I do a lot of appliqué and those scraps come in real handy. They are also good for paper piecing. I have also cut some into 2&1/2 squares for future use. Lets face it quilters.......I will be dead before I use up all of my fabric and scraps!!

I have a big tub of scraps and a 12" square box of them. Instead of making so many quilts I need to spend some time cutting them up. I made seven scrappie quilts this year from my scraps, barely used any, I was running out of good choices. I have decided to start sorting them into pieces that squares can be cut out of and save the strips long enough for a rail fence and put in a box. I plan on also cutting my smaller pieces into 2-1/2" strips. I have a plan now just to do it.

I keep threatening that I am going to get out my Accuquilt GO and cut strips, but never seen to get around to it :(

Reading about how people cut their scraps makes me wonder what actually constitutes a scrap. If I have a chunk of fabric big enough for a 10" square, or WOF pieces, I don't consider them scraps and keep them with my stash. Well, sort of. I keep those bigger pieces with my fat quarters. Are they scraps?

Scraps for me go into one of those portable drawer kits - each drawer is about 8x10 with 2" height. Four drawers - light, dark, medium & specialty. When they get full, it's scrap quilt time.

I cu t scraps into strips and squares. Strips should be 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 inches wide, but mostly, I cut into squares 2 1/2 x 2 1/2, 3 1/2 x 3 1/2, and 4 1/2 x 4 1/2. Anything larger than 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 gets put aside, and any odd size piece, or strip 1 inch or more (but not fitting the criteria for strips, as above) gets thrown in a bin for crumb blocks. Anything smaller than 1 inch goes in the trash can. Needless to say, not much goes in the trash. Right now, I've been cutting lots of 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 blocks for 18 inch square quilts for Threads of Love. It takes nine 6 1/2 x 6 1/2, 36 3 1/2 x 3 1/2, or 81 2 1/2 x 2/1/2 inch blocks for one 18 x 18 inch quilt. I sometimes use the 1 1/2 inch strips to make 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch blocks to use for the little quilts. I started Christmas theme quilts let week.

I have a big plastic tub under my cutting table and throw them in there (but not tiny ones) and then once a while I sit on the floor and sort them out and put into large ziploc bags, I have Christmas, fall, Thimbleberries, others when I have enough to make it worth while to separate out.

I agree with this way, and I have got several quilts going using this way of cutting, sometimes I just love to trim them up, just recently I sewed all my triangles into the Boston Block, the Hourglass and Half Square Triangles. Then I trim them to the biggest they will make and file them away with the other squares that I have cut for future use. I can just see these fitting into future scrappy quilts to add interest to the block. I like to keep my fabric as big as I can, but do cut the small pieces into squares mostly. If they are in strips, I leave them in strips.

I don't cut any of the leftover fabric until I'm ready to use it. I'm the scrap quilt QUEEN...I make more scrappy ones than I do any other. Dresden Plate is also my favorite block....wonder if the reason I like it so well is because my scraps make such beautiful Plates. I have them sorted by size of squares and by strip sizes. iike flowers in God's garden, all scraps "fit" in a quilt. Colorr just makes the piece look like flowers in God's garden.

I put them in a container that keeps shrinking thinking I will use them someday, for something.

I have always cut what I call scraps into 2 inch squares they are pieces that cant be used as anything bigger. Last two quilts I have made I have used the remants of them to immediately start a scrap quilt...one is completed the other I am working on.