scrap pieces-HELP

I am new to this group and would like to know how you organize your scrape
peices. I have all colors, squares, triangles, odd peices. I am wondering
if I should seperate them by color like all blues, all green. Or by size,
or colors that go well together. I don't know what kind of quilt I want to
do yet but would like to just organize so I know what I have.
Can any one get me started on this.
Thanks Eileen

My scraps get tossed into a picnic basket. No organization here. g

--
Mary (Idaho to Oregon via Montana)
http://community.webshots.com/user/mardor1948

"Eileen" wrote in message newsiKnf.78$vx.44@fed1read01...
: I am new to this group and would like to know how you organize your scrape
: peices. I have all colors, squares, triangles, odd peices. I am
wondering
: if I should seperate them by color like all blues, all green. Or by size,
: or colors that go well together. I don't know what kind of quilt I want
to
: do yet but would like to just organize so I know what I have.
: Can any one get me started on this.
: Thanks Eileen
:
:

A lady in my quilting guild suggests using empty tissue boxes. The kind
where the tissues pop up through a little see-thru plastic . . . . thingie.

I'd like to have a see-through glass or plastic container that maybe has a
big screw-on lid with a slot in the top. Seems like that would also make a
fun decoration.

Right now the few scraps I have are in a huge gumongous Ziploc. You can
tell I haven't been at this very long.

--
Kay Ahr
Reno/Sparks, Nevada USA
to respond to me directly, remove "WESTHI" from the email address.

"Eileen" wrote in message newsiKnf.78$vx.44@fed1read01...
I am new to this group and would like to know how you organize your scrape
peices. I have all colors, squares, triangles, odd peices. I am wondering
if I should seperate them by color like all blues, all green. Or by size,
or colors that go well together. I don't know what kind of quilt I want to
do yet but would like to just organize so I know what I have.
Can any one get me started on this.
Thanks Eileen

Mine are in 5 plastic boxes by color. That seems to work well for me. HTH,
Linda in Tx

My vote is by color........
Good Luck!!

Patti in Seattle

"forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has
crushed it"
**mark twain**

Hi Eileen and welcome to the group! I think a lot of people organize
by color. I don't have a gigantic stash yet (although it is rapidly
growing), and here is what works for me...

I keep a basket by my sewing machine and toss scraps into that until I
feel in the mood to cut and organize them. Pieces smaller than 1/4
yard go into ziploc bags (left open, to let air in) labeled various
things, including "machine testers" (for fabric that has been left in
an usuable way, like an image where the head has been cut off). All of
these bags are in a very large decorative picnic basket in my sewing
room. I have tried cutting all of my scraps into squares (5 inch, 10
inch, etc.), but didn't get very far, because I kept thinking I might
want to crazy quilt or paper piece with the pieces and WANT them in the
odd shape they are already in. Pieces larger than 1/4 yard go into a
bureau where I store my stash in piles - a floral pile, a novelty pile,
a batik pile, a nuetrals pile (beige and black and white on white), and
piles for each ongoing project I'm collecting for.

Works for me! Sort of...just don't look at my sewing room right now.

You might like reading this site:
http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

-Lynn


Eileen wrote:
I am new to this group and would like to know how you organize your scrape
peices. I have all colors, squares, triangles, odd peices. I am wondering
if I should seperate them by color like all blues, all green. Or by size,
or colors that go well together. I don't know what kind of quilt I want to
do yet but would like to just organize so I know what I have.
Can any one get me started on this.
Thanks Eileen

I can barely keep my big pieces of fabric organized, much less the
scraps!!! Right now they are all stuffed in a shoebox sized clear
storage box, but the lid is starting to pop off so I might need to
expand. There's something fun in ruffling through the box of colorful
scraps so I don't vote for separating by colors unless they are big
scraps.

Annie in NW Washington State

Just don't toss them. Recently I needed a scrap to make a hand for
SunBonnet Sue, barely more than a l" square. You just never know when you
have to have just a bit of something. Mine are all rumpled in a big clear
plastic bin. No need to get any more serious about storage than that.
Polly

"marbles_2" wrote in message
ups.com...

I can barely keep my big pieces of fabric organized, much less the
scraps!!! Right now they are all stuffed in a shoebox sized clear
storage box, but the lid is starting to pop off so I might need to
expand. There's something fun in ruffling through the box of colorful
scraps so I don't vote for separating by colors unless they are big
scraps.

Annie in NW Washington State

We have a ufo auction at my quilt guild every so often. A few years
ago there was a box about 2'x 18" x 18" full of 1" squares of fabric.
One of the moms of a member had cut her scraps into these squares for
many years. They were all stacked and organized nicely.
SOmeone bought the box but I never saw a finished quilt come back made
from them!
Goggle images for 'postage stamp quilt' and enjoy just what can be done
with small scraps.
Taria

Polly Esther wrote:
Just don't toss them. Recently I needed a scrap to make a hand for
SunBonnet Sue, barely more than a l" square. You just never know when you
have to have just a bit of something. Mine are all rumpled in a big clear
plastic bin. No need to get any more serious about storage than that.
Polly

"marbles_2" wrote in message
ups.com...

I can barely keep my big pieces of fabric organized, much less the
scraps!!! Right now they are all stuffed in a shoebox sized clear
storage box, but the lid is starting to pop off so I might need to
expand. There's something fun in ruffling through the box of colorful
scraps so I don't vote for separating by colors unless they are big
scraps.

Annie in NW Washington State

I sort scraps by size. I'm pretty good about cutting scraps down as I go,
but when I'm not that energetic I toss them into a Rubbermaid box that I
sort through every so often.

The standard sizes I cut: 2-1/2", 3", 4", 5", 6-1/2" squares. Also 1-1/2",
2", and 2-1/2" strips.

I also have a shoebox that is overflowing with waste triangles--the little
ones cut off when sewing "folded corner" triangles for Flying Geese or
Snowball blocks (among others). Some of them have been sewn into HSTs, some
haven't. Pat Speth of Nickel Quilts fame has a couple of patterns on her
website(www.patspeth.com) to make use of those waste triangles. The problem
I have with them is that they are a tedious pain to trim to nice even
squares because they are (a) small and (b) likely to be distorted (I'm not
precise with the 1/4" seam for those cut-off bits).

HTH,

Nann


"Eileen" wrote in message newsiKnf.78$vx.44@fed1read01...
I am new to this group and would like to know how you organize your scrape
peices. I have all colors, squares, triangles, odd peices. I am
wondering
if I should seperate them by color like all blues, all green. Or by size,
or colors that go well together. I don't know what kind of quilt I want
to
do yet but would like to just organize so I know what I have.
Can any one get me started on this.
Thanks Eileen