We are currently being bombarded with "experts" telling us that if we use their simple method of organizing, and "decluttering" our world will be blissful. I quickly came to believe that I was hopeless, because none of it worked for me.
A couple of years ago, I saw a TED Talk by Cassandra Aarssen. She had a system, believed her system was the best, and made a business of organizing other people. One day, she failed. Her client couldn't make sense of her method, and Cas discovered that their is more than one style of organizing, and everyone has to embrace what works for them.
Over the last couple of years, I have been working on this. It is slow, because I am inventing something that works for me. My greatest achievment so far has been storage for my fabric. No, it isn't sorted by colour, or anything like that. I wrap my fabric around comic book boards, to make mini bolts, and store them in two rows in an IKEA Drona.
It may not be the way you would store your fabric but it works for me. I have an ides, I pull out my boxes, and pick what I think works for my idea. I can even roughly estimate the yardage of a piece of fabric I have. One yard is about two wraps around the board.
So, why am I telling you this? Because, over the years, some helpful people have tried to help me get my things organized. Some of it has helped and some of it has made things worse. Today, I was sorting through fabric that someone (not me) had decided should be hung in the closet on hangers. Since the fabric was piled up, I only saw the outer ones and lost total track of what was there. Today, I took them off the hangers and found some lovely surprises that will be going into the boxes after I have wrapped them around boards.
I also found a quilt top, the backing and the binding, lost under other things on a hanger.
Really bright and full of cats, how could I have lost it? It is a stay-at-home round robin. The challenge was to start with a block and continue from there. This was my block.
It is out of it's hiding place now. I have sent a note to the long arm quilter, to ask when she has time to quilt it. With luck, it will be done soon, and brightening the wall of my stairwell.
What system works for you is always the best, no matter what others might decide!!! Love the cats, that should be a keeper for you.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own system, the one which works for them! That is a fun cat quilt, a bonus quilt.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great find! Yes, always best to stick with your own method. xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a great find. I have never caught the one where they tell you to hang quilt tops and such on hangers, lol it never made any sense. The comic boards work well. What a beautiful treasure you found!
ReplyDelete1. I agree with you: to each his/her own! Not long (3 months, maybe) one of the LQS near me was closing -- the owner retired. I was able to buy a rack that fits in a triangular stand and came with a passel of baskets for holding fabric. Most of my fabric is cut in fat quarters (using metres), fat eighths (ditto) or 1/2 metres. Works a treat! I've organized it by colour. I have larger pieces in the bottom 3 drawers of a small dresser -- it used to be for clothes etc. when my kids (now 42 and almost 38) were babies. The other 2 drawers hold cross-stitching linens and "kits" of stitching patterns, fabric and flosses.
ReplyDeleteMy yarn stash is flung farther afield, but in the last 3 days I've been sifting and sorting -- and have several "batches" to take to the local charity thrift shop, along with a couple of "never-gonna-do-these" stitching kits. Share the wealth, I say! :-)