Organizing my Organizers

I may have mentioned a time or two that I value living an organized life. While it is surely true that I aspire to that, I clearly don't have a handle on what the definition of "organized" actually is. Case in point.

These four baskets under my theater chairs are not large. They measure 12x12x10 inches. 

Let's see what I found in the basket furthest to the left, from top to bottom:

Bliss. A blissful find. I had forgotten about it. I also have some corresponding yardage. Somewhere else.

Giddy. Huh. Funny that the top two "finds" would describe such a pleasant state of mind. Maybe there's a message in there somewhere.

Oz charm packs. I already have made a quilt using Oz. These might go in my etsy destash pile.

Wonderland with a pattern actually tucked in there. Good. A plan.

French General Rouenneries with a Schnibbles pattern. Cool. And Lumiere de Noel. Hmmm. Forgot I had that one.

Another Schnibbles pattern. Funny thing is that I have all my Schnibbles patterns carefully organized in a file box. Well, clearly not all of my Schnibbles patterns. And a packet of great I-Spy squares from a recent exchange. What are they doing in this basket?

Some Marti Michell templates. Why did I purchase them? What are they doing in here? But they do look useful.

A fat quarter stack that I remember purchasing at Sample Spree at Portland Quilt Market in 2008. I know I had a plan for these. I think it was a quiltalong. I don't remember which one. But then again, I didn't remember where I had stored this fabric either. Question: Do two unknowns equal an answer?

A random piece of Christmas fabric, and some random charm squares. I think these come from random fabric orders. Thanks, Randi!

I am not a "cat person." Which begs the question. Why do I have this fabric? And why is it in this basket? Again, two "unknowns" and no answer... However, "psycho cat" is pretty funny.

Ooh, look. Three patterns. Okay, I will probably never again make another Just Can't Cut It. But I like strip quilt with the zigzags in the middle, don't you?

And finally, the bottom of the basket. A grouping of fabrics. This could possibly explain the Just Can't Cut It pattern that was on top of these fabrics. But like I said. Never making that pattern again. I like the colors. And the embroidered tan-colored fabric is super cool.

Whew! That's a lot of stuff in that basket. In an organizational system that makes absolutely no sense to me. Has this ever happened to you? Do you have a good system? If so, do you make housecalls??

Bookworms

I love reading. I love quilting. I love Elizabeth's creativity at Don't Call Me Betsy.

Can you believe this mini quilt with a row of books?

I think the campaign is on to get her to write a tutorial. Do you see the selvages in there? Everybody with me on this one?

Speaking of books. And organizing (which I do love to do). You must watch this short video that Monica posted her blog, Quilt While You're Ahead (incidentally, one of my favorite blog names and favorite blogs). It's short. Watch it a couple of times. It's probably good I don't have this many books. I might be tempted...

The winner of the pincushion is Free Indeed, who said:

"I want to try the mugrug binding tute."

And if you guessed the selvage pillow is my favorite tutorial, well, I don't know what could have possibly been your clue.

I hope you enjoyed learning to know my "sister," Carla, as she celebrates her blogiversary. I can't wait to see what she does in the coming year!

Whose idea was this anyway?

For a while now we (and by that I really mean me) have been thinking about replacing the carpet in the dining room and sewing room with laminate flooring like we have in the rest of the house. Problem number 1: the line of flooring we installed about five years ago is no longer being made. Well, the flooring is still being made, but not the same color. We don't like any of the new colors. Or the new "wood" they are carrying. So we went with another company, slightly different color next to what we already have. Oh well...

Today I moved everything out of all the furniture that has anything stored in it. Dining room question: do I seriously need all these glasses? Uh, no. Sewing room questions: do I really need all this fabric? Duh, yes. It took me 1 1/2 hours to move all that stuff out of the china hutch, the armoire (do I really need all these Christmas decorations?), and then moved all my sewing items. Oh, yes, and all that fabric. It took the guys about fifteen minutes to move all the furniture. Okay so there was one of me, and five of them. I'm giving me some credit...

My office:

The guest room:

 And the L-shaped hallway:

Whose idea was this again?

Oh, yeah. Now I remember.

It was mine...

Color Therapy Thursday--Making Some Decisions

Earlier this week, I was blog hopping and I'm not even certain where I read this because I was having blogger's ADD--you know, where you catch up on all your favorite blogs, but then start clicking on links from their blogroll, and then to links from the links...anyway.

This topic appears from time to time, sometimes in a humorous way, sometimes in a more serious way. The topic? When does a fabric stash cross the line from being a stash to being a problem? I know. Mostly it's pretty funny and a lot of commenters will say something like "there's no such thing as too much fabric." But is that really true? I look around my personal stash and know that if I never bought another fat quarter of fabric, I could sew for years and years....and years.

This week I emailed my friend, Crystal. She hadn't posted for a while and I just wanted to say hi and check in. I noticed that in addition to her quilting blog, she had started another one about simplifying her life. Now Mark and I have been doing this for some time after hearing a speaker's message really hit home to us. When is enough "enough"? When is your house big enough? When do you have enough clothes? Stuff is stuff, and finally when do you have enough of it? In this economy, it's no coincidence that people are downsizing, some by choice, some by necessity, and information on organizing your stuff is everywhere you look.

So my question: why is it so easy to get rid of other "stuff" in my life but I keep adding to my fabric stash? I admit to many, many impulsive buys. Someone will post a stack of fabric or a new quilt top and the next thing I know I'm at an online store with fabric in my cart.

About five years ago, I worked in one of the local quilt shops...until I could no longer "afford" to work there. Much of my stash comes from that period in my life, a period right after a traumatic event in our lives. Working with fabric was good therapy. After being there about 1 1/2 years and knowing I was going to quit, I felt the need to "stock up" because of my great employee discount. Any new charm packs that came in? I bought two along with some yardage to go along with them. No real plan in mind. But it was too good of a deal to pass up. Right?

Then last year when my dear friend Sue was battling for her life, I admit to using fabric as grief therapy.  Yards and yards of fabric came into the house. No real plan for it. But it made me feel better.

So I'm making some decisions. I started going through my fabric, pretty much piece by piece, and asking: If I were to start making a new quilt today, would I actually consider adding this fabric to it? In any quilt? Ever? If the answer is no, it goes in a donation pile for my church quilting group. My extensive Asian collection? Soon to be gone. Batiks? Some gone now, more will probably be gone in the next go-around unless I can figure out a cool way to combine them with solids for a hip, modern look...

I have been exposed to fabulous fabric, fabric designers and quilt designers online that I wouldn't have even known about otherwise. My tastes in fabric and quilt design have changed dramatically. And a lot of the stuff on my shelves does not fit that style, and it probably never will.

Here's a prime example: two lines of fabric that I HAD to own because each was called "Charlotte" (yeah, I know, my selvage obsession kicking in again).

But neither of these remotely reminds me of this precious Charlotte. So into the donation pile they go, unless someone wants to pay postage and give them a happier home (after I cut the selvage off, that is...)

I don't think I'm the only one wondering about all this  fabric purchasing. Jennifer wrote about the very same thing this morning. Sometimes it just gets overwhelming. I love the fabric I have and want to use it. It doesn't do any good just sitting there on the shelf.

So...much of what I have will go to our church group.

Some will go into the destash section here,

and some will be given away (so stay tuned).

Don't worry. I haven't become cured of my fabric addiction (sorry, Mark). But I plan to "plan" a little more and buy with more of a purpose.

And save my pennies for this line coming out soon. I hope.

Stash it to me

How do you organize your stash? I have a system that partially works for me.

Fabric is sorted by color, or type (all my batiks are in the same place):

Dots (love....):

Stripes:

And that's where my system kind of breaks down. In my earlier days of quilting, it seemed like most of my fabric fit into a "color" category. But now that I'm so drawn to the newer lines, they are a little harder to categorize.

A few weeks ago, I saw a certain fabric on Crystal's design wall, loved it, emailed to see if she could give me more information about it (aren't those blocks awesome against her aqua wall?)

She said it was a Heather Bailey print.

Ah. I have all those HB prints: Bijoux, Pop Flower. And here they are:

Out of sight (even though in a cute basket with a label clearly stating "Heather Bailey"), out of mind. See what I mean? This is where the system is broken.

 How do you stash your stash? By fabric line, like Meadowsweet by Sandi Henderson?

Grouped all together, without any plan?

Grouped together for a future project?

I'd love to hear your organization methods. What works? What doesn't work? Do you have good ideas for sorting your scraps, which is another whole dilemma...

And this is here just because it's beautiful...and smells so sweet.

One Year You're In...

...and the next year you're out, to paraphase Project Runway.

Last week I spent a lot of time weeding out fabric that I have been collecting since I started quilting fifteen years ago . It resulted in a couple of giveaways because I kept finding things I had forgotten about (or in one case purchased two of, because my sewing room was that unorganized). And don't think Mark wasn't shocked when he saw all those piles that were being given away donated to our church quilting group.

Just like fashion, the quilting industry has changed tremendously, and I've changed right along with it. Look at all these dark colors that I had purchased in the past:

Lots of Civil War reproductions, darker moodier colors.

They are all gone, given to someone who happily received them, and have been replaced by this

and this

I'm feeling cheerier already, and ready to get busy on a new project.

They can read my mind

I went to Target this morning, to buy a bag of coffee (Seattle's Best Cinnabon--yum) for fortification as I dig in to organize my office and sewing room.

Target has the completely uncanny ability to anticipate items I need to purchase but just haven't realized it yet. The people who stock the shelves at Target kindly put them on the shelving end-caps so I will walk by them and then realize, hey, that is exactly what I need!

Case in point: How did Target know that I needed some cool-looking file boxes? And how did they know that this shade of green would be perfect?

Do they have spies that saw the stack of tutorials and patterns I have been printing out incessantly in the last couple of weeks?

And a few aisles further, they set out these oh-so-cute plastic plates and cups that Charlotte and Levi will enjoy. A pink glittery heart plate? Really? Even I would like eating my sandwich off that one.

I know. It's spooky....because all I thought I needed was coffee...

eHarmony

Before Thanksgiving, Mark installed some beautiful cabinets (in the garage!). He had a specific purpose in mind. Of course I tried to make him see the merits of another possibility. Here is how it went down.

The Bachelor:

Traits:
*Sturdy and reliable
*Spacious and roomy
*Open to sharing the spotlight
*A little dull but definitely willing to hang out with someone much more colorful

Looking for:
*Some color and excitement

Bachelorette No. 1
Traits:
*Colorful and lots of fun
*A bit disorganized

*Tired of living in piles on the floor

*Needs plenty of room as she likes to live life "large" and spread out

Looking for:
*Someone willing to showcase all the beautiful possibilities
*A temporary home

Bachelorette No. 2
Traits:
*Good lines, sexy, edgy, flashy
*Quite organized and likes to stay within the boundaries

*Tired of living in plastic bins

Looking for:
*The spotlight
*A temporary home

Of course I think The Bachelor and Bachelorette No. 1 are the PERFECT pair. But instead he went for the sleek and flashy Bachelorette No. 2.
*sigh*

Any ideas where I can find another eligible bachelor who wouldn't mind living in a sewing room?