After last week being almost craftless, on Monday I spent pretty much from breakfast to dinner crocheting my mini Havana blanket. I thought I’d have a look for something to watch on Netflix and found “Getting Organised with The Home Edit”. I like Reese Witherspoon so thought I’d watch that episode.

The ladies on the show are professional organisers who built their business through social media and have a book and appear to have their organising products available in the Container Store in the US and in John Lewis in the UK. The show is a mix of them organising rooms for celebrities and normal people.

I was looking for a chilled out day, but they are a bit over excited and talk over each other and are a little cheerleader like for me, so it was a weird choice I made to then watch the whole season in one day!!!

One thing became really clear though, is they believe in having zones and think having zones will make you more likely to work on those projects and make it easier when you do. So on Tuesday I started to re-organise the craft room into zones!

‘Before’ photos would have been a great idea. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Weaving zone

Step 1 was to remove all the books from the bookshelf (I sawed in half a few months ago). The books all got moved to the top shelf of the craft room wardrobe and the stereo I never use has been tucked in my husband’s ‘random stuff wardrobe’ until we get round to sorting in there.

The bookcase is now my weaving zone and everything I need for weaving is now neatly together.

Needle felting zone

Step 2 was to sort my needle felting zone. I have my coloured fibres in carry boxes with dividers in and they work well, but they didn’t fit on one shelf, so were stuffed in the wardrobe. But now I was concentrating on the zone method I realised I can lift the shelves up on this bookcase and could stack the 4 boxes at the bottom!

In the red container are the Wensleydale locks and sparkles I use on the fairies as well as the eggshell coloured fibre for their bodies and pipe cleaners. The kits, needle felting needles and foam boards fit well, as do the covered wreaths I have started to work on.

Step 3 was to sort the drawers on my Kallax unit.

“To dye” zone

Now my actual dyeing box currently lives in the kitchen, as that is where the dyeing happens. I didn’t see the value of carrying that upstairs and will eventually find a proper home for it. However, the yarns and fibres to be dyed are now in 3 of the bottom drawers.

Lampshade materials

I now have a drawer with the pre-felt and remaining bag of Roxy’s combed wool, a drawer for landscape shades, including some of Roxy and some black merino for the sheep. Then I have a seascape drawer. The construction kits are in the wardrobe in a drawer. Felting the material picture and constructing the shades are 2 very separate jobs, so I don’t mind the kits being stored separately.

Fibre and yarn

I have some commercially and home blended fibres that I have stored in one drawer with the hand carders (these may move). I then have a drawer with silk fibres and silk fabrics.

Then came yarn…hmm…I was very indecisive about how to store that, but in the end went with 2 drawers for jumper quantities with handspun and then the other 2 by yarn size.

Sewing zone

The desk under the window was already my sewing zone and the drawers are all sewing related.

Painting zone and Fibre Prep

I now have all my acrylic and watercolour paints, paper and canvases in 3 drawers in the wardrobe and my easel is in there too. It is years since I painted and I don’t see me painting the rest of this year.

My hackle and blending board and clamps are in the same chest of drawers. I may move my hand carders here too.

A to Z Zone (Admin and Zoom!)

I am the Treasurer of the Highland Feltmakers Group and also of the Treasurer for the Highland Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and on the Committee for the Camera Club. These roles come with admin and so I have taken over what was my husband’s desk, as he works from my old desk on the landing.

There’s other mini zones on the other half of the wardrobe and in my rainbow coloured drawer set but really I could do with some shelving to have it more organised, so I may dig the other half of the wardrobe from the garage.

If you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned spinning and wet felting equipment, well everything spinning related is in the sunroom with my spinning wheel and my wet felting box is sitting on top of my dye box in the kitchen. So I think isn’t all sorted yet, but it is getting there.

Where do you store your crafting supplies? In zones? I will keep you posted on how it goes.

P.S. the whole house is a Minion Zone!