Thank goodness that’s behind me… Blogtoberfest, that is.  Posting every.single.day.in.October was exhausting, but I’ll tell you one thing, it did wonders for the ever-evolving-constantly-changing-to-do list–LOTS of items crossed off this month!!!!

Commission (Signature QUILT) #2,-–done!
Halloween Costumes for Samuel, Jonah & Zoe Grace, Sweetie and Me–done! 
Two Halloween Spider web quilts… –one done! #2 will be done for Halloween 2012
Halloween Party projects and Tutorials: tablecloth, placemats, treat bag, pincushions—done, done, done, and done!
MQG Habitat Challenge Quilt-–done!
Finish quilting and binding on Midnight Serenade Quilt –done!
Finish the cutting for my Candied Hexagon quilt
Peppermint Twist quilt, –top done, at LAQs
Make a baby quilt for Zoe Grace.
Neighborhood quilt (sewconnected2 Bee blocks)
Cyclone quilt (One Block Over 2010 Bee blocks)
Kansas City Star quilt,
Nearly Insane quilt, I have NOT kept up with block making as I promised myself I would…
Medallion quilt (local small group Round Robin quilt)
One Block Over 2011 Bee Quilt  

This week’s WIP post involves organizing my scraps, in preparation for two things:

1. A Quilt-A-Long I am planning to announce here VERY SOON to start in January 2012 (It will be very UNIQUE and very COOL!)–and will help reduce your pile of scraps…
2. and making things in bulk at retreat this weekend for my first experience as a Craft Show vendor, NEXT weekend.  

Quilters are always curious about how other quilters manage and use their scraps.  So, here’s my recently adopted method for dealing with an overflowing scrap box…

First I sort them by color groups (reds, pinks, oranges/yellows, greens, blues, purples, brown/black/neutrals, and whites/creams).  A few things are sorted by type rather than color; multicolor florals and prints that don’t “fit” into one color group, Halloween, Christmas, Heather Ross scraps.

Then, strips get put aside (by color) for string blocks, strip pieced bags, etc.  Anything bigger than a 2.5″ square gets put in a plastic shoebox by color:

And anything smaller than a 2.5″ square, but too pretty/too cute to toss (I call them itty bits) get stored in their own plastic shoebox to be used for fussy cut hexies, Bee blocks, and truly scrappy projects such as my Scrappy Charm Pincushions.

I never used to have a scrap box, I either tossed smaller items or donated them to a quilt guild that used them for stuffing pillows, etc.  But after meeting and befriending Amanda Jean, and then sewing at a table next to her, I started saving everything.  I even take and use other people’s scraps, now.  I think it’s catchy… so be careful.

So I’m curious, do you save scraps and if so, how do you organize them to make them “useable”?  Or, do you not bother to organize them, just throw them together in one big box or basket?

Check out the other WIP posts at Lee’s place.