A HARSH reality

 So things are going well. I'm on a roll to get the last of the stuff in Studio B sorted and put away. I swear, I've swept that floor a thousand times in the last couple of days, and I still can't eliminate all the dust bunnies! Never mind the Minky that is floating around. 

I was a few days late for some Christmas cards, but they are all in the mail now, and I even delivered one by hand. I was scrolling through some photos on Facebook and stumbled on this oldie. It's hilarious, but do you remember doing this?? 

A great way to display Christmas cards

Yep - My Mom used to do the same thing with all the cards she received. She had penpals all over the world, and so we got a LOT of Christmas cards. 

When I was in the post office the other day buying a couple of stamps for the US, the lady told me that she didn't' have any, but she could print me a label with postage. I'm OK with that. Apparently, they can't keep stamps in stock. It would appear that MANY Christmas cards got sent this year. She has ordered the US stamps FOUR times, and she still ran out. 

I'll share my cards with you tomorrow. I got some great cards, fun envelopes, and great messages. Thanks to everyone who sent one!

Back to the long arm to get the LAST Christmas quilt done. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The binding is made, but I was too tired last night to bother putting it on. It's trimmed and ready to go this morning. 

And I got the binding on the third quilt for another customer. Those quilts will be leaving the house later this morning. 

Binding on a customer quilt

I have to say that it feels great to have all that stuff done, and I won't have ANY customer stuff to do tomorrow! It's a day off! I still have a few customer quilts that I want to get done before the end of the year, and I'll load one of them later today. But no rush to get it quilted!

I was in FULL decluttering mode yesterday. OK - not quite in full mode since I'm not throwing anything away, but rather just reorganizing and packing. 

I started by getting out my book and making a list of ALL the projects sitting on the table nearest the sewing machine. OH - that was an eye-opener. So I decided to move everything off the second table as it would be sitting out for a LONG time before I could touch it. More on that home finding tomorrow. 

Then I moved the stuff from one table to the other. I know - a LOT of shuffling, but hopefully, this is the LAST time. I decided that I should set up the studio in the way that I want it to be. That means the sewing machines and sergers that I want to use are out. The projects that I'm currently working on are out (in one area), and everything else is out of sight. What's the optimal number of current projects? Probably two or three?

So, I'm close to that scenario. Well, I'll take better pictures in the next couple of days. This is the CURRENT project table. Yes - it looks a bit fuller than it was in the previous spot. I did have to add a few things. 

The current projects

OK -- so here's the thing. I wrote down EVERYTHING that is on this table. EVERYTHING. Do you know how many projects are on the table? Can you guess? Oh my - there are THIRTY-FIVE projects on that table. How does this happen to me?? 

After the list hit 25, I decided to shelve everything that was sitting on the second table. Imagine that I could accomplish ONE project a day. That's over ONE month to clear this table. That's obscene. 

The trick now is to NOT add anything else to the table. NOTHING, unless it has a deadline. 

Oh - don't worry - I have loads to share with you on my journey through that clean-up. I still have a bit of stuff to put away. I'm running out of storage room. I said that I would start giving away when that happened, but I was kidding. I still want to finish these projects. 

Holy - how could I even justify buying ANYTHING (well, a totally new project) without getting some of this mess cleaned up. I need to keep track of what I accomplish to reflect back and really feel good. I do know that not much got added to the mess this year. That's good news, and I did finish a fair number of projects. That's also good news. Now to figure out how to finish even more!

Here's one of the projects that I uncovered. Way back in 1998, I took a class with Jinny Beyer. We were using border prints to make placemats. Notice how beautifully pieced this is. I did that years ago. 

Christmas placemat

In the project box is her Christmas book, the templates, and instructions from the class. This is all the fabric that remains from this piece. 

The remainder of the fabric

I, for sure, can make one more placemat, perhaps two or even a third one. 

I guess that wasn't enough for me as I also found a HUGE hunk of this Christmas border print. 

A Christmas border print

 Oh, yes - I was going to make MORE. Why? Because!!!

I put the border print and the backing fabric in the Christmas fabric basket fabric. The pizza box is in the empty container pile, and the book, the one placemat, and the remaining chunk of fabric made it to the current project table. I know - I shouldn't have done that, but this would be a good project to pass an afternoon. And that's why there are so many projects on that table. I think that it'll only take an hour to finish and well, I never seem to get that hour. But NO MORE!! 

Oh, trust me - there's going to be a whole lot more confessing over the next couple of days. I'm perfectly OK with that. It's time to get this place EXACTLY how I want it and TRAIN myself to keep it that way. I've learned so MUCH over the last couple of years. I've learned to put stuff away when I buy it. I've learned that things need to have a home. I've learned that there are things that I shouldn't buy and, well, a whole lot more. 

This exercise was a very sobering one. And you'll see why tomorrow. Just think of that table with 35 projects multiplied MANY times. Yep - I'll never need to buy anything new for a LONG, LONG time. 

Hopefully, this link works. It's a very moving commercial from the Netherlands. Did you notice his change when he realized he had a purpose in life? That's what we need each and every day. If you don't have a purpose, let me know. I'll find a project or two that you can work on!!

As soon as I get everything done, I'll be hosting "open houses," so I can share what Studio B looks like. I can't wait!!!!

I had trouble sleeping last night and got up in the middle of the night to declutter. Not only the studio but my brain. So many things to do, so I wrote out a huge list of paperwork things that need to be tidied up today. ICK!! But it's got to be done. 

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!