Odds and Ends that go with Starts and Finishes

A couple of weeks ago Drama Teen asked if we could "refresh" the decor in her bedroom.  The comforter and wall art were selected when she was 9.  Now that she's 14, they don't fit as well.  She also pointed out that the cute little desk we got her when she was 5 so she could color in her room, barely holds her computer. She has no real room to take notes or have a book on it to study.  The new desk is ordered and will be here next week.  

She asked if I'd start the quilt that she asked me to make two years ago. (How can it have been that long ago?)  That's what she wants for her bed in her updated room.  She selected a whole rainbow of Batiks to use in that quilt.  I decided that would be my NewFO for July, so I went looking for those fabrics.  Two hours later, I had found most of them. In the course of tearing apart searching my closet, drawers and plastic totes, I realized there was a definite need to 1) stop buying fabric and 2) organize what fabric I do have. 

Back in December of 2011, I bought shelving for my fabric closet so I could get the fabric out into the open.  All the totes that had been used to hold my fabric were unpacked and for the short term that fabric was just stuffed on the shelves.  I've been working to press and fold all of my stash to a consistent size.  I've made progress.  

The unit on the left is all pressed, folded and sorted by color.  Only the second shelf on the right is pressed, folded and sorted by fabric collection.  The rest of the fabric still needs to be pressed and folded.    But I can at least see most of it and can paw through it when looking for something for a new project.

What I took me so long to find those Batiks for DT's quilt was searching the four bins containing all the new fabric which hasn't been washed yet.  

There are only 3 bins in the picture, the 4th is under my cutting table and its a too dark to get a good picture of it.  The 4th bin is as full as the bin on the far right.  

In one of my earlier attempts to put some order to my fabric, I tried filing them like files.  It didn't work so well.  So I'd really like to refold the drawer and a half that's been done that way and move them into the stash closet.

If I do that, then I can file all my fat quarters in their place, which actually works really well.  

But I need to make some progress on that front as well, only a handful have been "filed" so far. 

There are also four drawers of scraps scattered around the sewing room.  

I've discretely asked for a AccuQuilt Fabric Cutter for my birthday (I emailed My Guy a link to their last sale).  I'm hoping if I get one of those, these scraps will quickly disappear.  

The other organization problem is my reluctance to spend any time ironing fabric, unless I want to use it.  That has lead to a whole bin of  new fabric that's been washed, but not pressed.  

Where am I going with all of this?  If all my stash was organized, it would be much easier to be inspired by my stash, rather than all the be all inspired by buying new fabrics.  Plus if it was all pressed and folded, it would be ready to use for a new project.  It appears having to fess up publicly to a lack of progress is a real motivator for me.   That's worked with cleaning up my UFO list and scheduling time to sew each day, so it will probably work with stash organization as well. So I'm going to do something with this whole mess in the next month and report back on my progress at the end of July.   July is going to be pretty busy, so I don't think much is going to get done, but I'm going to start anyway.