give it to a child to do. its a great way to help them learn colors and play with fabric.

my niece sorts the scrap and ribbon bin for me every time she comes over. she's been doing it since she was 3 - she's almost 5 now. it really helped with getting her interested in fabric and sewing.

yesterday she made a tablerunner and 8 placemats (i posted pics on that board if you'd like to see her work).

Cathe - ANOTHER great idea. Strips would make it SO much easier to start using leftovers - tho' I DO like the look of odd-shaped pieces in Mile-a-minute blocks. I'll be posting pictures of 2 as soon a I dig them out of the boxes from AZ. Those blocks are a great way to use scraps.

Any others of you do this?

I'm happily using scraps - but then I'm kind of "short" of a certain color, so then I go digging into the "stash" fabric - and then I have another stack of stuff to put back.

I bought a GO die cut machine and now I can die cut many scrap pieces at one time. They cut neatly stacked together and it's so easy and nice to be able to pull a baggie of 2 in squares, triangles, circles, or hexagons. The die cut machine is the best thing for quilting since the rotary cutter. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

How much does the GO cost? AccuCut is another alternative, and it costs a bit under $300 with just a few dies. How many dies come with the GO? How much do the additional ones cost?
How many layers can you cut at a time? Is there a warranty re how long the dies will stay sharp?

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet - this website has MANY free patterns for scrap quilting - http://quiltville.com/index.html

thanks for the site - wonderful!

This is a phenomenon I am unable to comprehend.
I have many, many, MANY totes.
I have taken a tote and just started working through the scraps, making something between a crazy quilt and the crumb thang so capably introduced to me on this list.
I will work for DAYS on scrap blocks ... I will cut for DAYS ... I will neatly fold and not let go of a piece of fabric until all that goes into the waste basket are slivers!
ANd, I fill up a tote with my scrap blocks ... and STILL find the tote isn't any less full, even though I have separated, catalogued, moved things around and the quilt is on its way out of the house ... and STILL the tote is full!
I think it has something to do with letting air get to the fabric. Am not sure, but that is what I think. I have even gone so far as to put the scrap blocks into a different tote ... the original is more full than when I started.
Something is not right here ... and, I am thinking that science isn't so exact that it can explain it all.

Me, too.

I can get obsessed with a scrap quilt. Why is it so much more fun/interesting/challenging to try to use those scraps than to cut into a large piece of fabric? (God - and a few others - know I do have BIG pieces to cut into/up)

I think one of my problems is: I keep adding scraps to blocks and never come to a conclusion .. I got up one morning DETERMINED to finally cut my scrap blocks into a uniform size and just grab something, cut to match and go from there ....
I was DETERMINED, but ...
the day started happening, there wasn't time to stay DETERMINED, and I have never had that thought again! <g>