RedGarnet222

No planner, but I keep all of my projects I planned to make, gathered fabrics and patterns together to grab and work on together. Like a kit, I suppose. That keeps me organized enough to keep on trucking with projects I have everything for. When the snow begins to fall, I am set.
I also have a plastic bin with tops and backing stored together for those days when I want to sit and quilt. I have a large amount of different sized battings stored for them in the spare bedroom closet.

Sync

I use an excel spreadsheet. One column has the name of each project (yes there are many) then the next shows at what stage that project is in - top finished, number of blocks done, center ready, etc. the next column is for quilting - to be hand quilted or sent to my longarmer, and of course I have a column that shows when the project was started - finished and of course who it goes to when finished. Along with the fact that I keep each project in its own basket, this has kept me on track ........ sort of

juliasb

I used a planner/organizer for awhile but it did not always serve the purpose so I went back to just photographing my quilts and other quilting projects. I can't even tell you where it is right now.

entangled

Oooh, great topic! And I love reading about everyone's different styles.

Those planners are so cute but I know I won't use one consistently so I admire from afar (and spend my stationary $ on fountain pens, haha). Like Synch, I keep a spreadsheet. My fields are start date, end date, name (what I call it), pattern, size, brief notes on colors/fabrics/quilt design -- then the remaining columns are a progress checklist. I think it's fabric chosen, piecing, assembling, basting, quilting, labeling + binding.

Deeper details for each go on paper in the project bin. When the quilt is done, those papers go in a folder of finished notes in case I need to reference them later.

Theodora

No, no,no! I just see what looks like fun to do for the day when I go in my sewing room! I make dozens of quilts a year, some large bed-sized, many lap-sized for charity, a few wall-hangings, some placemats & totes, etc. Quilting is not a job here.

Barb in Louisiana

I use a spreadsheet showing status of UFO's and one for kits that I have bought that are ready to sew. Both lists are too long. The mistake I have made is I haven't said where the UFO's are. When I find one, I work on it. My husband, in a very bad moment, helped clean up my sewing room, without my knowledge, and separated the fabrics and the half finished projects. He didn't understand that the project on top of 20 fabrics in a box went together. He took all the fabrics out of the boxes and put them anywhere he could. I still haven't figured out what he did with the patterns. I hate to say it, but I ended up crying. I told him....NEVER again. You leave my stuff ALONE!!! One day I am going to give up and just make a bunch of baby quilts!

MicheleC

I like having a record of what I have finished and what I’m working on. It helps me to stay focused and not end up with too many WIPs or UFOs. I use a project sheet template I found for free online for each one and I keep them in a binder. I don’t keep up with them rigidly. I have finished five quilts since July and just today I updated the project sheets. I take photos of everything but none are printed. Some day I might put photos with each sheet but for now I’m okay with just having the digital photos. I also have a list (template downloaded from the same source) of my current works in progress to reference at a glance. As for future projects, I have a list of ideas and a couple of notebooks in which I sketch and brainstorm.

I think whether or not you keep a planner is a very personal thing. So is what kind of planner works for you.

copycat

Yes, Please...Sherri McConnell gives a sneek peek of her planner on her utube channel and her blog. I agree with you that its cute. I will stay tuned to see what you think of it when it arrives. Thank you!

jmoore

DH gifted me a beautiful Quilt Planner for Christmas a couple of years ago...sadly, I did not use it as it was intended. I still have it because it has some wonderful block patterns in it but as SusieQOH posted, it is just collecting dust.

pbraun

Since I started quilting late, I decided to keep track of what I do. Using Word, I set up a chart that lists the date started (or when I buy a kit), name of project(ie Tori's t-shirt quilt), where I started (LQS class or home), notes and finished dates. When we were ordered to shelter at home, I used it to see what I started and what I wanted to work on. Before I started making masks I did several small projects. Now I am finishing more challenging projects that include ruler work, escaping flowers, and a QAYG flannel quilt for our deck. And currently, back to masks as my adult children see no reason to buy masks. Instead they send me sport fabric. This works well as I can print the chart and add it to my notebook of methods and fill in by hand OR just keep in on my desk top. AND I didn't spend a lot of $$ on cute calendars etc.