Thursday, January 6, 2011

Organization/ Functional Progress #1

Wow!!! Thanks everyone for your vote of confidence in my journey to organization and function. All of the pictures, website suggestions, and Facebook pages were awesome. But now I'm feeling the pressure... LOL. I'm kidding you, you know I LOVE to share sometimes a little too much. Anyway, Tuesday was a "preliminary day." I spent about 6-7 hours working on it. I went through every piece of fabric I own touched, cut, and was a bit surprised because I forgot I had it. I swear I am now a whiz at using a rotary cutter. I had four decent size totes full of all kinds of stuff. Then I had smaller shoe size totes with odds and ends and scraps in. I went through everything. Many times I said to myself... "self what were you thinking keeping this tiny little piece of fabric and 1/2 piece of scrap." OH I know what I was thinking... (By the way the first step in admitting you are a hoarder is you actually have a plan to use it someday for something.) LOL. I had a plan to use my scraps for stuffing beautiful prims I would create SOMEDAY. I will admit about a year back I stuffed a chair pad for my sewing machine chair with scraps and man is it nice on the tushy. See too much sharing. LOL. I have not made anything since to stuff with scraps since I use wood chips and sawdust. So I actually threw SOME of scraps away, which I caught myself looking through the trash pile and attempting to pull stuff out again. OH I plenty left don't you worry that I went to gung ho. I pulled some out to go to Goodwill because there was quite a bit of yardage left. These were things like polyester, fuzzy stretch knits, seersucker, stuff that well uh I have no idea what I was thinking.

So let's go on my little journey called organization/functional. Please this is not for the OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) or the faint of heart reader. Your anxiety level will skyrocket with this post. LOL I may give you a heart attack by seeing this. Viewer discretion advised. LOL.

Let's start with tote one. Last years organization involved separating solids from prints. One in one tote one in the other. I don't know why don't badger me. LOL. Keep in mind 2010 organization. I decided to start with my prints. I LOVE calicos and small prints. I just can't get enough. You will be able to tell by my stash. So in order to save space I cut a yard of fabric to display from my fabric that I have yards of. That way I save space and can see what exactly I have. I left the rest of the yardage intact and refolded. Now some of them I kept intact if they were under 2 yards. Simple enough... use for binding strips or backings. OR if some of my friends want to do a fabric swap with me... wink wink... subliminal message here. I put the extra yardage back in a tub for now.

EEEWWWW pretty... LOL.



Extra yardage... Mr Sunshine was out and I was too busy to move the fabric again. LOL
My next project will be either taking pictures or cutting a swatch and putting it in a notebook showing what I have extra fabric of. That's down the road though. One thing at a time. Baby steps.







So as not to bore you with every tote I will fast forward. I gathered up all my fat quarters and made more with scraps I had in my totes. All my pretties lined up in my Longaberger basket that I uh ummmmm HAD to have years ago. Not so liking the stain color but I can't bring myself to painting it knowing how much I spent on it. I have another market basket somewhere around here IF I need to put more fat quarters in it down the road. What am I saying.... yikes...



Are we taking bets to see how long they will look this nice???? I'm sure not long.

Next, I always seem to cut way to many strips for quilts that I'm working on. Those were somewhat "contained" not really organized. See the two cheese boxes up on top? Well the bigger one on the bottom has any strip, square, rectangle, unused block 3 or more inches in it. The smaller has the same thing as the bigger one just smaller than 3 inches in it. HA easy way for me to remember. And yes I put my fall quilts up there too. I just LOVE the colors and I made them and I'm proud of my first attempts. LOL.

The following pictures are awful but the sun was not up yet and I was using my flash. Have no fear I will get better ones.



Alright everything is all lined up folded and "organized." Anyway you get the idea.



Now that you've seen it I am actually going to change it. LOL. I am a "fluffer." All you "fluffers" raise your hand. Yea your the one who sets up a display and changes it 20 times til it's just right. No shame here baby. Never fear I have a plan. I'm not telling though. You have to come back to see. teehee do I sound like your kids. :) So as I finish my first cup of coffee since getting off work at 7am I am ready to dig in. Oh and if I motivate you to start organizing let me know and send me pics or post them on your blog. You may have some ideas I might want to use. So ladies off to play in my fabric.
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12 comments:

  1. Love it!!! I love your Blog.....You make me laugh!!I think it looks very nice, but I totally get switching it 20 times!!!!LOL!

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  2. Oh my, It's a thing of beauty! Great job.
    I have a craft mess if your bored.
    xoxo

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  3. I love the semi-final unfluffed look!!

    Your organization makes perfect sense to me--should i be scared?? LOLOL

    I keep my fabric by colors in an old china cupboard in the Craft Palace-behind doors. My husband says I just buy fabric so I can rearrange my stash. I'm supposed to actually USE my fabric?? and yes I've found stuff that makes me wonder WTH was I thinking??

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  4. Oh Mary, you made me laugh! Guess I'm a fluffer too! Kudo's for jumping right in and getting after it. I love the way your "fabric display" looks in the cabinet.
    ~Sheila

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  5. whew.....Iim tired just reading what you did!! It looks great and your make me giggle! Keep up the organising....maybe I will take a hint and do some myself!~

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  6. It looks great Mary! Can't wait to see what else you have planned!

    Carmen and the Primcats

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  7. Mary, I am smiling while I type this..I love your blog and can't wait to see what you end up doing with the rest of your fabric..Happy New Year to you and your family..

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  8. Mary,

    I'm impressed....those fabrics color coordinated and crisply folded on the shelf looks so pretty! You go girl!

    Tammy

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  9. It looks awesome! You have certainly worked hard - great job!

    Blessings,
    Sue

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  10. I LOVE IT!! Awesome idea and I think you are going to love it all when it's done.

    You are just too funny... are you sure you've only had one cup of coffee?? Haha, just kidding! You had me laughing out loud throughout this post.

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  11. Mary, it looks wonderful!
    I love fabric, and have loads myself, it's a weakness! I am glad you are able to now look at them and who knows~ you may get more inspired because you can ACTUALLY see them a bit better!
    My room is a disaster right now, don't know when I'll get to that yet, but it'll take me a bit to get through all of it! LOL! I'll need SEVERAL pots of coffee though!
    Have a good weekend.

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  12. I love your organizing....you're lookin' good!!! Now how much would I need to pay, to get you to come do mine? hehe

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