that is my Ipad, I like to watch things like Bonnie Hunters quiltcam.
I AM sewing today, cleaning up components of a scrappy pile. I could never decide what to do with them, something extra, brilliant, amazing. So I'm just sewing them together :) that is the point I think.

Way to go, Kalama! It really does a lot of mental stamina to keep making decisions about what goes where, why to keep, where to donate, what to trash, what would work better here, etc. i am only good for about 90 minutes of that at a time. But lije you, I get easily excited over baby steps of progress! And really excited when I see a LOT of it! The before snd after shots are very mitivational. Kudoes!!

Creating order out of chaos.
 

There is a saying: "You manage what you measure". Well I haven't been keeping track of my accumulating fabric hoard until now.

I've been trying to refold all my 1 yard & larger pieces onto comic book boards (up to 6 yds) or bolts (over 6 yards). I'm folding under 1 yard pieces the same way I fold fat quarters. I've used almost 100 boards and haven't made much of a dent in my stash. Baby steps!

I've never measured my stash so am doing so now, labeling each as I refold. I'm pretty surprised so far. I didn't think my stash was more than about 150 yards maybe 200 at most. I am WAY off in my guesstimate. By a factor of 6 or 7, maybe more. Yikes! I need to sew more than I need to shop (Ha! except for many more comic book boards). : )

I know many of the members have dozens and dozens of times this amount - refolding all that would be daunting!

This is just a small sample of my progress. These two shelves currently hold 240 yards! I won't be organizing them on this shelf as it is too small for the boards to stand (only 9" when I need over 10"). It is over 85 boards (most 2 or more yards up to 6) & 48 half yard pieces. I really wouldn't have guessed it was that much in such a small space - hence my surprise. : )

Wish me luck! I'm looking forward to getting all my fabric measured & re-shelved.

Looking good, Notwendy.

Your comments are exactly why I haven't invested in comic boards. Fabric accumulation over the years sneaks up on you and then wow, "What am I going to do with all this?" Now trying to make sense of it all and cutting my sewing time short while doing so.

NotWendy: Congratulations on your progress!

I go though streaks of sorting by size and color. Sometimes I cut the strips to a certain size.

Right now, I am in a 'use up those 5" squares that were cut by the church group probably 7 years ago' stage. One side of my 6 foot banquet table is covered with the squares. LOL!

Notwendy--good for you! I love the look of all those happy, neatly folded fabrics. ANd I agree--you need to sew more and shop less! I'm curious, what is your reason for measuring every bit of it.

I cannot believe the accumulated mail, paperwork etc in 5 months! and of course, I need one piece of mail that is needed for something! so today organize, or throw away the mountain of paperwork, wow,5 months!!! unbelievable!
I do plan to sort more fabric and patterns, oh yeah patterns also need to get those sorted too. so my project for the day is clean up the paperwork, and fabric and patterns , yeah maybe that genealogy stuff too. well looks like I am going to be busy again...

I love the way notwendy has her stach. oh yeah, I am doing those tubs that someone mentioned, very nice, looks organized.

oh ladies one question. scraps from other projects, do you cut them up into the squares." bad me" I was thinking of throwing them away, but I am trying to do differently.

Thanks everyone. I will post more pictures as I progress. I'm also going to attempt putting them in color order. Not an easy task - as you can see I go for bright, multi-colored fabrics (I'm such a Magpie).

Zozee - the reason I am measuring (not scraps or things already in progress) is to give me an idea of how much fabric I actually have squirreled away in various places. Visually I wouldn't have ever thought just those two rows would add up to so much. It is an eye-opener that I really should shop my stash and stop buying fabric just to own it because it is pretty.

I also have a nice Ikea cabinet awaiting my newly folded fabrics - no more drawers where it is out of sight and out of mind. Now I'll know if I am using more than I'm buying. I'm not quite ready to join the fabric moratorium but wanted to at least have a reference point. : )

Notwendy, you will find that how easy it will be to shop the stash as well as the shop because you will know what you have and what you need.

on a different note, I cleaned out all my 'what did I bookmark this for?' computer book marks yesterday. I only ever used 4-5 in each category :)

Psycho, I'd be happy to take a priority box of scraps and reimburse the shipping. I quit buying fabric in 2001 and have lots of holes in my color stacks now.