Do the scraps in your sewing room seem to multiply every time you turn the lights off? Do they seem to be the same amount you started with after making dozens of blocks? Do quilty friends give you bags and bags of their scraps and you really want to use them?

Here are some suggestions!

If the scraps are big enough, cut them into strips, squares or rectangles for use in future projects. It's a lot less work to cut up scraps as you finish a quilt or project, than to sit down to a big box full and do it, and cut to size pieces are not scraps anymore! (an article with templates for cutting scraps is here.)

Relegate strips narrower than 1 inch to be stuffing for pillows or cushions (which you can make for pets (yours, family's, SPCA or Humane Society, shelter or vet)), or

Stuff large pillows or cushions to use around the house or for tv watching, hang out on the floor type pillows or

Adopt another quilter who does do the minis, small applique, quilt art, quilt jewelry, etc. and send them a care package every so often (soon as a large zip bag is full) or

Adopt an elementary art class, scout troop, after school program, senior center, nursing home, youth group, bible class, day care art project, etc. to share the small scraps with or

Use them to stuff dolls or other utility toys for disadvantaged kids (again, cut them small to do this) or

Use them, chopped small, to stuff small holiday ornaments or

Instead of sewing them to square or rectangular foundations, consider using either adding machine tape, the narrow exam table paper rolls used by chiropractors or massage folks, or strips of the lesser quality fabric or muslin you have around to piece borders for your next scrap quilt. You piece long strips anywhere from 3 to 8 inches wide and use those. I use a solid fabric square in the corners when I do scrappy pieced borders to help make them easier to fit and to stop the eye a bit. So far I've loved all the ones I've done. 8) or

Do a variation of "Leaders & Enders" by having a stack of paper or fabric foundations for a paper pieced block pattern you want to make into a quilt by your machine and ready to add to at any time. Than as you have scraps, piece them into the blocks or foundations, and you'll soon have the units for your project. 8)

Sew your scraps together in a sort of "mile-a-minute" style until you have a pieced block in the approximate size you want, then cut it to size using rotary tools. This is especially effective if you do it in the "Leaders & Enders" style, so that it happens in between the piecing of another project.

Post an ad to Quilting Traders Newsletter or the Quilter's Flea Market offering a two gallon zip bag for the cost of postage or

Take them to your sewing circle or guild meeting with a 'free to good home' sign on them or

Donate it to the UFO-rphanage!

If your scraps are still unmanageable and you find they are simply multiplying faster than you can use them, do the hardest thing of all -- just toss them!

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Here's the info for Quilting Trader's Newsletter:
The QTN is sent out to approximately 1,500 quilters at the beginning of each month.

To advertise in QTN, please send your ad DIRECTLY TO dawn @ us. net (remove the spaces) by the 29th of the month to get it in the next issue. QTN is hand-crafted of the finest ASCII, so please, no special fonts or other fancy formatting, as they all have to be removed by hand. Keep in mind that commercial listings (profit seeking ventures) are limited to a single five-line ad per issue.

Send an email to QTN-subscribe @ yahoogroups.com (remove the spaces) to subscribe.

The current and back issues of QTN are available on Yahoo, at http://www.yahoogroups.com/groups/QTN . You will need to create a Yahoo account if you have not already done so.

Another option is to list the item(s) in the Quilter's Flea Market (thanks Nann!)

Here's the info for the Quilter's Flea Market:
The Yahoo group QFM, or Quilters Flea Market. Participants post their ads directly and you can choose the delivery (individual messages, digest, special notices). It is moderated so the ads are definitely on-topic.

Subscribe: QuiltersFleaMarket-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

©Copyright 2006 Niki Roberts
All Rights Reserved

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