I don't cut my scraps unless I use them for applique. I use what most people would throw away those scraps for crazy quilts. The long ones, 2.5 wide strips for string quilts. I keep this stash under my sewing machine. As I sew other blocks, when finished, I make a 12 inch block for crazy quilt and the strings for a string quilt. If I need a Pom for something, I refer to my scrap box. What I usually have left are pieces less than 1.5 inches and sometimes I use some of them to fill in a gap in a crazy quilt. So what if part of the quilt had it's sewn edges on the top? Right now I'm working on 4 quilts. One I haveis a panel in the center surrounded by 4 inch blocks. It is ready to machine quilting. I don't leave the machine without making an addition to all my started quilts.