Beige and white are colors too, right?

remember my diamonds? 9 of these size diamonds sewn together into a clock of color?
All from tiny scraps a la improv?  if not, the link with pictures is CLICK HERE ! diamonds

I've done them all year for the rainbow scrap challenge. I need some setting diamonds to set the great big diamond of colored diamonds made of small diamonds made of tiny scraps...

So, here's the story...

One day I hear my husband very frustrated with the junk drawer.

(You know the junk drawer, the one in the kitchen that holds all the stuff that defies organization and has no "place" to live? it finds it's way into the junk drawer)

 When someone says where is a twist tie? or matches? or a skewer? it's likely in the junk drawer with a hammer, some nails, the plastic sliders you put under heavy furniture to move it, various old key chains, pens that are dry, old keys you have no idea to what, and lots of other stuff. What's in your junk drawer?

One day he pulled it open and Ka-boom! So he piled it in a laundry basket for me to sort thru.

I began putting "like with like" making lots of little piles on the counter. This went on for a while until suddenly I got a grip. I noticed I was looking for another rubber band to hold all the little flower powder packets that came with cut flowers and I didn't use.

Blink, blink.. wha??? I mean, I am a keeper but suddenly it occurred to me, I only needed maybe one or two packets not 20.

Insight! It takes space to store all the stuff you might need one day. It's easy to toss it in a drawer but not so easy to find anything. I began looking with new eyes, and got rid of about half the stuff which then left the drawer MERELY FULL. Not stuffed, but still full.

What if I looked at my craft supplies with these new eyes and insight?Might I be able to let things go???

Ha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Well at least I did the junk drawer. So I took my two scrap bins worth of beige and white scraps to bee where I could look through it and organize sizes and see if there was anything I could throw out.

One by one my bee mates came over, attracted by the enormous spilling out everywhere pile of scraps

I carefully laid strips the same length together, squares over here, triangles over there. People began helping. Then they said how pretty some were. I said "Oh yes, I love that one. I used it in "xyz quilt"

Keep!
They started their own piles that they thought I should throw away which I had to go through too.
Then they started discussing me as if I weren't there... "this has to be too small, let's throw it out! I will put it in the garbage so she can't pull it back out and keep it!" Huh?  Heyyyyyy

They just couldn't see the value in keeping small pieces. They use patterns and carefully cut  squares from yardage, all alike so it matches. They think 8th of a yard is scrap.

But I know... I know how valuable the small mix of tone and texture is to my quilts. You can't buy that. You CREATE that! I'm a happy piecer. I like to sew even really small pieces.

Anyway I went home that day with the bin MERELY FULL not overflowing. I felt very competent.

 Then I used those strips and small pieces to make 35 diamonds.
Happy happy me! I once made a winter quilt, one of my seasonal four, just this way with some brown thrown in for the scene.

I wanted to make one big quilt with these instead of using them to set my others.

And I still might.
Aren't they pretty? Even if they are just white and beige scraps? some with colors mixed in.

And the bin after it was all said and done? A very tidy one, too tidy, I'm a bit uncomfortable now...