stashbusters." This means a quilt that doesn't require you to purchase new fabrics. You use only what you have and thus "bust your stash."
For the four people left on the planet who might not understand the term: quilters have taken the word 'stash' (Dictionary of American Slang defines it thusly: "...a hoard of drugs.") and adopted it to mean their supply of fabric. My generation-Woodstock, tie dyed, smokin' Boomers-is responsible for equating drugs with the perfectly innocent concept of fabrics one might save for quiltmaking.
Quilts that use up scraps are nothing new. The photo here is a detail from a stashbuster quilt to be sure. A Spiderweb String Star from the state of Kentucky, this quilt was made between 1880 and 1900 and was one of the very first quilts I collected. It is frail and seldom travels to lectures unless I can pack it in my personal luggage. Some of the fragments are tee-tiny. This may be beyond stashbuster status-perhaps a "shnibble" quilt. Schnibble-Pennsylvania Dutch for itsy-bitsy.
