June Studio Organizing

Little did I know . . .

How badly I would need the challenge this time!

Even tho my studio has been a mess ever since we moved in (two years ago already!), it was slowly starting to look better. Until now.

I just inherited all my sister’s quilting things.

To be honest, I did not take everything. She and I basically have all the same stuff as far as tools, rulers, and gadgets. I do NOT need duplicates of all those things. I worked hard when I moved in here to get rid of all the duplicates I didn’t need.

But there was still quite a bit of stuff I did want. Want a rundown of what a serious quilter’s studio has in it? Katy has been quilting for 25 years.

She has 5 sewing machines: a JUKI, a newer Singer, two Featherweights, and our mother’s sewing machine. I took the JUKI (which is broken), and I brought home our mother’s sewing machine so that hopefully, someday, my granddaughter can learn to sew on it. It’s the machine I learned to sew on. I’ll show it to you sometime. The newest Singer will stay in her studio, and I hope to be able to sell the two Featherweights.

She had several shelves of packaged batting. I took all of the batting because I will use it to finish up the 18 un-quilted tops I found. Not to mention, I already have about 40 tops of hers in my studio waiting to be quilted. She was a very fast and prolific quilt-top maker, and sometimes when I would go to see her, she would hand me a tote with anywhere from 3 to 8 quilt tops in it for me to bring home and quilt for her. I would let her tell me which ones she needed first and how she wanted them quilted, and then throw one in the rotation now and then. The last time I saw her, she had asked me to save her a longarm spot in August for a quilt she was planning to donate (more on that in a future article).

She had nine bins of fabric. This was her main stash, but in that stash were some large pieces meant for backings. So I brought it all home, because I didn’t want to lose any pieces she has that might be meant for one of the projects she had going, or anything that will work for backing for one of her ~60 quilts to be quilted.

She had two bins of binding, hopefully bindings that I can match up to these 60 quilts. Some are labeled, some I’ll have to guess at. Part of it is leftover binding strips from quilts she has finished, which I can use to make scrappy bindings for other quilts.

She had several UFOs/WIPs. Many of them are appliqué, or other types of hand stitching. A few are simply pieced, and I hope I can finish those up quickly. The handwork ones will take some time. Thankfully, she does not have as many UFOs as I do.

She had two kits she had recently purchased, both with a Halloween theme. Katy LOVED Halloween, and made many Halloween quilts. I hope to finish up all her Halloween quilts for her daughter to have.

She had a collection of thread for her longarm. Yes, she had her own longarm machine, but she only did very quick and easy quilting for herself. Anything she wanted custom quilted, she passed on to me, or if she needed something fast and didn’t have the time to do it herself. I’m guessing the 18 tops I found were probably ones she was planning to quilt for herself. I took all the longarm thread because I can use it, and I hope to be able to sell the longarm machine.

She had a collection of appliqué thread in nearly every color (as do I), and every color of embroidery floss (as do I). But I brought those home and put them in with mine. I should never need thread again! There were also a few spools of regular piecing thread that I can use.

She had many rulers and templates, but I only brought home two template sets which were ones I didn’t already have, and two rulers in sizes that I didn’t already have.

I took a couple pairs of scissors, a few marking pencils, some needles, the straight pins we both love and use, some interfacing, a new cutting mat she had stored, and a wool pressing mat.

Since Katy and I pretty much had all the same books, there were very few books I brought home. I made sure to bring home the ones that belonged to the projects she had in progress, so I would be able to finish them. And I think I only brought home 2 or three patterns, also so I would be able to finish her projects.

I took very few containers and tubs because I simply don’t have a place for them.

The rest I left. Our sister-in-law is also a quilter, and I think she’s gonna have a look and see if there’s anything she wants. And then the kids have a friend who quilts who will go through it to see if she wants anything.

Katy was very organized (way more than me), and she didn’t have nearly as many projects going, so it wasn’t too difficult to go through it and get it moved home.

But that leaves me with a LOT of extra stuff in my studio once again, after nearly four years of trying to downsize. I feel like I’m back at the beginning!

So what do I need to take on as a challenge, and challenge you to do with me?

I’m giving us THREE choices this time, and you can choose the one you need to do most urgently.

1. Organize your thread collection(s)

2. Go through your quilting books or patterns and purge and reorganize

3. Choose the project you have closest to finished, and see if you can finish it before time for the next challenge (mid-July).

Which one will it be?

As for me . . . when I brought home Katy’s thread, I sat down immediately and organized it in with mine. I knew if I sat it down and looked at it for very long, I would continue to procrastinate, so I just made myself do it.

Since I didn’t bring home many books, I was able to get those put away really quickly where they now belong.

So what I’ll be doing for this challenge is choosing a project that’s very close to finished, and seeing if I can finish it up before the next challenge. Since I just inherited more UFOs on top of my already way-too-lengthy list, I need to get hoppin’ and get something finished under my belt.

So hopefully soon, I’ll have some cute finished projects to show you, both of my own and my sister’s.

Let me know what challenge you’re choosing for your ownself!