WMUTeach

How many quilts do I keep and use? Well, that is an interesting question. My quilt club/group does an exchange block quilt every year. We sign the blocks so those I keep those and have 12. I use some as seasonal quilts: valentine's, fall, Christmas. Others I just keep as memories of members past and present. I have about 8 quilts that I made for a special reason or as a challenge for myself, Harriet's Journey, for example. Those I keep and yes, I use them. I always have a pile of "I don't know what to do with this one" quilts but they are ready to go if I need one quickly. They are all finished except for the label. More times that I can count, I discovered I needed a quilt quickly and Ta-Da I had one! So, it looks like I have about 25 quilts that I am keeping for one reason or another. Only a few will go to family when I am gone or maybe sooner. My quilts, my choice.

rryder

Keep- a gazillion- mostly art quilts and retired show quilts of various sizes. I also have 11 quilts that I made specifically for gifting, but at this point, everyone has a quilt and really, how many quilts can be used at a time. I have 3 that I use regularly- 1 is a table cover for my very large dining table. The other 2 currently are used to cover my grand piano to keep the sunlight from a nearby window from damaging the finish and also to help keep dust out when it's not in use. Oh, and I have one of my art quilts hanging over the fireplace in my tv room and another hanging over my bed, and one on a wall in the kitchen. So 6 that get used regularly. I think that's it...LOL.

Rob

tallchick

Today I tackled my long 8 drawer dresser and decided which items would be listed on Etsy. This cleared out 4 of the drawers. I will work on organizing it again once I have everything listed. I also managed to clear out a big tote of items that have been in there since I moved 8 years ago. If it has no purpose, it’s going!

Monday I had a shred fest of old work files and cleaned out a file cabinet so I can now fit files into 1 drawer, this leaves me with 3 empty drawers, I may use the other drawers for storing other quilty things.

Tuesday I tackled the cupboards and drawers in my office (a kitchenette that has a built in desk area) and filled 2 boxes with donations. Got everything dropped off at the good will yesterday.

My goal for the weekend is to finish listing everything on Etsy and get back to my current project.

Thanks for all the inspiration everyone!

wesing

I so admire all you folks who can jump on something and power through it til it’s done. For some reason I seem to lose my steam after a few hours and then all focus and decision making ability drifts away. When I was younger it was second nature to organize and categorize, but now it seems like I’m overwhelmed by all but the smallest tasks. I guess everything will get done eventually, and if it doesn’t I guess it didn’t matter anyway. 😎

rryder

Good job, Tallchick!

After taking a break for several days, I'm ready to continue my decluttering journey in the craft room. I'm going to make another pass through the junk journal supplies and remove anything that I can't use for another purpose.

Rob

WMUTeach

No big organizing this week but I did open my eyes up yesterday and saw how I had once again accumulated little piles here and there and open boxes of this and that. I took less than 5 minutes to pull it all back together and turn my mess into cleared work spaces. Yeah! I didn't let it grow for weeks and weeks. That is a step forward in my journey.

Like Karen Brown and a number of you, I started with emptying the trash and moving the tea cups and snack plates out of the room. Then on to the scraps from finished work. What a difference.

rryder

Excellent WMUTeach!

Your post reminds me of a decluttering/organizing video I saw yesterday. The person said when you enter your home (or in our cases your sewing room/quilting studio) pretend like you're a guest who's seeing it for the first time. It will help you see the things that have been piled up for so long that you don't even notice them any more. I tried it- Yikes!- no wonder I've been feeling stressed every time I go into my studio! At least that exercise helped me see some more things to declutter.

Rob

Apples&Oranges

Oh man ... Where do I start??

I used to work for lawyers. That meant maintaining a certain image. I've decided all I really need is one dress suit for weddings, one for funerals and one for certain functions that I thankfully only have to attend rarely any longer. I cannot even start to tell you the pile of clothing I have donated.

On top of that I have been following a carnivore diet for the last 3 months and have lost nearly 50 pounds. So ... Anything that is too big is going out also.

I've also been spending at least an hour every day working on my personal fabric store. Right now I'm just getting colors and specific types of fabric sorted out (Christmas, Halloween, Juvenile, and batiks). Once that is done I'll move onto sorting out and folding/cutting pieces depending on the size of the piece I have.

It's gonna take a while. Lol

WMUTeach

Applesandoranges, keep reminding yourself it is OK to take your time and to reach the goal you want rather than giving up and not reaching your goal at all. Be the turtle that is slow and steady AND wins the race.

paddingtonbear

I’ve found the idea (which I read on the internet somewhere) that as you put things away think: where would I look for this if I wanted it. And put it there. This has been great for me as I try to get my house and sewing area organised.

I made a new small plastic storage box for “brights” today. I have so many kids and other cute fabrics that don’t “fit” in separate colour boxes. Rainbows, navy background with bright blue and orange and yellow dinosaurs etc. I’ll see how this idea goes.