Get Your Quilt Room Organized

Are You Organized? - If you live in Michigan there is lots of snow and sub zero temperatures. Perfect weather, perfect for getting organized! But, where do you begin? On TV people getting rid of their clutter are told to use the three pile method: keep, toss, and give away. Toss? Give away? Are they insane? Quilters can’t get past the keep pile? Maybe a better idea is to start with project-specific baskets, boxes, or zip lock bags to organize your keep pile. Don’t forget to include that pattern.

It’s not just the fabrics that you have to deal with. What about all those patterns and ideas you’ve ripped out of magazines or the many, many magazines you collect. You could start a binder file or designate a special drawer in your file cabinet with hanging folders for all those odds and ends. Get a book shelf for your books and magazines. Most book shelves will hold those magazine file boxes so you can file your magazines by year. Now that’s really organized.

Then there are the many scraps left over from projects you’ve completed while taking a class at the Attic Window Quilt Shop. Frugal quilters never throw these away. It has been suggested you create a parts department– a box for all those ½ square triangles you’ve clipped from other projects; another box for those long strips to make string blocks; and another one for squares of various sizes. A fantastic place to visit for free scrap patterns is http://www.quiltville.com/ Check out her scrap saver’s system and her Crumb pattern.

Reduce, reuse, recycle – those are the magic words when getting organized. Don’t know what to do with those tiny little pieces. Make beads. Take a look at this website to see how it’s done. http://ajpadilla.com/

Another place for a tutorial on what to do with those scraps is http://quiltingisstillmypassion.blogspot.com/2007/07/mile-minute-blocks-photo-tutorial.html The tutorial called Crumb Chaos is great.

Or you could donate those scraps to the Quilts for Wheels group or the Cancer Kids group at the Attic Window Quilt Shop. Your donations are always welcome.

Keep all this in mind while taking your next class at the Attic Window Quilt Shop. Check out the calendar on the blog for upcoming classes and events. There are also new pictures of samples for upcoming classes, along with the fun additions to the blog roll.

Until next week, Stay Warm, and Happy Quilting.