I am new to this forum and it appears it's not visited as often as many others. But if a quilter happens by and finds this message it may help their sewing organization and make them more productive. I few of years ago I came across Joan Ford's book Cut the Scraps. The message of this book is simple: Most quilters have a fabric stash but also boxes, bags and baskets of scraps. And we don't really use them. Joan's method is to cut all scraps into squares. The size of each square is critical and worth the price of the book! Here they are -- just three sizes: 2", 3.5" and 5". These sizes all 'play together' well. Three 2" squares fit with a 5" square; the 3.5" plus two 2" squares also fit with a 5"; a 9-patch of 2" squares becomes a 5" square. Working through TV time I made my way through all of my scraps. Three plastic shoe boxes now house the squares. Here are my three boxes...

This is a baby quilt, the top of which I made completely from my scrap boxes. I had only a small number of ducks but by adding coordinating colors I stretched them to make a cute baby quilt. Notice how the three sizes were mixed to build the pattern:

I don't cut my up my long strips since they are useful for sashing. They are easy to store on the back of my sewing room door on an old pants hanger -- the kind you need three hands to use. Bad for pants but great for strips. Since these strips are in view when I sew there's actually a chance I will use them.

I hope this helps any of you who want to get a handle on organizing your scraps. This method certainly made my quilting more fun. I enjoy the challenge to put those squares to good use. 'Shopping' in my scraps boxes has been the beginning of many Quilts for Kids quilts.