The New Project - that I can't start yet

I've got a new project on my brain and I'm so excited to get to work on it! But I can't start yet. I don't have enough fabric.  Let me rephrase that. I don't have enough different fabrics.  And since I'm on a strict fabric budget, I can't just run out and get what I need. Here's why......

I saw this Fandango fabric by Kate Spain months ago online and fell in love with it. I've been wanting to make a new quilt for our bedroom that included the green of my walls (because I'm lazy and didn't want to repaint),  aqua, blue, lime green, and then a splash of red or orange.  Fandango has ALL these colors and it isn't too froo froo, so the Gardener Guy agreed on it.  I hopped online and bought myself a layer cake of  Fandango with a plan of making a queen sized quilt using the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern. I knew that I wanted to incorporate some other fabrics I'd already started accumulating for this quilt and I figured I was on my way to making my FIRST queen size quilt.  That is, until I realized I didn't have nearly enough 10" squares.  I should also explain here that I want each square to be different, I don't want any repeating fabrics. Crap. Now I have to sit down and figure out how many 10" squares I'm going to need for this pattern. That's going to involve some math. Double crap.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate math?  Just the mention of number crunching causes an instant glazing over of my eyes, and I start to pay attention to things in the room like how many holes are in the ceiling tiles. It probably makes you wonder why I love quilting so much.  I'm wondering the same thing. I mean seriously, not only is there some major math involved, but it's FRACTIONS, which is even worse. Ugh.

Well, I manned up and did a few equations, and got a impossible really big number. Like a 3 digit number. In order to make this quilt the size I want, I am going to need 108 squares. In case you didn't get that, let me repeat. I'M GOING TO NEED 108 TEN INCH SQUARES. Seems like way too many. Certainly that can't be right.  Well it is.
I did math 4 times just to make sure.

The layer cake came with 50 squares, and I went through my fabric stash multiple times to add to the end number, and so far I'm at 86.

Holy cow, this may take a while.

First Non-Resolution Completed!

Amazing what one whole day in the craft room does.

Even though I feel like I wasted a day that could've been spent crafting, it feels nice to look around and not instantly feel overwhelmed by the chaos. It's handy to know exactly where my fabrics are, so when I'm looking for a particular red, I can go to the container it's in, not the bottom of the last pile where I think I saw it. You know what I'm talking about.

Considering how long I've been working in chaos, it may take me a while to get used to this. I'll bet it takes way less time to turn back into chaos. Just being honest.

Here's a breakdown of how I organized my fabric:
Top shelf middle and left in plastic bins are fat quarters.
Top shelf right are quarter yard cuts of solids, in color order. (kind of)
Bottom shelf is everything one half yard or bigger. (the little pile on the right are
precuts for my pincushions)
On the counter in plastic bins are pieces that are bigger than scraps, but not fat quarters.

What you can't see is the bottom of the cabinet where I keep my containers of scraps. Yep, I said containers. Like plural. Maybe I'll show you that next time, it's pretty bad.

This is not a Resolution

I don't know if I've ever told you this before, but I always have really great plans for the New Year.  I'm always going to lose 30 pounds by Valentine's Day, stop spending money on lunches and be a millionaire by the end of the year, and of course, keep my craft room organized.  All very realistic plans, don't you think?  I should also tell you that I stink at follow-through. For example, it took me approximately 6 hours yesterday to cave on the diet plan and start shoveling left over fudge into my face.

This year, I'm going to focus on one thing. Keeping the craft room clean.  

My main focus is to get my fabric under control.

 

I've attempted this before, and it never takes me long to get frustrated and give up. I can never figure out the best way to organize all the scraps and cuts I have, but I think I've got it figured out. I've got a plan.