Thursday, February 18th, Sorting this enormous gift

Back on November 16th, I talked about my co-worker's mother-in-law who passed away and said that she wanted me to have her stash. Well, with some other things that happened, it looked like I would only get some items and some books. Then it turned into all of the books, and last week it turned into the entire stash.
Chuck and I picked it up on Tuesday. I totally underestimated the enormity of this gift. We filled the van to the ceiling and Chuck unloaded it yesterday, so when I got home from the workshop, it was all in the basement awaiting me. It is so much stuff that I can only take it in small increments.
So I unpack a box or a bag a day and sort by color or type. It's a good thing that basically I am the only one that uses the basement, because I am running out of places to sit down there.
So I will take you on a little tour of my sorting:This didn't need to be sorted, but it is the first thing you see when you come down the steps. It is a Horn sewing table. I had been eyeing one at Libertyville Sewing center before they closed, but they were way too pricey. Chuck didn't believe me that this particular model sells for slightly under $1000.00, but when I found it on the Internet, the MSRP is $788.00. It is truly wonderful and there is no more jiggling under me as I sew. As you can see, I have already started using it as I am in project finish mode at the present. I love that I can make the sewing area level with the table top. I think that will help with the pain I have right under my left shoulder blade.
Next on our tour is the couch sorting area. Here we have fabrics with "bling", novelty fabrics and Christmas fabrics. On the table are yellows, grays, blacks, greens and blues. The Foosball table is still against the wall both from project day in November and from Thanksgiving when I had a basement full of sleeping people. The large ironing surface that I had already gotten fits perfectly on top and here you will see neutrals, browns, thread, (which I am not nearly finished sorting and multicolors which still need a place.
Next, there is my old sewing table covered with orangey browns and marbles. My cutting table has solids and reds. Under the cutting table are all of the cuts that are 4 yards or greater. I am having Joanne's and the local quilt shop save the cardboard inserts from bolts of fabric so I can re roll them. Then we get to the areas that haven't been sorted yet. On the desk and next to it on the floor are tons of notions, triangle paper, foundation papers, sketch pads, thread, starch, basting sprays, etc. I sewed a binding down last night at quilt group and I know that there are binding clips in this mess somewhere, but yesterday, danged if I couldn't find them!!
This is the area that all of the fabric comes from. I still have two huge boxes, a Rubbermaid container and about three more bags to sort. Like I said, a bite at a time!! All of the batiks, hand dyes, Asian and brights are going on the day bed to be sorted later. That was what she loved the most, so that is the largest chunk to sort. You can see the Rubbermaid containers that are flipped over with the lids on top and all of the books....those are the books that I have deemed "give aways". But every time I go through them, I find more that I want to keep.
I also found several projects that she had started, so I am putting those in my finish pile. One of them will be perfect for Deb and Stewart.