January 1 - Organize!

I want need to get my sewing and craft space(s) organized and inventoried.

The impetus for this (aside from the fact that I'm months overdue for it) is that we are nearly finished remodeling our basement, adding about 500 square feet of comfortable, attractive living space to our 1200 sq. ft. home. Included in the new space is a nook approximately 8' wide and 6' deep, where my IKEA craft table will go. This table consists of an 8' counter atop a 5' VÄRDE freestanding kitchen unit and a couple of table legs, forming a desk of sorts on one end. It's where I have done my polymer clay art in the past, and it will probably continue to serve that purpose, as well as be the place where I hang out with my daughter once we start homeschooling (more or less officially) in the fall.

In addition to the basement workspace, I have a sewing table (it's actually my husband's grandfather's cherry exam table from his Boston medical office) in our master bedroom. DH put up several long shelves on one wall of the room for me to store my sewing projects and supplies, and the smaller bedroom closet is filled to almost overflowing with fabric and notions in Rubbermaid and other containers. He has no problem with my having sewing stuff in the bedroom - what a guy! - as long as it's reasonably well contained. (His actual quote: "Just leave me a clear path from the door so I can get to my side of the bed..."). Problem is, I have more fabric and yarn than I can store in the closet up there, so I'm trying to decide if I should store ALL of it in one location (probably the basement), or split it up between the bedroom and basement.

Besides my fabric and yarn, I have about 100 patterns (I know, because I put them all in my pattern library on PR), and numerous UFOs and thrifted-garments-to-be-recycled-some-day. I think I need to let go of quite a lot of stuff that I'm no longer feeling any love for. (Corollary Resolution #1: No more fabric/yarn/pattern buying in 2010 unless it's something I need to finish a project. Or something really, really cool.)

I would like to keep my stash(es) organized online. I already have most of my yarn stash on Ravelry.com, and I'm thinking about using Google Docs for the fabric. If I'm feeling REALLY inspired, I may complete my wardrobe inventory (as outlined by The Very Small Closet's Jennifer Skinner) on Google Docs as well.

I'd also like my ongoing projects to be more organized as well. I plan to do that by staying on top of my pattern reviews on PR and Ravelry, and utilizing resources such as Style.com and Polyvore.com for lookbooks and ideas. (And, of course, keeping you all updated with my progress right here on my blog.) When choosing sewing projects for myself, I'm going to try to SWAP (Sewing With a Plan) to avoid ending up with "singletons" that don't coordinate with existing items in my wardrobe.

That's the plan, anyway.  We're supposed to be getting a foot or more of snow this weekend, so I should have plenty of time to work on organizing things in the bedroom, and will start in earnest on the basement next weekend.