I’m taking part in Karen’s annual Declutter Challenge and have found a number of things to straighten up or get rid of. I’m a book lover, but I long ago joined my blogging friend Melanie in limiting the number of books to the shelf space available. Despite this I found about 30 books that will be passed on because I don’t use them any more.
See that almost-empty space? I got rid of about 1/3 of my books!
However! One of the other “declutter” categories was mementos and I had no idea I had so many. They’re little, so they’ve been stored in a dresser drawer too shallow for anything else and I hadn’t thought about them.
There were all these pins, mostly from QuiltCon in various years, though some from AQS shows as well:
And all these nice enamel pans from many other quilt conferences and one art museum:
I threw away the cheap button pins and put the enamel pins back in their box. I always think I should make a hanger to display them, so maybe this is the year for that project.
In the same drawer (different section) were my show ribbons, another thing I don’t know what to do with. I just left them for now. I know some people leave them on the winning quilts, but since I give my quilts away that’s not an option.
No, I’m not sure why they’re all “upside down” when viewed from the front of the drawer!
I’m enjoying the decluttering challenge. And now I need a decluttering plan for the rest of my clutter, not just the quilt room. Maybe start with my desk? (No, I’m not showing a photo!)
Zippy Quilts 
It’s fun to look at your bookshelf and see which books I have too. And in your box of ribbons, the big black and turquoise swirly one — I used that fabric as backing on a rainbow disappearing 9 patch!
I just had to declutter my sewing room because it was going to show up in the background of a Zoom call — I am enjoying its new neatness and I hope I can keep it that way. 🙂
Yes, it’s always fun to see that someone has the same fabric, despite the thousands of them out there. And “if only” I could keep the neatness–ha!
I too have way too many books and not enough bookshelves. A lot of them are still on my to read list as well so can’t quite get rid of them yet. I’m not overwhelmed yet thankfully but a lot definitely have to go before I bring anything new in.
Not sure about all the badges and ribbons but my Dad was in the scouts for a very long time and they used to get badges and pins for different camps they went on and he had this crazy woollen camp blanket that was covered in badges and pins. Perhaps you don’t have to make something new to put them on just find a nice old blanket at a thrift store
Well, good on you, Zip! I have collected really nice enamel pins over the years plus a few select ‘cheap’ election year pins (most notably my McGovern 72 one!) My favorite enamel ones being a collection of 5 different guitars from when we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe in London (the original!) way back in the 90s. I ended up pinning the pins and spot-tacking some really cool sequined and embroidered patches onto a denim mini-pillow middle daughter made me with old jeans during her sewing learning years…best way to keep a collection of pins IMHO!