I'm starting to despise leftovers
 

I'm notorious for buying fabric without a pattern in mind. Fabric comes first for me. But the leftovers are driving me crazy! I have small pieces; and yardage that is too much to cut into scraps. By the time I'm done with a quilt I don't want to think about trying to make something with the remainders. I just can't seem to come up with a good solution. Ideas?

Free table at the Quilt Guild! That's where my scraps go. It's such a release to not try to make something else in the same design. My thought's are I made what I wanted to make with it, pass it on. But I do keep my batik scraps.

I am somewhat new to sewing but I've read the horror stories here about the overflowing scrap bins. (Well horror stories to some, other people love them!) I've tried hard to use my scraps. I make table runners a lot, just piecing bits of the same color theme. Recently I went through my 4 plastic shoe boxes of scraps and pulled out things that I simply did not like much. I gave them to another sewist. From now on, I'm only keeping the very best scraps. Everything else goes right into a bag to give to the other sewist. She tells me what she does not want she will pass on to a friend who teaches art to children. As long as they are out of my hair and not thrown out, I'm fine. I find that the scraps distract me from using my larger pieces.

Oh, I also try to use all the leftover quilt bits on the back so those scraps don't exist anymore, they are part of the quilt.

Give your scraps away. There should be a church or senior citizen center who will enjoy getting your scraps.

Scraps never go away and seem to multiply. Last year I went on a "fabric diet", only bought backings. I made 3 large scrappy quilts. Did the pile of scraps decrease? No!!! I still seem to have as many as I started out with. I'm now passing on a large bag to a local charity quilting group. I know when I go back in the sewing room there will be just as many as before--they're like bunnies in there multiplying in the dark.

I make my scrap quilts from my stash. I have more fabric then I'll ever use so I don't need to keep scraps. I don't want to spend the time sorting, cutting, and storing them. When the basket under my cutting table gets full, I give them away.

Quilting is supposed to be fun! Not everyone likes scrap quilts. If scraps are driving you crazy, then give them to someone who loves them. Check with your local guild or church. Or list them on the sale section of this board and just have the recipient pay for postage.
Personally, I love them. I save a lot of my scraps. Anything smaller than a 10" square gets cut down, using a modified Bonnie Hunter method. She has lots of free patterns, and a chart that tells you what pattern is made with what size scrap so when you get a bunch of a particular size, you know what to do with them.
http://quiltville.com/pdf/FreePatternsbyStripSize.pdf

Crazy quilts don't have to be embellished. You can use any template as a center point and go out from there. With batting and an old sheet for backing you can make a spare quilt for when you have guests or for animal shelters.

I end up donating my scraps (some are large though) to the recycling center. Including batting or stabilizer scraps. They have a program where they allow teachers and home schoolers (any non profit) to come in and pick out supplies. It works for me. I can't keep all those leftovers, although I must admit, there are some pieces I can't let go. Usually batiks, they are so pretty.