For big projects, each one gets a separate folder on the computer to keep track of progress, for the rest, I always take pics of the fabrics I'm going to use and then pics of the top and pics of the finish.

Just recently I made a hard cover coffee table book of my quilts using Photobook when they had an 80% off sale and it turned out really nice and is a great way to keep a record of all the quilts I've ever made (That I have pictures of.) It was easy to do on line and shipped really quickly and I think with shipping I paid less than $35.00 all in (CDN)

Watson

I take photos and save patterns for my 6" blocks.

I have a photo file on my computer. But since most of my quilts are sewn for specific groups I don't keep photo's of those.

I consider myself lucky if I remember to take a picture. LOL

I always take pictures of my quilting projects. For Christmas one year my daughter made me a book of all my projects. Love it. When I get enough for another book I'll put in on my Christmas list again.

Thanks to you all for your help. I've taken quite a few notes to help move forward with this idea. For the way my mind works, I need to work logically towards improving, which means looking at this like a class and the notebook will in a sense be my textbook. I'm going to include a section just for notes. I'm constantly coming along great little tidbits that I want to remember but have no place to keep them. My mind leaks so I need a hard copy.

I ordered prints of my first 3 projects (that's all I've done) so when they are ready I'll get started on this notebook. I bought a heavy duty sketchbook so it will hold up to any pictures or fabric scraps I want to add.

I think the main reason I want to do this is because I feel so helpless while at work on my quilts. What I don't know could fill a ocean. So this notebook will act as my life vest, or at least I hope so.

Sounds like a great idea, Stephanie!

Watson

I used to be much better at documenting my quilts than I am now. I have two large thick scrapbooks that show most of my work from about 1985-2010 or so, before and after that I wasn't so good. One of the things I found was that pictures never really showed the colors well, so I would make a miniature block or at least sew a strip of the various main fabrics for my "planned" quilts. They go into those scrap books with the clear static pages just fine. The scrap and charmed quilts don't usually get that treatment.

I don't label my quilts either, I intend them to be use quilts and not heirloom quilts. I will for special occasions (like weddings or whatever) put on a label but it's rare. I should do better.

I keep a lot of stuff, all of it helps remind me of projects I've otherwise already forgotten. Each time I make a quilting pattern for example even though the likelihood is close to zero that I will use it again, I stick it into my drawer I have for that sort of thing. I typically do work up my designs in Electric Quilt and I print out pictures of the finished block and/or finished quilt. I have a box full of that stuff. I'll also write notes to myself about what went well or what I would do differently next time if there ever is a next time. Because of my vision issues I'll often make various templates or what I call "snubs" to help with my trimming. When I make them out of the clear plastic grid material I keep them and try to reuse between projects. I'm probably going to clear most of those out though. The "snubs" are usually used when I have to trim off odd corners or whatever, when I don't have to see through them I like to use the little cardboard pieces that fat quarters are often wrapped around. Those I can use and throw out freely and they are thick enough to provide an edge for the ruler.

In the past year I've started taking pictures again and storing them on a zip drive, I've had too many computers fail over the years losing too much data. Unfortunately I need to find a couple of those drives and put them on one specific one, also it's a minor pain transferring them from the camera to the zip drive, but I'm getting better at that. Due to my vision issues, camera photos aren't the best way for me to go and I don't take very good pictures. I don't have a smart phone (don't see well enough to be worthwhile) even though my old school flip phone does have a camera.

Watson: Thank you for the idea of getting a book made. There are several places that will let you download from the cloud and make a book, never thought to use my quilt photos! What a great idea!!!

I take a picture of everything I make either with my camera or my phone whichever is handy at the moment. I do not keep notes on all the details, but I do get a picture. I also keep an excel spreadsheet with date, pattern, who got it. That spreadsheet is a bit behind right now, but with the picture I can recover the exact date it was completed and hope my memory is "on" that day so I can remember the other stuff.