hunters grammy

I am one of those that keeps a record of everything I make. I designed an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet with the information that I thought I would want to know/refer to later. I take pictures of all my quilts and put them with my sheet of information. I make a label for every quilt/project. If there are special things are instructions about the quilt, I include that on the label also. Each project is numbered. All of my information sheets with their pictures are in protective covers and placed in 3-ring binders. I include fabric samples with some of my project information. My binders are labeled beginning with 1 and the dates of the projects in that notebook are included on the notebook label. I include all my notes and any designs I drew or sketched with every project- usually on graph paper. I think I'm up to projects number 66, 67, and 68 and binder number 9. I started quilting in January 2010 and have never stopped. I know this sounds crazy and seems like a lot of work, but for me it helps me keep my projects organized in my head and helps me with my future UFO's. It sure does set ongoing goals and future projects. If I make a quilt for someone in particular, I write a "story" about the project and give it to them along with the quilt (and of course, I keep a copy...lol) All of this sounds like a lot, but it really isn't when you consider you're only working on one or two or three at a time..... This may be what happens when you were an Executive Specialist and you had to constantly document, document, document and keep up with about 10 or 15 execs and 20-25 Supervisors. Whew - glad I'm retired. Sorry for the long note, but my reasoning took some explaining......thanks for your patience in reading my book.

bearisgray

The plastic sheet protectors come in various qualities - read the descriptions carefully before purchasing.

Moira in N.E. England

Like others I take a photo. I have an ‘album on my iPad and save a photo of the front and back. When I started doing this I used to add measurements too but seem to have got out of the habit.

It’s a useful way to record patterns.

bearisgray

If I would have had enough sense to keep records - this is probably the way I would have done it.

One can always ignore the information that is not relevant - but it is difficult to capture it after it "got away".

I think the "this is where I had a problem and what I did about it" would be very helpful/useful in the future.

Jaiade

I was given an excel sheet for keeping up with progress on quilts; start date , fabric cut, blocks made, etc., to quilt completed date. I added quilting info like pattern, thread and a pic. Since I received this I have changed computers and I have a different program(Libre Office instead of word) which I don't know(I don't know excel either, but it was set up for quilts). One thing the excel was set to do was give a percent complete, but it only went to 69 items and it did not transfer to the new computer well. I played with libre until I could set up a spread sheet similar to the excel but I don't know how to get the percent complete. It was automatically calculated in excel when a date was put into the 'quilt finished' cell and showed up at the bottom of the page as percent completed.
If anyone is familiar with libre, I would appreciate any help, please! I find that I actually enjoy keeping this record and felt a sense of accomplishment when I could check off a function and especially when I saw the percentage change.

bearisgray

I think if one keeps records - a paper copy is a good idea -

quiltingshorttimer

I keep a quilt journal--tend to always need to catch up--put name of design, pattern designer, note on how long it took, why I made it, and attach a picture--and I also add which child inherits it or who I gave it to.

Snooze2978

The only recording I do is taking photos of the quilt. Since I do robotics, I will keep the layout page I print out and sometimes it will have the size of my blocks, sashings, borders on it too. If I designed the quilt using EQ8, then I'll have that saved as well. All my quilts are gifts to others so I don't bother keeping record where I got the fabrics and I quilt it myself so no problem remembering that either. I do like to go back from time to time to look at the photos, review the quilting layout as I might want to use the same patterns and since I keep the computer file on it too I can go back to see where to find the patterns.

The Quilted Cottage

This is a great idea! I have an album in my photos but the notes app is better for adding info as you have done. And with iCloud, it will be linked to the notes app on all my other apple devices and MacBook. A no brainer!

susanwilley

I keep a journal of each quilt with some details of how it was made, and who it was made for. There were a few pages in the beginning as I would write about what was happening in my life at the time, but those pages have gotten fewer and fewer, now it is all about the quilt with less details.