November Studio Organizing
Posted on November 19, 2025 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio Organizing ChallengeI’ve been trying to get around to posting for nearly a week, and can’t seem to find enough time to sit down and do it. But today, I was supposed to have jury duty, and it got cancelled!! So I took the time to tend to some things I’ve had to put off, since I had unexpected time at home, which is always a welcome thing, right?
Our last challenge was to clear off our main work surface, which I sorely needed to do because I had (and still have) some large things to trim and need the table space.
My before photo was in the last organizing post, but here’s what it looks like now:
It’s as good as it’s gonna get for the time being, but several of these projects will be gone soon, since I only left out the ones I’m working on the most urgently right now. (I’m sure they’ll get replaced with more mess as time goes on!) Believe it or not, there are NINE projects in that pile on the far end.
I also had an idea for helping me to keep my current projects pieces corralled, and also make them easy to pick up and move should I need to. I sent My Cowboy to the local thrift store and had him buy me all the old cookie sheets he could find. Thirty cents later, he came home with three of them! I spray painted them white, and now they are holding pieces of several of my current projects. I love having everything contained, and if I don’t have them piled too high, they’re stackable! And also very easy to store if I’m not using them.
Because I now have plenty of table space, I made progress on my Star Storm quilt:
And I quilted up a couple of small quilts of my own, and had plenty of space to trim them.
I hope I can keep it this way, but history shows that it’s not likely. But I can keep trying!
Meanwhile, it’s time for the next organizing challenge, so what shall we do this time?
I looked back at all the tasks we’ve done so far this year, and realize how much progress I’ve made! But I still feel like things are a mess. I’m wallowing in the piles of things I don’t know what to do with. Stuff I need to keep, but haven’t found a good way to deal with just yet. So the best way to tackle something like that, is to just choose one thing (even if it’s small) and do it. Any little bit of progress will help.
And . . . as usual, paper piles up and seems to want to take over, so that’s my challenge this time:
Deal with the paper clutter
I’m obviously a pile maker, and I get stymied by decisions a lot, so it’s time to make myself make the decisions that need to be made, and get the paper sorted and put away where it needs to be, and also get rid of as much of it as I can. So I have some filing to do, and a lot of relocating of paper piles (which can include books, magazine, and patterns if you’re in the same boat as I am).
So are you? Do you have piles of paper that need to be gone through and dealt with? I have a pile on both sides of my desk, on top of my printer, on top of my small bookcases, and some smaller random piles sprinkled around. Let’s work on these this time, shall we? I’m hoping I can throw a good bit of it away, and intend to find better storage spots for what’s left. Are you with me? (or are you already completely paper organized? — if so, I’m seriously envious.)
October challenge: I have my sewing surfaces clean due to quilting some baby quilts.
Papers are always around, not in my sewing room though. Mostly old business.
Im trying to get my UFOs listed for next year.
My surfaces have been covered again by getting out fabric for applique, cutting it out and generally making a mess. But this time it will be easy to put away. Just a few more bits to do!
I have a small pile of miscellaneous papers. Patterns, handouts from guild meetings and workshops, etc. It’s not a large pile, but it gets moved from one surface to another constantly. Thanks for the push to put it away (find a place for them).
Paper clutter is an ongoing problem. If each is no longer needed, I take it neatly stacked and turn it, clean side up, and take it to the printer. Ready for quilt stuff.
I need to clean my area for wool projects, my love now. That involves picking up and putting away other things. I get involved in a project and see another which I think I can do at the same time. It is not working! So I will stop that and center my thinking on wool for some time to come. Thanks for keeping your site going. I love this.
I am fairly paper organized! can’t believe I can say that. I bought book binders and most all loose papers from patterns go in there. I can take one out when I need it and put it away easily. I make a lot of patters for baby quilts so it is all organized. magazines and books have a bookcase. there are patterns floating around but I am usually using them. I really need to work on fabric organizing!!!!
This is definitely a challenge I need to take on!
Great tray storage idea.
Someone once suggested to me that when there are piles of paper to go thru, before starting, flip the pile upside down, (oldest papers now on top ). Often those “bottom” papers are no longer of importance, can be discarded and you feel you have made progress! SB
My papers that are quilting related are in pretty decent order. I did not make it all the way to the surface of my main work area in October, but I did make progress. I will continue working on that for November seeing most of the piles left are projects that need to be finished by the end of the year.