Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Year of the PIGS - 1/5

Welcome to the first post in the Year of the PIGS. If you are wondering what the Year of the PIGS is all about, you can read about it in this post.

Feel free to join in when you can and want to. The code under the picture of the pigs on my sidebar is for a smaller, badge size version of the picture and I had corrected it on Sunday. If you were having issues with the button being too big for your sidebar, try it again. :)

Our question to answer today is - How do you store your UFOs and PIGS separate from your fabric stash? Pictures would awesome to share, too!

For those of you who don't know, I live in a townhouse style condo with 2 bedrooms. My 'spare' bedroom has now been designated as my Stash Room. This is the UFO and PIGS area of the stash room. And yes, there is fabric on the floor. I ran out of shelf space and is the reason for needing to work on PIGS this year!

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Most of the kits and UFO's are in plastic storage of some kind - plastic boxes with lids, plastic bags, and - my personal favorite - Art Bins. I have only started getting the Art Bins in the last year and a half and I only buy them when I can get them on sale and preferably at a great discount. Right now, I have 3 that are empty and 2 that are holding fabric that can be put on the shelves somewhere without any plastic.

I started using the plastic storage because I was getting overwhelmed trying to keep all parts of the kits together as I moved things into and around the room. And once I started taking a class (or several) and I was getting inundated with kits and UFOs, I knew that I needed a better way to organize them. I just thought that using the plastic made sense.

I sort of have things sorted on the shelves. There are sections of quilt PIGS and quilt UFOs together, but I also found that if I had several table runner PIGS, they could all fit easily in 1 plastic bin. Same with a few other types of PIGS.

Here is a 'zoomed in' view of one section of the shelves. The plastic bins are easier to stick tape to for identifying what is inside. You can see that here there are 3 quilt PIGS.

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Let's pull the Doodlebug box down and have a look inside. I can tell by the side view of the container that there is fabric inside and what the colors are. And for the most part, the pattern should be inside, too. If it's not, I am fairly certain that I have a piece of paper with a note directing me to the book and pattern in the book so that I can continue with the PIG.

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And there it is!

Upon further inspection, I can see that there are some blocks made, some strip sets made and all of the extra fabric from the kit. I believe that this UFO is at least 3 years old and I am sure that if I needed any of these fabrics now, I would be hard pressed to find exact matches. And knowing some of the miscuts and miscalculations that I have made in the past, I do my best to keep all the extra fabrics with the projects.

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Here is another box. It has some bag PIGS in it. I know that the pattern I have most of the fabric is a Vera Bradley knock off, but the PIGS that are different have the pattern stored with them.

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And this is another reason why I love the Art Bins. I stored the fabric for my Granma's quilt in this Art Bin and I used the Bin while piecing and assembling the quilt. Since all of the fabric was still all together, when Granma put her order in for pillow shams, it is all right here and ready for me to work on ... when I can get around to it. And it will be the project box for that project, too.

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So that is the skinny on how I store my UFOs and PIGS. What about you?

Write your post up on your blog and post the link to your post (not your blog) in the Link box below. If you don't have a blog and still want to join in, leave your answer in a comment and put your name and "comment" (ie Sue - comment) in the Link box and the link for you should be back to this post.

Remember, in order to be entered for this month's drawing, you have to post your answer and leave a link in Mr. Linky.

I think for right now, we will do this every 2 weeks unless I get a sudden brainstorm of questions to ask. Hey, it could happen! lol And I will pre-post the question like I did for this week so that you can have a chance to think about how you will answer the question.

If you have any questions, let me know! :-D

13 comments:

Kate said...

That's a lot of PIGs and UFOs. I haven't been too bad about buying PIGS, I think mainly because I don't like making kits. Most of my PIGS are patterns that I liked and I bought the fabric to make them.

Kristie said...

Oh Geez! I probably have 50+ UFO's and PIGs! I really don't even want to count them! LOL! I keep mine in plastic bags and then throw them in several LARGE plastic totes that are stored in the closet.
Kristie

Libby said...

I have a PIG in a pizza box. A good idea until the cat kocks it over. I also use clear storage containers. Embroidery projects go in a ziplock bag.

Anonymous said...

A pig in a pizza box, Liz? How funny!

"hold the anchovies, please"
(giggle)

I posted my PIGS... I'm going to love this...

Vic H. said...

I store mine in plastic totes as well. All the fabric together...but stupidly, the pattern is usually somewhere else so that is it's own adventure when the time comes to make it!! LOL....I try to hide my stuff in cabinets and closets around the house...but it is now spilling onto the floor (the totes are on the floor)....:-)

scottylover said...

Hi! I store my PIGS in either the zippered plastic bags you get from when you buy sheets or men's T's and in boxes I get from work. They are computer parts boxes and are quite sturdy. Some are rectangular (like what a keyboard comes in) and work for pieces when I am making the blocks. Others are the same size or a little smaller than a pizza box and deeper. Orphan blocks are in zip lock baggies by size and are stored in a tote.

Thanks for all the new ideas on how to store them!
Sandy A

Regina said...

Awesome! I really want more Art Bins but can't bring many into the house without the Lego Boys taking them! Now that I don't have a ziplock eating cat I am better but it is still a struggle.

Deanna said...

Shoe Boxes. Gotta love cheap and available. Not a perfect system, but it keeps me motivated to keep the PIGS in check.

Julianne said...

Great plan it fits with the year of relaxation and completion I have planned. I will really have to work to keep up with the rest of you. Because at least know what you have and where it is. Thanks for the motivation and inspiration

Tracy said...

I can't wait to see everyone's answers!

Babs said...

Can't you just buy more shelves?!? MWAH HA HA HA HA!!!

HOlllllaaaa!
-Babs

elizabeth said...

JILL I JUST STORE MY UFO'S AND PIGS IN PLASTIC BAGS. I HAVE WHAT LITTLE FABRICS I HAVE STORED IN A VERY LARGE PLASTIC TOTE SITTING IN MY FLOOR. I LOVE YOUR STORAGE IDEAS AND HOPE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT SOMEDAY WHEN I GET AROUND TO REARRANGING STUFF. I HAVE SEVERAL UFOS IN SCRAPBOOKING, CROCHETING, EMBORDERING, SEWING, QUILTING, ETC... DO YOU SEE A PICTURE HERE? LOL .. I AM STARTING TO WORK ON UFO'S AGAIN, DOING SOME SCRAPBOOKING ONES NOW. THEN I WILL MOVE ON TO OTHERS.

Jackie's Stitches said...

I store mine in Art Bins without the handles. I can find them as cheap as $2.99. Like you, I keep everything together including the pattern, or a copy if the pattern is in a book. I always tend to buy a little bit more fabric too as I'm known for making cutting oopsies! I can't imagine storing my PIGs any other way.