Losing my Mojo

I just finished getting this quilt top assembled about ten minutes ago. I've been on such a big assembly spree, I have actually lost count of how many tops I have waiting for quilting. I think I need to switch to something else for a while though. This quilt top was hard to get through, and I don't think it's because it is flannel, I think I'm just tired of assembling quilts. It's time to do some piecing!

I love piecing, and I have several quilts cut out and ready to sew. One of those needs to be completely finished by the end of July, so the fact that I am in the mood to piece some blocks, and not in the mood anymore to assemble quilts is not really a problem.

Oh, but in some ways I have been completely sidetracked! In one of my Yahoo groups, someone posted a link that really tweaked my interest. Here is the link:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-43871-1.htm

In case you don't want to look it is all about folding your fabric as mini-bolts and storing it upright just like a fabric store. Now to store it upright, you have to wrap the fabric around something so it holds its shape. I have spent the last two days doing much more internet research than sewing. I found two different companies making ready made forms to do this on, both of which are completely beyond my budget.

I figured out the lady in the link was using corrugated plastic cut to size, so I started searching for the best price for that. It is fairly pricy for the amount I would need to do all of my stash, but the price does very drastically by company. I really liked this idea, so I kept searching for other options. I found another article where someone was on a strict budget, and they did the same type of thing, but they used magazine backing boards that magazine collectors use to keep their magazines from bending. The backing boards are completely acid free to protect the magazines, so it should be safe for my fabric as well. I searched for those, and they are much more affordable. The magazine backing boards come in more than one size, so you have a couple of options with those.

Here's the thing though, having not tried this, but just thinking about it, I think I really prefer the corrugated plastic option. The price is a problem though. After mulling it over, I think I've come to a compromise. I think I will buy the magazine backing boards for the small sized mini-bolts, and the corrugated plastic for the larger mini-bolts. I still won't be able to afford to do my whole stash at once, but it will be less overwhelming to do it in parts anyway. DH has agreed to cut the corrugated plastic for me, and he's letting me order some of both as my birthday present, which is great by me. I'm glad I got obsessed with this idea right before my birthday.

I fold all of my fabric neatly now, and it always looks good for a while. The problem is, even though the fabrics are in neat stacks, as I take fabrics out and slide them back in, after a while some fabrics get shoved to the back in a clump. I had an instance a couple of months ago where I really wanted to use a particular fabric for an inner border. I knew I didn't have a lot of this fabric left, but I thought there was enough. I have my fabrics divided by color, and I thought I looked through everything in that color, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I ended up using a different fabric. Guess what I found a couple of days ago? You got it, the fabric I had been looking for and couldn't find, it had been shoved to the back.

Since I already fold all my fabrics neatly, I don't think it will be a stressful thing to put all my fabric on mini-bolts, and again, since I can only afford to do part at a time, not overwhelming. I think the benefits of having my fabrics upright will be well worth the money in the long run. I can always reuse the mini-bolt forms as I use fabrics up and acquire new ones. I am really excited about doing this!