Thursday, May 28, 2015

I emptied my scrap bin today


OMG .. an empty scrap bin!
and it was a LONG time coming. 

Like most quilters, I create a sizable accumulation of scraps ... leftover bits and pieces from whatever project you are working on.  They are too small to use in your project but clearly too large to just literally throw away.  You know they are good for something else ... mini projects, mock-ups, experimentation ... that you will *certainly* do some day.  In the future. The far future.



color piles of scraps

My scrap bin was over-flowing.  I can tolerate a high degree of clutter but this was absolutely over the line.  So, while the TV was showing something that I wasn't terribly interested in, I started sorting the scrap bin.  I made piles of color-related scraps .. or mostly related.   Sometimes it's a judgement call whether a scrap should go in one color pile or another.

I do admit that it felt really good to finally have an empty bin and more-or-less organized scraps.





where do you stash multi-color scraps?
But wait!  There are some scraps that defy pigeon holing. 

What on earth do you do with multi-color fabrics that don't have any clear, defined dominant color? 

I am still puzzling over this.  If you have any suggestions, opinions or solutions, I'm all ears.







sewn units .. for something useful

Then there are what I call the "sewn units",  These could be mock-ups, experimentation or just plain fooling around. 

They are also leftovers and extras from projects.  I'm sure they could be incorporated into ... something. 

I have a couple of shoe boxes just for sewn units.  And I sure haven't done anything with any of them yet.





drawers for scraps divided by color
Back to the piles of scraps, now organized by color.   I do have a set of drawers that I have put my color scraps in.  At the time I acquired this set of drawers, I could put 2 colors in each drawer.  Sadly, with the scraps I organized today,  I am beyond this set.  I also have No More Space in my sewing room to put another set of drawers.  I'm going to need to think about this.

Actually, I know what I *really* need to do is a massive clean up and reorganization of not only the sewing room in general, but the shelving units and bookcases.   I need to purge myself of the items that I *know* I'm just never going to use so that I will have more space for the things that I do use.  ::sigh::  This is not going to be a single afternoon endeavor.

However, I'm going to do my very best Scarlett O'Hara impression and ignore what I should be doing today and will think about doing it tomorrow.






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2 comments:

  1. Sewing Up A Storm5/31/15, 5:51 PM

    I need to do the same thing with my overflowing scrap bin. I do like to use the little bits in applique and such.

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  2. Shelley: the Dread Pirate Rodgers5/31/15, 6:13 PM

    And that's exactly the problem!! I can see uses for all different sizes. Although, my current "plan" is to keep anything 2-1/2" (strip or square) and above. That'll be for scrap quilts, hexagons, crazy quilt blocks and applique.

    Anything smaller will get put in a ziploc for Sharon, the Queen of Crumbs. :-)

    Although that may help take care of organizing my scraps, it doesn't address all of the UFOs/WIPs I have and need to get completed into tops. I know that I paid just as much money for those scraps as for the yardage they came from, I need to get those other projects done first ... just so they will quit nagging me.

    THEN, I can contemplate scrap quilts. And boy, will I have a lot of scraps to work with! :-)

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