mjpEncinitas

Thanks you, This has been very helpful.

Jennifer23 I downloaded the pages from AQSblog. This is perfect for what I hoped to start with. Much cheaper than the $40 for the calendar. I'm going to make up pages for two of the projects. I think this will help me think of anything I haven't remembered for these projects.
luvspaper quiltingbuddy

I have a little notebook I use right now to jot down ideas in but its too little. I like the idea of graph paper and an artists notebook. GEMRM I'm using that as a to do list right now but it would be good to put the UFOs in there also. Frankly with my menopausal brain my memory needs all the help it can get.

QuiltE So many great ideas. Your post was very very helpful. I especially love the log notebook by the machine. So many times I wish I remembered what tensions and needle I used with specific threads and fabrics. This is something I will implement. Fortunately my sewing room is relatively clutter free due to visitors coming for the holidays. I have UFOs in plastic bags with zippers. I"m going to make up specific project bags for the three projects I have this January.

I do have a not very organized notebook with patterns and applique patterns of the quilts I've done. This has been very helpful and I've gone back and reused applique patterns and they've been relatively easy to find. Has saved me a lot of time with little effort.


Love your attitude popover It's been my attitude 90% of the time. I tell people you'll get em when I'm done. but now with these three things I'd like to do in January I hope a little time spent up front will allow me to do all three without being stressed. We'll see.

Thanks folks. I'll update you at the end of the month.





The three projects I have are:


1. Landscape quilt for a How to FMQ landscapes workshop I am attending at Road to CA. I have a backup. A friend of mine gave me a preprinted sea/sailboat/sky fabric that will work for this workshop. I promised to quilt it for her anyway. My husband decided he was intrigued with painting on fabric. He is going to paint some fabric for a second landscape quilt that we designed and I'll sew his pieces on with a few of my regular fabric and have a 2nd option. HOw's that for delegating? and its nice to have a project we are both involved in. Jan 20

2. Cut up many 5" squares for rbweise's I spy swap Jan 20

3. This is the biggie. I'm entering a quilt to be considered for a museum. I've had the idea for this very nontraditional quilt for a long time and the museum topic actually dovetails beautifully with my idea. I think I'm going to go for it. But I do need to be organized to get all three of these done. Jan 28 If this one doesn't get done I'll be disappointed but it'll just give me more time to implement the idea.

Thanks everyone. It's fun hearing everyone's organizational ideas.

Wrylymax

I too organize by containers and typically have 5-6 I select from depending on what I feel like sewing. It helps me from getting projects mixed, especially the scrappys.

I do keep track of what I'm working on via Pinterest. I have 3 boards from my stuff: one is My Quilts for finished projects, one is Quilts in Progress so I can see what projects are incomplete and what needs to be done next, and one is Quilts on Deck for those I'm considering next. I also have a basket on my sewing table with patterns that have caught my eye and I want to sew.

Keeping a list on paper didn't work for me. Now, if I was sewing for others, I'd probably make something more formal.

QuiltE

MJPEncinitas ... Glad that some of my ramble was helpful to you! You could set up forms for a log book too, but for me, it works to keep it simple. Some projects take up more than one page. Some only part of a page. But it is all there and easy for me to refer back in history!

Your three projects will keep you busy. Good for you, for working on it with your husband ... and already witha back up plan. #2 should be easy enough .... delegate all that cutting to your DH! There you are, it's all simplified down now to #3 for you to focus on and you have me totally intrigued as to what you are going to be doing!

Good Luck!

mjpEncinitas

OOHWrylymax I like the idea of using pinterest to organize. I like to peruse pinterest and have a my quilts section already. I could make a private works in progress section for the ones I'm doing now.

I'm glad to hear that lots of other folks have 5 or 6 projects going on at once. I could never be the quilter that starts one projects and doesn't work on anything else until the first project is finished. I love having little bits of quilting projects available for when I need a break.

jmoore

My DH just gifted me the Quilters Planner for Christmas and I plan on using it faithfully. I own two businesses, one is a specialty food wine store with a bakery & deli...the other is a women's apparel store. I will use my new planner as a daily guide of things "to do" for work, track my employees' birthdays and also trade shows and appointments. I am hoping to get my DH's money's worth out of his thoughtful gift.

I will be using it for quilting too...I somehow got roped into being an Area Rep for midcoast Maine quilting guilds which then reports to the Maine Guild so I will be visititing other chapters from time to time. And then there are my own projects... LOL

popover

My quilting is not a job, its a hobby to please and relax ME. There are no deadlines, therefore no reason to be so organized. As long as the sewing room is tidy enough I can find things, its good enough. All that time spent on "organizing" just disrupts the creative flow. YOU organize. I will be quilting.

Geri B

Phew! Just read all those thoroughly brilliant organizing ideas/accomplishments and reminded me of my life before retirement! Bad enough I have to keep house/bills, etc., organized, my quilting is my escape from all that and place for me to unwind. Granted, it's not someplace I have to shovel thru, I can find most things, most of the time, but it's not where I could have a formal tea, either! Hmm, maybe that's why I have UFOs. But it's my "quiet" place, and I don't share it with anyone!- only child syndrome.

popover

AMEN SISTA! I'm retired and its MY space. I am NOT going to make it into another job!

toverly

That's a little intense for me. I use Mead spiral notebooks with lined paper on the front and quad grid paper on the back of each sheet. They are about half the size of a normal spiral notebook and have yellow paper. I made a cloth cover for it and go thru one notebook about every 8 months. It's great to look back on the year for ideas in the past that I wasn't quite ready for but am ready to do now.

Pam S

Thanks Jennifer23. The AQS pages should be really helpful for tracking all my WIPs.