Fresh Start for 2020

First, Happy New Year! My New Year began with a major reorganization of my unfinished projects, fabric and sewing space. It just seems like a good way to begin the year with a clean slate.

Taking Stock

I began by gathering all my UFOs, current projects and other projects. Then I piled them on the kitchen table. It kept looking worse and worse as the pile grew. Soon it was apparent I needed a strategy.

My kitchen table covered with UFOs

Question and Identify

For each project I asked myself:

1. What kind of project is this?
   • Quilt
   • Wall Hanging
   • Handbag, tote, other bag
   • Table runner, pillow, other craft item.
2. What type of project is this?
   • Applique
   • Pieced
   • Paper-pieced
   • Embroidery
3. Do I still want to make this item?

Group and Store

For the items I no longer wanted to make, I removed the fabric and added it to my "fabric" pile on the dining room table. More on that tomorrow. Because some of the projects in this group were not started yet, it was easy to move them to the fabric pile. Blocks or partial blocks I added to my box of test blocks. They are useable for charity projects and other quick quilt projects like pillows and placemats.

All the table runner, pillow and craft items were grouped together and I placed them in the first drawer of the daybed in my sewing room. This drawer also has a couple binders of magazines in it so it really isn't as many projects as it looks like on the surface.

All the handbag, tote and other craft items are in the middle drawer of the daybed. This group had more projects than I expected. I may reconsider not making more of these at a later time. For now, I'm happy with the projects that remain.

The last drawer holds a few quilt and wall hanging projects. To my surprise, this group was the smallest. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised because I did spend time in 2019 working on several unfinished quilt and wall hanging projects so that I would have practice projects for my long arm machine.

The sewing armoire with current projects

Current Projects

I also have a sewing armoire and I decided to store my current projects there. About three of these projects are in progress. The remainder are quilts I'm planning or designing.

I'm very happy with the final result and now I'm looking forward to making progress on my UFOs. The plan is to work only one project at a time until it is finished. My goal is to complete 12 this year. Follow my progress here and the Just Wanna Quilt blog on Fridays.

What projects do you have planned for 2020? How do you organize your projects?