I finished reorganizing my sewing area a couple of days ago--sure feels good!!! I have trouble working if there's too much clutter. Now I just need to get focused on one project and get it finished before starting another one! Judy in Torrance

Clean my sewing room??? I would have to clean the rest of the house first lol!!! Seriously, I am working on it, but the rest of my house seems to take priority over my sewing room. I can deal with the mess there most of the time. However lately I have had to move my machine into the STILL unfinished back bedroom while I work on my dd's first communion dress. My dh has so much of his judging and music stuff strewn about that I did not have room to spread out to work like I wanted to. The move is temprorary (unfortunately The lighting is SOOO much better in that back room) and once I get the chance to clean and reorganize the mess in here I will be moving back. I really do wish I could just make that back room my sewing room, never thought about the lighting being the best in the house before, but I really need a bedroom too. I am tired of being roomie with my 5 year old son lol. Maybe I will just carve out a nitch in there for the machine at least when we finish.

As for my mess... I try to be neat - limited space means you have to - but it doesn't always work out. I keep either an old coffee can or small bin on the cutting table for scraps and do my best to remember to throw the little bits I won't be saving into it. Doesn't always work out though. My downfall has been when I am paper peicing. I have a really bad habit of just tossing the paper on the floor as I pull it out Oh well, thats what brooms and vaccums are for lol.

Mandy

Ann

Ditto = I would forever live in chaos if I thought it would stimulate my brain to be one tenth as creative as Ricky. He got it cleaned up nicely!

When I fold up my fabrics nicely I pull them out and I'm back to square one so I just quickly fold them up and put it back away.

You know how Ealanor burns throws her scraps behind her back..
I do the opposite I throw my threads to the floor,daughter will say did you just throw that on the floor,"YELP" right below my chair!

It takes away time to move my hand over across my body to the garbage guess I need to see how alittle tiny waste can will work out! I'm not that messy but this has become my little trade mark as a quilter! LOL.

I'll get up to put my scraps in the bin. I"ll clean up the threads in aday or so. I can't tell you how many times I've walked out of the house with afew threads all over front of me!

I think after awhile with stash growing you run out of storage area, Nah... I'll always find a place!

When you feel disorganized, go to the daily blog and read about Ricky's studio. I would forever live in chaos if I thought it would stimulate my brain to be one tenth as creative as Ricky. As Patti set in her comment creative minds don't live in clean rooms. At least that is my story and I am sticking to it. Rock on Ricky and all the rest of us "creatives" (I hope I can include myself in that) and live with our "messes" Ann

Eilleen :shock: All I do is pick up thread dust, it gets everywhere. DH thinks I never dust, you want to see thread dust bunnies, :shock: :shock: I have named a few.
I will sizing up my work area, so I can order the carpet tiles for the floor.
I ran across some old pictures of my work room in the beginning yesterday :shock: Woo what a change. Still trying to get all my fabric in the same place, yea right.
I try to do a little everyday.
Have a good day, May you find the right place for that piece you have in your hand. Debbie

DD and I made a pact last month. We are going to clean for 1 hour each day, a different room per day. We were doing pretty good until she came down with bronchitis last week.
Yesterday, we decided we'd get back to it one day this week.

All this leads up to my saying that my sewing room is one of the rooms on the list!! I have Pergo flooring and I try to Swiffer or sweep at least once a week. My fabrics are stored in another room with a closet(sewing room doesn't have one), along with my large cutting table. I do have to spend some time folding-I bought some great wire basket systems from Ikea before Christmas, but all I did was dump the fabric in by color.

I never knew there could be so much dust from quilting-did you know it even accumulates on vertical surfaces
eileenkny

:shock: Well when dear Diane came on Friday, she walked in on a disaster. We laughed, as we made a walk space.
Today is Monday, I took time on Saturday to try to get all my fabrics together. Hopefully tonight I will get to the paperwork, did I say I love to machine and hand embroider as well, so that too is my sewing room.
Husband was really impressed, it looks less cluttered, more room to move create . Did I say we share this room, my dh and I, it used to be his workshop. Will try today to take pictures. Taking the pictures are not hard, trying to download them that's another story. debbie

Anne-thanks for the folding instructions on how you fold your stash. I will be giving it a try this week...I like the counting folds idea a lot. Thanks again. Karen

I'm afraid I probably need a backhoe to clean my sewing room. I'm thinking of hiring someone to come help me get this room cleaned out! DH has offered to help organize me, he's Mr. Organized and I'm Mrs. Opposite of Organized. He cannot understand my filling up all horizontal surfaces. His woodworking workshop (where I park my car and do the laundry) is always neat when he's finished working for the day.

Right now I can't even get into my sewing room, there's too much stacked up in the doorway. They had such a great sale at the LQS the other day and I had to bring some of it home...

JoAnne in southern California

My sewing area is a wreck! My ADHD kicked in about November and hasn't given me a break yet. LOL! When I took on my dress project, just left my assigned work area and spread out on my kitchen table so I could work closer to my kids. In the meantime, my sewing machine and serger are still living on my kitchen table. I think I enjoyed being a part of the action while creating for my DD. Hmmm, I did however purchase mini tackle box inserts to begin the clean up of my assigend area, Per DH: can't have company if my things are on the table. I think he finally got it, LOL!

A dear friend spent a day with me before my "unbirthday" at the end of February and my studio looked fabulous. Everything in its place, all the horizontal surfaces clean and clear, all the tools in their rightful place. It was wonderful. Then I started to bind a number of projects that were then stacked in the "to be finished" bin on one of my counters. Well that started a whole new era of chaos. All but one of the binding projects are done and there are only three things left in the "to be finished pile". I have done a lot of the applique on my Rhapsody and may be able to finish that before the end of April when we move back into the motor home. I also sent two quilts off to be quilted. So even though my room is not quite so neat now I feel really good about all that I have accomplished and it will still be easy to put the last of the leftover scraps and fabrics away because they have a home. Yea. and thank you Darlene. I may make you a TQS quilter yet, I am working on it. Ann who is happy to be productive in an almost organized room.

Anne's folding to see how much fabric you have is a great idea! However, just last year I re-folded my stash to fit my cabinets, and all I see is a nicely folded end. There are pictures on my webshots album showing how I did it. I used a similiar method for folding smaller pieces.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563306368ujRyrP?vhost=good-times

KakeM wrote:
Here's what I do.

I fold my fabric in half lengthwise, then in half again, then I fan-fold it into nine-inch widths. I can count the folds on one side to see how much fabric I have. One fold is half a yard, two folds is a yard, etc.

I fold fat quarters and fat eighths the same way, except that I don't fold them lengthwise the second time. Scraps are in bins on the top shelves.

You can see a picture of the fabric stacked in my cabinet on my profile page.

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

I'm home-in my own house again-it's been 7 weeks and not one single dust bunny decided to vacate the place....they are lurking everywhere! All the posts about cleaning sewing studios and getting organized has caused a stir in my brain..I need to do that...can it wait until I finish a few of my Arab quilts for the sale??? I hope so, but after helping my DS organize 3 rooms in her house (bags and bags for the women's shelter) I am pumped up to get into my "material world" and whip it into shape before I start the quilt-a-thon! I'd love to hear a few clever & fast ways to fold my fabrics into uniform stacks....anyone have a suggestion to share?