What to do with "leftovers" from quilts
 

I have too much stuff!!!
I've been looking through my quilting stuff and I have a whole big tote full of little bits and pieces of quilts. Most are one or two blocks and/or the extra pieces that I cut and didn't need. I really have no use for them but don't know what to do with them.
Any ideas? I need to make some space in my sewing room.

Do you have an orgaization in your town that sews quilts for needy residents? How about making quilts for Project Linus? Women's shelters nearby? Or, sell them on the QB as boxes of scraps. There are many people who love small pieces of fabric and orphan blocks.......myself included!

You could donate it. Look in the request section here; there are a couple of ladies that make quilts for charities and maybe they could use your left over blocks and put them together for a nice quilt for someone.

I save my little bits and pieces for crumb quilts(quiltville.com) and the pieces of batting and fabric that are too small, I put into a bag and when I get enough to make a pet bed, then I do that and donate to our local Humane Society.

When life gives you scraps ... make quilts!

All those pieces you have leftover will make lots more new quilts.
Small strips are great for 4Ps, 9Ps, log cabins, piano key borders, etc.

For inspiration take a look at the many Scrappy Quilts here ...
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...e-t135936.html

The blocks that didn't make it, and became orphans, can go together for a sampler type of quilt.
They don't have to be set in an orderly fashion, or all in the same colour coordinated fabric, but can go all helter skelter in a more modern sampler style.
Here's one for an idea for you ...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]406569[/ATTACH]

Donate!
Country1

Ladies, thanks for all your replies. I have one member who PM'd me about sending them to her for using for charity quilts.

Most of the ladies in my guild don't want scraps and they're a little bit picky (not that that is a bad thing) about the quality of the comfort quilts we make.
Also, I've moved into a VERY small space as my basement sewing room got flooded and had to be torn down. Someday I will have it rebuilt, but that will take awhile as I need to convert from oil to gas heat, waterproof the basement, get heat in the room, and rebuild the room.
A long time to sew in a crowded space.
I do make charity quilts but right now I'm just feeling so overwhelmed by projects that I can't think of making anything else. Of course I may regret getting rid of stuff later but last time I gave away scraps I just felt relieved and have not regretted it at all.
Quilte, I LOVE that sampler quilt!! All my blocks are so many different fabrics and styles I don't think I can put them together. I have used some in the backs of quilts though.
Thank-you again for the ideas and the inspiration on my organizing my stash.
Cindy

I made some great progress on my clean-up today. A quilting friend is going to take my leftovers, only trouble is she's in FL and won;t be home until the May..

I cleaned out enough bits and pieces to combine two plastic bins into one and I figured out a way to make my awkward shelves to work better for me. They're too tall so the fabric stacks would fall over and I couldn't stack them too high. So I figured out that if I took some tension curtain rods I could keep the stacks separate and can stack the fabric all the way to the top. WOW I can't believe I never though of it before!!

So I spent the WHOLE day ruler folding fabric. I'm tired and I think I'll be dreaming of fabric folding tonight LOL.

It looks really nice and it takes up a LOT less space. I have to go out and buy more tension rods and fold a lot more fabric but I feel like I'm going to be able to get my stash under control soon.

See if you can find a copy of "Setting Solutions" by Sharyn Craig...maybe at your local library. It is out of print now, but you may be able to find it used somewhere.

There are some wonderful ideas for using orphaned blocks in this book. I use mine all the time!

Don't be afraid to just donate. What goes around comes around and all that. Sometimes we just need to breathe and I agree we can just get too much stuff. Some people love lots of stuff, me, too much bothers me. I am almost at that point. Trying to tame it down and use what I have. I do scrappy quilts, and tiny or small pieces I throw in a basket and then make dog pillows out of it for the humane society.

We have a lot of guest speakers at our guild and many of them put those orphans blocks on the back. Goodwill would use them. They sell stuff like this all the time.

Either donate to a local organization, quilt guild, or church. String quilts can be made into wonderful charity quilts.

Either donate or sell. Believe it or not there are quilters who buy bags of scraps (ask me how I know:)).

I have been making baby bibs, you can make inch squares of smaller, uses left over batting and left over pieces for the backing. You can also make bathmats, potholders. I also like the idea of the Adult bids. Cat mats, dog mats, dog toys, cat toys...tons of stuff. I am tying to use up my scraps and its starting to make a dent.

If you cut your fabric into 5 inch squares and cut a bunch of white 5 inch squares...you can pretty much use anything. For ugly fabrics I cut them down to 2 1/2 inch and they look great. then just do the leader end quilts. If you cut up your scraps into shapes its not so overwelming.

Cindy, do you have and pictures of your orphan block quilts? I have that book. I guess it's time I look at it again.

I've been enjoying the scrappy quilt show. I've seen a lot of quilts I have made and would like to make.
Thanks to everyone for sharing.

donate to a quilt guild and they use them to make charity quilts.

Check local rest homes, senior centers, churches and see if someone would love your leftovers!

Our guild show is in October and each member is expected to make a small quilt for the silent auction. I am using a whole bunch of left over HSTs to make a small quilt. So far, it is adorable!!!

Quilts for preemies are requested to be about 24" square. A couple of 8" blocks and a couple of borders and you have a preemie quilt.

I save my little bits and pieces for crumb quilts. They are very addicting!

I quilt and give away with a small group of ladies. We have odd shape scraps, both leftovers from quilting
or donations. I,ve started cutting ALL into the PRE CUT sizes. Then we know what are usable pieces!
I want all pieces that are less than 15 or 18 inches . . . CUT UP and put into clear plastic boxes.

I stitched a bunch together and had enough to make 3 scrappies for my dogs kennels. Didn't use a backing but had a very large heavy ugly piece of whole cloth. I stitched with leftover thread in insignificant area instead of tying. They love it. And it will be a lot easier to wash. The kennels are different sizes so it's not hard to determine whose is whose. But you could still donate to a homeless shelter leaving it whole. It was certainly a Duke's mixture of material. The one I made for my dogs would fit a twin size bed. I actually also used this to practice my different stitches on my machine. So there are different stitch and lengths on it. But it's a scrappy. No rhyme or reason!

Cindy, make quilts from the scraps. The scraps cost as much as the other fabric, so make every penny count.

Love QuiltE's scrappy

Some people stuff pet beds with scraps for pet shelters

Gorgeous quilt, QuiltE!

I have used the glass bulbs for Christmas trees and filled them with dog ears and such. They are cute and you can make them in any color. Make for different holidays and hang on tree branches in a vase. Looks cute. All the other scraps I cut into different size squares or strips and file them in labeled clear shoe boxes until I get enough to make a scrappy quilt.

I usually make them up into a crazy mish - mash quilt and donate to old folks' home or children's hospital.

I saw a really neat quilt made with 2-1/2" strips. Find two blocks that are the same size. Make a strip set the same width. Cut the strip set in two places and inset the two blocks. Find two or three more same size blocks. Make a strip set the same width. Cut strip set in two or three places (not at same point you cut the first strip set) and inset the blocks. Keep making strip sets and insetting blocks until you have enough to make a top.

There's a similar one called "A's Strips" on the Here2Thereart.com website.

So many wonderful ideas - one just has to pick and chose which one works for you.

Love, love, love this one. I have been saving all those left over squares, etc, and now I know why!! Thanks for sharing these ideas.

I just checked Amazon they have this book. Even have it for the Kindel!

Just donate the pieces and be done with them if you aren't inclined to want to work with them.

I've been given various pieces or squares. I tried to make a coordinate quilt out of most of them but sometimes, I just had leftovers. This is what I did with them.

The front:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]409213[/ATTACH]
The back:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]409214[/ATTACH]
I think the lady who took it as a charity quilt preferred the back, but here she is!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]409215[/ATTACH]
She chose this quilt from about 30 quilts!

I think this is terrific!

Left overs are my favorite part about quilting. I never throw any pieces away. I love scrap quilting and using it all up. I will always take anyone's scraps. If you look at my avatar picture you can see I made 2 tiny miniature scrap quilts this week. That being said, scraps and left overs aren't for everyone. I'm sure your sewing room is a lot neater cuz you don't hold onto everything.

Glad you found a good home for the 'leftovers'!

Nan

We have been teaching kids how to sew at the Boys and Girls club and one of the projects we were working on was a crazy quilt for Project Linus. My friend, sandy and I think that kids need to know the fundamentals of sewing and one of our quilting guild members brought over a grocery sack of scraps. OMG the kids loved it because it was all the right size for the crazy quilt. Anyway, that is just a suggestion for your town.

I am going through my magazines and getting rid of a bunch - I bring them to the library, they have a free rack for them. anyhow, I saw this great tip for left over batting strips. Cut 4x35" fold in half, sew, Then place it over a yardstick and use a rubberband to secure. Makes the perfect tool to dust under beds, couch, under the Frigerator.