Organizing the Frames

 Why did y'all let me start so many projects? Friends shouldn't let friends do that!  :)

I started out with a Rubbermaid type BIG tub in a corner in the downstairs family room. I would stand all the frames up in that, I had the names of the charts on the ends of the frames so I could easily find the one I wanted. Then I got lazy about putting the names on the frames. Then I had more frames than would fit in the tub so I started standing the other frames up next to the tub. Then Oscar and Cooper figured out they could almost play tug-o-war with the frames. Last night I had to move the frames not in the tub to a more secure location. That meant some of the frames were here; some were there . . not a good setup.

This morning I got up and had a great plan. I was going to get some 3/4" or 1" dowels, use big "S-Hooks" and hang those from the metal shelves I had in the sewing room. They'd be away from the dogs, have way less light on them and I could easily grab one frame and not have to move 10 frames to get to the one I wanted.

These were the hooks I wanted to use to hook the dowels onto the metal shelving units but neither Home Depot or Walmart had them. We ended up buying some other kind of clips but they don't work well. 

I had wanted the magnetic clip ties to hook the frames to the dowels but no one had those either. We ended up getting some Velcro "straps". They work for the Rolaframes but they aren't long enough for most of my other frames.

Then I realized I could use fabric strips and tie the frames onto the dowel. Not the best idea - trying to hold the frame and tie the fabric. My guess is that when I remove a frame, if I don't re-tie the fabric onto the dowel, the fabric strip will be lost.

I also figured out I could just tie the frames onto the metal shelf without even using a dowel. Yes, that's the longarm in the picture. Hasn't been set up in five years . . needs to be sold!

I ordered some 9" magnetic clip ties and they should be here Sunday or Monday. I think they will be long enough and I can use those instead of the fabric ties. They should be easier since they just snap together and I don't have to tie them - remove the frame, snap them back together and they stay where they're supposed to be.

I will number (with a Sharpie) each of these frames and try to keep them in numerical order on the shelves. We have a whiteboard and I'm going to put the numbers on there and write down which piece is on which frame so hopefully they will be easy to find without having to do serious digging.

This may not be a permanent solution. The best case is that I finish some of these and don't have so many starts. I've shown two sections of frames but I've put on the shelving units but there are actually five shelves set up like that. In my defense, maybe 15 of them have linen on them but I never started the project so it isn't as bad as it seems. That's my story!