Good Evening Every1,

I hope that all is well with you & your families. I don't know if this is a subject that has been talked about, but here goes. I am trying to organize my quilt patterns on my zipdrives, but I am STUCK!! How do you catalgorize them? Especially specific patterns.. like Blossom Lane by Fons and Porter. Also, all all quilts made from strip sets or ... I AM TOTALLY LOST. I feel a migraine coming on. Time for the aleve. :lol: :lol: Thank you to every1 for your help. PLEASE, I am OPEN to any SUGGESTIONS.

Have a blessed week ahead.

debra


PS-Or should I just put them in a big 3 ring binder & just label them by their level of difficulty?? I am thinking that may be the way to go. Please let me know, whatcha think. Thank you all so very much. This is my FAVORITE QUILTING site. :lol: :lol:

the nice thing about having them on the computer.... you can repeat them as many times as you like. you can have folders by size, by season, by type [pieced, pp'd, applique, etc], and by color. the same pattern can fit in multiple categories.

I usually go by author. Elanor Burns, Kaye Wood, etc. after that, I go by technique...yet, it ain't easy but you have to do what works for you!

I file mine by several different ways depending on what the pattern is. i.e. by size of quilt (baby/lap/twin/queem/king/tablerunner/placemat/ etc...), by holidays (Halloween/Christmas etc...), and by type of quilting (log cabin/bargello/sampler etc...).

On my computer, I have the PDF files filed mostly by the size of the block, if I don't have that info, I file by lap, full, etc., Christmas is labeled separately, paper piecing is separate and sorted by size of the block. On my word docs, I have them sorted mainly by size of the blocks, paper piecing. I'm sure that there are many different, more efficient methods of sorting, but this works for me. I would try some of the methods and see what works best for you.

I put that stack over there.... and then I have a stack over here and then there is the stack on the bookcase top shelf. And wait there is the basket under the table. I know the pattern I look for will be the last one I find. :)

Consider numbering your patterns. Then create a spreadsheet. You can create a list with different variables. It will be easy to add new items and to delete patterns you get rid of. Once in a spreadsheet you can sort based on the author or size of quilt or method...it is endless. You could even list the name of the file for the ones you have stored digitally.

Important advise...have a backup of the digitally stored incase your hard drive dies.

I keep notebooks that I pick up for $1 or less and use vinyl sheet protectors for storing. Index tabs can be used to further categorize...Christmas, log cabin, etc. It works for me so far.

ain't that the truth lol

I have to try something like this.