After many months of effort, I’ve reached a major milestone in my organizing campaign, the threads are finally organized! Wahoo! Let the celebrating begin!!!

Oh, wait a moment…

Drat…

Just found the Rainbow Gallery specialty threads (non-Splendor).

Sigh…

Let me try this again…

After many months of effort, I’ve almost reached a major milestone in my organizing campaign, the threads are almost finally organized! Wahoo! Get ready to celebrate!!!

What’s that? You also want to know what’s in the other gazillion containers, those bags on the floor and those piles that are about to topple over?

Ummmm, please ignore the man behind the green curtain. They are nothing, just nothing. Okay, those are my books, magazines, needlework charts, painted canvases, beads, and bead kits that still need to be organized. But hey, the threads are almost done! Wahoooooooooooo!!!

Actually, the Rainbow Gallery non-Splendor threads are organized, inventoried, and just need to be dropped into the appropriate containers which did not quite… happen this weekend. But since I’m so close, I decided to share my organizing progress with you anyways! :-)

As my dear readers and family know, the great organizing campaign began last summer when I looked at the mess and send to myself, “Cynthia you have got to do something with all of this stuff!” This occurred after a very frustrating hour or so of looking for something that I know that I have probably bought ten of but right then I couldn’t find any of them!!!

The first thing I did with my stash is pull it all out. When we redid the basement several years ago, all of my stash was dumped into a lot of large storage containers (40 and 60 gallons). Please keep in mind, I started stitching and collecting when I was about 7-8. :-)

The first step was to open up these containers and rough sort it back into the containers, but it would now be organized by large categories such as threads, beads, canvases, UFO's, WIP's, canvas of the month clubs, canvas, charts, etc. Well you get the idea.

I then looked at all of the large containers and decided that I would start with organizing my threads. Why? Well, I have a lot of threads and if they were organized that would downsize several of the larger containers. I also thought my sorted threads would probably need the most of my new storage containers and boy oh boy was I right!

I then started on my quest to find containers that would work for what I was sorting, were non-paper, would be available for a long time, and weren’t going to be very expensive. This way, I could purchase several storage containers every week or so to spread out the cost. After I have several containers, I would wash them to remove the oils and any dirt and then they would be ready to be labeled with their contents.

I have found several storage solutions that are working very well for what I need. The first ones that I found are large 12” x 12” x 3” containers at Michael’s that are available in several colors. They are Iris Scrapbook Central ™ Scrapbook Cases. Michael’s puts these frequently on sale from 30% to 40& off their usual price. These are the containers that you see in the left of the picture. The three shown here are holding part of my DMC Floss collection. What’s that you ask? Yes, I do have every color in DMC floss so yes it is just part of my collection. :-)



For smaller collections, I finally decide to use Sterilite ™ containers that are 11” x 6 5/8” x 2 3/4”. These are in the center of the picture and the ones shown here hold part of my Kreinik collection.

For future storage needs I’ve also picked up samples of two other styles of Sterilite ™ containers which are not shown here. They are the 8 ½” x 11” containers and the 11” x 6 5/8” x 5 3/8” storage containers.

As I’m organizing, I’m allowing room for my thread collection to grow so I won’t need to keep reorganizing my threads. No, I’m not admitting how many containers I’ve purchased so far but it’s been quite a few! :-)

It’s taken many hours of my spare time to organize my threads but I’m so glad that I did. It’s a wonderful feeling to finally know what is in my thread stash and to be able to find thing quickly!

While I was organizing my threads I decided to also organize how I worked on projects. I’ve been storing my ongoing projects in plastic bags which I always disliked.

One day while running around Target, I found their new scrapbook containers. Okay, they were new to me. :-)

I brought home one of each size, washed them, and tried them out. Instant success!

The large green containers are approximately 14” x 14” x 1 ½”. These are working beautifully as they hold and protect fairly large projects even on stretcher bars or I’m using them to hold the fibers and patterns for several of my larger projects.

The smaller containers are 9” x 11 ½” x ½”. These are also working out well to hold smaller projects such as small cross stitch projects and Mill Hill kits.

These are also helping greatly with my rotation system as I have a stack of at least 12 of the larger and 6 of the smaller containers by my stitching nest. When I want to rotate I put the current project on the bottom of the stack and pick up the one of the top. Or I spread out several of the containers on the dining room table and move from the contents of one to the next as I work on different projects. When I need to clean up, I just put the contents back in the container and put them back in project stack. I just love this system!!!

Now that the threads and my current projects are organized, I’m moving on to beads! Or I will as soon as I label my Rainbow Gallery thread containers. :-)

Dritz ™ now has smaller containers (Purple, Pink, Blue/Aqua) with lids that are going to work great for the beads. I found mine in Michael's in the sewing notions section.

Hope you seeing my new storage containers!

Cynthia
Windy Meadow