Most of my quilts start out with scraps because of my tight budget and desire to recycle fabrics. I never cut until I know what I want to try with my pieces. Have fun!

Any piece of fabric that is 12" or larger can be used as a narrow border for a baby quilt cut into strips. I also sew the smaller pieces together for a crumb quilts, make doll quilts out of the small pieces, little girls don't care, all they want is something to wrap their baby with. Log cabin quilts are good to use to scraps. There are many ways to use scraps, just don't cut left overs until you are ready to use them. I also pin a small slip of paper onto the end of the quilt fabric that I have, that way I don't have to measure it, I already know how much fabric is in that piece.

I have large bins that my left over fabric goes into. Then when I get into organization mode,i start cutting. I have smaller bins for 6" square,
5", 4", 3" squares. I also cut strips of 2.5", 2", 1.5". 1" or smaller strips I keep for making fabric baskets.
I am now using 3" strips for binding so I will likely be cutting strips and squares.

You never know what you will need so I try to cut the biggest size possible, since I can always cut these smaller later if needed

Also note that in order to go into my scrap bin it must be smaller than a an either yard or fat quarter, else it goes on the color stack

I just finished a baby quilt and had a lot of little pieces left over so I made potholders.

Yep, they all have the right idea. Make a scrap quilt. I cut them into strips - 5" squares and down to 2" squares. That way I have lots of precut fabrics when the bug hits me to make a quilt. I love scrappy quilts!!!!

I also keep the 'crumbs' and just started some blocks. I was amazed at how easy they went together - I did them after I was finished with my quilt sewing for the evening, and 10 minutes later I had 4 blocks! I also separate into 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3" strips for something more real. I found crumb quilt instructions on this board a few days ago. I was 'overwhelmed' at the thought of scrappy, but now I feel like I have a handle on that term!

Check out Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User system! When I finish a project, I take those small pieces and cut them into squares, as mentioned by so many in the above thread. In this article Bonnie will tell you how to go about this!

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/...rs-system.html

I pick out several easy scrap quilts that I want to do. One is more specific, and two others are not as specific in sizes ---- I keep three shoe box size rubber maid containers. As I clean up my scraps, I throw them in a box that the fit into or into my big box of scraps. I also keep a 1 1/2 inch container (very small) for the 1 1/2 inch squares for my someday project.

Each person figures out what will work for them. I have been quilting for years and this system has been developed over the years for me and really works for me.

Thanks for sharing, now maybe I get my scraps organized!