Some of you might remember my post about quilt magazines here. It was interesting to read that all but one who commented actually don't subscribe to any magazines at all.

Yes I'm still getting a couple in my mailbox...the McCalls Quilting that was a 2 yr subscription I got for my birthday last year so this one doesn't expire until the spring and Quiltmaker which is the new one that I picked up after letting the subscriptions to Quilters Newsletter and Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting expire.

No matter if you subscribe to the magazines or just pick up one once in a while at the store, a system for managing them is a necessity. At least for me. The piles can quickly get overwhelming if one is not careful. Here is what I do.

Back in my earliest days of my quilting journey, I acquired a lot, a big lot, of older magazines from the hubby of a quilter up the road who had passed away. I really didn't know squat then and didn't know much about what I was looking at. Because I didn't want to keep the entire pile, with ads for fabrics long ago sold out and products no longer "new" I took out the patterns, techniques and other bits that interested me and recycled the rest. I do the same with interesting bits from current issues.

This is where I keep them. I have (2) 3 inch binders and each pattern is in a page protector, sorted by basic block type. I take them out fairly regularily and flip through the pages, many times when I'm looking for an intersting block layout or border design. Post it notes are at the top of some with notes relating to some special feature that I want to be able to pick out quickly, such as the pattern uses a jelly roll. Sometimes when I'm shopping and see a pre cut I really want, I try and figure out first what I will do with it and those little notes help me remember ideas that interested me and could be put to use.

As far as the magazines that still arrive in my mailbox, once I go through them 1 or 2, they go here.  They are in just the 2 left holders; all the other holders have scrapbooking magazines that I need to sort through too but have yet to get around to doing.  I mark pages of ideas that are of interest and about a year later, I go back through them and pull out those that still appeal. Those ideas go in the binders.

I really do love this system that I have developed. It helps to keep the stack at bay and keeps all the ideas that I like in 1 place. The binders are really heavy to lug around but at least they are contained and not taking up much space. Any method to keep the clutter contained is a good thing in my book.