PatPitter

I haven't sewn much in the last 5 years. Just started back on some baby quilts and a few other things. Most of my stuff has been stashed in the spare room along with lots of my son's "stuff". We both just kept avoiding that room. Some changes are happening at home that caused us to need the spare room as an official guest room. We started pulling stuff out. OH MY!

I forgot how many quilt books, magazines, patterns, gadgets, fabric and batting I had. I had recently been buying batting when I had a coupon. I didn't need to be doing that! I found a lot of batting I had truly forgotten about. What was I going to do with high loft batting? I keep staring at that package, thinking "What? Why did I buy high loft? Now, what do I do with it?" lol

I've got to get all this stuff organized so I can start working my way through quilts. Of course there are numerous tops that need to be quilted.

Tartan

You can conquer it! Just start on one project at a time and work your way through them. Anything you know you won't complete can go to the charity shops.

Nammie to 7

Remember the organizer shows of HGTV? Start 3 piles, one keep, one toss, and one give away. Go through one section at a time. When I get to the point of being overwhelmed I actually throw away that pile and take the give away to a Thrift store.

tessagin

Ditto! If you do this for even a 1/2 hour, it will help. May get you motivated. Get some clear containers for the keep pile. At least you will be able to see what you've got.

tlpa

I try to do this....I have a bin of "give away"...then I go back and look in it and think...oh...I could use that as backing fabric....it is tough

Iraxy

I have been keeping a toss pile and a donation pile. I have it in another room so that I do not go and pull stuff out. It is working for me. My sewing room is looking lots neater. I also toss all those tiny little itty bitty pieces that I used to keep. I am putting them in the donation pile to see if someone will use it for stuffing for a dog bed or something like that.

quiltjoey

I'm sure you will find a way. Just do better than me...

I just gave away a trash bag and a small bag full of scraps and wish I had them back! It's hard to let my fabrics go no matter how small the pieces are! LOL!

annievee

Oh, No, once something goes into black donation bag, I do not let myself have the option of looking in bag again- You know most of the time I can not remember what I put in bag-just hoping someone will put it to good use.

zozee

When I'm overwhelmed by fabric, I rate it on a scale of 1-10. If it's not at least a 7 --high enough to love or REALLY like--then out it goes. The freedom that goes with breathing room and rest for the eyes and nerves is well worth the parting of the ways.

It's tempting to say, "I could use this for such and such," but two questions: HAVE I ? AND WILL I in the next 3 months, honestly??? If the answer is no, get rid of it. Free up the real estate and treat yourself to some free space in your head and home.

I've never regretted getting rid of something, only hanging on.

jeanne49

I agree with the 3 pile option. That's the best way to go thru everything. I truly understand what you are going thru. My mother was a very avid seamtress. She didn't quilt, but she did make one top, one of those Lone Star quilts with Y seams (that was the first project in quilting. She only make the top, eventually after she passed I quilted it. She started a drunkards path, but I haven't had the courage to complete it. When she passed I had the pleasure of going thru all her stuff. She never threw out anything, raised during the depression, she reused as much of everything possible. I knew I would never be sewing clothing because I don't have the patience for laying out a pattern and altering it to fit me - she was great at that. So what I did was call her friend who sewed and she came over and took what she wanted - she especially wanted the really old patterns. I talked with ladies at my local sewing center and gave them a lot of the stuff, gave alot of the material, yarn, different items which could be used by other seniors to a senior center that holds 2 really big craft shows each year. They loved everything I gave them. It's a lot of work, but no one says you have to spend hours at a time working on it, even spending 30 min. to an hr. in the room, then going onto something else, - like laundry, etc., then going back for another 30 min, to an hour, in no time you will have those piles whittled down to a manageable level. Good luck.

I feel like zozee who said she never regretted getting rid of anything - neither do I. I had to clean out my mothers house when she passed and she never threw anything away - I found stuff that dated back 50 to 60 years. I loved my mother, but there was no way I could ever justify keeping all that stuff. You just have to say "NO MORE" and close your eyes when you throw something in the trash and never look back.