Shelly over at Prairie Moon Quilts is again hosting the Final Countdown — a set of tasks to clear the deck so to speak to get us ready to quilt in the new year.
Task One – Get your fabric stash under control
My first thought is I’d have to find my flat surfaces to get my stash under control. I haven’t done a whole lot of quilting this year — as evidenced by this being only the 40th post of the year. But mid summer I did pull out some fabric to make a bag and accessories and that fabric has not been put back up. Then I unpacked the projects I took to retreat in June to work on them, but they got buried as well.
So here are Shelly’s questions.
- Do you have a plan for your stash? – It’s sorted by color and/or theme. Last year I started refolding it so I didn’t have to dig in my boxes and stopped after posting the picture of my floral box. Actually, I must have sorted a bit more as when I was digging in it earlier this month, there were two columns of fabric. I must say it made it easier to grab what I was looking for.
- Are you working your plan? – The sorting has been kept up, but the new folding didn’t get very far. I think if I refold the fabric it will fit better in my boxes and it definitely will be easier to find what I’m looking for. I think the next box I’ll fold/sort is the red/green box as that’s the fabric which will need to be put up next.
- Do you need a new plan? – I think I’ll reduce the number of ‘theme’ boxes – at least move floral into the color boxes. I also have a novelty, black & white, red & white, Kansas Troubles, 30’s reproductions, Halloween, Christmas, music and yardage boxes. As I fold, I expect some of my combo boxes to shift around.
- Is your stash almost under control, but it just got a little out of hand because you’ve been using from it and adding to it all year? -I hesitate to say it’s under control — but that’s primarily because I’ve not dealt the two huge boxes of scraps I was given last year — or was it the year before. Well, that and not getting the fabric put up from this summer.
- Did it all used to fit where you had it, but now it’s sort of spilling out into other spaces and areas and making a bit of a mess? – It’s all contained in the sewing room, but I need sort it and put it away. But I don’t guess that’s really the question. Some of my boxes are overflowing — the red/green, the purple/pink, and neutral. The lids are on those boxes just barely and I moved some neutral over to the music drawers. I suspect with the refolding everything will fit better, although there may be some shifting of fabric into new boxes.
- What are your plans for your stash going forward? – I really would like to get all the fabric back on the two main shelves so I can get one of the smaller shelves out of the room — alas there’s more than fabric on those smaller shelves.
- Are you setting any stash-related goals for yourself for 2017? – Get the scraps sorted and dealt with, get the lids on the boxes to close easily, use it, and only buy if absolutely necessary to finish something in progress.
Your goals under the last question — good ones! I’m shooting for those, too!