Enemy of Entropy
Color Clues, or Why Four Blue Sweaters Isn’t Enough
“Another blue sweater? You have four of those. Why not get something different for a change?”
“No, I have navy, cornflower, Williamsburg, and baby blue sweaters. This one is royal blue. That’s totally different!”
Okay guys, I know that you thought women were making up some of the color names we use. Chartreuse? Why not say green? And garnet — that’s red, right? What’s this about plum, amethyst, grape, violet, mauve, and fuschia all being different? They’re all purple, aren’t they?
No, really, they aren’t. We don’t make them up just to vex you. They’re all very, very different, which is why we would never consider wearing brick red lipstick with a cherry red sweater. Ick!
Now there’s help for you. Free help, even! Read on…
Stitching Bloggers’ Question of the Week: Fabric Organization?
I’ve been waiting eagerly for this week’s SBQ. I don’t know why, I just have. They sometimes remind me of stash I don’t think about often enough.
Do you have an organizational system for your fabric? If so, what is it? If not, what do you store your fabric in?
How do people store their fabric, especially those small but potentially usable pieces? Do they sort by count? How do they label it or otherwise know what each piece is?
I never really thought about labeling them. I’ll start doing that in the future. I’m usually so excited when I buy material for a project, though, that I can’t resist starting on it right away. It’s only the much older stuff that needs labeling!

I can tell what most are just by looking at them. I’ve got a nifty little ruler for thread counts if I have any trouble determining that visually. Anything that isn’t a neutral color has been purchased for a specific project, so I know immediately, for instance, “oh, that’s for the second set of the Amaryllis Artworks mandalas” (yes, I love those so much I intend to stitch them again).
Almost all of my cloth is evenweave, but there’s some linen and even a little bit of aida and hardanger that dates back to my teen years when I started stitching. (I gave away most of that old stuff via Freecycle last year, then found more!)

All of it is stored in a set of plastic drawers with some cedar balls tossed in. We don’t have a problem with moths, but I don’t want to take any chances and I do love the scent.
No picture this time — things are all topsy-turvy and I can’t get to my drawers to get a photo.
I couldn’t stand it. I had to do photos.



