thrums

Rather than tossing away the micro-strips from squaring up fabric offer them to the birds during nesting season. It's fun to see birds flying off with them.

maggie_1936

no, I save everything

Maire

I also save all my scraps, use what I can for scrap quilts-my favorite type of quilt, everything else, batting pieces, etc goes into pet beds that are donated to animal shelters. I just can't bring myself to put any fabric in the trash.

pw6

no, we all do it, LOL.. I keep anything larger than 1 1/2" square and have made king size quilts from scraps.. I have over 15 tubs of scraps.. makes great pot holders in a pinch..

Geri B

I understand that is not a good thing....baby birds could eat the strings..not good! Or get the strings wrapped around their legs or throat.......and when wet from rain or snow take longer to dry than what the nest is made of....birds could get pneumonia and die....

Geri B

Go to quiltville..Bonnie hunter will show you.....

sharin'Sharon

I'm with the savers. Anything less than fat quarters gets measured, folded and marked (using address labels) and sorted by color with the rest of the fabric (keeping all the colors in one place). I don't cut into certain size pieces or strips cuz I don't know what I may use the piece for in the future; however when I'm cutting out my quilts and have small pieces or strips, I do cut them into the biggest size I can. I have those drawer totes that are used for screws and etc. and have the drawer fronts marked those certain size (squares) & certain size (strips) from one inch to 3". All triangles cut from Flying Geese and etc. are kept in my Schwan's ice cream tins. Any selvage, narrow strip or piece less than an inch goes in a bag with my 'squaring up' cuts. I don't make pet bags; I use those scraps for pillow stuffing for the grandkids throw pillows. Like the rest of you, I get my monies worth out of my fabric scraps, even if I haven't ever made a scrap quilt yet, I sure hope to do so, SOME DAY!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR to ALL.

Jakers1

I attend a class weekly with about 14 other quilters at the local tech school. I began collecting scraps and told my fellow students who promptly added to my collection. I go through their scraps before using them to stuff pet beds, and find that they are throwing away good fabric. One lady making fleece pajamas had thrown away an almost 6 inch wide piece of fleece that is about 45 inches long. I squared it up, fringed the ends and donated the "scarf" to a local agency. One man's (or quilter's) treasure.....

pennycandy

I've always saved my scraps. I have a couple of plastic shopping bags full of scraps. Most of the scraps are odd shapes. They're leftovers from cutting out clothing pattern pieces. One bag has poly/cotton blends which are difficult to piece. They tend to slip and slide. The other bag has cotton. The fairies are welcome to visit so that some day I have enough cotton scraps to make a quilt.

illinois

MSQ recently had a tutorial to make pet beds from fleece. My "problem" with that is now to get fur off of/out of fleece but anyhow....

Check out your local thrift stores for pillow shams for availability and price. Your bag is already made for putting scraps in, whip the back shut and the pet bed is ready to go for your own fur baby or donation to the local animal shelter. By the way, they can use donations of plastic bags that stores provide for your purchases, too! A good way to recycle those.

Have you seen the pet beds made with discarded long-sleeved pull-over shirts? Those are cute! Sew the neck shut, fill the arms and body with your scraps and close all open ends. Then pull the arms around the body and stitch those to the body to make a cozy bed for pets.