Getting Organized with Pins

April 1, 2016December 11, 2017 by Maria

I’ve found that one of the best ways I can make quilting “easier” is to keep myself organized, so I plan to share a series of posts on things I do to try to stay that way.

Organization comes in several forms. There’s that kind of organization where you know where everything is. Even better than that is that level of organization where someone else can walk into your organizational system and immediately know where it all is, too. Then there is that level of organization where your mind is so focused on what it’s doing and on it’s goal that it doesn’t seem to matter where anything is located and you function at a high level even if your environment seems like chaos to others. If you’re in that last group I am so envious. And I’m pretty sure that I’m not that second level, either. Needless to say I rely pretty heavily on having things in their place, even if those places don’t make sense to anyone but me.

WAY before I started quilting I was a bit of an organizational freak, and I have always been on the look out for ways to keep my sewing room organized. Some would say this fascination with organization is a sign of a sick mind, and I couldn’t agree more, but it’s also the cure. I can look back today and say for certain that several of the quilts I’ve made (i.e. The plaid quilt) would not have been possible without good organization.

If you’re like me, you probably have lots of types of pins and you need them at almost every station – sewing table, cutting table and ironing table. Today I want to share with you how I made my favorite pin organizer.

This is so super easy I almost feel guilty posting about it, but it truly is a handy way to keep pins at the ready. First, a story about how I got the plate. My friend Daven is quite the thrift store hound. She picked up a lovely assortment of little dessert plates and gave one to each of the women in our Bible study/prayer group. On it was a goodie to eat and attached was a note that told us this was a “pass-it-on” plate. We were supposed to pass along the plate and the good deed to someone else. Truth be told, I did pass along the deed, but I didn’t pass along the plate. I knew it needed a good home in my sewing room, and I told it that I would pass it along when I go to heaven.

So, here’s what you do: get your glue gun and some good strong magnets from a local hobby store. Turn the plate over and glue those suckers on. When it dries, turn it right side up and put your pins on it. You will end up with something that works just like those magnetic pin cushions from the sewing store, only a whole lot prettier with a lot more personality. And you might even have a story to go along with it!