I remember going to a clean your house lecture and the one thing that made sense to me was NEVER put something down "for now" because if you do it starts to become a pile!
I want to clear off my cutting station but the part that isn't covered with the mat is a pile-ing spot. When I cut fabric then the bits and pieces or unused fat quarters and pieces of fabric end up piled on the cutting table. Sometimes things that have no place at the time end up there too.
I will stuff them in a zip-loc bag sometimes if they are for an on going project and once the project is done the leftovers tend to stay right in that bag.
After I returned from my weekly quilt friends meeting I was just annoyed at the bags and piles so I began sorting pressing and putting those bits and pieces into orderly shape. Little tiny pieces or leftover small pieces (and that is subjective LOL) went into a basket for a future project with my group. Bonnie Hunter has an incredible scrap quilts site where she not only shows many, many scrap quilts but shares directions and step by step tutorials all for free! What a WOMAN. I saw the Crumb Quilt project and thought it would be perfect for my evening quilting friends to do and donate for our yearly charity project. We have done everything from fall leaves, fabric challenge, twist and turn among many others. We are going to have a lot of fun creating our own version of the Crumb Quilt.
I also sorted a whole bag of leftover 2.5" strips and they went with the "worms" pile ( from the book Open a Can of Worms), I found a bunch of Nickles (5" squares) and then cut as many pairs as I could from various pieces of fabric in the piles and bags. They went to the Nickle stash for future projects. If the pieces were fat quarter sized then they are to be put into my fq boxes above the cutting table, not shown, by color and if they are larger then they go in the 1/2yd drawer or folded onto another shelf by color. Whew....
Now came the problem fabrics...too big to be in the Crumbs pile because I know they can be used in the future for small projects, and yet not a fat quarter! So....
I now have a new box labeled.....
Large Scraps LOL, Yup and for now if they fit then I will keep adding to the box but once it is full I am going to have to figure out something else or donate them to the Crumbs project.
4 comments:
I'm impressed. I have sorted through two boxes of scraps and yet there are still so much more to go through! My goal for 2008, which turned into my goal for 2009, and will continue for 2010 is to use my scaps!
Thanks for the links.
I have areas like you describe. Not in my sewing room, but in other areas around the house. I refer to them as catch-alls. Good luck in sorting and gaining some control of your space.
I, too, have that end of the cutting table pile. And, in fact, that is my challenge for tomorrow. I need to turn my cuttiing mat and can't until I clean off the pile end. Wish me luck. LOL
I am a major 'piler upper'. I tell myself all the time that I'm going to turn over a new twig and stop doing it, but then I get involved in something and it just seems like old habits are hard to break. Your clean up looks wonderful and has inspired me to clear my cutting table. I'll take a before and after photo too and post it on my blog! Thanks for the inspiration.
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