I think I have seen this somewhere about keeping records of your quilts. I’m going to start a binder of all my quilts. In it I’m going to put any hand or computer drawings, swatches of material, notes and thoughts, pictures, anything that goes on while planning or making it. If I had something like this from my grandmother or g-grandmother I would treasure it! Maybe someday one of mine will.

Not only that but if one is stolen or misplaced you have information on it.

Like so many people I end up giving them all away and may not see them again.

It's a good idea!

I have a quilt journal.... with a printed picture of the quilt and my notes on how it was done, any techniques I picked up, mistakes, who it was for, date started and finished, etc.

I started it because I found I was forgetting quilts I'd made and given away, and because I wanted a record of the "story" behind some of the more special ones.

Great Idea - this could turn into another hobby ~ scrapbooking!! lol


Piedmont Quilter

Oh no! I don't need another hobby! :shock:

What a great idea. I need to start one.

I keep a binder of everything quilting. It's a quilt planner, an idea book, my shopping lists, anything and everything to do with our quilting addiction.

A quilt is in the book from conception to finish. I've got quilts that haven't even been started, quilts that are half way finished waiting for more inspiration, swatches of fabric for the quilt.

It's really handy when you live 50 miles from the closest shop and you happen on a LQS. We have an old Bernina bag that stays by the door and when we leave to go off somewhere it gets thrown in the Jeep. It really helps keep you on track.

I have one also, now the hard part since I started quilting 19 years ago I am trying to get the receipents to take pictures of the quilts to add to my log. So far so good. A great idea to pass down or keep track for the future generations.

I've seen "quilt journal" I just didn't connect it to something I would actually want to do. :lol: It sounded like a diary to me.

Now a binder with pockets and fabric and computer printouts, articles and pictures, that is something I would like to do.

I'll get a BIG binder at work today. They are all over the place and sometimes there are emails sent out for people to take them. I'll just have to walk the floors (7 stories) and look around. I'm usually all over the building every day anyway, that's how I get my exercise. I administer the telephone and voicemail systems and since there are telephones everywhere to fix, install, etc...

Oh my gosh, Cookn, you sound so much like me....is that good? lol!
I keep records of everything, pics, and I have a special nylon tote, strong enough to hold my books, notebooks with paper, graph paper, pens, etc. hangs on my dining r. chair, to snatch up, the minute i am going more than 8 miles from home. I'm like a smoker, can't be gone without my addiction paraphenalia!!! Away from home...I study, floor tiles, wall paper, magazines, ads, packaging,...inspirations for quilt blocks or color combo's are everywhere...and if I don't draw or write down, right then,...I would not remember later. :P

I haven't been quilting that long, but I found that I needed a better idea of how much money I had in a project. I made my own "expense report form" with lines for everything from the pattern or book, right down to the notions. I keep receipts in an envelope stapled to the back of the form, and keep all the forms in a folder. I may never get to the point of having a quilt appraised, but if/when that happens, my records should help.

This is a very dangerous idea--if my husband EVER found out how much I really spend on quilting----well, let's just say, he is better off kept in the dark, for now. :lol:

Quiltncrazy,

One thing I do for color combos is to pick up paint swatches at Home Depot or Lowe's. They are free and often contain many colors of the same family. It makes it so easy to visualize what goes with what and see different tints. Then all I have to do is find the color value I want and go from there. I tend to go with bright vibrant colors and my Lovely Lady goes for more traditional combinations. We compliment each other quite well. I'm way left of center and Linda is much more balanced and she enjoys my sick and twisted sense of humor.

We only have two addictions quilting and food, and we don't keep track of expenses.

So true, so true!!!! If my DH knew how much dough I spent on fabrics, he would have a conniption! Right now he thinks my hobby is making something from nothing. Hah!

:D For the longest time, I would not buy fabric less than one yard. One time I needed just a sliver, and DH (who is my staunchest supporter) said in a bewildered voice: I didn't know you could buy less than a yard?

Fortunately, I can counter the "how many sewing machine does one woman need?" with "how many saws does one man need?" lol

I was too embarrassed to say, until I read your reply...I have two spiral notebooks, with every receipt since 2005....on second book, and up to page 233 in that one. Has a description of fabric, amount, date, and if an * it means, purchases were made on a day I had an appointment.
Why? I don't know, except I wanted to see how much went into projects. All my fabrics have a piece of masking tape on selvedge with info, that will take me to page in one of those two books, to record what project fabric went into....and how much, in case of leftovers. Compulsive, but I have gotten better. It's also a great blackmail tool, lol, but hubby goes in cave once in a while, and he knows I have fabric and tools, up to ceiling, wall to wall, so, ain't fooling nobody :wink:

whoa, you'll read my second reply, before you see this one...we really do have a lot in common, Cookn. I use the paint cards too. In fact, took some to my daughter, bc she wants her quilt to be a 'certain' color of what she was calling fuschia.
When she saw fuschia paint card, "no, it's a little darker than that",...ends up, 1 - about the same color she picked for her daughter's quilt, and 2 - I got a what I call a tonal (?), differernt shades in that realm, so there's bound to be the right shade in there.
I love this color also, so will end up making 3 quilts, eventually, with different themes, but not all that far apart.
Linda sounds like a good fit for you. Opposites and all that. Glad you guys agree, on monetary stuff. Makes for a much happier relationship, when you don't have all that in the way. Don't think we ever type-talked before, nice meeting you Cookn. You seem, LOL, like an interesting person, to me. :lol: :lol: :lol:

LOL, I got my hubby dead to rights, about his workshop for sure. He has a lot of money in it! Lots of creepy crawlies too, so I don't go in his, "MAN CAVE"...he doesn't call it that, but he calls mine a cave...his is more like...enter at your own (neck) risk! At least you can walk around my tables, etc. :D

For my birthday a couple yrs. ago, my sister (who is a scrapbooker) gave me a scrap book. She had decorated the front beautifully and gave me paper and embellishments to do my quilt scrapbook. I had a wonderful time taking pictures of all my quilts in different settings, then choosing which I wanted to use. I also took pictures of just special parts of the quilt, such as a flower or a special block and cropped or enlarged them, then cut them out for embellishing. Of course, there was also a place to journal about the quilt on each page. I love looking at it and just keep adding as my quilts get done. I'm not a scrap booker and haven't done one since, but had a ball doing this one.

Here's the one I have been looking at getting ....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.alwaysquilting.com.au/ThreadsOnline/images/Journal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.alwaysquilting.com.au/Thr...I-Ez2Y7HfWfimM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dquilt%2Bjournal%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den

Wow, that sounds like such a neat idea. I am always drawing quilt ideas, etc., so with all my info, why not pretty it up a little? Will be a nice keepsake for daughters or granddaughters, down the road. :D

I think it will be a nice keepsake for my granddaughter. Quilts may get passed around, but someone will have a book of all the quilts that I've done. Only downside is, that it cost me a fortune in ink for my printer. I just kept getting more and more ideas. Besides taking a picture of the whole quilt hanging, I took some of them in natural states, such as over a railing by the flower garden, on a bed; thrown over a chair, etc. I also took pictures of, say, a flower in the quilt, or a bird, etc.; then cut just the flower or bird out and used it to embellish.

I keep pictures in a photo book. I've had to go back & put names on them and when I finished them. I was only good at taking pictues. I don't keep reciepts on how much I've spent. Not something I'd want to know! :oops: I try to buy at least 3 yds of fabric I like. Esp. if I don't know what pattern I'm going to use it in. :roll:

i have no idea how much all those pages would add up to. Some pages only have a few remnants. Except for a few, most pages only have one receipt, bc I wanted to leave room for notes, but have started another notebook with info on each project, so they are really just records of expenditures. whew! I can only guess the total, though! I have told one daughter about it, and told her to burn it, if anything happens to me. Lol, isn't that dumb? I wouldn't be here, anyway! The things us, farm-ers do!
(funny farm-ers :wink:)

I have a large three-ring binder with plastic holders in which I place fabric samples, notes, pictures and sometimes the pattern.

The plastic folder is big enough to hold a journal page which I made up.
I can't provide a copy because it is a composite of many different ideas, some of which are copyrighted.

The journal page is printed on acid-free cardstock and I use an archival safe pen. You can purchase several archival safe plastic holders for less that five dollars.

Since I just started documenting at the beginning of this year, I have no idea of how many quilts I have made as gifts ;-)

As far as printing digital photos, a well-know national drugstore chain (Walgreens) occasionally advertises specials for 4 by 6 inch of 50 prints for five dollars. Check your local inserts in this weekend's papers and you will see the very ad. They might even have it (the code) on their website beginning tomorrow.

Resourcefulness means more $ for your hobby!!!