"freshens the whole stash"...That's what I think, too KalamaQuilts. Right now I'm sewing on Tula Pink's City Sampler blocks all cut from someone else's batiks...BTW these are fun blocks to sew..simple pieces that create complex looking blocks...I highly recommend it

I've finished both big bags of scraps, probably the equivalent of a banana box. So pretty all stacked up on the cutting table. Tomorrow I'll break them down by colors and put them in the appropriate boxes.

Nora, Those boxes are nice but would have to be labeled with contents. I wouldn't want to pull out 3 boxes to find my tools

I have this one and love it!

http://www.basspro.com/shop/en/plano-3950-satchel-box

It has two layers. The top one holds bobbins, seam rippers, scissors, etc. When you open the top lid you can see everything right at your fingertips.

The bottom layer holds the ruffle foot, q tips, extra thread spools, etc. It clips with those black clips on each side and doesn't come open.

That's a lot of fabric...what sizes do you cut them into? You must have favorite go to patterns...

I have one more block in Tula Pink's 100 block City Sampler quilt to sew cut from batik scraps...lost 2 pieces to one block...now to see if I can find two1 1/2" x 2 1/2" to match in my scraps. Yikes!

Rhonda K - thanks for the link of what you use. That puppy might do the trick! It looks small enough to tuck somewhere and large enough to hold what I need. I am always on the hunt for "organizers"! When I was working, I was always reusing someone's thrown-away office supplies! Now, I'm retired, so I have to hunt for stuff at home and thru the quilting board. I went thru some stuff Saturday night and realized I had set aside 4 of those plastic coffee containers thinking I'd use them for organization. Well, I have many in use, but just didn't see any need for these additional 4......so, today they went to the recycle bin!

We buy Folger's coffee, so have those containers all over the house. I use them:

- to put my medications in when we travel
- as mini-wastebaskets in the sewing room
- as a toilet plunger holder (line it with a grocery store sack)
- and lastly, my mother-in-law used them for sick children.....keep it by the bed so they can vomit into it

Way to go, Kalamaquilts!

I rescued some strips from the fabric recycling bag where I volunteer and spent some time cutting them today with my die cutter. Most of them are 1.5" widths because they are the cut off pieces around the baby quilts.

I also cut some fabric that I think are batiks that I have had probably for 5 years or more and they were donated to my church group. I'm just cutting most of them into 2.5" strips because of their designs. Many of them had huge flower designs and then lines that appear to be borders. I'm thinking the fabric was probably for skirts or dresses because of those lines. They were in an overflowing copy paper box. Lol! I will probably use them in strip blocks with some plain or tone-on-tone fabric.

Connie

Here is the fabric that I believe are batiks:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]583204[/ATTACH]

Connie

That's beautiful fabric, retiredteacher09!

Thanks, Oksewglad! That picture was just one of many different designs.

I have one bunch of sorted strips from the ‘saved from the recycling bag’ cut into 2 1/2”, 2”, 1 1/2”, and 1” strips. I’m so thankful for my electric die cutting machine and a strip die with 3 different sizes on it. As I was running that die through the machine, I put the batik fabric on the 2.5” strip die so I could alternate the strip dies through the machine. I am done with over 1/2 of that overflowing copy paper box. :)

My next project will be working with darker strips saved from the recycling bag.

Happy Halloween!

Connie

[ATTACH=CONFIG]583235[/ATTACH]

Those fabrics are much better upcycled than recycled! WTG