Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Staying the Course & A Give-Away

It's been a crazy couple days around here sorting through bins, folding fabrics, touching LOTS of stuff... and now I'm just itching to sew. Not to mention that my mind is in a split mode of bursting with ideas and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Even sitting down to write this post is making my brain twitchy.
Olympics Organizathon Update
All events are underway and all venues are open - total chaos! I finally located my roll of tape and I've got fresh pens so labels will be made ASAP. My memory isn't one of my better attributes so labeling my new system is necessary. I saw this idea on a blog or Pinterest to use pretty tape instead of my usual masking tape and thought why not?
Today I want to wrap up the following events:
Event #1: Magazine Culling
Event #6: Bin Clearing
Event #7: UFO List Making (Other Crafts)
Event #8: Space Planning
I'm also making good progress in these events:
Event #4: Stash Folding
Event #9: Scrap Management
And, I've added a new event based upon the wonderful comments to THIS post asking for help with my batting scraps. 
Event #10: Batting Management
There were so many great ideas shared (thank you all!) and now I know exactly what I'm going to do to make this pile work for me.
Olympics Organizathon Give-Away #1!
Even though none of my Events have crossed the Finish Line yet I am overdue for a give-away. Today I am offering up a set of 6 floral FQs cut from my stash because I am thinking SPRING!   

Please leave a comment answering one (or all) of the following questions:

-  Are you a whiz at organizing fabric, notions or tools? Tell me ALL about it!
-  What is your biggest hurdle to organizing your sewing space? 
-  Are you thinking SPRING???

Mr. Random will select a winner on Sunday, February 23rd who will be notified via e-mail so please make sure that I can reach you.  NOTE: This give-away is now closed.

Speaking of the real Olympics, I thought the Ice Dancing competition yesterday was superb! This event has become more athletic over the years and, to me, much more interesting. I've been pretty into all of the events that involve a pair of skis or a snowboard this year. Some of the new events are just INSANE to watch and I find myself holding my breath until each competitor is safely down the hill or through the course.

And, I want a Sochi volunteer jacket like you wouldn't believe! I see this morning that Hoffman will have a free pattern "When Bali Met Sochi" available soon HERE. Oh my!
from https://hoffmanfabrics.com/images/SiteImages/Site10/125521420141849.jpg
Back to work...

35 comments:

  1. Glad you are enjoying the Olympics and making progress organizing your stuff. Would not say I'm a professional organizer by any means. Over the weekend I moved the clutter from the sewing room to another room. Out of sight, out of mind!

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  2. Congrats on all the progress! The biggest hurdle to organizing my sewing space is time. If I had more time, I would organize the heck out of my sewing room. And some money to install cabinets and shelves would be nice.

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  3. Hey Deb I can see you're definitely going for the gold! That gold medal....um, sewing table....will be living in your house before you know it! I like to THINK that I'm organized but my stumbling block to being really organized is my very small quilting/weaving room. If I had even 4 more square feet in there it would make a huge difference. But at least I have a dedicated space so I won't complain. :)

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  4. Hi,my biggest hurdle is space; wanting more cutting space instead of moving stuff each time.I need to get stuff organized and up and off my table areas. Thanks for sharing+Congrats on your organizing!

    cobaltt16@yahoo.com

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  5. Glad you have a plan to organize your sewing room. As for me, fabrics kept in a dresser (starting to overflow - need more drawers or to make some quilts. Notions in different places - don't have a sewing room. Use the dining room or set up the ironingboard to sew on. The fabrics and colors on the Olmypic material "When Bali Met Sochi" are so pretty.
    24Tangent@gmail.com

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  6. I am very organized on my BOM projects and quilt alongs. I keep everything I need for that project in a bin on the shelf. They are usually in order in which I need to work on them (when the pattern is released and such.) I pull out the bin, complete the block or portion of the quilt along, and put it at the end. They continue to rotate. I also keep an up-to-date WIP Wednesday post on my blog so that I don't miss anything. I love QA's because they are usually broken down into doable portions. Thanks for the chance to win all the florals! I LOVE florals!!!

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  7. You have made amazing progress and have made my brain start twitching to organize too - good inspiration. I am definitely thinking spring - especially since we are having a brief mid-winter thaw this week.

    I'm not a whiz at organizing anything in my sewing room. But I'm getting better. Block sets that are "in progress" usually hang together on skirt hangers in my sewing room closet so they don't get wrinkled. I use some bright colored Post-It tape to label my drawers. My tools are mostly in a desk organizer on my cutting surface. But the fabric stash has gotten unorganized again due to some major UFO digging that I've done in the past couple of months.

    Thanks for the chance of a giveaway - those a such perfect spring fabrics.

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  8. My biggest hurdle is that we are temporarely living with my inlaws so all my crafty items are in totes for now! But I am thankful I can still have my sewing machine set up do I can still sew!

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  9. I'm pretty good at organizing FQs (I use sweater boxes from The Container Store) and yardage (shelves in the linen closet) and rulers (most used rulers stand up in old crock on cutting table.

    I struggle with scraps. I have bins to store the scraps cut into strips and squares but keeping up with the trimming is where I struggle. Just yesterday I was cleaning up the cutting/ironing table and there is a ginormous pile of scraps to be dealt with. It feels like a never ending event to me even tho I enjoy being able to pull from my trimmed bins to make scrap projects.

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  10. Congratulations on "Going for Gold" on all your events, you are making great progress.
    My sewing space is reasonably tidy, unless I am looking hard for something in one of my plastic crates! My you, I don't have heaps of stash, mine is fairly minimal. I like your idea of the hanging bags to put scraps in. Not having enough room seems to be a common theme.

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  11. I loved the ice dancing too and I am completely obsessed with the Sochi banners! I have been on the hunt for a great 60 degree diamond pattern. Torn between doing the multicolor or all one color (like the blue banners at the figure skating rink). I think it will be a fun color challenge!

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  12. My biggest hurtle in organizing my fabric is that I keep everything. I tend to save every scrap that is 1" or larger and there is not enough room for it all!

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  13. 1.I am not a whiz, mostly because I don't really have my own space to sew. Most of my fabric is in boxes in the upper garage. I keep a smaller box inside with current WIPs. I do have a cabinet with thread and notions in the house, for the stuff I use all the time.
    2. As I mentioned, my hurdle is not having my own space.
    3. Today I am thinking spring! We are over freezing for the first time in over a month! I've even got the front door open, though not the screens!

    Loving that quilt pattern!

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  14. My current hurdle is figuring out what needs to be out away from little hands, as I share space with the playroom. I haven't had a two year around in a long time, so I've been making sure I have a place for pins and scissors up high! I also have trouble with magazines. I know you gave in to the ripping, but I find patterns I want to try every time I re-read, as I like to think of myself as an evolving quilter. ;)

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  15. I've been keeping fabric organized the last few year like this: all cuts 1 yd + are folded on shelves, Small cuts: FQ to just under a yard are folded in dresser drawers. Anything smaller is in scrap bins, by color. Works for me.

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  16. i am thinking spring. I sew on the dining room table so every thing goes up for family dinners.. i have a pie safe and several totes for my fabric and a bookcase near my sewing machine to full so i can look at it.

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  17. Recently I have been making draft stoppers from leftover batting pieces and the tiny scraps of fabrics. I made a dog bed the same way. I just keep a giant ziploc bag handy with all these scraps.

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  18. HI!!!! I am thinking Spring!!!! Can't wait!!!! I am looking forward to all the pretty spring colors!!!!

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  19. I am ready for Spring but where I live in Canada that's not happening for another two months... Sigh! I would really like to know how to organize my scraps... It just seems to be a mess and I can't get on top of it!

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  20. Wow! You go girl!!! It's gonna feel great when you place that gold medal around your neck :) And YES!!! I'm thinking spring!!! It was almost 70 here today - yoohoo!!! I opened windows and just simply basked in the warmth - ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! Since I'm not much of a flower girl where fabrics are concerned, you can remove my comment from the mix to win the FQ bundle - but it is such a nice thing for you to do and I know the winner will be thrilled :)

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  21. Wow! Ten events! You certainly deserve a medal. I'd never win a competition for organization, but I do have my UFO's organized. I discovered that plastic 15 inchx15inch scrapbooking boxes are perfect for finished blocks and accompanying fabric. Thanks for sharing this organizational inspiration! And thanks for the chance to win! I love florals.

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  22. I have a small sewing room but I have everything in see thru boxes. I have trouble keeping my scraps from growing....Thanks for the giveaway...bpfrimmer@yahoo.com

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  23. I'm trying to organize my sewing room a little at a time -- the entire process might take me a year (and I would rather quilt)! Presently, I am cutting scraps into strips and squares. Thanks the giveaway. Your fabrics do represent Spring.
    k.castanette@hotmail.com

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  24. Yes, I can't wait for SPRING! This weather is killing my bones! I'm new so I don't have a very impressive stash yet, but I've got 5 bins and two card tables, whoo hoo! Thanks for a chance.

    tdkcarpenoctem@hotmail.com

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  25. I am an "a place for everything and everything in its place" kind of girl. I hate wasting time trying to find something.

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  26. - What is your biggest hurdle to organizing your sewing space? : my complete and total lack of space for the size of my stash and supplies. I purchase faster than I create! kethry_24(at)yahoo.com

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  27. oops organize fabric? for me that means taking it out of the bag the store put it in. I keep thinking I should organize my material, but then think I can spend the time sewing or knitting instead. As to spring, I hate the winter and curse every time we et a snow fall, but after Valentines day snow and cold weather is coming to an end, Spring is just around the corner.

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  28. My biggest hurdle is space. I've moved my sewing room around based on family needs and am now in a space that is about 1/2 of what it was a year ago. Once the other side is finished and I can have my full space back, like will be much sweeter! Right now, I rely on using see-thru plastic bins, open bookshelves, and lot of labels! After the 2 storms we've had in the last 4 days...I can't think spring....it's too white here!

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  29. I am trying to use up my current fabric, so I don't need to be included in your cute giveaway. ;) I just wanted to say that I LOVE organizing. I think being a professional organizer would be fun. I have helped family and friends organize before, but I would much rather create.

    I also believe in having a place for everything and having it in its place. I only keep what I have room for, and I will only purchase something if I can make a place for it. It works because I have a nice sized craft room, and I stick with it. I like to clean things up along the way so there isn't so much to do all at once. My hurdle is probably that I am becoming more and more OCD. :P

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  30. I always wasted so much time looking for things, until I got my fabric organized and into the closet. I use mini-bolts and bins and can usually find just what I need now. The scrap assortment go into bins in the cutting table (love it!) and thread too. So I am now more productive with my time there. A few extra seconds to put things away make life a lot easier. Would I love those fabrics...oh Yes! Do I need them....probably not! But love the progress you are making.

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  31. I have been trying to organize. I purchased those large bins that fit under your bed and was getting my fabric sorted by colors and all nicely folded then my sisters came over to quilt and we started looking for colors that would work in our quilts and know my fabric is spread all over two rooms again. Oh well.

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  32. not only thinking spring, dreaming and praying for it....LOL...and i love the snapware products...i use the very smallest one to store embellishments in the top section and applique bobbins/needles in the bottom section...works great if one doesn't have a HUGE stash of these items....they have larger containers as well....handy dandy!

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  33. You are making amazing progress. Aren't you the women who a couple of years ago thought she had a problem finishing things? I find that really hard to belief. I thought of all your hard work last night as I sat and watched the women's downhill event. I could not belief how tense I became while watching it. But then realized that maybe if I had been working on something I might not have been so tense. I will have to try that tonight.
    I think my biggest hurdle with staying organized it that I seem to have quilting ADD. I can't seem to stay focused on one project and always have several going at once. I am attempting to get better about that by making lists and not having more than 3 projects going at one time. I keep my current WIP in dollar store baskets. They work great. One of my goals for this year is to organize the scraps and get rid of some of my older fabric. I have thought of donating some of them. I have a Thimbleberries project from several years ago that I never did more than pick up the fabric. After looking at the fabric I know my tastes have changed and I will never make it. That mean it should go. Just not sure where it will go to yet. I also need to cull the magazines. It just seems so daunting as I have years worth. I will just start and try to get up the nerve to rip.

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  34. Take a look at what I ran across. A catalog for the Official Sochi collection. http://sochi2014.bosco.ru/en/catalog.html

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  35. I'm sorting and purging, and not just in the sewing room (which I just completed). We move in less than four weeks so forgive me being so far behind with my blog reading and for not leaving a lot of comments while I attempt to catch up with what you're up to!

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