It's a New Year, and it's Still Organized!

Happy New Year to all! May you have a year of amazing creativity and spark on your quilting journey, wherever you are on your path.

I am going to wrap up the blog posts on Organization for now by summarizing some of the discoveries I made about myself - and how I use my room.  Now that we've moved into January, some of you might find some interest in some of the lessons I've learned.  It's a good time to reinforce that organizing for quilters is  a highly personal experience - so take what you like and leave the rest.

The last big enhancement was the redo of the office chair on New Years Day. I bought it used on Craigslist a couple of years ago, and it was showing its' age. I ran into a great deal on fabric to recover it...I'm happy! I will say that it took a lot longer than I expected it would.

Now, in re reading the last two blog posts, I realize that it sounds as if I don't utilize bins to store the stash - and that's not totally accurate. It's true that for me, it worked to take a lot (not all!) of the bins and empty them - or, more accurately, repurpose them.  Here's a before and after set of pics from my closet which illustrates the point.

May 2012 - UFO's and PhD's in bins

January 2014 - bins holding quiltmaking stages

I now use bins to hold supplies/resources that I use in different stages of the quiltmaking process...finishing the top supplies, threadpainting supplies and references, machine quilting references, etc. I do keep 4 separate (smaller) bins for special fabric types - juvenile fabrics, cotton precuts (I have found that most of what i have saved is in 2 and a half in strips, and 5 inch squares), batik precuts (same dimensions), and solid fabrics. The solid fabrics came about because I belong to a guild which is hosting a solid challenge this spring - so it made sense to me to keep them where I could find them.  I also put all my 'jelly roll' style of patterns into one section of my bookcase. 

Bins are wonderful organizing tools, and they are great to take on a retreat...just remember to unpack completely when you come back, and put all the materials back into the general area.  I didn't do that, and that's how this happened...

This irks me because I went to a trade show with a shopping list (something else that will be easier to do now!), and I still came home with a dupe. Fortunately, it was only one....but I'm going to have to do a LOT of purple quilting to use this all of this thread! 

Thats it for now...I'm working on the desk portion of the office now (and I have discovered a tool that is awesome for file organization)...I just want to work with it for a bit longer before I say anything, but it looks like all the paperwork in my office has a home...I know, what a concept. 

I'd love to know whether this has been helpful to you in organizing your space. Email me at Linda@thepatchworkpearl.com if you have any more questions. 

Oh, and it's a good thing to always leave room for growth...I do have one bin that's needing to be filled...and soon! 

The bin I left for the Downton Abbey fabric from Andover Fabrics...it's a double wide!