Well, it's been over a week since I brought all of the leftover scraps home from the scrap dive. I really thought I would have been done by now, but sadly this is not the case. I have two overflowing laundry baskets left to sort. I know that I could probably start sewing, but I really like to sort everything down to the smallest scrap to see what I have. I keep finding surprises. Tonight, I found a fat quarter hiding. I thought I got them all out the other day!
I'm sure every scrap quilter has a certain way of sorting their scraps. Some quilters probably don't even bother. For me, its worth the time. I will know exactly what I have to work with and it will save me time later on when I am working with certain size strips or pieces.
My process is pretty simple. First I dump all of the scraps out onto the floor. From there, I pull out all the bigger pieces. This year I got quite a bit of yardage. I sorted these bigger pieces into solids and prints. In the mean time, I start different piles. I have piles of 1 1/2, 2 and 2 1/2 inch strips and squares. I also have a pile for any strips less than 1 1/2 inches and a pile for strips that are in between the three sizes of strips. These will more than likely be cut down to one of these three sizes.
Other piles that I have are squares and rectangles. These squares range anywhere from 3 inches to 6 1/2 inches. I also have a pile for scrap binding. For some reason, I have quite a bit more than I had two years ago. I'm guessing I have enough for four or five quilts, maybe more.
I do have a pile of selvages and will add to that piles as I work on cutting. I've been wanting to make a selvage quilt and this will be the year to do it.
I have a tote of orphan blocks. I probably have twice the amount I did two years ago. Orphan block quilts are a lot of fun!
The last two piles I have are panels/cheaters and fabric other than cotton. There is some flannel, jean, minky and few other odds and ends that I have to figure out what to do with.
So, that is pretty much what I do. I had used up some of my stash last year which freed up some empty totes and boxes. I am using those to store these new scraps.
Hopefully I can finish sorting so I can start sewing. I have a list of ideas and it will be fun to see what all of these scraps will become!
