C&T Quilter's Project Planner Social Media Tour Day 6!

It's Day 6 of the C&T Quilter's Project Planner Tour! And it's my turn to share.

The recent three-day weekend gave provided the perfect opportunity to do some much needed house cleaning in my studio. With Zoom meetings having gone from just occasionally to several times a week, my corner desk situation is really driving me crazy. Everything, it seems is now in my line of vision, stacked on the desk (the laptop on a random shoe box, the Ottlight, colored files, etc.), and I am really getting claustrophobic. Don’t get me wrong, I love pattern and color in my surroundings, but surprisingly, not at my desk. For that area, I need calm, clean and very little color to enable me to focus.

Away went the pink cover (which I never really loved anyway) of the laptop. Better. But I still need to visually calm down the area and get as many items as possible off the desktop! For years colored folders have been my go-to. But seeing them out of the corner of my eye is now very distracting. Keeping everything in the same color palette provides a more unified and calmer look visually. All white folders and a wall mounted holder will help tremendously. An opaque white box to prop up the laptop will continue the clean, unified and calm that I need.

A quick trip to IKEA for supplies. Hanging file holder, got it. White boxes, ah…wouldn’t you know it, everyone, it seems, also likes the white boxes. That shelf area was empty. Oh, well, the blue version (purchased for another area of the house) is for now, a temporary replacement. On the way home, I grabbed white folders from my local office supply. The desk area is getting better. It’s calmer, not perfect, but it’s a work in progress.

And speaking of WIPs. As I was clearing things out, I found a quilt project with blocks ready to be sewn together. I’m on the home stretch. Why did I put this away? Ah, now I remember, I decided to enlarge the quilt because it was too small for snuggling on the couch. Life got in the way and that project has been on the shelf patiently waiting. Did I write down what my plan was? No. Whaaat? I usually put something down on a sheet of paper as a reminder. How embarrassing, here I am telling others how to organize, and I am not following my own advice. It goes to show, we all stumble.

I’ve written about ways to catalog your projects before, and as luck would have it, the hot-off-the-presses, the C&T Quilter’s Project Planner is such a timely resource for quilters, like myself, who work on multiple projects at a time. And just like me, life sometimes gets in the way, which means things move to the sidelines for a while.

First things first. I love the size; it’s big, but not so big that it can’t easily fit into a tote for a quick quilt shop run, or into the overnight bag for an upcoming weekend retreat. And thank you C&T for adding a spiral binding, which means the planner lays flat on a table surface. But wait, there are more goodies.

Each color-coded project section (which I love, by the way) provides areas for notes, fabric supplies, needed tools, etc. and any other things you find important and want to remember. Maybe I want to increase the size of the original block or sketch out layout ideas; the accompanying graph page is super handy for those bits of inspiration.

As a visual myself, the Project Wheel lets me very quickly see just how much or how little work I need to do to complete a particular project. It's simply a matter of coloring in the task area as you move along. Often, I don’t have large chunks of time for dedicated sewing. Maybe I just have time to cut block units or prep a binding. This visual cue is helpful in determining what I want to work on.

The reference pages in the back are another equally handy resource. There’s no need for running to grab several books off the shelf. These handy pages offer lots of tips, tricks, quick calculations and more.

Now that I think about it, I just might need more than one of these babies! There are more than a dozen projects waiting in the wings that would love to be included in my planner. Now, I just need to figure out who’s going in first volume.

For your chance to win the C&T Quilter’s Project Planner AND (I’m sweetening the pot, here) an autographed copy of my book Love Your Creative Space, leave a comment here by Thursday, September 17. What a great way to jump start your fall and winter creativity!

Tell me what you struggle with when it comes to projects (both new and WIP). One winner will be announced on Friday 18, so be sure to check back. Winners MUST have their prize sent to a USA Address.

And don't forget to visit all of the other stops along the way, before Thursday.