January clean-up
It seems that many people on the Stashbusters list are sorting and cleaning their quilt studios, or at least their stash repositories. I, too, managed to stack a lot of stuff on every horizontal surface, so have been working a few minutes a day in making the room usable.
I did have to add a rolling (not) cart for all the fat quarter bins. They also hold some larger than fat quarter collections that I want to keep together, ie. railroads, cats, etc. This cart is actually the shelves from 2 Costco carts on 1 set of poles, with heavy duty casters that barely turn. It is considered stationary where it is currently parked. The CD player is located on the cart as well.
Some friends helped me refold all the fabric over the next month after moving in. I fold by stretching out the length of fabric as it comes off the bolt, folding it once lengthwise, then start folding it at 22", end over end until finished. This lets you pull out a piece and cut off some of the length without having to open it all the way out.
To place it on a stack, I use a 6 x 24" ruler to lift it into place. On most stacks there isn't room for my hand to smooth it, so the ruler works great. To remove it, I use to same ruler to prop up the stack while pulling out the piece I need. I added a curtain to the area to help prevent fading along the folds. So far, all they have been is dusty.
Next area to fix is UFOs and/or WIPs. I think I'm going to try a Stashbusters' suggestion and try to only work on 4 projects at a time. I'm working on a way to keep that organized, but it still needs help.
I brought down what was in that now empty space - a partially finished Disappearing 9-patch made with Christmas fabrics. I "finished" all the blocks, and did a rough layout to see how it would fit hung on the hallway wall. I made 22 blocks, but after checking all the measurements, I will need 10 more blocks. I did cut them out today before I stopped, but I just really wanted to have it finished! Maybe tomorrow.
While we were building this house (we bought it when it was in progress), I really worried about where all my stash would go. There are very few closets, so I had to make use of what was here. The only closet in the hobby room is 24" deep. I had the builder leave off the trim on the backside of the opening so we could fit 24" wire shelves in the closet. One of the vendors at work (Operating Room) helped me obtain heavy duty shelves that just fit the closet. It was quite a sight watching my husband - then fiancée - and his friend build the shelves inside the closet as there was no room to assemble them anyplace else. The hardest thing at the time was telling them how much room to leave between shelves. I did use some containers to hold things on the top and bottom shelves, so I could lift them out to sort them. The closet is about 9-1/2' tall.
I did have to add a rolling (not) cart for all the fat quarter bins. They also hold some larger than fat quarter collections that I want to keep together, ie. railroads, cats, etc. This cart is actually the shelves from 2 Costco carts on 1 set of poles, with heavy duty casters that barely turn. It is considered stationary where it is currently parked. The CD player is located on the cart as well.
Some friends helped me refold all the fabric over the next month after moving in. I fold by stretching out the length of fabric as it comes off the bolt, folding it once lengthwise, then start folding it at 22", end over end until finished. This lets you pull out a piece and cut off some of the length without having to open it all the way out.
To place it on a stack, I use a 6 x 24" ruler to lift it into place. On most stacks there isn't room for my hand to smooth it, so the ruler works great. To remove it, I use to same ruler to prop up the stack while pulling out the piece I need. I added a curtain to the area to help prevent fading along the folds. So far, all they have been is dusty.
Next area to fix is UFOs and/or WIPs. I think I'm going to try a Stashbusters' suggestion and try to only work on 4 projects at a time. I'm working on a way to keep that organized, but it still needs help.
I brought down what was in that now empty space - a partially finished Disappearing 9-patch made with Christmas fabrics. I "finished" all the blocks, and did a rough layout to see how it would fit hung on the hallway wall. I made 22 blocks, but after checking all the measurements, I will need 10 more blocks. I did cut them out today before I stopped, but I just really wanted to have it finished! Maybe tomorrow.Happy Quilting,
Comments