I am buried under scraps. I paid for all that fabric and it is hard to throw those bits and bobs away. I make bonus half square triangles when do stitch and flip. I have several gallon bags full of 1 1/2 inch squares. I have bins of sorted scraps by size and by color. I have laundry basket after laundry basket of of unsorted scraps. I am trying to get better at cutting up my scraps at the end of a project. I cut my scraps up in to the largest usable sizes: Squares in 10 in, 5 inch, 4 1/2, 3 1/2 in, 2 1/2 in, 2 in and 1 1/2 in and Strings in 3 1/2 in, 2 1/2 in, 2 1/4 in, 2 in, 1 1/2 in, 1 1/4 in and 1 in. Some times if I have a particular project in mind I will do 6 1/5 and 8 1/2 in squares and 4.5 in strings. My string sizes are a bit crazier than my squares because I like a 2 1/4 in binding and all my extra binding scraps end up in there and I will pull from there for a scrappy binding. and if you cut a jelly roll in half you get a 1 1/4 in strip. These 1 1/4 in strips and 1 in strips make some great pops of color when you a piecing. Your mileage may vary when it comes to sizes to cut the scraps down to. I do find that if I iron my scraps and cut them down to size they are easier to store and more usable. I do keep a couple bins of chaotic random sized scraps for making applique pieces or collage quilts with. This dichotomy in my brain is where I often fall down on scraps. Part of my brain says cut them all down make them usable, while the rest of my brain is screaming but if you cut it down then you are losing possibilities for some great applique. The latter often wins which is why we need the scrap elimination diet. You came here today to get some great patterns on what to do to use up some of these scraps.
Underwater Blues started out with trying to capture the way light moves through water. Version 1 started out as a way to save a hideous jelly roll race quilt. In an attempt to salvage a quilt top that I didn't like and wasn't working, I started to cut up the jelly roll race and turn it into half square triangles with a blue. background, I started to see the light moving through the water. And because it is me and I have all the blue scraps, it felt very watery. I laid it out in an off set diamond pattern that had the light all filtering from the left. I fused some wonderunder to to stash yardage and made a 30 in long applique fish for the quilt. The blocks in this quilt are 6 in finished blocks. V1 is a 56x56 in quilt.
