Taming The Scraps

A couple of years ago I began to use a scrap saver system described by Bonnie Hunter here.
It did help to bring some order from the chaos of all the extra bits and pieces left over from each project. That is, anything short of yardage, 1/4 yd. pieces and less that can be cut into a series of strips for future scrap quilts.
Then yesterday on the MQP group [Machine Quilting Professionals] Cindy Roth of Longarm University introduced us to a new website she has developed called "Scrap Slayer"!
Her method starts out the same as Bonnie Hunter's but instead of tossing strips into drawers she forms them into "jelly rolls", now why didn't I think of that?! Brilliant, you simply wind all the strips onto a straw, and they store neatly and compactly instead of crumpled and disorderly!
One drawer went from this.........

to this! WOW.

Now I must confess that I did remove some scraps I decided I will not likely use, 

this gallon bag will go to my very scrappy friend BJ, who never saw a scrap she didn't love! My new rule is that no strip less than 12" will be saved, that will eliminate a lot of stress for me - and pass it along to BJ, LOL.

There was enough of this fabric below to make a roll by itself, and I cut it 2.5" wide just perfect for a binding.

There always seem to be a lot of pink scraps so they are wound on pink- only rolls, ready for the next baby girl quilt.

After a search through kitchen cabinets, no straws were to be found so when DH was going to Big Lots yesterday I asked him to see if they had any straws for my jelly rolls project,

and this is what he brought me, 100 x 20" straws, a life-time supply for me and all my quilting friends!

And all for only $3, a bargain, right? You can get at least half a dozen jelly rolls from each straw, you just snip off what you don't need.

Now that my scraps are so organized I am ready for the next scrappy quilt, bring it on!

There are still a lot of extra triangles in the drawer, anyone know of a system for getting those into order?!

After a gym workout, it was time to pick up young Matthew,

who fell asleep before I could get the 5 miles home from preschool, but GF managed to get him out of the car-seat and upstairs into his bed without waking him and he slept about two hours.

Taking advantage of this brief time I made banana bread and a new batch of chocolate chip gluten free cookies for the boy.

A productive day and it's only 5:30p.m.

Since we went gluten free for Matthew I have been experimenting with recipes especially for bread and cookies. The store bought are either bland or odd tasting, gritty and nutritionally poor.

We also try to keep Matthew away from dairy as much as possible, this requires some trial and error.

The best cookie recipe so far is one I adapted from a regular recipe, as follows: 

Gluten free Cookies- Preheat oven to 375 degrees

4ozs. coconut oil at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder-I use aluminum free

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1.25 cups regular rolled oats, not instant

1 cup gluten free flour, I prefer King Arthur brand

1/4 cup white choc. chips

1/4 cup semi sweet choc. chips

Method

Beat coconut oil, sugars, bak.powder, bak.soda and salt, then beat in egg and vanilla. This sounds an odd method but it works!

In a blender process the oats and the white choc. chips till the oats are finely ground.

To the egg/oil mix add oat mixture, flour and ss. choc. chips and stir just until combined.

Drop by tablespoonsful 2" apart onto greased/oiled cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes until cookies are just beginning to brown at the edges. Cool on sheet for a few minutes then move to cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen, and doubles well for freezing.

Next I need to experiment substituting stevia for some of the sugar-I like Agave syrup but I am afraid of what all that liquid would do to the recipe.