What are Crumbs?
 

I am cutting my scraps into specific sizes, and end up with little pieces left. I think these are crumbs, but I/m not sure. I really don't want to make a crumb quilt, but hate throwing away leftover fabric. Any suggestions?

i save my crumbs (or confetti) in plastic baggies, sorted by 'general color'....i.e., i want all the greens together so they can 'blend'...and have enough to do something with...altho i do have light green and dark green.... when i finish cutting all the pieces i need for a quilt, i trim the scrap of all its weird little points and add that to the tiny pcs from in between the previously cut quilt pcs. then i pile them on an 'unused' area of my mat (the better to spread the wear) and just slice the whole pile a dozen times or so, moving the rotary cutter back and forth and around the little pile. mix with fingers and put in the right color baggie.

i have all my baggies on a large 3" ring thru hole punch holes in the corners... zip shut till ready to use...then take out ALL the color you want and remix (this gets the color more even from all the different additions you have made.... spray background of picture with basting spray... now sprinkle carefully each color, one at a time, sprinkling and then pressing onto the sprayed area a bit to hold...cover ALL glue ... extra pcs will come off so shake lightly in between colors so you can put leftovers back in correct baggie. now do next color and so on.... i use simple blocks or simple coloring books...really primary books so they are simple line drawings... trace onto light fabric and start sprinkling...now put dark tulle over and sew along outlines and detail lines to hold all in place.....OR just FMQ in the same color thread....stippling to hold down...i have done both...they both work well.... i use the FMQ method mostly for the simple coloring book pix for little kid's bag trims, t-shirt appliques, pillow tops, etc., it's tougher than the tulle...

I don't think that a crumb has to be cut to a specific size. Any small piece left over and still usable could be considered a crumb, straight cut or irregular cut. A crumb block is sort of like a crazy quilt block where the crumbs are sewn in a random order and pieces added on to make a scrappy block that is large enough to use.

if you do not want to save all your (crumbs) there are plenty of people who would appreciate your generosity-if you choose to pass them on-
some people make (pet beds) for animal shelters and use them for filling-
some people do piece them into fabulous quilts---there are many different uses-
if you want to pass them on just put the word out- in the (pif section---pay it forward) or one of the donation classifieds some one will take advantage of the offer-some people can afford to pay postage to get them- others may not---that would be up to you-if you want that much for them just offer them for the cost of postage. it is always nice to pass on what we will not use instead of sending it to the landfill- or just letting them pile up forever :)

i would just call this scraps...which we consider usable...we call crumbs the UNusable pcs... different strokes..... would love all our 'crumby' quilts, regardless of how big the pieces are... lol

Anything that can't be cut into a 2 inch square I put into a box by color. Then either chop it up for a confetti quilt, use for stuffing in small items, or put out for the birds to use in their nests.

well i use the pieces i wont use to go in dog beds for our local spca

Wow, thanks! This really helps with the storage issue.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone! I will collect them for awhile and then decide what to do. I am a new member of my guild, and the suggestion of giving them away there is a good one. But all of your suggestions will help me keep the fabric out of the landfill!