What are we organizing today 2019
 

Hey Y’all,
Since we’re in a new year I thought I’d start a new thread. No organizing for me today since it was a barn day, but tomorrow I will work on time organization.

In mid December I started a notebook with a to do list for my studio and it was really helpful. I listed the projects that I needed to finish and the date each was due. Then I listed each task needed to complete the project and crossed them out with a yellow highlighter when done. Using the list, I was able to walk into my studio and get to work rather than spending time looking at all the piles and trying to decide what to tackle and getting overwhelmed. It was especially useful on those days when I only had a small amount of time to spend in the studio since I can quickly run down the list and find some small task to complete- thus keeping the projects moving along and lessening the feeling of being overwhelmed.

I’m going to continue that for 2019. Tomorrow I am going to make a list of the quilt shows I want to enter and organize it by entry due date. I’ll put that list on page 1 of my 2019 studio to do notebook. Page 2 will be a list of UFOs and also WIPs that have specific due dates (like birthdays and gallery shows). Following those lists will be my pages for each month.

has anyone else tried this method to help organize their studio time?

Rob

Rob, it sounds like you’re off to a good start! I have not tried anything like this. The closest I came was listing the colors I mixed to tie-dye some yarn, & even that fell off after a while. I have listed quilts I want to make & those I’ve finished. That’s about the limit to my organizational skills.

I broke down and invested in a quilting planner. It should be here tomorrow. I’m excited for it to get here so I can sit down and organize my wip and ufo’s and come up with a plan to keep things moving forward.

Nothing too organized for me. I'd spend way too much time in just making lists. I'm almost finished with a quilt; I made a short list today of what I want to work on next. I have a college graduation quilt for my grandson due in May. I have a UFO I want to finish putting together (no quilting on that yet) and the pillow cover for my February Kimberbell. I should have time to do these last two before the graduation quilt. I have several UFOs for finish after that. Then there are lots of things I want to do. I'll decide on those in May.

My focus for 2019 will be small projects and wall hangings for my own use. I have seasonal embroidery designs and want to make something for each month.

No babies or weddings on the radar so no time pressures. I am also venturing into some paper and card projects for 2019 which will be fun too.

Thanks Rob for starting this thread.

Last year I made lists for the following things:

yardage used, donated: I did a great job keeping track in this category.
yardage purchased: I am missing a receipt that has my biggest purchase so this one didn't get completed yet.
UFO's: finished 1 of 2
Wips: I finished some; started new ones and added them
BOM/BOW: I did pretty well recording which weeks/months I completed for the first 9 months. So fairly successful.

I will make similar lists again this year. Unfortunately, a few WIPS will probably be added to the UFO group as their year anniversary approaches.

Although I am a retired teacher, I go through periods of being a very, very busy substitute teacher. I just need to learn to say no. LOL!

On a different organizing note, I am using your idea Rob for trying to purge something every day. I am, however, just trying to get to 365 items tossed, donated, or recycled for anything in the house this year. I decided I would count out 365 buttons from my DMIL and sort them by putting one button in it's color bin each time I get rid of something. I have pretty loose rules: A large garbage bag of shredding delivered to the pet shelter; a box into recycling that has been hanging around for at least 6 months, individual pieces of plastic food storage, etc will each be one button. At least I will have visual progress this way along with some buttons sorted by color.

I know l have 2 new quilt tops that I will start this year. One is a BOM through a LQS and the other is a BOW through a die cutter group.

Also, I will continue sorting through scraps and using strips in strip blocks.

Connie, it’s a good idea to list fabric used in projects. I think I’ll start that with this Unwind quilt I’m working on. I’ll also list any new fabric I bought to complete a project. I should try to add prices as well. It should help me stay on the Moratorium Wagon, since I fell off today to get backing for my current quilt.

Today worked in the office most of the day...treated myself to sewtime. I am participating in a small mystery quilt and pulled out fabrics to use for it...a country themed quilt for Christmas is my color scheme. Got 2 blocks cut...more if I wouldn't have watched a college BB game...and yes they won!

In my quest to get scraps under control...I pulled out a bunch of less than a FQ scraps, starched them and will trim them down when I have 10-20-30 minutes. These are from the brights scrap bin.

Rob, thank you for starting this year’s thread. Even though my sewing room stays pretty organized I do find great ideas and motivation here as to staying on track with projects.

PamelaOry, I think you’ll like the Quilt Planner. It contains some great pages/sections to log your projects. I still use mine from two years ago...I should have asked for a new one for Christmas.

Connie, I think I will adopt your idea of logging fabric purchases, usage and donations. I’m sure it will be an eye opener for me. Although I don’t have a large stash by any means, I am going to make it a goal this year to use as much as I can from it, especially that which I have been looking at for a couple of years...or donate it.

This year I AM going to clean up my studio and keep it that way--one project at a time! I got waylaid last year and just have a lot of stuff laying out that needs to be put away, then I got sick in Oct. and am finally feeling better so I need to clean. Wish me luck. Then after that finish quilting several tops--then I can start something new.

This week I'm taking all my scraps out of two tall laundry hampers and cutting them into 1 1/2" strips to make mini quilts and or strip quilts. It's taking forever as they have to be ironed before cutting. Then I will separate them by color and store in see thru drawers. Will make my mini quilt making so much faster.

I am a list maker! Two years ago I joined a “slash your stash” club and the #1 best thing that happened was I got organized. Now I really love to be in my sewing room. I have used a lot of fabrics I have had for a while and I have donated those I will probably never use. January is my donation month and I make quilts from my scraps. I have been making 2 1/2” strips from leftover and I now do that when I have completed the quilt. I am not overwhelmed like years past. Happy sewing here.��

May I suggest a spritz of starch before you press? (I make my own 1:2 ratio with Sta-Flo) and let it dry before you press. They can dry while you are color sorting others. Starch helps when working with the smaller pieces. I place the scraps on a large plastic lid...think tote size..and sprtiz away. Any overspray is soaked in on spots you may have iniitially missed. I place the lid near a heat run to help speed up the drying.

I also sort out wof pieces that would work perfect for a mini border and save them separately in a labeled zip lock bag...pieces that are 6" wof or so in basic colors are likely candidates..or a piece that you really like and hate to chop up into smaller pieces.

Oh I see delightful log cabins...4P and 9P's coming out of your bins!

Today I sorted through some ‘stuff’ I’ve saved for no apparent reason. Some were things I thought I might use in scrapbooking, but are really just junk. I tossed a container full of such stuff, which I find to be difficult. I’ve also sorted fabric pieces by color & put in labeled containers. I also spent time pressing assorted strips & smaller pieces & placing them in appropriate containers. I’m back to sewing & pressing the remaining blocks for Unwind. I hope to complete those today.

So I'm a noobie to quilting. Last year I made a crib blanket, then bit off more than I was truly ready for with a 12-patch carpenter's wheel. Much of the first months on that I was just figuring out how to sew diamonds together--if only I had known about half-square triangle diamonds at the time! Anyway, after ripping one less seam than I sewed, I finally finished the patches! After a break for the holiday madness, I'm now down to piecing the patch borders. My time at the sewing machine is limited, so my first goal is to finish this quilt before my mother's birthday in June!

I'm one of those who has to see the calendar (not just on the phone). I've got 2 calendars for 2019 that I need to "transfer" birthdays to (adding one more year to the ages), write semi-annual reminders on it (get jewelry cleaned, etc.), write in doctor appointments, write in quilting meeting/days (Project Linus and Quilts of Valor) and write in monthly luncheon dates. I guess I need to be reminded as many ways as possible about stuff!

Then, tonight, I'll start binding 4 quilts......binding is made, just gotta put it on!

Today my husband is starting on my closet shelves install. I’m amazed at how much stuff I had packed into this little closet! I’m going to work on sorting some of it as he puts in the shelves, then the big job starts.

Sounds like everyone is off to a good start!

I am a bit chagrinned to note that now that I have listed the things I'm committed to getting done in January-- I am somewhat overwhelmed and realizing that I really need to learn how to say No... I've already made one adjustment- I really want to complete at least one UFO per month in 2019, and had pulled one in mid-December that I was shooting to have done by the end of January. However, after looking at my January studio to do list I realize that there is no way that particular UFO will be able to be completed in January. So, I pulled another one that is smaller and much nearer to completion-- just needs some painting, maybe a small amount of hand-quilting (using big stitches) and then binding. I am hoping to be able to complete it this weekend if I'm up to working on it after tomorrow's surgery to remove my troublesome gall bladder.

Rob

Well, today I organised all my little bits and pieces boxes because my cabinet fell off the back of my sewing table and they all scattered.
Found a number of things I had forgotten I had!

Watson

I was given a gift certificate for Christmas so tonight I brought home several more yards of pretty fabrics. And my stash drawers said "no way!" so I did some much needed rearranging to make room and make a better separation of colors.
Luckily I had a 3 drawer plastic unit that was still empty and boy did I need it! All the fabric is now nicely tucked away and I really need to STOP shopping...

Today I began sorting my ever-growing bins of scraps that I've cut into strips, mostly 2 1/2" or 1 1/2" and some 5" or 2 1/2" squares. They are all neatly folded and stacked at least, but there was no apparent order. When I'd cut up the leftovers from a project, they went in the bin on top of whatever was in there before. It makes it hard to use them. It's always easier to go through my new, neatly folded and organized fabric, than to dig through my scrap "pre-cuts". I have a monster pile of scraps waiting to be cut up and I want to organize them all by size and color. I think having separate bins for each color family will be a big help. As I cut the pieces, I can put them in stacks of each color, then when I'm done for the day, I'll just pop the stack into the appropriate bin. I'm hoping to tackle this by working an hour or so each day on it till it's done. Maybe at that rate I'll have it done by the end of January so I can make more quilts and generate more scraps!!

My machine needs to be serviced, so I'm taking advantage of the downtime to re-arrange my workspace. Yesterday, I moved my shelves, computer desk, and dresser to what I hope will be more convenient locations. I'm still working on getting everything put away.

I also started sorting the UFO bin and boxes I have in the garage. I want to prune thru and decide what I actually want to finish and what needs to go away.

Rob: Sending a prayer your way for your surgery tomorrow. May you recover quickly.

I am glad others will be joining me in recording yardage used, bought, and donated. I can't take credit for the idea but it was very helpful for me to see that I actually used almost 111 yards. I will need to be better in recording purchases this year. I get donations of smaller pieces and orphan blocks from my church group and, occasionally from individuals. I don't record these but they do add to stash. LOL!

Oksewglad: It is really hard to watch a bb game and sew, cut, sort, etc. Ask me how I know! My favorite college team just won too.

I gave up making lists some time ago since it seems there are never enough hours in the day. For right now I am just cleaning out drawers, but at the end of this month I will be semi retiring, instead of a full time job and a part time job I will only have a part time job and then LET THE ORGANIZING BEGIN. I thought I could get it done before the big day but that was wishful thinking. The place that is supposed to be my studio has been a dumping ground for the household for a good while and I have been sewing at the kitchen table, but as of Feb 1 I will be working on taking back my space.

I've cleaned off the cutting desk in preparation for the measuring of some tops. These tops seem to be Katty whompus. That is crazy talk for not square, not symmetrical or just plain done by someone who doesn't know what they are doing....that would be me.

The main problem is that I can measure something and turn around and forget what the number was. But I finished a panel quilt and the width was fine, but the length was three inches off. How did I do that? Is that even possible? I have no pieced things in it at all. Only thing I can think of is that I stretched some of the borders.

Then BH gives us the reveal. I am so tempted to do that.

Some panels are printed off-grain so finish off the way they shouldn't..

Katie: Congratulations on your new work schedule. Enjoy your extra sewing time!

Battle Axe: I was trying to figure out how many borders and the widths I needed to enlarge a pattern and finally gave up yesterday. Usually I can get it figured out. I will add the first row of borders tomorrow and then retry the math part.

Working a full time job with silly long hours that requires me to be very organised (think lots of lists!) I haven’t got the energy or inclination to be this organised about my sewing - and definitely don’t want lists I want it to be the complete opposite of my work life. I make sure I keep my area tidy by having lots of storage. I don’t have as much space as some of you so that helps. I share a small box room with my husband who uses half for his painting. In my half is my desk with machine. Cutting has to happen in the same spot as my machine (I just move it back when I need to cut) and I have a small ironing board and mini iron next to me.

It is a ‘proper’ desk so the drawers are filled with tools etc. After every single session they are returned to the right drawer and my desk is completely empty. I have a half height cupboard to the side filled with fabric - 2 boxes of fat quarters, a set of plastic drawers of scraps sorted by colour, a shelf of bigger stuff and 2 boxes of charm squares I have either bought or made myself with sizzix machine.

In a room down the hall I have an old single built in wardrobe that is my ‘craftrobe’. I have put in a cheap shoe rack shelving unit and on here is paper/card etc, my sizzix machine and dies, current project boxes (so all fabric and patterns for current big, ongoing projects goes in one of these) and then plastic boxes that have sections in for my buttons and embellishments sorted by colour. Hanging from the rail I have small plastic baskets. One is filled with what I call hardware (zips, bag bits, key rings etc). Another is filled with trims (ribbon, lace etc) and the third is my ‘odd bits’ basket.

above that is a shelf where I keep battings and interfaces.

It took me a day toSet up but by putting everything back after each session (5 mins tops) I am always organised so I dont even have to think about being organised if that makes sense? I avoid lists by keeping it all visual and quite small quantities compared to some of you who seem to have rooms as big as my local shop! Haha

Great set-up, RJLinkletter! Take it from me, large rooms and spaces do not make for better organization every time!! Only allow disorganization all over the place!

Rob, you are smart and amazing to have a list of "to-dos." It's not for me...after teaching 2nd graders for 31+ years (but who's counting), planning has gone by the way-side. It probably would help me to write a list, but I'm resisting. In my mind, I'm planning on cleaning out my Mom's home (she passed in October), and turning it into my business office and also into a quilting space. After that, the schedule's open. Oh, a quilt using the Alaska fabrics that I cought in 2013!!
Keep using and amending your list. You have the hardest part done.

retiredT...yes hard to watch, but there's always timeouts! BB day today. GD 9th grade 2 games this morning...now home and getting ready to watch college BB. I have a couple of border links that were posted in a thread on the QB...did you see them? If not here they are...

http://thunderbayquilters.org/?page_...KK1YX36kzYhskI

https://comestitchwithme.com/2014/09...2KHaVJiXV9sYyY

https://jinnybeyer.com/golden-ratio-...qUJyuOwEdg54Ug

Silly Susan, I think disorganization all over the place describes some of my stuff...I start off with good neat and tidy spaces and before long it ends up a mess. I need to clean out a walk in closet that has lots of saved old jeans and the like..I know I need to use it or get rid of it!

Rob, how is recovery going?

My organizing is to get backs made to match tops, get them sandwiched, quilted, bound. So far the whole top of the cutting table is visible..... what a concept! Some of this could go on the long arm, but alas, where is it, oh yeh, under a pile of fabric.... another day.

Sounds good! I need to get on board. I have done something like it in the past and got a lot done till I got side tracked and dropped the ball. Time to get going again.

A little slower than I expected, but basically, things seem to be healing up pretty well. I played in the studio for about an hour yesterday before deciding I needed to rest!

give yourself a pat on the back for being able to see the cutting table LOL

Over Christmas break I asked my oldest GS what kind of graduation quilt he'd like...t-shirt? No. Denim? No, just a quilt Grandma! Okay need a masculine idea...his sport is golf and a computer whiz. Plaids? I have a bunch of brushed flannel and homespun scraps. Now to find them...finally found them with some chambray pieces. Tonight while watching BB I sorted them by color, then starched them all. Waiting for them to dry, then will press and trim them to random sizes. Next step, what pattern should I use?

There's a new project on the cutting table AND it's the only thing on it. YEH! I"ve put away left over scraps, tools are in their places. Ready for the next project.

My sister's coming next week for 4 days of quilting. Need to get desk cleaned off & this location ready for her to use; box to garage, UFO knitting put away (where ever that is), get rid of old computer. Having company is a big incentive to straighten and clean. And as an adult, she's passed me up in cleanliness. OHHHH, DH has agreed to help shampoo the carpets. A lot of welcome work in the next week.

I've finished a top, the blue bear paw, and today I'm going to clean out the scraps from that tub. Also, need to sew a pieced backing for that top out of some Christmas fabric. Fewer and fewer piles, but it just doesn't look like much progress.

BattleAxe, I’m sure if you just keep picking away at it, you’ll soon see a difference. I think they say if you set a timer for like 15 minutes a day, you get great results.

Rob, I do hope your recovery gets easier every day.

Rob, from experience-it does get better. Just remember most of the recovery is inside, you can't see it. Don't stress it

All the plaids are pressed and cut into various widths. Ready to start sewing on a strip quilt...off I go.