A few years ago, I checked with Salvation Army and Goodwill. They both said they accept scraps for recycling.

I never thought of making a pet bed, do they wash well when finished ?

A person in my Guild buys pillowcases at yard sales and puts all her scraps in a pillowcase that hangs off her sewing table. When it is full, she simply sews the end shut and donates the "bed" to the animal shelter.

I tried making a dog bed from mine, but the dogs rejected it, so I just throw them away.

I make beds for my pets too. I have 3 dogs and 2 cats so lots of furry bodies needing cushy places to rest! They usually survive about two washings before they start to get really clumpy and awful and THEN I toss them. I've thought about layering little bits between fabric and sort of quilting them down into a mat, and making a stack of these mats for a pet bed; that might survive longer. I might try that with the next "load".

I've heard it's not good to put out fabric for birds, as it retains moisture and can cause mold in the nest. One of my dogs is a lab/husky mix, and the amount of fur she produces is amazing - I brush her outside and the birds LOVE to come take the fuzz afterwards! I love watching them come "harvest" the back yard. :)

Then I put them in one of those mesh bags like onions come in and hang it out, again it just turned into a disgusting mess when it rained so I tossed it
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Yep. And that's exactly what happens when they're in the nest, too! Do NOT give them to the birds. It makes a soggy mess in their nest.

A few years ago, I checked with Salvation Army and Goodwill. They both said they accept scraps for recycling.
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Good idea! I'm going to check into that!

Right now I stitch all the little scraps together randomly, into roughly 5" squares. Then I use my Fiskars fuse and an Accuquilt Go die to cut that chunk into a 5" square. The squares I'm saving up to make into a modified crumb quilt at some later date (after I retire).

Sewing the scraps together is a nice mindless thing to do on a day when I'm too tired to think, and too tired to work on a "good" quilt. :-)

Even the tiniest of pieces can be used in applique

I usually just toss them, but there are some good ideas here for other things.

Since I give mine to animal shelters, I've always assumed that when they get grungy, they are thrown away.

I'm sure the Quilt Police will be all over me for this, but I usually toss the scraps.

I did once use them as fill for a small stuffed bear rattle for my nephew (in my avatar pic). I didn't have enough at the time to fill the whole thing, so I supplemented with fiber fill, but it was a great re-purpose for the scraps & my nephew loved it.