I love this thread too! Here are a few of my ideas.

Baby food jars or other small containers with metal lids. I have a piece of wood that is suspended between two small book shelves. I take the lid off of the jar, and nail it to the board so that when I put the board up, the lids are on the bottom. I fill the jars with whatever (buttons, beads, etc) and then screw the jar onto the lid. It keeps the jars off of a surface and it looks interesting.

I use the nice coffee cans with the plastic lids to keep my knitting yarns in. I cut a cross in the lid, run the yarn through the cross and the yarn ball just bounces around in the can evenly feeding my project.

I have a shower caddy with handles - I got it at the dollar store. I leave this on my cutting table. I keep my cutter, small scissors, my marking chalks etc. in it. All in one place, easily accessed, neat and out of the way.

I use the space saver bags (small) or zip loc kinds of bags to keep projects together, neat and out of the way. I put a 3x5 inside the bag with the name of the project so that is visible when I need to see waht project is in the bag.

I use the space saver bags to keep pieces of batting neatly sorted. I can compress the bags and save on space. I keep all the different types of like batting together (and I use the 3x5 idea again).

Thank you all for sharing your ideas!!!

Okay, not a container but a repurposed item. I use the multi-skirt hangers to hang my quilting rulers on. My sewing room is small and lacks wall space and flat surfaces for storing things. It has a walk in closet so I just hang the skirt hangers with the rulers on it on the clothes hanging rod right at the door so it is easy access. I have several of them and I am able to hang even my small 2 1/2" and 4" rulers on them. I was constantly "misplacing" the smaller sizes and replacing them. Now I know exactly where they are!

I use the large coffee cans, the one with the handle, to refill my bird feeder. One scoopful fills the feeder up.

I use the large coffee cans, the one with the handle, to refill my bird feeder. One scoopful fills the feeder up.

recylcing things for sewing
 

Use the letter opener with a long plastic pointed hook and small razor blade at the closed end to "snip" threads. Often available free of charge as advertising, you can probably replace the business card section with a photo of your choice.

Line the inside of small metal mint tin with a cut down section of an outdated magnetic calendar. This becomes a neat storage area for misc. needles which do not fall out if the tin hits the floor by accident.

Use each cylindrical plastic cheese shaker with two section plastic screw on lid for misc. clips, safety pins etc. You can add a small packet of drying agent to each bottle, as well. You usually find one or more of these little packages in purses at point of sale. When returning clips or pins the the container, use the larger open semi-circle portion of the lid to drop in the items. You will love this tip....

Use a 4 by 6 inch fishing tackle box to store several filled bobbins for your basic colors. Separate each color in the individual little compartments. If you just want a variety of colors for sewing, your bobbins can be something you've recycled.

If you want to use the bobbins for your machine, select the correct bobbin for your machine. For quick jobs you could use two bobbins (top and bottom) to complete your task. No need to haul a large amount of spools along when you leave your workstation. The additional advantage is having bobbins wound so you can quickly begin a larger project by just popping a spool of thread on the top of your machine.

Colors I use most often are: white, natural, tan, darker brown, navy, silver gray, light gray, medium gray, dark gray and black. I usually have a larger cone of the same to use at the machine. Purchases are simplified. :-)

awesome..I use these for strips, borders and such after ironing them!

Great ideas!!! I got 2 cork boards and hung them. One for patterns one for templates, rulers. Used old glasses holder to put tracing pencils. Small scissors ECt. Hung on cork board.

My current craze is crumb quilts and the I have sorted - very roughly - my crumbs and bits and pieces into plastic butter and icecream tubs. The larger yohurt tubs also work, but are not stack friendly. I often use the lids of coffee cans for making templates that are transparant (semi) and strong.

Over-the-door wreath hangers are handy for holding (2.5") strips.