ok what is a crumb, how big or not big is it? does anyone use them?

A crumb for me is something I can make a 1.5" block out of. That's the smallest I'm willing to go right now!! :lol: :lol: Some people may use as small as a 1/2".

is that 1.5" before the seam allowance or after it is sewn together?

A crumb for me is one of two things. A. a piece of cookie that the fluffs missed or A. nothing smaller then a 3 1/2" square. Anything smaller then that (for me) would end up as a string...

Blue

I'd have a hard time sewing something small like that!

for me a crumb can get pretty small, being an applique-er, so any little piece that is smaller than a strip, or usual size scrap (like smaller than 2 1/2" square") odd scraps triangles cut off corners ect. and there are lots of people out there who enjoy making minature blocks and quilts, so little pieces get used.

1.5" before seam allowance. That's as small as I'm willing to try. Right now I have a ziploc bag of squares and one for HST's that I'm going to put together one day ( :lol: ) Just sitting there multiplying. I'm not sure how many I'm going to need to do something with so I just keep adding to them.

I've never worked with postage size, but a lady on the board did the most beautiful scrappy of one. So I figured instead of throwing away, lets try something new!!

Check out Bonnie Hunters system. Makes sense. I've been doing something similar to this - It works for me. Find out what collection you need to make to make a quilt. She also recommends - 1. find the pattern 2. figure out what size they want you to cut everything down to 3. start saving that size.

http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

Check out the crumb quilt she posted on her blog (it's near the bottom)
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2010/...nd-mo-too.html

Great....now I need to go find 30 bins!

(I'm a Sterlite-rubbermaid-plastic container addict!)

Dollar Tree! I got plastic shoeboxes (small small stash and small small space) and I've been doing her method.