Organizing today
 

Was out in my room going thru boxes n making sure everything was in right box DGS missed the storm didn’t come today My DD texted me that she got one container cut into 10”, 5” squares n 3” strips great for putting together new kits Retired teacher I have a lot of those fabrics in my stash love those colors Yes was great idea to put them together wish I’d done it to start with I have a lot more room

Yesterday I decided to get out of my deep rut of stitch in the ditch and try my hand at free motion BUT need to change my sewing room dynamics. To the right of my sewing table I have 20x40 computer table where I have a collection of storage containers for sewing notions. "Beverage-of-the-hour" sits there, along with a small TV perched on cookbooks. (DH hasn't missed these.) So moved those around to make room for my lap top. Took the sewing machine out of the "well" in the table, put the insert in so I have a place to practice drawing while watching YOU Tube videos.

OMG, this is so nice. DH says he misses me since I'm no longer at the computer which used to be in a corner of the living room. He has to walk further to give me updates from Internet. He also said I will probably come out of my "retreat" only when hungry, thirsty, or need the bathroom....and he may be right!!!

Teen: It was very nice to find them all together in one of the bags. I’m bagging them up for now and will think about how I want to use them in the future.

I found another box today that I missed from the church fabric bags/boxes so have been going through that off and on today. I found some very nice 6” to 6.5” strips which will work nicely for horizontal sashings in this new box. Some prints have 4 or more WOF strips. Exciting. Now to get all of the fabric on my table put away.

amyjo: I’m glad your grandson is safe. That’s great that your daughter is cutting fabric for you to use.

Juliemn1: I am chuckling over your husband’s comment about your retreat!

I have 3 large totes of quilting scraps, at least 1 of the toes was gifted to me. My sewing room is so full of stuff that it’s bothering me. The scraps are bothering me the most so I decided to tackle those now. I’ve tried several methods of tackling them. One is the do a little every day method, that doesn’t work because I can’t see any progress. I tried pulling enough of one color or type , strings in this case, and make a quilt. I made 2 Snap Scrap and 2 string quilts, also so no dent in the mess.
So my latest attempt, and this one seems to be working for me is this: take everything out of 1 tote and sort By color. I had 8 smal bins scattered around the sewing room. This took me 1 day. Then I take1 color at a time and press and sort it. Each color has a bin for strings, then I cut the rest according to the BH method of scrap users system. I choose a couple of quilts I want to make so cut the correct colors and sizes for those. The rest just get cut up. So far they are taking up a lot less space and I’ve almost filled a pillowcase with tiny scraps. Last time I worked on cutting scraps it took me about 5 months to fill a pillow case. Not sure if I can motivate myself to do this for each tote though. I think it’s going to take a month for each tote. I am pleased with my progress. I’m loving my new iron and my Go cutter. BTY, I’m standing so long I had to get a rubber mat to ease the aching in my legs! Being retired is hard work! Wish me luck and if anyone has any ideas that will help with the organizing of scraps I would love to hear them.

Congratulations on making calm out of chaos! Been there and I seem to create chaos too. Sorting fabric is hard work. So much to think about. I've sorted two ways. Bookshelf has folded, kinda, by color and containers by size and scrappy. Rolled 2.5 strips into jelly rolls by color and secured them using either pretty scraps of ribbon that came with jelly rolls or rubber bands. They have a container of their own. I decided not to keep anything smaller than 2" (I hear the gasps!...lol) because I don't make crumb quilts so why keep them. I retired a year ago and sometimes I think I'm working harder with my quilting than I did at work...lol. Have fun getting reacquainted with your stash.

Cindy- I think your system sounds like a good one, especially if it works for you. One of the things I have learned over the years is to keep a small scrap bucket by my cutting area rather than a large one. That encourages me to keep up with processing them. I use my die cutter to cut some scraps into the sizes I like to use, which speeds up the process. Also, I have limited the size and number of storage units that I devote to scraps. When they get full I have two choices, either throw away any new scraps I generate or use my older scraps up to make room for the new ones. Since I hate to throw anything away, this forces me to use up my scraps.

keep it up, you’ll get through those bins!

Rob

I think the scrap "secret" is just keep at it. cindy, your system sounds like it works for you and you are using the pieces you cut up...definitely works for you! When "creating" scraps, I often cut my leftover pieces into the largest "specific" size. That way it's already trimmed up and ready to go.

Julienm1...after a time of sorting I get into a brain fog and have to walk away...doing it piecemeal as you are is a great idea.

Cindy: It sounds like you are making great progress with your scraps. Over the summer, I went through scraps that were tossed in a variety of containers and sorted them by colors. I tried ironing the scraps and putting them in bags by width size but that got boring real quick. 😊 I like your idea of choosing a couple of quilt patterns and cutting scraps to those sizes first. The Go! Cutter is awesome! Eventually, I will need to get back to organizing my color-sorted tubs and may use your idea of cutting for specific patterns which would be a twofold success because I would be adding to my pre-cut kits and reducing the scraps. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Julie: Sorting is hard work! Like oksewglad, I need breaks also when sorting.

Rob: I put a small container by my cutting station after I read you were doing that a while ago. It’s time to empty that container out.

My method of organizing-send it to someone else. Just mailed 6 gallon jars of selvages and 2 books to people who asked for them. Now it's time to list some more books, to anyone who wants and willing to pay shipping. They'll be listed in the "offerings" section.

Petthefabric: Your way benefits the recipient and you. 👏.

i love all of the ideas.