I'm still working at cutting the purples. I had a couple of pieces of fabric that were regrettably just too small to use. A couple more that I could have gotten what I needed, but made cutting mistakes -- at least one of those pieces was plenty big to start with but even if I seamed a piece I was still one piece short. And so far two of the blocks do have a unit that was pieced from scraps. But the process has been good for me.
I've been in the process of reducing my stash for the last few years. First I got rid of all my non-quilting and craft stuff. Then it's been using and reducing the stash. I know some serious fabric hoarders, and I know some people who just have a lot of fabric, much more than me, but prior to my reduction I was in the running for the "she with the most fabric wins" -- some of you probably would think the amount of fabric I still have is huge. When my eye condition was finally diagnosed, I had a look around and realized that no, not even I could use up the amount of fabric I have. So far I've cleared out about 10 large plastic garbage bags worth of stuff to various people and organizations. Lots of people willing to take "usable" amounts of fabric.
I have a nice friend on the board who takes my cutting scraps and crumbs. The way I quilt, I have lots of scraps and crumbs... I keep a flat rate postage box by my cutting area and put in stuff until it gets full. I had finally accepted that I didn't even want to keep the little bits, but I feel so much better sending those 2x4" or whatever chunks to someone who wants them instead of throwing them away.
In the last couple of months (since I've been on the board and while I was lurking in last year's thread), I've come to realize that while yes, I do need a wide range of fabrics to do scrappy style, I don't need a lot of yardage of those fabrics. Sure, you need some larger pieces for particular projects, but typically I don't use more than 1-4 pieces of any given fabric, or maybe like with the purple quilt, one block made of each fabric. I've decided that for ease of storage and use that what I really want are 6.5" strips, down to a 6.5" square. After that, the pieces go in the crumb box. While I will happily and often fussy cut, I hate ragged ends or holes in fabric, so those areas get trimmed and into the crumb box. Badly cut tapering ends, those too go into the box, is pretty amazing sometimes how fast the box fills up.
So it's been nice working with these fabrics. Using up the little bits, and letting the rest of them go, all the while my remaining fabrics get refolded and better sorted/organized as well as reduced. And it's fun just to play with the box of fabric
