This is the Year!

This is the Year!

This is the year: the year you are finally going to clean up your quilting space. That’s what you said last year, too, but you didn’t quite hit the mark. You said you’d reward yourself with making that new quilt – once you cleaned up your space. Now it’s the end of January and you still haven’t cleaned up but you really want to start that new quilt. What should you do?

You should start that new quilt anyway. I know, that sounds like giving in, but it’s not really. You can start your new quilt, but you don’t have to literally clean up your entire sewing space beforehand. Start small. Start by cleaning off your cutting table so that you can cut. That is a start. Don’t just move the stuff aside… actually fold up fabrics and put them away. Re-stow escaped notions. Hang up your rulers.

Now, your sewing machine table. How about just putting away past projects, either complete or not, that are sitting right on the sewing machine table? Not next to it. Not under it. Just right on top of it. I bet there are at least 3 or 4 (or more?) of those. You are making good progress now!

Now let’s move on to pressing. Again, you don’t have to organize your entire stash first, but how about putting away everything that is laying on the ironing board. I know you - that’s a lot of stuff! That will make another huge dent.

Finally, how about you fold up all of the leftover fabrics from just this project and put them neatly on a shelf or in your stash? Now there is less mess for next time!

So, we didn’t clean your entire space, but we made it better than it was. Before you embark on your next project, tackle one small area. Wash, rinse, repeat. If you can follow this process, your sewing space will get clean before the end of the year and there will be no need for any grand declarations come the New Year!

Blog post by Jen Lopez

Please join us here every other Wednesday for another fun, fiber-filled installment of By the Yard. You can read more By the Yard® comics www.bytheyardcomics.com and check out the By the Yard® Wall Calendar for 2026 at www.bytheyardstore.com!

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