Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

It has finally happened. I can not get the lid on the med/dark scrap bin no matter what I do. I don’t think there is any open space. It already looks like a space bag after it has been sucked out by the vacuum. So I must divest a bit. Anybody want some scraps? I’ll give away 2 or 3 grocery bags full to whomever lets me know they’d like some. Come on somebody-offer a good home to some lovely scraps. I can’t bear the thought of throwing them out (gasp!).

Just finished reading a piece on another quilter’s blog about scraps. What is your definition of a scrap? Is it based on a particular size of the piece? Let’s say, smaller than a fat quarter, for example? (in my world that could be considered huge!) Or is it any piece leftover after a project is completed, no matter the size of the piece? When does it crossover from being a scrap into being a stash fabric?

And how do you store your scraps? In any organized fashion? I took the Joan Ford scrap therapy class held here at the guild a few years ago. And I had great intentions. What I learned from Joan I only seldom put into practice–it’s okay to throw some out!  (very hard for me) I listened to Debbie Caffrey at seminar 2 years ago and cut a bunch of small stash pieces into jelly roll strips. Again good intentions, but… basically I just put what I consider to be scraps (as opposed to stash) into 3 categories: I have one bin for “novelty/kids fabrics”, one for lights, and one for med/darks.  Every time I open one of the bins I find a few fabrics in the “wrong” bin by whatever that day’s criteria are for the categories. I must say though, that this method works best for me. Each bin has a wide range of sizes in the pieces-teeny tiny (for miniature quilts, I rationalize) to medium (for paper piecing) up to near fat quarters. Everything is just wadded up and shoved in the bin. No nice neat folded and pressed scraps for me. As I work on things I just throw my scraps on top of the appropriate bin. BTW selvages are not scraps in my book. I trim those off before I cut into a yardage piece and they have their own bin. When the scraps start to fall on the floor I take the lids off and force them in… as I tried to do this morning…and discovered that they won’t fit!

Scraps! Get your scraps here! Free scraps!