A book review and a Top Tip for keeping track of fabrics

A very quick, simple book review of: A pocket posh tips for quilters.

Buying this book was a little bit of a spontaneous thing and so when I got home I was a bit concerned that like the 'do it youself' books purchased in the past, it would get put on the bookshelf or in a box and not seen again for some time. However I was also quite excited and eager to take a peek inside. 

The cover - I have to say this is what really grabbed me in the shop not the title, but the style, the colour and texture. I love the way its held together with the elastic and the size too makes it a cute little pocket guide. The cover in the style of a quilt makes you fairly certain what its about before you read the title (especially when its being sold in a fabric shop.) 

Inside - The book is organised into really useful, well throughout sections, from getting organized and fabric choices to better stitching and sewing machine maintenance. The tips are short and to the point but descriptive where needed, there is also the odd diagram thrown in too. 

It really is the kind of book you can flick through and refer back to whenever you need to. I think I love it already.

Index Cards
Yesterday I mentioned sharing an idea I got from this book as I flicked through it. There are in two new ideas I implemented yesterday evening. (One I will save for another post)
One that came directly from this little gem of a book was to use index cards to keep a record of the fabrics you have brought:

• Cut a sample or use a scrap of the fabric and staple it onto the card.  If you want to index a fabric panel - take a picture of the fabric (or find one online) and print it about business card size (size of samples/photo is completely up to you and will depend on fabric design etc.)
• List on the card all the details you have - design name/number, the manufacturer, type of fabric e.g. cotton. 
• Also list where you brought it from, when you brought it and the price too (helpful to cost up items later if you want to sell them or to shop around for a bargain).
• I also put on the card the purpose for which I brought the fabric (that way if its put away whilst I find other fabrics for the project, I'm not going to use it by accident) or the idea I had in mind when I spotted the fabric. 

You can take these cards with you when you go fabric shopping so that you can match up fabric and cotton colours (nothing worse than getting home and realising you were close in your guess but not close enough!) 
Keep the cards relevant to each project together that way its really easy to pull out the cards and see what fabrics you already have and think about how you might use them.