Storing quilt blocks in scrapbook cases
When I converted my sewing room into a nursery, quilt supply storage became even more important than ever before.
One space-saving solution I’ve found that I absolutely love is using scrapbook cases as a storage solution for quilt blocks that are not ready to be pieced into a quilt top yet. I’ve got several to hold block of quilts in progress. There’s one holding my New York Beauty blocks for my Christmas quilt, one holding the Block of the Month patterns from last year and one that holds a set of antique quilt blocks I purchased but haven’t figured out what to do with.
The trick is to get scrapbooking cases that are at least 14 inches square. That way there’s plenty of space to fit in 12 1/2 inch quilt blocks, and a standard height case will fit enough 12 1/2 inch blocks to make a king-sized quilt in without pressing them together too much.
Besides being a good way to to organize blocks, scrapbook cases also help keep your blocks free from dust and the edges of the blocks neat so they don’t fray while you work on your quilt. That’s very important if you’re like me and sometimes it takes three years to finish enough blocks to make an entire quilt from.
The scrapbooking cases also make it very easy to bring your projects with to class or sit-n-sew. I always bring mine with when I teach or when I’m bringing my New York Beauty to quilt retreat to work on.
A few students in my Block of the Month class last year picked up on this storage solution and bought scrapbook storage cases of their own to organize their blocks. I’m hoping to empty out at least two of my cases this weekend when I go to quilt retreat. Then I’ll have more room to get started on some new quilts.
I bought one of these cases last summer when Michael’s had a great sale on them. I bought it for another purpose but now I don’t even remember what that was so it made it’s way to the sewing room and I have been using it for quilt blocks ever since. I even store the fabric pieces in it for that particular project so everything stays together. Also, it is easy to close and take the entire case with contents to the fabric store for matching additional fabrics, etc. I wish I had more of the cases but I am waiting and hoping that Michael’s will put them on summer special sale again.
I found similar boxes at Costco in fun colors: 5 for $20! They are great for keeping quilt projects organized as well as other crafty stuff. Love all your ideas and tutorials. Raspberry sorbet is on my radar…the colors are fabulous!
Radar is wonky…make that Raspberry Sherbet!