Teen, you may remember these two scrap quilts I finished; if not, this would be an ideal way to use them up in an easy way! I haven't done another like it, but know I will.

https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...s-t298898.html

https://www.quiltingboard.com/tutori...t-t303359.html

The credit for this one goes to Rryder (Rob) ! Though I did say I intended to follow suit and it is a brilliant idea!

Over the weekend I did get three more bins of solids pressed folded and sorted, and I think one more will do for the solids then it’s time for blenders. I got most of my yardage neatly folded and sorted and placed in bins. It’s tedious, but it will be worth it in the end. Note to self I don’t need anymore bolts of neutral in this lifetime or the next!

oh yes...I remember the first one and loved it when you first posted. Excellent option. I don't recall seeing the plaid one but that is cool, too.

I set off yesterday with a goal in mind to take down the Christmas tree and declutter the extra bedroom where my Grace frame is located.. I successfully conquered the living room and all that is left are boxes that need to be broken down from gift giving. The spare room, I found the bed!! It was under all kinds of quilty things. I put them all away except for a couple things. Now I am realizing that I could have done better so it will be back in there to remake the bed and add more quilts to the bed. I have a number of quilts that require some repairs done on them and a couple UFO's in there too. After I remake the bed it will be much plumper to say the least and I will have more walk way around the Grace Frame. Back to more decluttering. The projected goal after this is to tackle my sewing studio. Now that will be the challenge.

I'm continuing with sewing up selvedges. Toward the end of last year's thread I showed a photo, by organizing by color then rolling up and putting in baggies, I went from a mid-sized bin to a shoebox sized one. Now between the Bonnie Hunter mystery clues I'm sewing blocks, and Loving seeing that block stack, stack up ;)

We moved in October and I still haven't figured out everything I have to do about storing my ever-expanding stash. But I did a little clean-up today as I'm hosting my small group of long-arm and mid-arm quilters on Thursday morning. I also got a quilt ready to put on my mid-arm frame so group members can do some ruler work practice while here.

I was rummaging around in my sewing cabinet for a tape measure day before yesterday and decided to take everything out of the door bins and the bottom shelf and only put back what belongs there. As I was pulling stuff out of the bottom shelf I heard something hit the floor. Low and Behold, there was my favorite free motion hopping foot that I thought had been lost at a sewing class last spring. It's not an expensive one, just a generic metal oval ring foot, but I'd modified it by cutting part of the metal out and filing it down nice and smooth for extra good visibility when quilting on my domestic machines. I had been thinking about trying to find another one on eBay and now I don't have to! I was so happy to have found it that I immediately put it on my PC420 and did some free motion stitching to secure some appliqué on a large quilt. It would have been easier to have used the Sweet 16 for this, but I wanted to celebrate finding the old foot and not having to buy a new one LOL!

Who'd thunk that organizing could generate such excitement?

Rob

Lol@Rob... What a nice surprise and.... you organized, too. Win-win..

Rob: Wahoo to finding your favorite FM hopping foot! It’s always nice to find lost items.

My organization plan for today is to document my four most recent finishes- something that I seem to be good at putting on the back burner. I have a fairly simple format for doing this so it’s not difficult and I’m really not sure why I always put it off...

What are the easy organizing things that you put off doing?

Rob

Oksewglad, thank you for reposting your scrappy quilt projects...what a great use for odd size pieces.

Rob, how wonderful you found your FMQ foot. I once misplaced my single stitch plate but was not as lucky in finding it...or maybe just impatient so now I have two. LOL

Since my favorite machine is in for maintenance until next Sunday, I am not able to work on BH’s mystery but I have been busy organizing and decluttering. Over the weekend I purchased an Elfa storage system for a section in my sewing room. This new shelving unit replaced a gate leg table where my printer and WiFi router sat. Now I have four adjustable 3 foot shelves...and Wow what a difference. It’s amazing how one simple project can generate a domino effect of organizing.

My sewing room is a disaster since I started the BH mystery quilt! I'm at the "I can't find anything" stage so a cleanup is in store for me.
I always look for someone to blame my messiness on haha

I managed to get a 7 foot book shelf unit cleaned out and organized, found I had 3 ( free) shelves and decided to place kits and projects I’m going to be working on on those shelves. I have a few UFOs that are now on those shelves, kits that were gifts, won or BOMs I never finished all in one place, when I pull one out I’m working on it to completion ( at least to binding stage) before grabbing the next one.
so now I have managed to Declutter and organize 2 of my 3 bookshelf units. I have 3 large boxes of ( stuff) packed up to pass on, donate somewhere. The fabrics have me quite overwhelmed- that’s why I started with the books/ magazines/ patterns. At some point I am going to have to venture to the other end of the room...;)

It’s not much, but it is a start to declutter my sewing room: purged a 2 gallon ziplock bag’s worth of fabric from my fabric dresser.

Then I tidied the rest, folding them and filing them, front to back in ROYGBIV order.

My sewing area is a part of the kitchen though I seem to have a manifest destiny issue - I tend to spread out and take over the kitchen. Good thing neither of us cooks. : ) For the first 5 of the 7 years we've lived in our current place, we had a bookcase where a stove was supposed to go. Much more useful.

The massive kitchen island is referred to as The Thing (very original, I know). I moved all the fabric off of it and either put it away (gasp!) or separated them by stage of completion (so far I have 5 that need sandwiching & binding, 5 that have all the blocks pieced but need putting together, 3 that need a few more blocks, 4 that are at the fabric pull/pattern stage).

Granted, all of these projects are back on The Thing, but at least they are no longer in one giant pile o'fabric. I feel accomplished about organizing the stuff cluttering The Thing, until I think about all the other projects I have in some stage of production that I've shoved in drawers during quick clean ups when the kitchen actually sees some use.

Ha! It is probably good that I don't have an actual room or closet to use - lord knows what I'd squirrel away with more space.

But, all said, it is a start on getting things more organized so I can work on a project without having to relocate a dozen more.

LOL @Notwendy ...Oh my gosh..."The thing" and shelf in place of stove is hilarious! I'm trying to get a visual of this and it is just not possible. Lol... I need this laughter cuz tonight I mis-cut backing so now I'm irritated and blaming hubbie cuz he talked to me while I was cutting. Lol..

So, instead of sewing, I organized my desk by filing more 2019 stuff for taxes, shredded stuff, and completed my "state of our union" end of year report for hubbie. All good now and will tackle my mess-up tomorrow..

LOL Notwendy! We have “the red thing” in our dining room. It’s a repurposed antique chest of drawers that someone painted red years ago and then dumped at a thrift store where I found and adopted it sometime back in the 1980s. Never got around to stripping the red paint off. It houses all kinds of useful things on top and in its drawers and has been known affectionately as “the red thing” since the day it came home with me.


Teen-End of year shredfest and pre-tax prep are on my to do list for the near future. It’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but there is something satisfying about watching a pile of old papers get turned into confetti!

Today I am planning on a long quilting session on a UFO that I am using as a sampler for quilting designs. I’ll Hit a clutter hotspot every time I need to take a break from quilting.

Rob

I cut up more scraps today and then cleaned the sewing studio to get it ready for the next project. Feels wonderful to have everything in its place.

I'm trying to be very mindful and minimal with wall decor in my house (except sewing studio...lol...). My entryway is decorated with my love of color wheels so it is bright and colorful. Here is the barn quilt I made over the summer for the large bulkhead you see when you walk in the door. We finally hung it today....I love it... Waiting for better weather to hang the exterior barn quilt I made for garage... Anywhoo...thought you might like to see my efforts. Pictures of sewing studio to come soon. Still waiting on custom workstation. Carpenter has me on his schedule for February...

Scraps in a bag and ready to go to charity sewing tomorrow. These came home today. Already ruler folded and on the shelf in the right place.

The black print will be a bag for my DD. She is a marine science/biology teacher and it will be a school bag for her.

Teen: I like your indoor barn quilt. I have lived in my house for 33 years and never thought to hang something on my similar wall area.

Rhonda K: Pretty fabric.

Beautiful quilt and perfect place for it! How did you get it up there and hung?

Thank you!

Zozee...A very tall ladder and a very tall husband...lol...

Here are my organizing goals for 2020.
1. Clean out large bins. I have gone through 3 so far and found items to either toss or donate. I took a large pile of items over to the guild earlier this week to sell at the bazaar this summer. I will continue looking for other items that I will never miss and am ready to let go of. Most of them are things someone else could really put to good use.
2. Clean up piles. I just am getting too many piles everywhere, on chairs, tables. my ironing board, a step ladder, you name it. Organize them so they look better, are with like items and I am more likely to use them.
3. Clean off the table. The table has become a real sight! Continue to go through and either organize, toss or find items to donate.
4. Peg board basket. I have a wire basket that attaches to my peg board with a real mishmash of items in it - bits of lace, small packages of binding, piping, I am not really sure what's even in there. It's the black hole of my sewing room.
5. My "organizer" really needs the same. This is a carry all basket with necessary items like quilting gloves, rotary cutter, starch alternative, an extension cord. Sounds simple. All kinds of things have been tossed in over time - loose change, bobbins, and it's so stuffed I really don't know what's in there.
6. Clean out all totes & make some new ones. A friend of mine has the cutest organizers that she made and they are very tidy. I know it can be done.
7. In general I'd like to make my sewing room "visitor" friendly. This will include cleaning off chairs, making/hanging cute items on the walls and finishing some larger projects.

Good luck, Claire. That's a great list of goals. You got this!

Today, I accepted delivery of my new dining room furniture....so I was finally able to unpack my China hutch container/totes (5 of them) and fill up my new China hutch. I washed all the Crystal and just have a silver tea set to polish... Yea! And I Love my new furniture. Here is a pic of hutch... Yes, it is black...

That’s gorgeous Teen!

there is a serious clutter spot underneath the nightstand by the guest bed that I want to clean up. It’s where I’ve been storing a bag containing quilting experiments. I want to keep these as they can be used in art projects, but it seems to me that corner would look better if they were stored in a tote! It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to pick up the bag (bags?) and put it (them?) in the tote where it (they?) belong(s?). Since I have been quilting my way through my stash for several years now I even have a tote that has room!

Rob

Everyone is off and running doesn’t it feel good? I’m working my way through slowly, but doubt I will get done by the end of the month but I am trying! I’m on blenders and textures and only have a one bin of those, then off to loose FQ collections and then hopefully a empty 8 drawer dresser that I can put the remaining collections I don’t want to break up in. Then I can get rid of the cabinets and better placement of working areas.
I’ve also gone though and added a ton more to my “sell” collection and plan to spend at least a half a day every Sunday listing items. I’ve also decided to donate a lot of yardage to a local church that does Charity quilting, I have good size tote almost full. My room looks like a fabric exploded and every surface has something on it and it is driving me batty!

Whoo Hoo! It always amazing me at how little will please us and give us a good day.

Since I have been reorganizing I am amazed at how many empty bags and containers I have accumulated! Yes that's a feel good sight, too.

Empty bags and Containers are a good thing! Way to go oksewglad!

In between doing some quilting, I worked on organizing my fat quarters and also tackled my scrap bucket yesterday. Still have some scraps to deal with, but it's no longer overflowing.

Does anyone have a system that works well for organizing things that need to be done without leaving the things laying out? I've got a studio notebook that I put stuff in for each month, but I haven't found a solution for the rest of my house, like my office space...and I've discovered that a large part of my clutter problem stems from being afraid to put things away for fear of forgetting about them...

Rob

I’m 95% done with my overhaul! I had to order a few more smaller containers and they won’t be here till Thursday (I guess stores sell out quickly after the holidays 🤪).

1: I’ve been through my collections 7 times and I’m happy with the end results of keepers, and did add several more to my sell box.

2: I have 3 very large totes of fabric for donation to a local Church that does charity quilting.

3: Next is to empty the last cabinet and post them for free on Craigslist, there are 3.

4: I did get all my Asian Fabrics in one tote, all my One Block Wonder fabrics in another and all others are sorted by Batiks, Solids, Blenders and Assorted and then sub sorted by yardage, half yards, and fat quarters and those loosely sorted by colors. All containers are clear and marked with a label on the outside as to the contents.

5: Once I have that all done I’m going to have some painting done and the lighting changed out.

I have posted the containers I used in case anyone else is interested in using this method.

1: First & Second pic is the under bed tote, these hold 220 Fat Quarters or 106 Half Yard cuts.

2: Third pic is the smaller container that can hold 53 1 yard cuts. I use these for 1-3 yard cuts and find them perfect.

So far I have 8 smaller containers and 23 of the larger containers, considering I started this a month ago I’m pretty pleased with the progress.

Tallchick....that looks fantastic. And it looks so functional meaning it looks super easy to find what you need without digging. Thanks for the pics on the containers you use.

Rob.....I had the same problem in my old house. i left crap out that needed my attention and it began to look like a trash pile. In my new home, I dedicated a specific desk drawer (not the one you would hang files in) I mentally labeled "active" and placed 3 file folders. One reads "deadlines" and I put things that had to get done by a certain date in there. The second labeled "read and file" and the third labeled "misc" I have to stay kind of disciplined and be sure to go through them often so it doesn't get out of hand. I open that drawer once a week to take action and/or purge. It seems to work for me. I can, on occasion, procrastinate lol.... So one of my New Years goals was to not do that.. ...ask me how this is going in June's....lol..

if you don't have a drawer to do this, you can buy a plastic file container w/lid from office supply house and create a file system of that stuff. Again, you have to eventually go thru and take action/purge. This is what I did during the construction when I lived in RV.

Since I'm waiting on the pattern book for my next project, I thought I'd take the opportunity to declutter and clean my notions and misc. drawers. Only filled up 2 tall kitchen size trash bags from the first 2 drawers and now they look almost empty. Boy that book better come soon or I'll have to go buy more stuff to put back in the drawers.

tallchick: You are making great progress.

That is some serious progress, Tallchick! Thanks for posting pics of your totes. Looking forward to seeing more pics.

Teen- thanks for explaining your system- sounds like exactly the kind of thing that I need to implement! I think finding/making a space in my office for the three files will be my organizing project for today.


keep up the good work everyone!

Rob

Teen, your new hutch is lovely. I’m glad you have found a new set of rules to keep organized in your new home.
Tallchick, you are making great strides and like Teen said, it looks very functional. You must have an amazing stash.
Claire, welcome to this thread and keep us posted on your progress. Your list is a great beginning to your 2020 goals.

Tallchick, I’m impressed. You have purged very thoroughly and really organized your keepers well. Good job!

I decided today I needed to finally go through my huge tub that held extra sheets and mattress pads. On Black Friday, I ordered 2 new sheet sets. Now the old ones will be given to my church group for quilt backs and they will probably use the mattress pads as batting.

I needed something to keep my strips organized and at hand. I bought a 3 tier shelf on wheels that I can keep next to my sewing machine or roll it to the cutting table. It works for me!

Christine: Great idea!