I recently decided that my office/sewing/crafting room needs to be about 1000x more organized than what it is. I’m slowly, but surely, tackling this task.

First up was organizing my in-progress quilts. I have 3 quilts that are in different stages of completion. One is clearly in need of being finished first and I have moved it to the front burner. The other two have been pushed to the back burners—or should I say, into storage bins? My Dazzling Pineapple Patch Quilt and my Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt are neatly tucked into these bins, but they won’t be forgotten!

The bins have EVERYTHING I need for these quilts. The Down the Rabbit Hole Quilt has an extensive pattern and lots of templates. All of this is at the bottom of the bin. All of the fabric I’ve been using is in the bin. The partially finished top and partially finished, unattached borders are in the bin. Ditto for the Dazzling Pineapple Patch Quilt—everything is in the bin.

To make it easier to quickly pick back up where I left off with these quilts, I started a quilting/sewing notebook. I’ve written each quilt or project at the top of a page and listed out what needs to be done. Sometimes I write steps out, work on the quilt, and then reprioritize the steps. Not a big deal. These are just quick notes to jumpstart progress when I’m ready.

Organizing the rest of the room is going to be a slow process, but it has inspired a couple of things. First, I now feel a new motivation to HURRY UP AND FINISH a handful of projects that are in various stages of completion. (This, of course, doesn’t apply to those 2 quilts sitting quietly in their bins—ha!) I have an afghan that needs to be repaired. I have a quilt with binding that is falling off. I have half a dozen painted secondhand picture frames that just need to be reassembled. For some good old-fashioned organization, I’m ready to start seriously tackling these projects and moving them out of the room.

Also, I have discovered that I’m at willing to put a lot of other crafts on hold indefinitely. That is, I’ve always dabbled in this and that—paper crafting, painting objects, knitting/crocheting—but, I’m ready to simplify to make more time and space for quilting. Not that I have a ton of that kind of stuff, but it’s enough. Did you know that I’ve been toting around the same box of craft paper since I was in portfolio school? I mean, I graduated from that school in 2007! I think it’s about time I let my kids go to town with the paper. I have an awl from a short book-making stint. I don’t think I’ll be making notebooks anytime soon. Of course, this is a chicken-egg situation: did my desire to organize spawn the willingness to reduce my craft supplies; or is my craft-downsizing motivating my organization? I don’t know, but I’m rolling with it!