Books, Books, and More Books
 

I am looking for a good way to organize my ever growing quilt books. What I have so far are all of the Eleanor Burns, Georgia Boonsteel, Thimbleberries, Charlene Jorgensen grouped together.

But do I want to put the rest in order by author or publisher or by catagory and what happens when they fall between 2 or more catagories.

And maybe I'm just trying to organize myself way too much. What's your suggestion?

I have mine in alphabetical order by title. It's easy to make sure I'm not buying a duplicate that way. I also have them listed in a Microsoft Word document so I can do a key word search if needed.

Good question. I have my Christmas ones grouped together, baby/children together. I have my fabric dying together. The books that are sampler type or a variety of blocks are all together...just kind of general. Then my brain kind of groups others together like the old Leisure Arts books as well as kinds like the Brandywine Designs types. They are in a cabinet...and who cares if I have to go through and look at the spines or covers of many books to find the right one. I love doing that. Important thing, I think, is to keep the books with the obvious themes grouped together...obvious themes being christmas, baby/kids, etc. Works well for me. If I am in a hurry and want to make sure a book is in the cabinet, I lay it flat until I get a chance to put it where I want it. Mostly it is up in my brain where I want things. I am a slob about most things house work wise but I like to have my books organized and my fabric folded!

Thanks for the idea. I did that just yesterday, purchased a duplicate book, that's what got me started on how to organize.

Thank you for helping me decide where to go from here. I liked your grouping ideas and laying some flat when unsure of where to be filed. Thanks.

That's a good idea of the list. I should have thought of it sooner 'cause that's what I did my CD's.

I have mine by topic, machine quilting, applique, finishing , general quilting, traditional, paper piecing, other non quilt related sewing books

That's what I used to do. It worked well for me. If you want to put them by categories decide on two or three and then alphabetize within. If you like to quilt by pattern, then by author works well. Good that you have them in Word so you can find them quickly, but as your collection grows, it might become more tedious to keep entering. Excel is often a better way to organize a growing list that you might want to sort often.

Love your avatar!!!!!

I need to do this myself.

I group mine like the library, alphabetical by author's last name. I like to have each author's books together rather than spread out.

Oh, what a smart quilter! Bless You

Ok, I guess I really do need to organize my books also, currently I just right down the title and author as I add them to my growing stash, you have all given me great ideas on how to get them all organized

As a librarian, I just have to drop my two pennies in :-) I organize my books (not using Dewey Decimal) by author's last name. Those without an author I put first, such as encyclopedias and year books. Once they are in alpha order by author, I alphabetize by title. That way all the Alex Anderson books are together. I do use Excel to keep track of them using the same system on page 1. But I've also copied and pasted the list to a second "workbook" and put them alpha order by title. (All you have to do is click on the title column and then A-Z. Let the computer expand the list and they will be in perfect order.) By the way, don't include "a, an, and the" when it's the first word in the title. Last note: include the price on the Excel page: you'll be able to keep track of what you're spending on books.

I need to work on my magazines next.

I have mine in plastic cases by name of book/craft mag and by month/yr it makes it easier to find. I am not ordering anymore because I have so many books I'll need a new house for them. I have crochet, knit, quilt,crafts. Good luck. Sue

I have over 100 books and my granddaughters came over one day and helped me sort them. We put them in bookcases and sorted them by last name of the author. In case of Better Homes...., I put them in the B's. My next job is to put them all on a computer so I don't buy any more duplicates. We travel quite a bit and I have over one dozen books to sell because I have two now.

Thanks for the great ideas everyone. I was going to put the magazines together by title. I think I am going to try to group them as Winer, Spring, Summer and Fall. In case I am looking for a particular "season" of quilt ideas. We will see how this goes. Again, Great ideas everyone.