A new organizing idea

For anyone looking for the next post about realistic scheduling, I'll try to get it posted on Monday. I haven't bought my 2008 day planner yet. I saw one I liked at Target but it cost almost $50. That one was not for me! I'm going to the office supply store Saturday. Hopefully they have one at a better price.

Ok, I finally got around to start the organizing. Complete with some pictures. Yea!

My fabric stash should look like this.....all neatly hanging on hangers so it is easy to find just the right fabric for my next project.


But somehow it always ended up looking like this....


Or this.....


So what was my problem?? In reflecting back; I realize the fabric should be easily accessible and easily replaced. The easy retrieve was good...the easy replaced wasn't. I loved the idea of the hangers. They just didn't work. And...the fabrics on hangers take up way too much space. The hangers will get donated to my grandchildren to keep their clothes closets neat...yeah right.

I've come up with something much better....I think. I'll see how it works over the next year. I honestly believe it is a much better system. If anyone does the same thing maybe we can compare after its been used for awhile?

Let me ask you a question or two before I explain the new plan.

Do you ever buy a quilt fabric kit? Or a fabric jelly roll? Maybe a block of the month? I usually don't but I like the idea of them. If you think about them....the fabrics are all contained together making it easy to create the quilt. No having to search through the fabric stash for what is needed to make the quilt.

Have you ever sorted through your fabric stash.....picked up a piece of fabric.....thought to yourself.....what on earth did I buy this fabric for? Or.....have you ever started a quilt only to realize the fabric you bought for it is lost somewhere in the stash? Me too!

Have you ever gotten a quilt magazine or book.....looked through it.....saw a quilt you want to make someday.....later bought the fabric.....then couldn't remember what book or magazine you saw it in? Me too!

Have you ever gone to the fabric store.....bought fabric for a quilt you intended to make.....put the fabric neatly away in your stash.....then couldn't remember what quilt you wanted to use it for? Me too!

Have you taken the pledge to bust the stash? Or taken the no buy pledge? Me too! I've also taken a pledge to not randomly go out to buy organizer gidgets and gadgets in the hope it will get me organized. I'm using what I have or be darned sure it's something I really need before spending money. Heavens, I've got lots of ideas for organizing without spending a lot of money...it's time I started using them again.

Hopefully my 2008 organizing method will remedy all the above situations. I've given it lots of thought over the past year but until it's tried and tested I can't be sure.

I was thinking about several possible solutions for better organizing this year. I kept asking myself.....does fabric have to be sorted and stored in colors or themes or by size? Can't fabric be stored together for easier (and quicker) quilts. Like a quilt kit. I kept thinking.....kits are a great idea....but.....I don't have the time to cut all the fabric pieces for a couple of hundred quilt kits all at one time either.

There must be a better solution....AHA! Light bulb moment! Who says a kit must be cut pieces? Sometimes a kit is nothing more than pieces of fabric and cutting instructions. Or just pieces of fabric like in the jelly rolls.

I've spent the last year making copies of the instruction pages of every quilt I thought I might want to make someday. Every book I looked through, every magazine, or any quilt I thought maybe I would like to make, got copies made. I kept the copies all together until I could get around to my organizing.

Ok, I've got a head start on you. I took a whole year to make copies. Don't try to start making copies all at once. Start with a few to get you started organizing or start with your UFO quilts. Start with the visible fabrics first...those are the newest. You know...the fabrics that are stacked right in front of where you want to walk. Anything hidden in a drawer, cabinet, or box is old and can wait for just a bit longer.

I have a computer printer that makes copies. If you don't have one.....writing the name and book or magazine with page numbers might work too.

It doesn't matter if I never get around to making all the quilts. It doesn't matter if I have instructions for 5 or 50 or 550...only that I had a thought I might want to make it. I wanted the copies in one place for me to find them again. Some quilts I want to make don't really need a pattern. I know how to make them....I only needed a reminder page that I want to make the quilt and who will get it.


I gathered up all my someday quilt patterns. I put a few into a bag. Not all of them. Just a few to start. One pattern or reminder sheet per bag. For example.....this pattern was sent to me by one of the web ring members. My grandchild will love it.


This one I printed off the internet a few months ago when I got some denim fabric donations.


This is a reminder sheet.....I want to use some of the necktie donations I was given a few weeks ago.


This is a reminder sheet too. I hope to enter MQS this year. I'm not sure I will; but, I have the reminder anyway. The actual contest booklet is stored in another place.


So what am I going to do with all these bags and patterns? I'm going to make some kits....NO, NO, NO, I'm not cutting any fabric yet. I'm only sorting fabric so I know what I bought it for or believed I would make with it in the first place.

All I'm doing right now is sorting fabrics into a bag with the instructions or reminder sheet. I'm not even measuring to be sure I have the right amount of fabric. Only that the fabric I pick up will hopefully go into THAT quilt. I can measure and cut....or even change my mind....when I actually get around to making the quilt.

Why did I choose the really large bags instead of smaller ones? So I can store a whole bunch of fabric and keep it there until the whole quilt is finished. I can put everything, including backing, into the bag if I want. Batting...no. But everything else can be stored together. It won't matter if there is too much fabric or too little fabric. When I actually get around to making one of these kits I can do all the measuring and cutting. For now...it's just sorting.

At first I lay a few bags out onto the table to use for sorting. Then I realized I needed the table for folding fabrics.


So I moved them to my machine table for now. When I start filling the bags it will get too heavy for the table. I'll move them to a container before that happens. I don't want to damage my machine table.


I gave each bag a number. Next I wrote numbers onto a sheet of paper. I thought to myself....it won't do me any good to have all these kit bags made up.....if I can't remember which bag has what quilt. I can't spend enormous amounts of time searching through bags for a quilt on a deadline either. With a list I can scan through it to see which quilt is next and then go get the bag with the right number.

Think of the bags as fabric houses and the list as the addresses. Ta da! instant quilt address book. Works just like one of my other address books.


Ok, you see there are some blank lines? Those represent empty houses. I haven't put a pattern in them yet. As I'm sorting through my fabrics.....if I come across a fabric that I completely forgot about but know what quilt I want to make.....it can be given a quilt reminder sheet to live with and written into the address book. Some fabrics simply won't have a home yet. Those homeless fabrics are going to be folded and stored in the homeless shelter....ready for a someday quilt.

Here is an example of a quilt waiting for a house. It's colored pictures done by my grandkids.



It gets a house to live in and given an address on the list.



Here are some Dresden plate blades I cut awhile back. I put them into their house which already had an address.


When I'm sorting through the fabrics to put into their houses...sometimes there is an odd piece along with a larger piece. I put both into the right house together. I don't know if I will need both or not. It's better to have it all there than to realize later I really could have used that small piece.


These are some of my really small pieces. A couple of fat quarters and some border stripes.


Even fat quarters and border stripes need a home. I haven't figured out which house they will live in yet so I'm simply putting them into one place for a later sorting. I believe I have a lot of these small pieces...maybe I will find them again as I sort and clean.

How else can I use these fabric houses? Well, suppose, I decide to do the hour a day project with Judy L over at Sunshine Quilts. She gives a fabric list and directions. So, I go grab an empty numbered fabric house and gather the fabrics for the hour a day project. I have to remember to put the owner of this fabric house into the address book!

Ok, suppose I finally do pull out one of the fabric houses to start making the quilt. That's the time when I start measuring to see if I have all the right amounts of fabric. If say for example the pattern calls for one yard of fabric but I have 6 yards there...I do not cut off one yard then put the rest into the homeless fabric shelter. Just as sure as I do that....I will use the fabric for another quilt....only to realize I should have kept more of it for a border or for the binding. I keep all fabrics in the bag until the quilt is completely finished.....then find a new home for what is left.

Suppose I find I'm short some fabric? Not enough there or simply not the right one. I need to make a trip to the fabric homeless shelter.....(fabric stash)....hmmm....not the right fabric there either. Eeeeeek!...a trip to the fabric store is in order. Lots of temptation there.....so I take a note of exactly how much fabric I need to complete this quilt along with a swatch of the fabrics I'm using and maybe the instruction sheets. If I only need one yard of a fabric; I do not buy more than 1 and 1/4 yards. The 1/4 is for cutting and shrinking allowance.

WARNING! Don't pull random fabrics off the shelves at the LQS. It's far too tempting to adopt them all. If you need to know how to resist buying yards and yards of fabric go read this.

I've made a pledge to myself....nothing gets put into the trash or donated to someone else until I'm absolutely certain it won't be put into some quilt in the future. Fabric is much too expensive and getting more expensive. I'm not going to get rid of an old $2 piece of fabric just to go buy a new $15 piece. Even the really old fabrics can find a home.

Speaking of the really old fabrics. Do you have any really old (10 years or more) fabrics but just can't seem to find a pattern to use them in? Well goodness....look through some old (10 years or more) books. Try to figure out what time period a fabric was made and you will most likely find a pattern for it in a book from that same time period. No old books? Try the library.

So why make an old pattern from old fabrics? Think a minute......don't you love looking at vintage quilts? Don't you just love to see all the old fabrics? So why not make yourself a contemporary-vintage quilt? If someone can come up with a name like shabby sheek (?) why not contemporary-vintage?

Hmm...I think I explained the whole idea? I may think of something else as I continue to sort and organize. For now, I've given you the basics. I'm headed to the stash to do some more sorting. I would appreciate opinions of what others think of my idea. Now to figure out what title to put this under..... Does it save money, yes. Does it save space, probably. Does it save time, yes. Oh heck, the best is under organize. That covers them all.

Realistic scheduling - part 3

When I was first starting out as a machine quilter money was very tight. One day I asked a friend for a small loan to buy groceries. My friend said, "When are you going to give up playing with your hobby all day and get a real job?" EXCUSE ME? This IS my real job.

Those words were a turning point for me. I knew right then and there that if I didn't get my act together to look professional and act professional no one would ever take me seriously. I got my DBA out and put it on the wall for everyone to see. I don't usually keep the $20 bill in the frame. I pulled it out of storage to take the picture. I usually keep a $1 there instead. I don't want to tempt any of the neighborhood kids with a $20 on the wall.


To start being taken seriously; I set my business hours and started working them. I stopped working my pajamas. I did all the things I would do IF I had my business in a completely different building and had to commute. Housework got done before and after working hours. Errands and taxi rides got shifted to the times I was not working. I told absolutely everyone......just because I don't drive back and forth to work doesn't mean my job is any less important. If a neighbor needed a ride to the doctor....call a taxi. If my child wanted a ride to the mall....take the bus. If a relative wanted to visit...wait until evening or the weekend.

So let me ask you....how do your friends and family view your business? Are they merely indulging your nice hobby? Do your kids expect you to drive them here and there when you should be working? Do the kids or spouse constantly interrupt your work to do something with them or for them?

How do you, yourself, view your business? Do you constantly interrupt yourself to go fold laundry or get onto the computer? Seriously, how often do you stop working on a quilt to go do something else? Or procrastinate starting the day. How often do you work a full day at what is supposed to be your job?

Could you stop work at an office.....at any time you wanted.....to run home and fold laundry? Could you stop the assembly line of a factory just so you could get onto a computer to check email? Could your friends or relatives drop by the assembly line to visit if you worked in a factory? If you can't do those things at "real" jobs, then why are you still doing them during your business hours? Maybe you really don't think of your business as anything more than an income producing hobby either?

Before you can determine a realistic waiting list schedule, you have to know how many hours of quilting are being fitted into your time box. Is it one hour a day? A day now and then? In between family obligations? In between computer or tv time? Part time or full time? Is it early morning, late night, or whenever you can have the house all to yourself.

If you find you are in a situation where no one takes your business seriously maybe it's time for a family meeting? Discuss the business with everyone to find out how they see your work? Explain to the kids that if you ask them to do a household chore....you're not asking because you don't want to do it yourself.....you're asking because they have a stake in your business too. If you don't earn the money.....they can't spend it.

Everyone in the house has a stake in how successful your business will become. Your business doesn't belong to just you.....its a family business.....it belongs to all the people who help you spend the profits.

If you think about it....all the really famous quilters (of any type) have the backing of everyone in their family. Especially the spouse. Many husbands will take over household chores like cooking or running errands to give the wife the freedom to stay with the quilting work. Those are the quilters who eventually become famous. Don't believe me? Go ahead, pick any famous quilter and do some research.

Sigh....I can only imagine what would be possible for me if I had the kind of support and encouragement they have. I would love to have someone around to help with the cleaning and cooking while I continued to quilt. Or to discuss my next art project....

Uh, where was I? Oh yes, realistic scheduling. Ok, I realize some quilters must put family obligations before working time. That's the great thing about being in business for one's self. You are the boss so you set the working hours. If you have a family meeting and find you can only work one day a week....then don't let anything get in the way of that one day. If you can't work but one hour a day....then make sure you don't let anything interrupt that one hour.

Yes, yes, of course there will be emergencies. But how often do you have real emergencies? The nice thing about a time box is you can move things around and still fit them in. Trust me, running a child to the mall because tomorrow is a field trip and they HAVE to have a new outfit is not an emergency. If you have an emergency once a week....maybe you should be selling insurance instead.

Back at work

Blogger wouldn't act right this morning so I'm here in the evening.

The next to last Christmas quilt! I thought I only had this one but forgot about another one. It's on the machine ready to work on tomorrow.....maybe.



I've been working on this one. I thought I was only going to work on it for a few minutes this morning but really got into it and couldn't stop. I finished the lady and almost finished the man. I couldn't wait to start auditioning backgrounds. I kind of like this one.



The background fabric was a couple of remnant scraps I picked up a few weeks ago at the LQS. The top edge had the edge cut out like you see it. Hmmm....works anyway. The sky is a left over scrap from another art quilt I've been working on for the guild challenge. Can't show a picture of it until April. It's against the rules of the guild.

What do you think? Does the background overpower the lady? It won't be so 'busy' when I get the man in there too. Is it too dark for a background?

I've been looking for a pebbles fabric to use for the path the people are walking on. Which is the very reason I hate being disorganized. The quilt gremlins play havoc with my fabrics when its not all contained in an orderly manner.

I may come across something different for a background (as I sort fabrics) but I really think this will be the one I choose. I'll live with it a couple of days to think about it.

I was asked what different types quilts I make. Actually, I can't decide which type quilt I like best so I make them all. I make clothing memory quilts for the family of someone who passed away. I make traditional quilts. I make t-shirt quilts. And I make art quilts like the one above.

This is a quilt that started out as just an experiment and ended up being the reason I started doing art quilts. It's my very first art quilt. I plan to make another one for my granddaughter. This one is never leaving me. It's my good luck charm. My daughter will inherit it.



Another view.

So while you enjoy the eye candy, I'm going to make a few phone calls before bed.

Realistic schedules - part 2

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I'm sorry about the abrupt end to the story the other day. My time off was much more important to me than sitting at the computer writing. So...on with the realistic scheduling.

It's taken me many years to view time differently. Time....can't see it, can't smell it, can't touch it, can't taste it......but you can feel it. Some days it seems to whiz right by and other days it seems to drag on forever. A few months ago I started to think of time as a box instead of in minutes or hours.

Think about that for a minute. If you had a box in front of you then decided to start filling it up with items. You could haphazardly put items into the box....which would eventually over flow. Not enough space in the box to hold everything? Well you could probably get a different bigger box to fill......which would eventually get filled.....so you need an even bigger box.

Now think of time as a box....this box has a limited size....you can't change a 24 hour day into a bigger 36 hour day. You can't get a bigger box! You're limited to the one given to you. If you just start dropping items into your box, eventually it gets filled and over flows.



Or....you could very carefully fill the box with the most important items first. Then fill in the rest of the space around those items with others.....in order of importance. Eventually the items that don't fit into the box will be the least important. They may actually be very important to you but are what could be left out of the box if it's already full.

I think of the items going into the time box as smaller boxes of time. Each smaller box holds something very important to me. I can move them around and manipulate the way everything fits into the box until I fit in the most I can achieve.

So what do I put into my box of time in order of importance? First is sleep time. Everybody must sleep. It's unavoidable and is a fixed space inside the time box. I would love to put time with family next....but realistically....if I don't work, I won't have the money to visit my kids or keep a roof over my head. My business must go into my box next. My business takes a really big portion of my time box.

This leaves much less space for filling with things like grocery shopping, dinners with friends, time with family, overtime, visits to fabric stores, creating contest quilts, guild meetings, and all manor of other things. These are all important to me but must be fitted into my time box as space allows. The items I simply can't fit into today's time box must be saved for the next time box I get. We are only given one time box daily.

In order to fit more items into a daily box, I try to reduce mundane routine items into the smallest portion possible before trying to fit it into my time box. One example is my grocery shopping. If I can spend only 4 hours at the grocery, every few months, instead of two hours once a week. I need less space in my time boxes for getting groceries.

Another example is my custom made quilts catalog. By reducing the task of quoting prices into a catalog, I've saved a couple of hours of space in my time boxes because I don't have to sit and refigure the estimated price.

The more items I can reduce down in size....the more I can fit into my time box. Even a few seconds saved here and there eventually add up to minutes then hours of space saved in my time box. One example of seconds saved is my thread cutter block. It might not be a big deal to someone else who continues to clip by scissors. To me the few seconds are worth saving.

This blog is also a time saving device for me. My family read it, my local friends read it, my customers read it, my internet friends read it, which save me lots of time. I'm not repeating, and repeating, and repeating, the way I do things. It's all here in one post (ok, several posts) but the point is it save me time. I've reduced talking about how I work to the smallest portion of time in my time box.

So.....what would you fit into your box of time in order of importance?

I'm back

I had the most wonderful weekend! The best Christmas present I've gotten in many years.

I visited my sons and their families in Southern Kentucky. The time passed much too quickly. I missed the connection road to their house and wandered all around the country side (for a couple of hours) until I finally got directions to go the right way. You'd be surprised how many people in the country don't know how to give directions. When I was leaving, my son gave me the directions back to the interstate. It was then that I realized the highway sign, which I had missed, was twisted and turned backwards. It looked like it had been hit by a car or something. Duh! No wonder I had missed the turnoff road sign.

Why didn't I just know the way there? Well its been several years since I drove those country roads. Lots of things changed. New buildings put up everywhere and old familiar sights were obscured by the new ones. You know how it is, stay away from an area for a few weeks and the next thing you know there is a new building. Multiply that by a few years and a bunch of new houses make the whole area unfamiliar. On the way home I decided to take the country roads instead of the interstate. A drive through the countryside it always a treat for me. The constant rain didn't even change the happiness at seeing all the farms along the way.

In years past....I would work all the way up to Christmas Eve on customer quilts. Even though I wanted time off during the holidays, just like other people, there would always be something to keep me at the machine instead. This year I decided to take time off early. Now.....if I work up to Christmas Eve....it won't matter because I already got my Christmas present. Spending time with my kids and grandkids is the only 'present' I really want. The gift of time is the best gift I can ever get. I can hardly wait to save enough money to make the trip again!

I helped my DIL to learn how to use her new sewing machine. I would have loved to spend more time with her and the sewing. I'm going to send her some of my decorator books.....as soon as I find them. She wants to learn to make curtains and pillow covers and stuff like that.

I tried really hard to get the grands to warm up to me but they really don't know me. Its hard for a kid to warm up to a stranger. I'm actually glad they are that cautious......with the way the world is today.

Now that I'm back home I find there is more work to complete before the Holidays than I thought. Quilts I had agreed to do....way back when....so those will get done before I get started with the reorganizing. Oh, who am I kidding, I can't help myself, I'll do a little quilting and a little organizing.

Later.....