Since I am just beginning quilting and have been basically clothing sewing I definitely have a lot of scraps. I just recently sorted all by color and the smaller pieces I have been cutting into 2.5 inch squares and storing them by color. I really like HST. I'm working on my first quilt for one of my granddaughters. I'm loving it. Trying to convince husband that I need new machine but he's not buying into my theory.

Well, garage is getting cleaned up and still I have way to many tubs of scraps. Daughter is going to help me and we are going to have a cutting party and put them in cloth bins with labels so we know what size we have in each one.

Macybaby, that scrap quilt you have on your longarm, what pattern is that? I just love it. The motion looks like DNA. Where can I find that pattern?
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psxlfpztlm.jpg

Love your suggestion of pre cutting your scraps. I am going to be a "copy cat" and pre cut mine for future use. Wish I could join the fun but I will be unable to do so this year due to limited quilting time.

I NEVER cut my scraps into strips and small squares. Every time I tried that method, I needed larger pieces or yardage. I do save extra 2 inch or 2 1/2 inch strips, half square triangles, and small squares-- I use them often. For years I have made mostly scrappy quilts and I still have an over supply of scraps, but I love the scrappy look. I don't usually post pictures, but may get my DD to post a few later. I enjoy seeing all the beautiful quilts.

So I've got a couple of scrappy projects going. One of them is founda/paper piecnonto some MSQC triangles my sister picked up at a second hand store. The other is justrandomlypiecing scraps til ihave a 10 inch square. I'm incorporating some little muslin blocks I crayon colored a few years ago and never used.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]598313[/ATTACH]...apparently I was not successful in resizing the other picture. will post that one shortly

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Heres the other one

Bonnie Hunter does the pre cut your scrap method. If it works for her, why not do it. Keeps them organized as she says.
Lydia, that is a great start.
I was doing some more cleaning and sorting last night. I found lots of orphan blocks. I may end up with one of "those" quilts soon.

This is what I did with inherited and my own mistakes.just joining up to make fabric.....a quilt for my dogi[ATTACH=CONFIG]598339[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]598340[/ATTACH]

Thanks for sharing all the finished and WIP projects! Just got a big bag of scraps from a friend today. She has been cutting bigger scraps into usable squares and rectangles...I received the leftovers. I'm sorting now.

LydiaA., I love your scrappies! Very colorful and so well done.

Nice! Maybe I should try a bunch of smaller projects

LydiaAlicia: Nice projects. I like your colored picture blocks.

QuilterMomma: I am thinking I need to make another 'orphan' block quilt too.

mfay: Great idea using the mistakes for dog quilts. I really should do that with some of my scraps for the areas that cats lay on around my living room. The fabric I have on those areas really grab their hair. Maybe regular cotton would work better.

oksewglad: I hope you got your sorting done. I have been thinking of you as you were making great memories with your family all here for some of this month.

Whoa it took me 2 afternoons to sort through the bag, Connie...had lots of "precuts"...2.5, 2, and 1.5" strips. But it was a good sit down activity after a full week of family.

We had a great time..fixed lots of food...enjoyed fresh beans, broccoli, cucumbers from the garden. Often times we ate in shifts as the little ones from the East were on a different time schedule than we are. When kids are hungry they can be ornery! Well big ones can be too! My DIL makes the best quiche...better with farm fresh eggs and milk with fresh kale instead of spinach. MrOK teases her...telling her "well I guess I have to eat it, cuz you made it!" She knows he really likes it. The kids play so hard when here. Over the weekend we had 16 kids under the age of 17 (11 of them 9 and under) 14 young adults, and 10 of the old folks (me included in that group) Lots of tears when everyone heads for home as there is never enough time. We try not to make much of the petty stuff...it's not worth spoiling the little bit of time we have together. Here are some of them getting ready to play bale tag. Our two sons are there to "supervise".[ATTACH=CONFIG]598434[/ATTACH]

OKsewglad, What a wonderful family! How I envy you! Looks like everybody was having a great time!

oksewglad: Bale tag? I will need to ask my great nieces if they play that at their grandparent's farm.

I am glad you got the bag sorted. Precuts are always nice to have around.

Looks like summer fun was had by all. Great family time

O.K. I want to know. What are the rules for Bale Tag?

Kelsie...I have no idea...maybe one of those made up games the kids like to play...then again maybe it's just like tag, but on big round bales of hay:D. These bales are up to our son's...a half mile and a hill away!

I'm plodding along making a couple every week or so. Now I have a system. Every block has eight wedges of red. Then I came across a post on pintrest about how to do an inset circle using freezer paper, tried it, and was hooked. So now I actually have a plan for a quilt. Obviously all the blocks would be different, but essentially, this is what it would look like.
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LydiaAlicia: Isn't it fun when we find a great idea? I look forward to seeing your finished quilt top.

Ah, what a wonderful feeling. I needed a border for a quilt and a large piece for the back. Reached into my stash and Ta-Dah! I have them both. This is for a scrappy quilt that will likely be a donation quilt so I was not fussy about the backing and border. Organization can be a very good thing.

How did I miss this thread! Too late to join the bunch, but I'll be watching closely!

Nice items, ladies!!

Redstilettos, it's not too late to join. Just join in and make your own project.

Lydia Alicia, I like it without the round centers!

Oh, I need help in this department. 2 years ago, I moved my scraps into pillow cases, sorted by colour. That at least got the fabric off the floor - until earlier this year when one of the cases was so full it pulled the hook right off the wall!

A few years ago I tried to tame my scraps using Bonnie Hunter's scrap method. I now have 2 bins full of 2.5 and 5" strips from that. But nothing made from them. So that method obviously doesn't work for me.

I have decided to make scrappy "crazy quilts" from all my pieces that are less than about 10"xWOF. I'm digging through my pillow cases and sewing together bits in similar colourways, so I have sheets of new "fabric" made from all those little bits. Then, I'll cut into 10" squares and either just sew them like that, or turn them into HSTs with a common background fabric to unify them. That should get a handle on these bits - if I can just motivate myself to stick to it instead of starting 6 new quilts.

Go for it Krista...and good luck sticking to it...from someone who's always finding a new idea to try before she finishes the first, second, third......

Oh, Krista! I can identify with you. Last spring, I went through my 1.5" drawer and sorted them into lengths. For example, anything 5" to less than 6" were put into a labeled 5" bag. I sorted through 10" lengths and anything longer were just put together. I also did this with my 2" and 2.5" drawers. I did sew some of the 1.5" and 2" strips together by grabbing the bags that held a certain length-like the 5" ones and sewed them into 12" strips and now they are waiting to be used. LOL!

I am working on some crazy blocks also but the whole idea of sewing them randomly sometimes makes me crazy!

Like oksewglad, sticking with the project is my problem.

Krista, take it just one quilt at a time. Pull down one pillow case and make one quilt. Another case and another quilt. It works for me. I have begun to see fewer scraps and have had the opportunity to try new patterns, all freebees, and then give the quilts away.

kristakz...here are a couple of quilts I made from 1.5" strips...there's no reason why the same idea can be used for wider strips. Post 27 of the "panto quilt" tells how I made it.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...s-t298898.html

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...t-t287049.html

I have tried several methods, kristakz, but in the end always find that just stashing all my scraps, regardless of size or color, in one (well, it became two) big (BIG) bin. That's when I decided to start this challenge. I did find that with scrapping I have a bad habit of starting one quilt, getting bored, and then just laying it aside. What I have done most recently is to start making small throws. The way I scrap is just to dump everything on the floor and pull from the mess what catches my eye for any given project. So far I have diminished my scrap heap by about 1/3.

Thanks oksewglad. I think I do need a plan for a quilt. I don't have much light scraps - I have managed to make a dent in those with a couple of mystery quilts recently - which limits my options (I can't convince myself to buy yardage to fill out a scrap quilt that I'm going to donate).

The panto quilt took 2 yards...there's no reason why you can't use a 2 yard neutral piece from stash to compliment your scrap strips. If you have CW repro fabrics use a light backgrounded fabric and add dark strips....or the reverse use a dark fabric and add light strips. Maybe the thing to do is find the 2 yard piece and then select scraps to go with it. I need to do this more often! But haven't found time to sew much this summer.

LydiaAlicia: 1/3rd of the way through your scraps is great. Way to go!

So how'z everyone doing on diminishing their scrap mounds? I've been kind of busy, hence the lack of posts recently....helping daughter find a house closer to us (8+ hours away!)

Anyway, keep scrappin'!

I've been digging in the 1 1/2" bin...who knows what will come out of it! But have found a pattern for layer cake and charm pack that I will revise with scraps...going to cut 5" squares and 5 x 10s to replicate it my way.

In November, the guild will have a class to use scraps in a improvizational manner. I'm all in!

I've been cutting up misc. scraps, and adding pieces to their appropriate bins: 1.5" squares and strips, 2.5" squares and strips, and some misc. for a few scrappy projects in the future. I take breaks and sew on a quilt for our Cal. king bed.

I precut some scraps into standard sizes that I know I’ll use, but others that are say quarter yard or so get wrapped around comic book boards with size marked on a piece of paper pinned to the fabric and stored in a couple of easily accessible drawers in one of those sterilite plastic units. I go to those drawers first (before hitting up my yardage) when I need to make binding, find an accent fabric, or need to make a hanging sleeve, etc. Having them on the comic boards means I can open a drawer and see at a glance what I’ve got- makes it easy to use them up.

The “precut” scraps are only allowed to occupy 2 drawers in my arrow Suzi unit, so when those drawers get full I have to use the scraps. Smaller scraps for string quilts and crumb quilts get a shoebox for each type. When a box starts getting full I have to use up some of them before I do anything else in the studio. My space is small, so I had limitted storage to begin with. At first I thought that was a disadvantage, but I've found that it has forced a bit of discipline on me that really helps me keep control of my scraps.

Of course, this only works because I like working with scraps and I have a hard time throwing anything away:)

Rob

I am making progress...I have all the greens, browns from shoe box sized and bigger bins starched, pressed and cut as well as 2 baskets of miscellany which measure 12 x 16 x 8"! Now to the blue and purples shoe box sized. The larger pieces (short FQ's) and certain wof strips I have not cut up. Certain wof's are perfect for bindings on some smaller quilts. Strings are going to my quilt guild Sit N Sew as some members are going to do a string star quilt with 4.5" squares. Getting those baskets emptied felt so good!

Meanwhile the Grands helped gather windfall apples...some beyond using...fed them to some steers...a sweet treat for them. Made an apple pie and apple crisp afterwards. Lots of apples on the tree yet so soon will pick and store some in frig for winter use. Also want to make some more applesauce.