Other peoples' scraps ...
 

Are gold to me.
So I make pet beds for the local vets and animal rescue. I've asked the local thrift shop and my fellow quilters to save their trimmings and bits that otherwise would be tossed in the trash. I will take anything as long as its washable. I have to sort through the bags of stuff to be sure that there is no paper or sharps. I find chunks of lovely fabric - one lady even gives me what she's sorted out of her stash - and lots that might just be considered pre-cuts. I spent yesterday - after I finished the pet beds from the previous collection, playing with what I'd found.
I've made 9 Christmas mug rugs from the Christmas trimmings and a stack of 4" blocks which had not sold at the thrift shop so they's been tossed - bag and all! I just have to pull the backing fabric from my stash. And I still have the time HST bits which make a pinwheel block about 3" square. My DD thinks I've got loco.
Will post pictures when I find my camera.

It's nice to hear that someone can use all those bits and pieces! I'm in the process of organizing my sewing room -- been ruler folding fabric for 3 days now. I will be taking some items to the guild meeting on Thursday -- what they don't want will go to the Boys Club Thrift Shop. I have a full garbage bag full of scraps, a bunch of baby fabric for sleepers, etc that I never got around to making (and no one in my family will be having any more babies) and at least a dozen projects I put in baggies and labeled -- Halloween vests, Christmas vests, witch dolls, Santa dolls, placemats and more. I feel good about weeding out some of my unwanted stuff and hope it finds a good home elsewhere -- hopefully someone else will use it!!

95% of my fabric is scraps that other quilters (commercial) saved for me. And some of those scraps are big - like FQ size or larger. Love scrappy quilts!!

Loco???!!! Not in my book. Sometimes I think I have more affection for my scraps.. than my yardage.

I love scraps--adds variety to my stash. I save all my smaller scraps for senior citizen thrift store.

Scraps, regardless of origin, make great quilts!

Its not scraps unless it's less than a two inch square in my book

Another "loco" person here. I'm told I need therapy only to reply "This is my therapy." as I thank them for their bags of scraps. Have over 500 9P blocks make from 1" strips and squares waiting to be turned into something lovely! Get that camera out and share some of your craziness!:)

Definitely! Please show us!

Love to see your scrap items. I save down to about 10 inches left.. then I have to donate to scrap users like yourself. I used to throw them away also but recently found a source to rehome them. I am so glad to see them used. I hate tossing fabric. One its highly expensive and too its.. FABRIC you cant throw that way! When I finish making a whole quilt however I am pretty sick of that fabric and its easy to donate the left overs. I am shocked and amazed at the scrap quilts that are made here. I am not that brave yet they truly seem to work. I myself just cant do it, too much chaos. Maybe one day I can let loose and just go for it again.. give it one more try. I have a rainbow of small pieces waiting to go into something..

Scraps in my sewing room multiply in the night when the lights are off. I just moved here and gave a lot of my scraps away but brought some as I love making scrappy quilts too. I hope to get involved with more groups in the area to do charity group sewing. You tell your daughter "waste not want not". Back in AK we took scraps and made small lap quilts for the emergency services. We had people come back to us and not only thank us for the quilts but often donate to our cause. There are all sorts of needs for small quilts made from scraps. I think you rock!

I am in quilters heaven when some one has a clean out of there sewing room and pass their cast offs to me, I iron them and then store them by colour or theme, I have just sent a email to my friend in America asking her to ask her quilter friends if they have any spot/dot scraps. I just adore scrap quilts

I'm like a kid in a candy store. Just received a large paper grocery bag filled to the brim with scraps. A lot of them are 1-1/2 inch squares. Some already sewn together. I'm making a Bonnie Hunter quilt. Did I need the scraps? No, but who could resist...certainly not me. And the variety of the squares is fantastic for a scrap quilt. I am so in love with scrap quilts which is funny because when I first started quilting in 2003, I didn't like them at all. Our tastes do change!

Like you guys, I just love the scraps too. Just before we moved my LA'er gave me 3 large trash bags full. I couldn't wait to pull them out to see what I have. I separated them by color and ended up with at least 1/2 of a small moving box with each color -- blue, brown, green, yellow, purple, orange, blacks/grays, white, and 30's. I can't wait til I have time to play with them.

I have a nice stash but am really dedicated to doing scrappy mostly. Haven't touched the stash and should probably weed it out some, it's sorted by color- my scraps? sorted by size, some by color- mostly sorted by crumbs and "scraps"........I am a crumb block fiend as well-to the friends who gift me their scraps---I use them and they love seeing them used, since I haven't done a planned quilt in two years, it's good to have others gift their scraps. I let them "shop" in the stash if they need something particular, quilt shops are not close here

One of the women in my guild collects scraps for dog beds. I'm always amazed at how much I have to bring to her each month and I'm talking real scraps, not anything you could make a quilt with unless, maybe, one of those confetti quilts.

And last Saturday, I went to an all day sewing session of making quilts for hospitals. I'm so sorry I didn't take photos to show but we had some beautiful quilts made of 6 inch blocks that were string blocks and then put together with sashing and cornerstones. Of course the sashing, cornerstones, borders, and backings were not scraps, but they were fabrics someone didn't want. The blocks were definitely scraps and the results were beautiful.

I make doll quilts for the Christmas party our lqs sponsors for under privledge children. They are a lot of fun to do and I use almost any size as long as it is 2" or larger. They are a lot of fun to do and they reduce my scrsps at the same time. I have also asked my quilting friends for their scaps, not that I don't have enough of my own but get tired of looking at the same fabric plus I have only made a couple quilts for girls, I have grandsons.

I am collecting scraps - mine and those from my class - to make dog beds. I would like to know if they are lumpy and what pattern, if any, you use. I only take cotton fabric, and make sure there are no pins lurking in the scraps.

I feel the same way Linda! Well - Unless it is Kaffe fabric. :)
Pet beds for rescue shelters are a great way to use them Suzzy!

What an awesome way to use up your scraps, making dog beds for shelters! I do fostering for my local shelter and it always warms my heart to meet others who reach out to these sweet animals. I can't wait to see some pics of your beds!! :)

A dear friend who does not sew recently rescued a bag of "precut" fabrics for me. In her kindness she washed and dried them too. LOL... I was presented with a large trash bag full of clean tangled lumps of fabric pieces and she was sooooo pleased with herself.

Now that I have most of them sorted and ironed, I find that they seem to have been precut to make some kind of flowers. The shapes are very irregular, but there are many of each shape so I know it is intentional. Vaguely oval or circular with nips and curves in or out and average of 7 or 8" long by 4" wide. There are about 8 different shapes with a few singles of others.

As I sit and look at these, I am trying to figure out how to use them in a wonderful scrappy quilt. Would you just square off the shapes and go from there? Any suggestions? LOL.

There is a big stack of black background florals about 3" tall.
A huge stack about 5" tall, of varying shapes in solid colors: orange, pink, blue and gold.
A smallish stack each of mixed yellows, mixed blues, mixed greens, mixed pinks and mixed browns.
A good sized stack about 4" high each of reds and black/whites.
A medium stack of odds and ends.

I love those scraps that is what I make most of my quilts from. Working on a scrap basket one right now, 6 1/2" blocks. Don't toss out those scraps someone will love them all.

I just picked up a bag of scraps at our quilt guild garage sale in August. It was one of those zippered bags that draperies or sheets come in. about 5x8x10 ".. it was stuffed! I started cutting my usuals, 6", 3" squares, 2 1/2" and 1" strips and 1 1/2" postage stamps. You wouldn't believe what I was able to cut! Then I started pulling out these leftover HST's. Then some strips that matched. I set it all aside and came up with this baby quilt. The only thing I added was the yellow borders. Someone will get a nice little gift! That bag was only ten cents!!!!!!!

What a score, booklady!

I took old t-shirts and sewed closed the neck, sleeves and stuffed them with small scraps of material then sewed bottom closed to be used for dog beds. They wash & dry very well.

This sounds like a great idea. Our outdoor farm dogs enjoy sleeping on the porch (they could go to the barn if they felt so inclined!) and enjoy a couple of old pillow cases filled with scraps, but I like the Tshirt idea better.

I take all the leftovers from a lady in town that make cotton Hawaiian shirts to sell. I use them to make mile-a-minute (sort of like crazy quilting) blocks for hospice quilts. I will take anything from anyone!
;)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]448064[/ATTACH]

I love scraps - from anywhere and anybody!!!!!!!!!!