gayle bong

I felt a need to clarify how I handle my scraps. Martingale posted to their site and sent a newsletter about how I do it, but omitted some info. For starters, I generally do not cut down my scraps to fill my boxes of specific sized strips. I do for the squares and triangles, but only if the right sized strip is about 10" or shorter. Most of the scraps are truly leftovers. I set aside in a separate drawer the chunks or other larger scraps till I know what I want from them. The shorter odd width strips are also set aside for either string quilts or odd-width log cabin quilts. Once this system is set up it takes very little time to maintain. You could sort and file your scraps as you go or throw them in a small basket on your cutting table and empty it periodically.
Fabric for most of my quilts are carefully chosen to color coordinate or be in the same style. I do NOT do the kitchen sink variety where any and every scrap the right size is used. I do not hesitate to cut a strip from the main stash to use in a quilt. If i don't use it all, it goes in the basket then later gets filed in the correct box of strips.
I am sure many quilters don't generate enough scraps to use this system, but there are many of us out there that use a similar system and find it very efficient. Hope this helps.