Hi Reader,

Have your thoughts ever bounced around so much you can't focus on any one thing?

One of my favorite things to do when I feel like my wheels are spinning and I can't seem to get anything done is to work on a puzzle.

Spending even just a few minutes in front of a puzzle, sorting colors, hunting for a piece, or challenging myself to put in 5 pieces before I walk away gives my brain purpose and helps settle my thoughts.

What makes a puzzle even more enjoyable is when it has a sewing theme. I enjoy the images of the following puzzles so much, I've done each of them multiple times.

These puzzles can be found online and in stores. Doing a search by title and company, will allow you to compare prices and availability.

1. The Clothing Emporium - a Vermont Christmas Company puzzle
2. Stitch by Stitch - a Galison puzzle
3. The Sewing Shed - a Ravensburger puzzle
4. Quilts of Gee's Bend - a Galison puzzle

I'm currently working on puzzle #4. The last time I did it, I took it apart carefully and put the pieces to each quilt in separate baggies. It has been so satisfying to work on one quilt at a time!

Tip: When you're ready to put a completed puzzle back in it's box, remove the edge pieces first and put them in a baggie. This way you don't have to sort these pieces when you're ready to do it again.

Rolling vs. folding

Do you wish you had more storage space for fabric?

The fact is you can't change the capacity of any given space but how you organize the items in that space can determine how much you are able to fit in a specific area.

Several years ago I experimented with rolling fabric vs. folding fabric to figure out how to make the most of the space I had for fabric storage.

(You can read the article about what I discovered here ➡️ Storing Fabric to Maximize Space and Reduce Hassle or watch the video here ➡️ Maximize Fabric Storage with Rolling and Wrapping.)

Through this process, I developed a fabric storage system that works well for how I like to sew and move around in my sewing space.

While my sewing space has evolved (and is still evolving), my fabric storage system has, for the most part, stayed the same.

I've been going through my mom's fabric stash and it has been a process. There is no way I can absorb it all into my stash so I'm forced to be selective. I want to make room for as much of her fabric as I can.

In November's newsletter, I shared a way to manage and store odd-shaped garment scraps by rolling them into bundles. This reminded me of the roll vs. fold experiment I did years ago. I repeated the experiment this week with one section of my fabric storage system to see if I could make room for some of Mom's fabric scraps.

In my stash, I use plastic bins the size of shoe boxes to store quilting scraps that are large enough to fold but too small to wrap around fabric boards.

I pulled a blue bin off my shelf and removed all of the folded scraps. After I rolled each scrap, I used a pin to hold the roll together.

Taking before and after photos, I was surprised to see how much space there was left in the bin with the rolled scraps.

Whether the scraps or folded or rolled, I'm still able to "shop" my scraps the way I like (easily look through and take out the fabrics I want while the remaining scraps stay contained).

It took 40 pins and almost 20 minutes to roll the fabric scraps but the amount of space I gained for an additional 10-20 fabrics in a bin would be worth it to roll scraps in the other bins I have of this size.

I encourage you to try the rolling vs. folding experiment if you have been wanting more space for fabric storage.

If you're looking for inspiration for different ways to store fabric, check out this article Successful Ideas for Storing Fabric. You'll see some of the ways readers of the Snappy Scissors newsletter keep their fabric organized.

A gift idea

Need a gift idea for someone who has a lot of tools?

A while back, my husband came to me with a request to make something he could use to keep similar items together in his tool bag that held his most frequently used tools.

His tools were tossed into the bag with no method of organization and there were no pockets or dividers to assist in keeping items separated.

The solutions we came up with were zippered pouches with boxed corners and divided storage that could be rolled up and fastened with velcro.

While I don't have a tutorial on how to make these tool organizers, a quick search in your favorite search engine will produce many results to help you make these practical gifts.

• For the zipper bag, search for one with boxed corners.
• For the divided organizer, search for a makeup brush roll.

A few details about the organizers I made:

• I used old sheets.
• I based the length of each zipper bag on the length of the longest tool that would be in it.
• It took a couple of iterations of each bag before finding the dimensions that worked.
• I wrote down the length and width of each bag I made and took notes on what worked and what didn't.
• In case he wanted more bags in the future, I added a tag on the white one to label what was in the bag with a permanent marker.
• I made the divided organizer large enough so the top half could be folded over before being rolled. This would keep the tools from rattling against each other.

If you decide to make these tool organizers and have questions, please email me and ask. Even though I didn't have time to make a tutorial, I'm happy to help you in any way I can.

2025 Sewing

Since 2021, one of my most popular freebies is the My Sewing Projects printable.

It's a 5-page document and can be used in multiple ways to motivate and inspire you to accomplish what you want with your sewing.

You can:

• plan sewing projects
• document completed sewing projects
• plan AND document completed projects
• track progress on sewing projects

Even though there are 11 days left of 2024, it's not too soon to start thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2025.

​​Click here to get the 2025 My Sewing Projects printable.​

To read about the different ways you can use it, check out the article Better Than a Sewing Planner.

Let 2025 be your best sewing year ever!

That's all for now. Until next year...

P.S. Are you new to the Snappy Scissors newsletter? You can check out past issues HERE.