February Organizing Task One

Posted on February 10, 2021 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio Organizing Challenge

OK, here we go with our first Studio Organizing Challenge of February!

I’m still feeling like I was a bit hard on us with the Final Countdown this year, but I also feel like it did me more good than ever, so it was worth it. Things might finally be clicking and falling into place for me!

If you missed my last post on organizing (you can read it HERE), I went into a bit of detail about my own issues with organizing and some discoveries I’ve made over my years of trying. Things have slowly been getting better over the years, but with these new realizations, I feel like I’ve made a huge breakthrough, and things are going to keep getting better much faster.

Plus, I have a plan in place for keeping things under control from now on. It’s such a relief.

Part of my plan is to use my new deck of Organizing Cards each month. I talked about them in my last post, and if you’re interested in having a set of them, too, they’re available in my Etsy Shop. They’re not required to participate in the challenges — they’re just for fun, if you are like me and have to make things into a game in order to get yourself to take action!

The deck has 30 cards in it, each with an organizing task on it. There are a couple of repeats of the tasks I deemed the most important, and there are some hard ones, some easy ones, and some just-for-fun ones thrown in along the way. My plan is to shuffle the cards and draw one out every so often and work on the task I drew. I don’t necessarily have to finish the task in one session, but hopefully work on it and make some progress, no matter how small. By the time I’ve worked my way through the deck even once, things will be much better, and to get even more organized and stay that way, I can just keep working my way through the deck over and over!

Although I will be offering up lots of different tasks throughout the year, for our first Studio Organizing Challenge of February, I’m drawing a card and we’ll all do that task! Sometimes I’m gonna dream up something that isn’t on a card, cos I’m sure there will be extra things come up sometimes that I really need to do, and I’m all about dragging you all along with me!

So here we go. Our first February task is:

Heaven knows I’ve got plenty of piles to choose from! I think I’m gonna start with this one:

The fact that this pile is taller than my ironing table and has little off-shoots at the bottom like tree roots says a lot! It’s the biggest pile left in my sewing room, and if I get rid of it, it will move me further toward my goal of “clear floors”.  While I’m at it, I’m gonna tackle the pile on the ironing board because my ironing board needs a new cover and I can’t replace it until I get the board cleared off. And I bought the cutest piece of canvas for it, so I’m excited to get it done!

I’m not kidding myself — it’s gonna take awhile. There are lots of projects in that pile, and I’ll probably feel the urge to work on some of them as I pluck them out of the pile. Some I know I will have to store away until later, but we’ll see what I can get done in a couple weeks, until time for the next challenge.

How about you?

Do you have a pile that’s particularly annoying to you? One that you would feel so much better about having gone?

I know I’ll be breathing a huge sigh of relief to have this one dealt with.

21 responses to “February Organizing Task One”

  1. Wendy says:

    I am, and probably always will be, a piler. I have piles throughout my home, and my family knows not to mess with them because they are organized (to some extent). The piles in my quilt room are annoying, so I will choose one and work alongside you on this. Thanks, Shelly!

  2. Kerry says:

    I like that one. I think I can crawl underneath the table and sort one out. Fun!

  3. Patricia Cash says:

    Piles, all over the house. I will work on this. Thanks

  4. Cindy Wienstroer says:

    I too have have some piles. Guess will pick the largest after i finish my son’s wedding quilt – he got blocks for people to sign at the wedding in 2017 but i got the blocks last Oct. Guess they are in no rush! But having fun quilting it & remembering who signed. Thanks for the push.

  5. Randy Menninghaus says:

    Ha, and by this you mean don’t just move it to another place…lol

  6. Paula Mu in NE OH says:

    I am going to decide on my pile now. I found making a list of all UFOs, kits, tops, etc. was really helpful. I did that for my third challenge at the end of 2020. Thanks. I know this will help.

  7. Amanda M. says:

    I have a pile of blocks that needs to be sorted into the various projects and then sewn into tops. Then that’s going to create another pile of waiting to be quilted. I don’t think I’ll ever win when it comes to organization. Piling stuff is in my genetics; I learned it from Grandma.

  8. Debbi says:

    Wow Shelly, that pile is ambitious! You’ve inspired me to tackle a corner of my room where I can’t see the floor and I’m tired of tripping over it…mostly it is a basket or two of fabric to put away and a bunch of batting scraps, which I started on last weekend. Now to decide if I’m going to make another cat bed with them, store them for later, pass along or trash….decisions, decisions😱

  9. Kathi B says:

    Piles, piles, everywhere
    Oh how do I choose? 😉

  10. That’s a good one and I’m off to take a photo of that pile so I can show it with when I’m handled it into submission. HaHa

  11. Stephanie says:

    That is an impressive pile! With the bag handles sticking up like that right on top, it looks like a big animal needing taming. Go Shelly Go!
    I have a pile of batting scraps, and a date with them to create a Frankenbatt or three.

  12. Karen E. says:

    This is a great idea! I’ll GET RID OF ONE ANNOYING PILE before I allow myself to sew tomorrow morning. Or maybe even tonight.

  13. Shirley Guier says:

    That is a good one. I also create piles that grow!

  14. PAULA M MORGAN says:

    I like this prompt….not sure which one is the most annoying…

  15. Darlene Y says:

    Thank you Shelly for encouraging me along this journey. I wish you the best on your pile this month. My ironing board also has a pile on half of it several projects stacked on cardboard I am focusing on that. I am excited to see your new ironing board cover😀

  16. Oh that is an ambitious pile!! I did have one full of scraps – but my son had to come home for a month and I put him to work….. think I could do that again??? haha!! Enjoy your pile and finding the good stuff!

  17. Shelley I love your cards! I’m going to have to sort my pile on my 3 tiered cart. It’s falling over with the projects I’m working on.

  18. Karen says:

    Good luck with your pile…that was too funny about the tree roots! This is just what I needed to do, as I still have a few piles to go through from doing the Final Countdown challenge.

  19. When I rearranged my shelf in my studio, I had a few extra crates that have smaller items in them. These crates tend to collect other things in them. So, I’ll tackle that crate to clear up the floor space.

  20. Elle says:

    Guuuuurl…..that is a mighty pile! Have you some fun eradicating that!

  21. christopher thomas says:

    well i am going to work on this one here in just a few min…..

    I was cleaning and found a tote full of fat quarters and I need to get them on the shelf so I can see what I have…..

    so headed downstairs to get this task taken care of…..

    hope everyone is staying warm and getting things done….

    happy quilting one and all

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