STASH ORGANIZATION: Part 3 - UFO's and Kits - Improving Their Odds of Being Finished Some Day

Quilt projects can be like relationships...we've all jumped into one or two too quickly or lost interest at some point.  With quilt projects, turned UFO's, at least we don't experience that awkward "I-just-ran-into-him (her)-in-public" moment...maybe just a head slap or twinge of "what was I thinking when I started (or bought) THIS?!?"

UFO's can be a source of embarrassment and shame for many quilters.  I gave that up.  I freely admit to having 31 UFO's in various degrees of doneness in my stash, right now...full disclosure.  They range from partially cut out to needing binding.

OK...so how do I make the most of my UFO and collected kits situation?

Well, keeping them organized can be most of the battle.  If they are organized and easily approachable when I have a few minutes to sew, they have a better chance of having their shame status changed to "DONE."

Where to start? 

• LOCATE - go through your stash and find ALL UFO's and kits (time to fess up and face the music...)
• FIND ALL PIECES OF EACH UFO/KIT - are the blocks here, the borders there , and the binding no where to be seen?
• LABEL EVERYTHING YOU CAN (before you forget MORE important details...)
• SORT AND BE BRUTALLY HONEST - divide your sorting space in half...the UFO's you still want to finish on one side, the ones you've "fallen-out-of-love-with" on the other side
• PURGE - either find another home for the unwanted projects or re-purpose them
• SCOPE OUT A STORAGE LOCATION IN YOUR SPACE - even if your space is small, make sure UFO's are prominent - let's face it, it's hard enough to work on them WITHOUT having to dig for them...out of sight equals out of mind
• CONTAINERIZE - as long as each UFO is in labeled bag, zippered pouch, etc., they could be placed in one BIG container if you don't want to give each one a separate container
• SET GOALS - set REASONABLE goals - choose one thing and finish it...now, didn't that feel good?

I post about UFO's to give you hope, not to shame you...and to give those worthy projects a fighting chance.  I'm sprinkling in pictures of some of my UFO's (see? you aren't alone!). 

So now you have sorted them all...did you find projects that don't excite you anymore?  Look at each one honestly and decide if you are going to fish or just cut bait...put each project in the "to do" pile or the discard pile.

Hey...no shame in putting things in a discard pile.  You have many choices:

• give it away - have a quilter's "swap meet" with your buddies
• garage sale - I LOVE stumbling on a quilter/crafter's garage sale!
• re-purpose the pieces - if you have only cut things out, can you use the pieces in another project?
• re-purpose the constructed parts - can you turn the blocks and units that you've finished into smaller project(s)...like a table runner, wall hanging, coasters, etc.?  can you finish it in a smaller version as a donation quilt?
• feed the freebie scrap box at your LQS or put components in baggies, distribute to scrappy quilts you know, and watch the smiles erupt!
• simply throw it away - maybe the project is so old, the fabrics so dated, the construction so poorly done (we all become better quilters with time, don't we?)...sometimes the only decent thing to do is walk away

OK, so now you've done a sort, and hopefully found all the pieces...a word about labeling.  If you are going to have a project on the shelf for a while, maybe it's a good idea to do some labeling before you forget important details.

I love freezer paper for labeling things that might sit for a while.  Masking tape, even painter's tape, will leave a sticky residue on fabric over time.  Many LQS's label their blocks-of-the-month with masking tape.  Hey, THEY didn't know you were just being "squirrel-ish" at this time, putting "nuts" away for later construction.  You may need to re-label that BOM before putting it on the shelf.  This also works GREAT for that kit you just bought...more and more shops are putting together kits for customers.  Just make sure you understand and label the kit components before you squirrel them away.

Quilt shops deal with SO MANY fabrics, BOMs and kits...don't count on them to be able to sort out your project when you finally get around to making it!

If you are worried about the freezer paper coming off, don't be a afraid to use a hot iron!  When I use freezer paper when doing glue stick applique, sometimes my freezer paper looks a little scorched!
 
Experiment with your freezer paper to determine how much ironing is required for good temporary adhesion between the shiny side of the paper and your fabric.  Sometimes the finish on unwashed fabric can hinder this adhesion, or the quality of the freezer paper (hence my need for scorching sometimes- don't worry, the paper will scorch before your fabric!).

I just peeled this label off (then I re-ironed it).  It really works.  I label everything now...I can't tell you how many times I've run across a stack of squares or strips that I started cutting out that I have NO MEMORY OF!  Now I iron a little note to the top piece in the stack. 

I have started inserting an index card in all projects where I write the name, the start date, and jot any other important details.  It goes in the box or bag with the project. 

Sometimes I cut swatches of prominent fabric with my pinking shears and I staple, or clip, them to the index cards.  I will use these swatches later when I archive the finished project (it takes no time to snip these swatches now, when I have the fabrics out...later it would take too much time to go searching for the fabrics). 

If I am working from a book, I write down the book and page number on the card.  If I am working from a doodle or piece of graph paper, it goes in the box.  If I used a project pulled from a magazine, I put the magazine, or removed pattern in a sheet pocket protector, in the bag or box as well.

I then label the container, bag, whatever, with an index card and a fat black marker.  I place the index card label INSIDE the container or bag and use the contents to hold it in place.

 

This is not a permanent label.  When this project is finished and no longer needs a container, I want an effortless transition...reusing the container for the next thing without scraping off the label.

A good temporary storage container for a UFO can be a pizza box (clean, unused please, big grin).  They don't take up that much space, stack nicely and uniformly, can be recycled easily either in your stash or in your household garbage, can be big enough to store finished blocks (without folding your nice, pressed, finished blocks), and they are cheap!  I have used these before in my stash and when doing group projects.  I am fortunate to live in an area with a GFS, a place that sells bulk food, restaurant items and disposables.  Maybe some buddies will share the cost of a small bundle (very reasonable!) and you can have a box-folding party (and order a pizza!).



I have bought them directly from pizza places...one place didn't even charge me for the handful I requested.  Almost every small town has a pizza place!  I either write directly on the box with my fat black marker or use masking tape.  When I reuse the box, I just add another layer of tape on which to scribble a new label.

Some of my UFO's are l-o-n-g-t-e-r-m quilt projects...scrappy in design, the containers "fed" every time I have just the right scraps to cut up.  These quilts will be log cabin-, postage stamp-, or half square triangle-rich gems, and every day I am closer and closer to being able to finish one (my applique basket project, pictured above, is also in this category).

 

I have 120 green and neutral log cabin blocks ready to go, along with a handful of scrappy, free-pieced heart blocks.  The decision about the final, outer border is what is holding me up on this one.  The right decision will come to me one day, then I will take that container of blocks down, and get it done.

Cleaning up this part of your stash will make you feel better about planning future projects.  Some times the dark corners of what we are saving can really drain our creativity and fill us with all kinds of dark feelings and guilt that can kill our quilt muse.

Slowly, but surely, I am attacking the UFO's.  They don't stop me from starting new projects.  I know I will get to them...sometime.  In the spirit of REALLY coming clean, I will share that I have never finished the first quilt I started...it is my oldest UFO.  

I started it in August of 1982, right after my terminally ill, beloved Grandmother gave me her last quilt...a Grandmother's Flower Garden (not pictured here), hand-pieced by her from my sewing scraps, which she had asked me for (I had no idea what she was up to!), and hand-quilted by her quilting group.  I was almost 22, and swore to myself that I was going to learn to quilt, to carry on her legacy.

Naturally, as a stupid, impatient, "invincible beginner," I picked wisely for my first project...also a Grandmother's Flower Garden, hand-pieced (NOT by English paper piecing, but turning those Y-seam corners...).  Dumb-dumb-dumb...

I used what I had...scraps of crazy, bright, cotton/poly blends and the old royal blue, cotton/poly curtains that I had sewn to hang in my college dorm room when I first started at Auburn (school colors are orange and blue, afterall...).  I had a few 100% cotton calicoes, but looking back now they were awful!  What was I thinking...

This thing is so bright that it vibrates and hums.  I have an arrow pointing to the curtain fabric (that blue poly blend NEVER faded...even after hanging in the windows of a sunny, southern University dorm room for 3 years!)  The other arrow points to the date I started it...like I will EVER forget this nutty story!  Oh, I will finish it some day...as homage to my Grandmother and to just be able to say that I did it.

Have courage (and be gentle and forgiving with yourself!) if you choose to work on this part of your stash!  The next installment of this organization-a-palooza will discuss tool/supplies storage and equipment set up.

In Stitches,
Teresa  :o)

STASH ORGANIZATION: Part 2 - TAMING THE SCRAP PILES

Welcome back to the Quilt Cave for some more organizing!  Today we will concentrate on SCRAPS!

Everyone who sews has scraps...some throw them away, some give them away, but most of us keep them...thinking we will do something wonderful with them at some time.

It is far more tempting to use them if we can first find them (it helps if they are in the same area) and secondly if they are stored in such a way as to make them easy (and fun!) to access.

First, I get together 3 laundry baskets, bags, boxes, or just three piles on the floor.  I do a quick rough sort into 3 categories:

• STRIPS - can be leftover border pieces, binding, skinny remnants from rotary cutting - nothing is too narrow
• LARGE CHUNKS - anything too small to store neatly with yardage and big enough to cut squares or regular-sized pieces from (generally fat 1/8's down to a rough 2 x 2 inch square)
• LITTLE BITS - "grape-sized" or larger

First, I sort out the strips to store in bins.  As I sort, I try to put like colors together, just so I have little pockets of like color for quick, easy retrieval.  I stack them, despite the length, stretched out straight and flat.

I find, in general, that things take up less space when they are stored as flat as possible.  I do store bright strips separate from all the rest; sometimes I will use them in the same project, but I mostly don't, so I find it easier to sort them into separate piles.

These funny pill-shaped containers hold my strips.  As you can see, there are border pieces as wide as 4 inches.  On top, in the right hand bin, there are some leftover green template-cut pieces.  I put these in the strip bin because I can cut strips from them...they are from a "re-purposed" UFO (one I "fell-out-of-love-with" after I cut everything out...it happens...).

When I can no longer close these two bins, I know it is time to sub-cut my strips into smaller units to "feed" my on-going obsession with scrappy quilts.

I LOVE to do log cabin projects, especially using 1.25 INCH STRIPS and 1.5 INCH STRIPS.  I press the strip, if necessary, then rotary cut what I can from the strip, without trimming the length.   I might take this opportunity to also cut logs for a specific project (the bin below with red and blue logs).  It seems more efficient to do that at the same time...that way I am only handling the strips once.

Anything narrower than 1.25 inches goes in my STRING bins. I have containers where I collect those. At some point, I may revisit these bins to cut 1 inch strips for a really skinny log cabin project, but normally I just use strings for paper- or liberated-piecing.

As I find leftover binding pieces, I store those separate.  I might use the bigger pieces to bind little quilts or coasters.  I always know that this is a good source when I need 2.25 or 2.5 inch strips (I usually cut most of my binding on the lengthwise grain, so no stretchy bias edges...).

I take this opportunity to remove selvages from remnant strips to store together.  I hope to try a project using them soon, as my bin is almost full!

Now that the strips are taken care of, I turn my attention to the large chunks.

I choose to segregate my large chunks by color...this is practical because I have a lot of scraps.  I also find that scraps take up less room when folded or stored flat.  I don't iron, unless something is just hopelessly wrinkled, just smooth with my hands. 

These are the categories I use and the way I label my bins.  I store bright large chunks separate from everything else in two bins...COOL BRIGHTS (purple, blue, green, bright on black) and WARM BRIGHTS (red, orange, pink, yellow, bright on white).

All NOVELTY and HOLIDAY scraps also go in separate bins, regardless of color.

I also keep REPRODUCTION, BATIK and 30'S large chunks in their own bins (smaller bins, as I don't have that many at this time...my system is flexible and always changing as needed).

The rest of the large chunks are sorted into BLUE, RED, NEUTRAL, BLACK, BROWN/ORANGE, PINK, PURPLE, and YELLOW bins.

Sometimes, I keep scraps from a particular line separate, especially if I know I will use them together when I use them.  I have been saving Nancy Halvorsen bits for years...her fabric lines tend to blend well with each other.

I access these large chunk bins for both pieced work and applique.  I like that I can go right to what I need, and I can often make do with a scrap rather than cut a small piece from yardage. 

I really like these Art Bin containers for this purpose, and rarely a Sterilite bin, as above, using two sizes to meet my needs.  I like that I can grab a bin, small rotary mat and cutter, and I am out the door, cutting units while being with other people (too much "alone time" is not good for this cave troll...). 

I label my scrap bins just I like I do my yardage, mostly using my "floating," flexible system of index cards and a fat marker, then placing the label INSIDE the bin, using the contents to keep the label in place.  If I use up one of my two neutral large chunk bins in a scrap quilt, I can easily start using the empty bin for another purpose without removing a sticky label (yes, I'm still making grapes...).

Lastly, I deal with the WEE BITS.  As someone who LOVES applique, sometimes I think these little pieces excite me the most (and to think that most sane people just throw these away...big grin).  I keep the bright little bits separate, all together.

The rest of the wee bits are sorted into WARM (red, orange, pink and yellow), COOL (purple, blue and green), NEUTRAL, and BLACK/BROWN.

I did use sticky labels on these green bins (the colored bins are always bought after Christmas from the bargain table, usually at Joann's, and usually at a GREATLY reduced price!) 

Wow...now that wasn't too bad, was it?!  Just hit the "easy" button and pat yourself on the back. 

So now you may we wondering, "now what?"  Well, as the scrap bins fill, I think of projects that use scraps.  Then I start sub-cutting FURTHER to fulfill the needs of the project chosen.

Sometimes I cut various sizes of squares, rectangles, or shapes to later turn into 9-patches, 4-patches, HST's, "postage stamp" or checkerboard borders, charm quilts, etc. Then I store these in bins and label them so they are easy to locate and add to easily, until I have enough cut to finish my project. 

I usually put the pattern, graph paper doodle, a picture, or index card containing particulars IN THE BIN with the pieces because I have been known to cut a bunch of stuff then completely forget what I was thinking of.  These bins sort of slide into the UFO category, and I will post about organizing them in the next few days.

Does everyone know about Bonnie Hunter and Quiltville?  She preaches the virtues of "leaders and enders," which are little pieces that are in a little container by the sewing machine, ready to pick up and piece quickly and simply when either starting or stopping a row of piecing. 

Currently, my "leaders and enders" project is piecing together scrappy HST's made with medium or dark scraps paired with light or neutral scraps.  When I get a few pieced, I press them and put them in a bin, labeled HALF SQUARE TRIANGLES, untrimmed and unsquared.  Someday, when I want some scrappy HST's, I will only have to choose some from my bin, resize them, and go!  Yee haw!  It's like a "two-fer" (two quilts pieced at the same time, sort of).

In my previous post (the first in this series about organizing your stash), I mentioned Julie Morgenstern, her amazing book Organizing from the Inside Out , and her Five Steps to Organizing:

• SORT
• PURGE
• ASSIGN A HOME
• CONTAINERIZE
• EQUALIZE

We've talked about sorting scraps and containerizing, but not the other three. 

PURGING:  as you sort, it's OK to be picky.  If you know you probably won't use it, put it in a bag with others you don't want and either pass them to a friend, donate to a group doing charity quilts, put them in the free basket at your LQS, or just throw them away. 

ASSIGN A HOME:  think about how often you will reach for these bins or bags, then decide where in your sewing area you should store them.  I access mine all the time, so I want them somewhere I can get to them easily.

EQUALIZE:  this has to do with how you keep your great organizing system going.  Maintenance.  When you lose weight, you don't just simply go back to old habits.  You continue to exercise and eat right to maintain your new goddess body.  Well, there is maintenance to this, too.  (and sometimes it may seem painful like some people approach weight maintenance, but push through it...you can do it!)

I do not always put fabric or scraps away immediately after using them.  I keep some simple containers (open) on the floor under one of my work tables.  I treat these like "in boxes."  When they get "full," I sort and file into my existing containers.  Sometimes I find the need to re-containerize something, or add a second container.

I use one of these bins for new yardage that needs to be washed before adding it too the fabric bin system.  This way I can keep up with what needs to be washed and what doesn't.

Sometimes, a "Scrap Fairy" (and you know who you are!!) will give me a baggie of scraps.  I put it in the filing tubs until I have time to process it into my system.  Easy, easy, easy...and really not painful.

Just a final note about CONTAINERS...don't containerize prematurely.  Sort, evaluate your sewing space, and consider carefully before spending money on something that may not work for you.  I mentioned buying containers at Joann's with coupons, but don't discount garage sales, the curb on trash day, re-use/re-cycle places, and re-purposing things you already have. 

I have built my quilt cave system slowly, over time.  When I do the post about storing tools, you will see LOTS of creative use of "found objects."  Since my sewing space is in my basement, I emphasize function and flexibility over form when putting together my sewing/storage space.  It's fun to make things you have work!  Just don't use any raw wood - wood with no sealer or paint on it.  The natural lignin in the wood will stain your fabric (the same compound that turns paper brown over time).

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)