Is getting rid of ALL your scraps a good thing?

I recently had that quandry. I kept thinking that it would be nice to get rid of ALL my scraps by using them, or letting other people have at it or just tossing them. They do seem to get old and stale at times. But just a few days ago, I was working on finishing a quilt I had made for a sample for a class and didn't finish. (Tennessee Waltz--done all out of my leftovers--except the black) I thought it would be good to go ahead and get it done. I should leave notes to myself on what I was thinking when I quit working on it, because it took me over an hour to figure out where I left off, what fabric I needed to finish cutting, etc! As it turns out, I must have cut what I had and then quit. My black was easy enough--I always have Kona cotton in black on the bolt, but it was the little brown dot on tan that I couldn't seem to find anywhere else. I needed just 3 more 9" blocks cut and didn't have anything left but scraps. I sewed them all together, end to end (they were the ends of the strips from when I cut the others) and was still short. After digging through all my stash (no wonder that closet is always a mess! ), I could NOT find any more. I thought, well, my last chance is my scrap bins and my neutrals IS overflowing...could I possibly find some in there? Now this fabric is OLD--at least 10 years old, I would venture to say. I kept digging and digging and fluffing up the scraps and lo and behold--I found ONE scrap--it was 9" x about 12"!!!! I sewed it to the end of the other scraps and by golly, I got my 3 9" squares. Another SERENDIPITY day!

That also got me to thinking--should my goal REALLY be to get rid of all the scraps? Or just keep them to a manageable size? Meaning, not overflowing the bin, like they are now? There is some benefit to having scrap bins........

1. great to dig through for applique projects

2. great for grandkids to go through and practice their cutting skills, playing with designs of their own

3. great for when you need just a little more of that fabric you used 4 years ago

4. great to make wonderful scrap quilts for "FREE", yes I know--it's not free, it still costs the same per yardage, but I somehow feel that these are 'bonus' quilts because I made the quilt that I intended to out of the fabric

5. great for testing blocks or designs and you don't want to use "REAL" fabric from the stash!

And so my thoughts are that it's okay to have scrap bins--just keep them manageable. If they get too full, start the scrap quilts again. More Heartstring blocks!

Here's how I sort my scraps:

1. Neutrals--whites, creams, tans

2. Blues and purples

3. Greens

4. Reds and pinks

5. Blacks, browns and some yellow

6. Brights (I keep these all together because they all play together so well!)

And I keep anything in there that is really less than 1/4 yard pieces. I have separate drawers for my cut strips (another story). If they get too small, I have a basket that I keep the small pieces to make more diamonds (which are currently my leader/ender project).

So, how do you sort and handle your scrap accumulation?