Scrap Organization- AKA- an intervention

Last week I posted about getting organized. And no, I did not get very far! My friend Sue mentioned that often the problem is that there is too much stuff for the space. Well that is certainly true for me! Moments after I took the picture of my clean desk, it looked like a bomb had gone off. The floor had piles of stuff and if I did not look where I was walking, I would trip over them!

The iron is on the floor under my desk. Sigh.

But while I prefer to be more organized than this, it is, in part due to too much stuff and not enough space.

So I thought, can I learn to live within the space I have? Probably not, but I can make it better.

I decided to start with fabric scrap management. The desk stuff is too boring!

There are lots of great books out there with patterns for your scraps and systems to store your scraps. I decided to do a little research and see what ideas I can add to my current system to make it work better.

I found some great ideas and I will share a few links with you as I post about my scrap management over the next few weeks.

Years ago, I has shoe boxes for my scraps. I wish I had a picture of them. I had one for ¾” scraps, 1″ scraps, 1 ¼” scraps, 1 ½” scraps….. are you getting the picture? What was I thinking?

My quilter friend Joan Ford had three great books on scrap management and her system is called Scrap Therapy. Cute concept!

She has three sizes of scraps- but that won’t work for me. I can’t go that cold turkey!

I have cut it down to 1 ½”, 2″ 2 ½”, 3″ 3 ½” and 5″.

I do need to streamline this but my problem is that I hate to cut a perfectly good 3″ scrap down to 2 ½”. What if I need a 3″ scrap???

I think I need help.

 

 

And my system is not really working- these were all in the 2″ box- hmmm…. either I can’t measure or I did not cut them down to size.

So, for me, Step 1 is to go through the boxes of strips and check the sizes of strips and end up with strips that are the size listed on the box!

And yes, if that means cutting a 2 ¼” strip down to 2″, that is what I must do.

My boxes will now be:

1. 1 ½” (yes, I do use them! I like little stuff!)

2. 2″

3. 2 ½” (because I use a lot of that size )

4. 3 ½”

5. 5″

It is a start. I will have to talk about bigger pieces of fabric later. Right now I am focusing on my strips. I will check back and repot on my progress next Monday and post another link for you on interesting scrap management ideas.

In the meantime, I need a catchy name for my process. I think I will call it A Scrap Intervention- How to manage your scraps and get control of your quilting space!

And if you have any great scrap management tips- please share in the comments. I will take all the help I can get!

happy quilting,

Kate

p.s. Just an FYI- Craftsy’s Big Fall Sale goes thru the end of today- here is my link– you get up to 50% off classes and I get credit. Maybe I can get a chance to do another class with them- it was so much fun the first time!

Go on- sign up for that class you have been meaning to take. I just signed up for a knitting class- I love to watch as I sew- or while I am cutting strips!