Just Scraping Along

See this pile of cut 2 1/2 inch strips of batik fabrics???? 

This is the reason I cut the end of my finger off.....Mom and I are in our batik strips swap in the quilt guild.  At the beginning of the swap last year we purchased all of our fabric and I got it all cut and bagged up by the month they were due.  When dad got sick and they moved in with us I had to move alot of things around and my bin of cut strips got moved to a different location somehow.  So when I needed to turn in the March and then April strips I could not find them.  I searched everywhere I could think I would have moved them to.......grrrr.  So then like a good swapper I purchased more fabric for mom and I for March, April, May and June and was re-cutting the strips when I cut my finger with the rotary cutter!!  I got the new fabrics cut into strips and mailed to our swap host.

Well since I did not go on my trip to Las Vegas due to the injury I was cleaning up in my quilting studio and guess what I found......oh yes the bin of already cut strips.  So now mom and I have extra cut strips.  Oh well, we will use them in something I'm sure.

Do you use Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System?  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/scrap-users-system.html  I started using this system many years ago and below are pictures of how I sort my cut pieces. 

These bins under my quilting table have 2 1/2 inch strips, 3 inch strips, 3 1/2 inch strips, 1 1/2 inch strips, 5 inch squares, 6 inch squares, 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch rectangles, 8 inch squares.

 These bins below hold 10 1/2 inch sqares, 2 x 3 1/2 inch rectangles, 2 inch squares, 3 1/2 inch squares, 1 1/2 inch squares, 3 inch squares, 2 1/2 inch squares, 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles. 

 The great thing about the system is that in these bins are not just squares of fabric there are also pieced blocks like the 2 1/2 inch ones below.  So it gives you so much more variety in a scrap project.  These were left over from mom's orca bay project.

 These are some of the leader-ender blocks that are now in the 3 1/2 inch square bin.  I have them pinned together into stacks of 10 so I can easily count how many I have.  I keep a bin of squares and triangles beside my machine so I can use them as leaders and enders while piecing other projects.  (don't know what a leader/ender is?  then  visit Bonnie Hunter's website for more info  on this wonderful system.  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/leaders-enders-whys-and-hows.html

 More leader/ender bonus 3 1/2 inch squares in the bin

 These were also left over border blocks from mom's orca bay.

 And these string pieced 3 1/2 inch blocks also left from mom's orca bay. 

Once I've finished cutting scraps down into usable pieces, this is what was left.  This is my string and scrap bucket now. 

Now these scraps can be used to make crumb blocks, string pieced blocks or crazy quilt blocks.  Hopefully none will go to waste.

Happy quilting,
Shelia