Do you like to re-purpose items to be used for your quilting hobby?
 

I like to save clear containers from the Grocery store and use them to organize my scraps. I also use them to store thread spools and bobbins and bindings as I work on a particular project. It helps to use a sharpie to label the containers to match the project as well...just in case it becomes a ufo.

What ideas do you brilliant quilters have to re-purpose everyday items?

I use the large Tic Tac containers for pins, needles and bobbins when I travel. They are fantastic for knitters as well - I keep stitch markers in them in each knitting bag I have!. I also have several of the tall oval containers that Crystal Light comes in all around the sewing room. I use them to hold olfa cutters (they fit perfectly inside), pencils, rippers, small scissors and small tools (little screw drivers, my "purple thing"etc).

Love the clear spinach containers for items. I have found junk mail to be useful in paper piecing. Credit card companies and other businesses place a stiff card in their mail so the envelope can't be torn in half. I use that card for folding back the paper in paper piecing. I find that it's stiffer than cardstock and when an edge gets worn, I just save another one. Junk mail is easy to find.

Oh this is a good thread, I'm always up for finding new ways to stash things!!

I'm always recycling empty medicine bottles, I currently have a large Aleve bottle that I use to put all my bent and broken needles and pins in. As soon as I fill it, I hand it off to my fiance and he takes it to a friend of ours that scraps and he disposes them for me. I also keep a pint sized jelly jar next to my machine that I drop my thread ends in, and not just for sewing, I use it for my yarn bits as well. As soon as that gets filled though, I take it outside and dump it on the ground, the birds love using them for their nests, makes for some colorful nests sometimes!

The plastic containers for like disinfectant wipes, I use those to stash rolls of fat eighths in, you know they're squeaky clean on the inside because of the bleach and when I pull one out, it always smells fresh. I keep them color organized and mark them with what color and then how many I have on the side.

Since I'm so incredibly rural and keeping my house dust-free is a daily chore, I took up using gallon and quart sized Ziploc bags to store my fat quarters and half-yards in. They're organized by color, how many I have in each bag, then they're zipped in with a fabric sheet, excess air released and put in my three drawer storage bin. That move alone helped me organize my stash better than anything I've ever tried and since they're put in clean and zipped with a fabric sheet, pulling them out is quite nice because they smelled like I just got them out of the dryer. Also found out that my storage bin can handle a lot more fabric doing it that way because I stand them up straight and it's like a complete filing system of fabric.

I think that's all I can think of that I do for right now, going to definitely watch this thread, what a great idea to get it started!!

I have no idea what it's called, but when you get a package that's shipped with little packs of moisture absorbing stuff, I keep them and put them in my thread drawers.
I use small mushroom and pimiento jars for extra pins. The plastic container they come in never last.
Large pill bottles for razor blades.
Each of my machines uses a clear acrylic drawer organizer with all the tools I need for that project. Like seam ripper, or self threading needles, small scissors, oil and extra needles, etc.

Oooh, you just made me think about a variation on this... I have a few Altoids containers that I've affixed a magnetic sticky-backed sheet onto the inside bottom, something like this: https://www.amazon.com/10-Adhesive-M.../dp/B07V3CZ1BD
I used it to put eyeshadow pans in...but it would *really* be handy to keep pins/needles from falling out of a little travel kit for sewing!

The large glass pickle jars...think 1 gallon...hold cut squares or small finished blocks pinned in groups of ten.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]616855[/ATTACH] One of the big jars holds 2.5" neutrals. Another holds small 9P's. I have several of these jars. I've use the big cheese ball plastic ones, too. The large peanut butter jars are also wide mouthed...easy to get your hand into. Just make sure they are well washed before you use them:D. When my 9P jar got full, I made a queen sized quilt paired with a bunch of 2" neutral pieces.

I've also used the plastic packages from dishwasher tablets. Hair bands make great elastic closures. The little small colorful ones fit nicely over bobbins to keep the threads from unwinding.

i used some crystal lite containers and wrote names on it. I filled them with candy for Halloween, Easter, and back to school.

so they ar all grown now. what do i do with the containers now. i feel terrible throwing them out. any ideas????

I use wide-mouth canning jars and color organize my thread spools in them; have an antique muffin pan next to the machine to catch extra bobbins, leaders/enders, etc; baggies for small pieces; large ziplocks for entire projects, plastic ice cream tubs for pieced block units; a wood pop bottle case on end for stashing glue sticks, masking tape; machine oil, etc, a tin Russell Stover box for extra blade packages and the containers of used blades; mugs (one with fabric organizer) for pens, stiletto, rippers, etc;wire file racks for Accuquilt dies