Do you make New Year's Resolutions? I normally don't because I get ticked at myself for not following through. I have to say that even though it wasn't a conscious resolution I did manage to organize my sewing room earlier in the year. I slowly started the process at the end of January 2020, and then when Covid shut down the world in March it made me steamroll my efforts...after all, what else was I going to do with my time?...other than quilt!

My biggest piece of advice for sewing room organization is to do it in “categories”. For instance, start with all your thread...and I mean ALL. YOUR. THREAD. Put every spool of thread you own on your work table or dining room table or kitchen table. Now, just like when you purge stuff from your closet (you do do that once in a while, right?) make three piles...keep, donate, trash.

Throw out the really cheap, bad quality thread you bought when you were starting out and didn't know better, keep the stuff you love and use, and donate the thread that's still good quality, but stuff you know you won't use...a new quilter will be thrilled to get your donations, or take it to your quilt guild to share the wealth. Once you have your final “keep” choices made then you can decide how to organize them…get containers specifically for thread, use bins in a drawer, or whatever system works for your brain.

Carry on with the same system, putting “like with like” on your table and culling the same way you did with the thread. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

So what are some other quilty resolutions you can make??? Here is a list of 10 ideas that you might find helpful:

1. Organize your sewing room...see above…you might want to do it all in a couple of weeks or maybe choose one category a month (eg. January- thread, February- stabilizers/interfacing, March- books/magazines, April- fabric, etc)

2. Learn a new quilty skill. Never tried hand appliqué? What exactly is foundation paper piecing? How do you stitch together curved edges? There are so many different techniques...try one you haven't done before by taking a class or getting a new book that explains the technique.

3. Finish your UFO's (unfinished objects). Bring out all the UFO's you have stuffed in drawers or in the closet and promise to finish one each month, or one every 2 months, or 4 for the year...you get the idea. A white board in the sewing room can help you keep track.

4. Bust those scraps. Is your scrap bin overflowing? Plan a scrappy quilt using flying geese, or half-square triangles, or 2 ½” squares...cut up all your leftover bits to work with your new planned quilt and put them in a separate container. Once you have enough cut you can start the new quilt.

5. Start those handmade Christmas or birthday gifts early. Yeah, I can almost hear you laughing at that one! I do a lot at the last minute too, but I have been getting better and even completed my Christmas gifts by December 11th this year. Yes…that is me bragging.

6. Shop your stash and don't buy any new fabric. Now I really did hear you laugh...or was it more of a snort?! Let's face it...most of us have so much fabric in our possession that we can probably sew for at least 3-5 years with what we already own. But the new stuff is so gorgeous and it will go really well with that beautiful teal blender...

7. Teach someone else how to quilt/sew. Do you know of a child, friend or neighbour who seems interested in learning about your hobby? Invite them over to show them the basics. Have a cutting lesson, show them how to thread the sewing machine, teach them how to sew on a button.

8. Change rotary cutter blades more often. We're all guilty of it...hacking and chopping through our fabric using a dull blade. Treat yourself to a new blade and see how much more effortless cutting is when you do.

9. Change sewing machine needles more often. Just like above...in the big scheme of things needles are inexpensive. When you start hearing the “thwack, thwack” sound when the needle penetrates the fabric it's time for a new one! (read all about sewing machine needles here)

10. Take photos of your quilts. You've worked hard on those quilts, especially the ones that were made as gifts for the special people in your life. I've gone so far as to make a Quilt Log of the ones that were meaningful for me. Each page has a photo of the quilt and a write-up of the who, what, where, when and why of each quilt. Some write-ups are a page long while others are only a paragraph, but at least the important information is there about each special quilt. If you don’t want to make physical copies of your pages, why not make a file on your computer with all the necessary information for each of your quilts? It’s really nice to go down memory lane once in a while and you can also see your growth as a quilter.

So if you really want to make a quilty New Year's Resolution, make it one that you can truly accomplish and one that doesn't put too much pressure on you. After all, we're doing this quilting thing because it's FUN...no use making yourself miserable with unachievable goals.

Happy New Year, everyone!