28 April, 2009

How Can You Tell I'm a Quilter?

With my return to work imminent I've been quilting up a storm and I've been trying to get the house in order. We still have no nanny, but the house is almost ready for a new person to be trying to get around. Seriously, why is it so hard to hire a nanny? We aren't crazy people. Maybe a little odd or uncoventional, but not crazy.

I digress.

One morning last week Smilosaurus and I were playing in her room while Hubby worked in the living room. While she was happily crawling around and exploring I started taking a few photos for my colour study (see the right sidebar there). I was struck by a grouping of books on her shelf. As I took a photo I also noticed the pile of books sitting on the floor, pulled off by the little one. It is my anal nature to want to organize things alphabetically. Alas, the girls aren't quite old enough to shelve things this way. Sing the Alphabet Song, but not put things in alphabetical order. What's an anal quilting mom to do? Organize by colour, obviously!

I tried this once with all of my own books and hated it. I was used to the conventional way and suddenly couldn't find anything. In the girl's room, however, I thought it would be perfect. And now I walk in and honestly I feel calmer. Order is nice, colour is even better. I did show my stash, right?

As you can see, we have a lot of books! There are some hand-me-downs and some books from Hubby and his sister's childhood. There are a lot of new books because I always ask for books as gifts when questioned. Plus I'm a sucker for sales on books and will buy more for us when I go in to buy for gifts. I should point out that there is also a pile on the nightstand and a basket in the living room where we rotate seasonally appropriate titles.

Could I pick a favourite? Aside from Curious George and The Three Little Pigs, The Monster is in love with this book.


I must admit, I am too. Rhythmic, urban, and unique it is fun to read. The book is Jazz Baby by Lisa Wheeler and R. Gregory Christie.

Share your favourite book with the Children's Book Parade over at 6 O'Clock Stitch.

5 comments:

* elizabeth * said...

I have that IKEA bookcase, too! We have the big four by four unit in the boys' room, too. WE to are overrun by kids' books. WE organize like this: Board books in baskets on the floor for easy access, Favourite books on the top shelf where they can't get ruined as easily and we can always find them for bedtime, and a mountain more in the dining room shelf. That's a lot of older ones, though. I ahve some sort of addiction. i cannot pas up a vintage children's book. They're so much sweeter and more pure than what they put out now I think.

Amanda Jean said...

i love their room! it's so pretty and cheerful.

i have color coded our books before, too, and i loved it! since we have moved to this house my organization of the books has been vetoed. and i miss it. (we have the same book cases, too, which i love, but we have them in the 4 x 4 size.)

Dana said...

I love that the books are organized by color. So pretty . . . and artsy at the same time.

Victoria said...

Just from the one bookshelf I can tell this is a great room! love the idea of organizing the books by color! And books... wonderful, wonderful books... it was my absolute favorite thing to indulge my girls in when they were little. I loved to get them books, read books to them, make books with them, go to bookstores, book sales, libraries... anything book related and we were in heaven. Happy memories!

Samantha said...

The colorful books are making me drool just a wee bit. We are book junkies as well. just this past weekend we spent an hour poking through my favorite 2nd hand shop (1/2 price on saturdays) and picking out new books. You can never have too many books...