I am getting ready to move all of mine and was wondering how other people organize their Quilting Books. At the present time I just have them in stacks, no particular order to them, but I am going to move them to a bookcase. I need to get my sewing room organized and cleaned. It is a disaster area.

G-Maw Wilda

I'll be keen to see responses. My quilting books / magazines are stacked in boxes, cupboards, on the floor, everywhere...I am sure they are multiplying :)

Mine are just grouped by subject - hand quilting, machine quilting, art quits, applique, celtic, paper piecing, and eventually just "leftovers" that didn't fit into any other group.

by subject(paper piecing, scrap quilts, fq quilts, etc)

By author, that way if I want E.Burns, I pick her, or who ever. Magazines are by chronological order and name, Fons and Porter are all together etc. And then I have a miscellaneous section for the odds and ends.

Mine are in no way organized at all. Unless you count "bedroom, bathroom, sewing room, kitchen..." All places you might find a quilting book or magazine around here. LOL***

Alphabetical by title for most. Baby quilt books separated. I'm a retired librarian.

That's how I do mine! :lol:

I tried organizing by author, title, subject (former librarian) but just gave up. Only have enough to fill two shelves. One shelf has books that I made a project from and the other has books I SHOULD make a project from.

Also have 4 binders full of hits, pic and directions to make even MORE quilts.

Computer has even more stuff. 22 pages of pics I've seen on the internet for quilts, 10 pages of table runner inspiration, pages for double wedding ring, etc.

Inspiration running rampant!

I had been wondering about this as well. Seems like most people are saying by subject. That makes sense. Mine are in a big jumble stacked on a shelf.

Oh, and how do you remember what you liked and where to find it? That's my biggest problem. I go to look for something and spend several hours having fun looking through the books. Not very efficent even though I have a good time. Should I keep some kind of index?

I organize by block type, technique, compendium. Block books are arranged from simple to complex- squares,triangles, diamonds, hex, polygons, stars, compass, mixed & Misc. Techniques are organized by quilting motifs, hand quilting, machine quilting, misc. The last category I sort are books that are compilations like block books or history of "*" books or mixed books with lots of photos of interest.

For finding things, I like to use sticky notes that I place so they stick out beyond the top edge of the book.

Mostly I use my library as a jumping off place for ideas so I'm not too concerned if I can't find something. If I liked something that much I would add it to my list of things I'd like to try when I get the opportunity. Otherwise, my feeling is that if I forgot it, it wasn't memorable enough to think about keeping.

Diana

I try to organize by technique, the author. The exception being quilt history. But usually when I am working on organizing, I find something interesting to look at and get distracted from the task. Then I just go sit down and read through them. Im still not organized.

by subject and then by author's last name. (I can't help it. I was a librarian in my previous life)

I do it by techniques, subjects, interest and author. All my color books are together, hand and machine stitching, applique, etc.

When I'm reading a new book, I keep a pad of multi colored sticky markers and try to use the same color for things of interest. Projects are red, techniques yellow, tips green or what ever. I've also seen others suggest keeping a sheet of paper on the front of magazines with the projects of interest listed or indicated if you copy the table of contents.

Mine are not nearly as organized as I'd like them to be. They are in my bookcases, on top of my dressers and on top of our bed headboard. I keep thinking I need to cull...

I only have 4 books for quilting. They always stay on the floor by my sewing machine.

They're supposed to be organized?

Mine are also organized by subject and category. Plus I have 20+ notebooks for patterns, techniques, quilt history and so forth that I've collected over the internet and magazines with patterns I wanted to keep. I use those plastic covers to keep them in. I am just one of those people that has to be organized or I go nuts. That's not to say I don't spend an unbelieveable amount of time trying to find something I'm looking for as organized as it is. I also use the post its for really special things so at least those are easier to find.

My books are in no order whatsoever, except for Eleanor Burns' books. They are all together. But, my magazines I've got separated by the kind of magazine, such as all the "Quilt" are together, "Love of Quilting", etc., and then I separate them by year and then by month, so if I want a particular one, I can find it. They are all in magazine holders bought at Office Depot. I used to keep a binder that held copies of the index page for each magazine with the ones I really liked highlighted. I had to quit doing that though because the binder got so cumbersome and I didn't want to start a Volume II. Now, I just keep them in the plastic magazine holders and put a small "sticky note" that sticks out above top of the page on the patterns I'm interested in.

Organize????????????????

Ditto.

I organize by purging the chaff. What's left behind is shelved as "Antiques" or "To Do."

I don't think I've ever kept more than 30 quilt books at a time. I used to have a massive library of non-fiction. Now I feel that's clutter and try to keep it real.

Pretty much by subject and of cours notebooks full of stuff I need to sift through. Added sewing so keeping that seperate. Mag's and patterns seperate too. Stickies which I mark on top for who I'm thinking its for etc. Oh boy do I have a lot of stickies sticking out !! A lot are just ones I want to make ! sew.......

My shelves are different heights so I just put them where they will fit...The titles of the books are all on the back so it isn't a problem to find the one I want.

My thoughts exactly! I am just thankful they are on a bookshelf; as opposed to the floor, counter, back of the toilet (which is the current location of my Jelly Roll Quilts book) I am in awe of those of you who categorize, alphabetize and all that other 'ize'. Wow.

By subject, then alphabetically.

I don't think it really matters, as long as you can find the book you are looking for. It should be whatever way works best for you.

I do according to authors , also types bought a really cute corner cupboard at garage sale that I put them in, love to be able to find them.

by year in marked 3 ring binders. you can buy plastic seperators that go in the binders then slip your magazines into them. i put the name of the company on a label and attach to spine of binder.(mccalls, fons and porter, etc).and the dates, (1997 to 2000, for instance). i find this is very organized and convenient as i have them on a shelf and can find at a glance what i am looking for.

That is how I try to keep mine organized. It doesn't always work when I go to file them back in the bookcase. ;)

Mine are kept on a bookshelf, the magazines in chronological order. The books in order of size! Large together and gradiating down to small.
Thats how this bookworm keeps all her books though :mrgreen:

Heather
In Australia

When I moved into my final sewing room, 15' x 24'. I thot I'd died and gone to heaven. My solution for books: I had a 24" x 24" wooden base cabinet 30" high from another project. had a space between the door and window that was just the right size. I started with the base and added a four shelf metal stand on top. My son fastened it to the wall so it wouldn't fall over. I started with my books all in order according to subject but they never stay that way. At least they are all in one location.

I have cabinets lining another wall. I keep all my magazine holders, notebooks etc. on top of these. They are 6' high so easy to reach. So far, it's worked for me if i would just stop buying more books.

Well they are organized if there are some together in the same general area.

Lets just say mine started out in a certain category, and then I get one out to look something up. When I put it back it usually just goes where there is space. I do have my magazines either stacked or in holders by date and what magazine it is. But I haven't added the new ones lately, so my bookshelf is in need of organization. I do keep them all on shelves at ready access.

I am always looking for more State Documentation books. Mostly they are together. The rest are everywhere in the house. The magazines are by brand and month and year on shelves in the upstairs hall.
I really intend to organize my sewing room, but when?

My daughter (near Williamsburg)bought a box of old quilting magazines and mailed them to me in 5 packages. There is a lot of reading and I have read them all twice. Sometimes I read, sometimes I sew.

I also keep the contents of my quilting library on the computer.

I am a librarian, too, and I go through my books at least once a year and "weed" the ones that I don't want or look at. I give them to the library book sale or pass them along to guild members. I try to confine myself to one shelf of books but they do spill out onto another one. I also loosely organize them by subject. I keep patterns in "Princeton files" and confine them to 3 which I keep near the books. I weed through those every year, too, and give the ones I don't want to the pattern library that the guild has and I schlep to/from meetings if no one borrows it.

My quilting books have little pieces of paper I used for bookmarks on the pages where I liked a particular quilt. Problem is, there are way to many bookmarks!

I have mine all in three ring binders and a label on the outside as to what is inside and the year. I recently went through all my books and gave away those that I knew I was not going to use any patterns from. Felt good to get rid of some. When a quilt is shown and it does not have my colors I really don't have a desire to make it. Is it just me or do others feel that way also.

If I have more than one book by an author, I keep those together. After that, it's by subject. I haven't figured out how to do the magazines yet as I don't have shelf space for them all... So at present they are stacked on the floor in front of the bookcase. Maybe one day I'll get totally organized.

[ Unless you count "bedroom, bathroom, sewing room, kitchen..." [/quote]

LOVE IT! Sounds like my house