Wordspress claims to have published this, but nobody got it, so I’m trying a workaround. I have left out some of the pictures hoping that will help. Computers!*%$***

What to do with the scraps that are really, really too small to sew into a quilt? Options include:

Put them in the compost pile. I haven’t tried this, but they are 100% cotton, so I think they should compost just fine. And most of us should be composting anyway, so why not!

I have a couple of friends who say they make dog beds for the animal shelter and stuff them with the tiny scraps. You might think that would take a while, but if it does so what, and I think I might be surprised with how fast the dog bed fills. I wasn’t sure about whether the shelters take these, but a friend in one of my guilds assures me that the shelters here not only take them, but wash them and re-use them. She says she makes the “shell” out of upholstery fabric, which I can often find at thrift shops for almost nothing, so the bed really wouldn’t cost much to make. If you’re interested, there are nice instructions at National Quilters Circle, here.

One of my quilt groups is making blocks by putting the tiny scraps on a fabric base and then sewing over them to hold them in place. They’re holding the scraps with glue (from the ubiquitous glue stick) until they sew. After the pieces are stitched down, the block is trimmed to size. They plan to piece these blocks together for a donation quilt.

I made one of these blocks (above) with the assistance of one of my grandsons. Instead of just stitching the fabric to the backing, I layered and quilted the block, then cut it to size as a resting pad for our crystal bell. The grandsons like to ring all the bells, and I thought this might remind them to put the crystal one down gently.

And then there is the actual confetti quilt option. These usually are art quilts, not meant to be washed. The tiny pieces are placed on a background fabric and the whole covered with mesh, such as tulle. Some people attach the tulle with a very light weight fusible, some rely on quilting over the tulle to hold everything in place. There’s an example here, with details on how it was done.

So what do you do with tiny scraps? Any other ideas?