2025 Final Countdown, Task Three
Posted on December 31, 2025 by prairiemoonquilts in The Final CountdownIt’s the last day of 2025! And the day for the last task of the 2025 Final Countdown.
This one is gonna be tough for me, but remember, I’m trying to be all about doing the hard stuff going forward — no more procrastination!
Clean out a storage area
Does your studio have a closet that has become a catch-all? Is it dangerous to even crack the door open?
Do you have a stack of storage tubs and no idea what is actually in them?
Are your projects out of control and just stacked willy nilly everywhere?
Are your storage drawers in a mess?
Do you have a cabinet that needs a bit of reorganization?
We all have some sort of storage for our quilting stuff, be it small or large, stationary or movable. And if you’re like me, most of it could use a good going over!
I’m only considering one area for this task, but if you get motivated to do more than one area, go right ahead! The more you can get done, the better.
I seriously need to clean up my longarm area storage closet before I start customer quilting for the new year. The batting inventory has sort of taken over and needs to be corralled. I have stacks of my own quilts waiting to be quilted that are about to topple over. It shouldn’t take me long, but I think I need a bit of help with it, so if I can rope My Cowboy into giving me a hand, it’ll go even quicker.
If I manage to get that done, then maybe I can tackle a stack of project bins. Last summer, I reorganized all my vintage projects into bins, and made a list of what is actually inside each bin. I left the list in the top of each bin, and also made a copy of the list and put in my notebook. That way, if I’m looking for one specific project or item, I know exactly which bin it’s in without having to look through every single one of them. (Learned that the hard way!)
But now, I need to do this again with bins of other things. Get things into bins, and get them listed and labeled, just to have them a bit more organized until I can actually work on the projects. I also have the goal of working my way through one bin at a time until most of them are gone. That will not be a quick process, but it’s something I intend to start doing in the new year.
So how about you? Do you have a storage area that you can work on?
And that’s a wrap on this year’s Final Countdown! I hope it helps us all get off to a great start for 2026. Remember to leave your comments before January 7th, and I’ll announce the prize winners then.
No storage closets, but I have 17 feet of flat surfaces to use for cutting, pressing and the Big Go! I don’t remember the last time I had more than 6 foot cleared off and I have to keep moving the cutting mat to press. Since I’ll be sharing the space for 2 weeks in 2 weeks I guess I need to start working on it.
I have a shelf where my fabric lives, but I am really bad about not putting things back where they belong when I am done with them. I will take time today to get fabric wound on boards and my precuts organized again!
Project bins can be the kiss of death! They tend to stay there and never see the light. I am trying to put 2-3 in a laundry basket, more visible in my so called project cue to work on. Less overwhelming but sometimes a project gets out in here so I think a recheck of the cue during the year needs to happen. I fear those project bins end up others projects via donation or lack of interest anymore. We have such great designer of projects that we all have to try. Hence the rabbit hole we all go down. So how many projects can you do? As my hubby says it is my full time job. But I love it. As you all do as well. Happy New Year and Happy Quilting 2026.
No closets here, we built our home specifically with only one closet (in our bedroom) to prevent such storage disasters! Building a small home sure helps with clutter prevention! My quilt studio is actually 1/3 of our home and only has shelves & drawers for storage so I feel must keep it clean!
I have been trying to sort my sewing room, my goal for today is to label my bins so I know what is in there
The only closet is the attic storage. But I have a book shelf that holds project tubs, quilting books and a whole lot of miscellaneous junk. I will use this challenge to get that shelf cleaned off.
Happy New Year Shelly🍾🍾🎉🎉🎊🎊
I do that note on each tub for my Christmas decorations. Wondering why I hadn’t done that for that stack of tubs outside my sewing area…Good idea for this task Shelly! My husband just asked what they were, tubs is not the word he used! I guessed at the contents.
Still writing task #1, #2 90% done.
I have one of those feral closets. Not sure if there is a bottom, but I’ll check and see. 😉
No closet for storage but a ‘place’ I use for things I’m not using at that time. Christmas fabric goes in there and I found a tub of something so that’s on my list to do something with the contents and I’ll have an empty container to fill up and label. 🙂 I am really looking forward to seeing what I have. lol
Slightly embarrassing, but I had a storage area for used ziplock bags that might be just what I need for a future fabric storage of some unspecified type. There were…a LOT of them. (Won’t get specific here). Odd the things that are hard to get rid of.
I’m good on this one!
As I’m working thru task #1 I’m reorganizing the bookcases where I store my project bins. I hope I can create some extra space to put away the stuff that has found its way into a bin on the floor. Amazing that you can find dust in between the tightly packed bins. 🤪Today I decided to spend my time putting the binding on 3 quilts I quilted during the summer. Not quite done, but still motivated so I won’t have to carry them into to the new year as something to finish.
I haven’t started on the scraps yet, but the system is in place so it will only involve sorting the last bunch by color and adding to the containers. Still have more excavation to do to uncover all my UFOs and projects to complete task #1.
Happy New Year! Thanks for the challenge.
Storage area ok but need to clean off my hi/low table. Just been piling so that is this mornings task after breakfast.
I can’t even get things the way I want with my small space. This is the smallest sewing room and storage places I’ve had in a while. I like to create so much that I have a hard time sorting and down sizing. It seems that every time I clear out I immediately need something Just got rid of. I must do some clearing but just havijng a hard time parting with it.
I don’t know where to start!!! I’d rather to be quilting, finishing up ufo’s and starting something new! Happy New Year
Well, your suggestions got me even more motivated! I have been quite ill for the 2 months before Christmas. I managed to finish a couple of Christmas gifts, but had to work in my dining room cuz my quilt room was such a disaster! So, on the 29th – after reading your first count down blog- I got up there and started the cleanup. I used your project list as my starting place. I have to tell you, that it really helped me approach the chaos with more motivation and less confusion. So, after I listed and organized all future and works in progress I had to put them somewhere. Do, that led to a clean out of the closet so I could hang things and stack project boxes. When most everything was off the floor that got me motivated to vacuum!!! Wow! Thanks for the challenge, Shelly!
I have been working in kitchen instead of my sewing room. Just before Christmas I got a new stove. A 30 inch to replace my 40 inch range. After new year the carpenter will make me a 10 inch cabinet to match the rest. So I decided to clean out cabinets and drawers. What a mess, but I did get rid of a lot of stuff that I had never used. Only a few more to go and the JUNK drawer! So thank you for getting us all moving in the right direction!!!!
I got it cleaned off. Now to put it all away but feels so much better.
I found 3 storage boxes today that I did not know had fabric in them. I purged the fabric and got rid of some fabric. It was a good feeling. Thank you for keeping me motivated Shelly.
I organized all my started projects and cleaned up around my sewing machines. I had so many projects stacked there that I could barely sew. All the project boxes are now neatly on the shelves with only one at the machine. Of course, this means the kitties don’t have so many boxes to jump on and use to get up to places they want but don’t need to be. Win! Thanks for the organization challenge. I now want to spend more time in my sewing room.
I have most of my fabric stash in several large cabinets, but it could use some reorganizing. As I am taking inventory of UFO’s, I will be labeling totes more clearly so I can find my projects. I hope to be able to find all the boxes my daughter put away while she was cleaning this summer and get them back into my fabric storage area where I can find them. Thanks again, Shelly, for inspiring us to organize and become more productive.
I covered all your tasks!
https://swooze.blogspot.com/2026/01/the-final-countdown.html?m=1
Found another area that needed work so got it done too. Feels good to get things straightened up. Thanks again.
Final Task Report –
Task #1 – complete
Task #2 – Not all scraps sorted, but with the amount I
started with a satisfying amount have found
a home. The task will continue on.
Task #3 – The feral closet will have to wait for some
other time. I had my daughter vacuum the
Diamond Dots that were on top of all the
piles for a start, but too many other things
to sew right now to worry about it any more.
Thank you for the motivation to work on all of this.
I decided to make this task an opportunity to go through all my fabric, get rid of some and sort it back into the proper location. This task will take a long time as I have so much fabric. It is stored in 4 different locations, so it is hard to get it all together to sort it proper. I’m overwhelmed and excited at the same time. Thanks again for encouraging us to get our studio space cleaned up and organized.
While I was taking inventory of all my projects, I decided I wanted them in just two spots…some in labeled bins on a shelf and others clearly visible in another unit. I’ve had them so hidden away for the past while, that I don’t think to work on them, so I’m hoping seeing them all the time, will get me to finish some of them. So this all meant a lot of rearranging of things, but I’m glad to have got it done. Thanks for the push to get it done!
Got my two closets cleaned out and found 5 project boxes. Got rid of magazines dating back to the 80s. Wow! So much extra space now.
Like all of the tasks, this one too for me is still in progress!!! But getting started on cleaning a storage area has given me ideas on how to better utilize the space I have there. I’ve also added to the donation pile and recycle bin. Thanks to you for keeping us motivated!