Happy New Year!!

 Oh - it's a happy day, and I'm so excited, I could burst!

I've wrapped my brain around this tidying up thing, and well - I'm happy to report that I went to bed totally exhausted last night. But I made amazing progress on the tidy up. No - I'm not quite done, but who cares - the amount of stuff that I dealt with yesterday was amazing, and I'm going to bore you to death to show you what has been holed up for YEARS because I didn't know what to do with it. 

I even have the urge to continue into the office. I know you're all cheering for me, and I might just do that, except I have a couple of things that NEED to be done. Well, I could tidy today and get to work tomorrow. I'll see how I feel when I'm back from my morning walk. 

I walked almost 15 KM yesterday, and most of that was in the house as I tidied up! That's hilarious!

OK - so remember what the cutting table looked like in the morning. 

The cutting table before I started

This is what it looks like this morning. Oh yes -- I think a little progress was made. 

The cutting table after my clean up day

Remember, I'm doing a total clean up of quilt/craft stuff from top to bottom (missing what's in the office for the moment). I found this embroidery unit upstairs. It's for my Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby deLuxe. Yep - it's been sitting on a dresser for years, and now it's downstairs! Since I don't use that machine for embroidery, I may even put the unit back in the box, which is in the box storage area under the front steps. Then it would be really out of the way. Baby steps!

Embroidery unit for the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby deLuxe

I had to laugh when I compared it to the embroidery unit for the Designer EPIC 2. Yep - that used to be a huge embroidery unit, but not anymore. 

My two embroidery units

So I was a textile student at Sheridan College in 2000. I found these transparencies that I used to print fabric. Oh boy - that was a long, long time ago, and why did I hang onto the transparencies? I've no idea, but I guess I could toss them unless the film can be used for something? I know Katheleen would say it could be used in mixed media, so I did move them to that area to see if she has any feedback! 

Transparencies for printing fabric

And then I found all the fabric that I printed using those transparencies. We must have had some assignment that required we play. I think I did a pretty darn good job at printing asparagus. 

Asparagus fabric made by me

And then I seemed to print it in many different colorways. Why? I don't remember. But notice the dots in the selvage to indicate which colors got used in which section. 

Multi-colored asparagus fabric

Then I printed the asparagus on MANY different fabric kinds from canvas, silk, and cotton. Why? It must have been an experiment of some kind. I did move all this into the stash room as I may find a use for it someday - scrap quilts for sure. 

The print on many different types of fabric

Then I dumped one of the containers filled with tons and tons of small junky stuff. Oh, boy - I can just see myself in the past. Hmm - don't know what to do with this - it goes in this junk bucket. Well, I dealt with most of the stuff in the junk bucket! That was HUGE and took a LONG, LONG time. 

Clutter!!!

And what did I find? I found three packs of zipper tape. This is not to make zippers out of, but it is used as trim. I put the three packs in the box of other trims. 

Zipper trim

The other day, I found this panel, and then wouldn't you know that I found a SECOND panel. Obviously, neither of them had been used. But I must have thought it would be great for some project. Both are now in the panel box in the stash room. 

Two of the same panel

AHA - there are the safety glasses that I couldn't find. They are now in the appropriate place with my cheaters (when I need them, which isn't often). Amazing how easy it is to put stuff away when there is a home for it. 

Safety glasses

I found these tags. You're supposed to pin them to your blocks, so you don't get mixed up when sewing. I don't use them. They are up for grabs for FREE if anyone wants them. 

Block tags

Oh boy -- I found THREE drawer pulls with the letter S on them. Why? I've no idea; there's no one in our house whose name starts with S. They are FREE to a good home.  

Drawer pulls

I found two boxes of dressmaker pins. I will NOT use these, so if anyone wants them, they are also FREE to anyone who wants them. 

Dressmaker pins

Believe it or not, these are also dressmaker pins. But in this extreme closeup, they look like nails. They are also up for grabs for FREE. 

More dressmaker pins

I found this printed fabric with a flaw in it. The background (blue) ran out, so half has a blue background, and the other half has a white background. Why did I leave it out? Don't know - it's now in the novelty fabric pile. 

Sports novelty print

I found a whole pile of applique blocks. I put those in the current pile stack. I know - I shouldn't have, but that's OK. These will become cute little projects and won't take long to do, and could be used to demonstrate different decorative stitches for machine applique. 

Applique kits

I wasn't very encouraged as by lunchtime, the table still looked like a disaster. But I did manage to deal with most of the little stuff in that odds and ends box. So that was encouragement enough to keep going. 

Some progress has been made

Oh boy - I must have had fun whenever I went to Micheal's. I bought EVERYTHING with the letter E on it, or so it seems—everything with a bike or the letter E. I don't do that any longer and haven't in a while - thank goodness for that. 

The letter E on a button

If anyone has the Reliable ironing board and uses it in the normal (not the rectangle position), I have an extra ironing board cover. I have no idea what to do with it - it's brand new, and I don't think it can be modified to fit another ironing board. Why don't they have a standard size of those darn ironing boards?? I'll try my other two ironing boards, but neither is that wide; however, maybe it could be modified. OK - I'll check later today, but if anyone has that ironing board and can use it - it's yours for FREE. The problem is that it is wider and a bit shorter than a standard ironing board. 

Brand new ironing board cover

I found this stack of fabric. Why was it set aside? I've no idea, so it's now in the stash room. Which I have to say has been kept neat and tidy throughout this entire clean up. Nothing was allowed in the room unless it had a home. 

A stack of fabric

Remember that box that I found yesterday morning? Well, it appears that a lot of this was art designated to be hung up. Oh, dear! 

A box of stuff to clean

I found these two stained glass quilt blocks that someone made for me. I can't even remember who made them. Sorry!  Now they are sitting in the window of Studio U so they can be enjoyed. 

Stained glass blocks in the window

I found a magazine from St. Lucia dated 1992. Yep - we went to St. Lucia that year, and I brought home the complimentary magazine because I had some burning project to do with it. It's now in the recycling bin!!  I find it hilarious that I kept this stuff because I thought I had a good use for it - no home for it, but a good use for it in my mind. And how many times have I touched it and put it back in the boxes of stuff? I don't even want to go there. 

Travel magazine

Hmm - an air freshener. I've no idea how this thing works, but I managed to get it open, and it smells nice, so I might find my little oil burner and use it in that. 

Air freshener

I used to be a Big Sister, and I found a picture of Melanie and me. I wonder where she is these days? I might try and find her! Gosh - look at me all gussied up!!! 

Me and my Little Sister

I found two sets of wall decals with bicycles on them. They were stacked, but I had no room for them in that orientation, so I cut them apart and put them on the bulkheads. That took a bit of effort. There were 8 in total that had to be put up. 

Bicycle decals on the bulkhead

I repaired the holes in the wall where that quilt rack was. Yep, I found this container of filler in the laundry room. It seems to have worked - I need to sand the holes a wee bit this morning. 

Container of poly-fil

I found a bag of small items that needed repair, so I got out the glue gun and repaired as much as I could. Amazing how all this stuff just got shoved aside. I'm kind of shocked at myself. But then I'm not. And imagine, I have an entire office filled with these junky things. I might just take that box I had set aside and start pitching. 

The glue station

Little items that needed repair

And what the heck is this from??? I tossed it. 

What is this?

I might as well keep going in the office because I feel so much better about the rest of the house that wouldn't it be nice to feel the same way about this room. What the heck am I going to do with myself??? OH - I have a few projects to work on. And I LOVE my new SHE cave that I carved out upstairs. It's just a Lazy Boy chair, with a table and a lamp, but I love it. It's in a cozy spot, and I sit there and do handwork. Imagine that!! I love it!! 

The other thing that I love is the apps on my phone for machine embroidery. I prepped a HUGE embroidery yesterday that's going to take hours to stitch out. While I sat and did some handwork, I kept an eye on the embroidery progress. While we can see the status (in numbers) of the stitch-out, wouldn't it be nice to have a camera so you could see that everything was OK? On the hoop???  OK - I must ask for that!!

Here's a better picture of the quilt rack. I measured it - it's 48" long. It's up for grabs for FREE. 

Quilt rack with a shelf

Well, that's it for today. I've got a bit more crap to share with you tomorrow and then we get the tour of both studios to see how I've organized stuff and how clean and tidy everything is!!! There are loads and loads of projects and supplies, but the crap is gone and everything is off the floor. 

Anyone want to share photos of their before and afters?? It's a HUGE job, and if you decide to take it on for 2021, I'm with you. You need support - I'm there for you!!!

Have a wonderful day. 

Ciao!!!!