Tidying up the sewing room

Thanks for the suggestions on the topics for the basic sewing machine class. I'm going to put that agenda together and find a time slot. It WILL happen as I think it's terribly important for everyone to know the essential functions of their machines and how to make them work as they should!!

Yesterday was a bit of a topsy-turvy day. I had to get M and Bear to the airport by 10 AM. That was after spin class, and well, the girls never did get a walk! Now that the company is gone, we can get back to some serious work. Well, it's not like they greatly disturbed my schedule, but having someone else in the house can be disruptive! We had a good visit.

I'm sure that DH's plane and M's plane met on the runway. As she was taking off, his plane was landing. 

And now, I'm in clean-up mode. M still has stuff at our house, and while I have no issue keeping the things that she wants, I have an issue with keeping stuff that is garbage or that she no longer wants. I managed to get her to go through more stuff -- of course, the night before she leaves  Sigh................  But she did, and that's all that counts. 

So now, I have this mess to clean up. 

Stuff to be dealt with from M

I've already tackled some of it and moved what's left to the floor. My goal is to tackle a bit each day for the next week, so it's gone by the day the cleaning lady comes. I run out of steam tackling it all at once, but I give myself a week to make it disappear. I must dig more boxes from the garage and prepare a give-away box. 

Just a quick note about the weather  Yesterday was a GLORIOUS day. No mitts and no hat were required for the afternoon walk. But that sidewalk I mentioned the other day -- it serves 6 schools. I think I said 8 or 10, but it is actually six. It was a MESS yesterday with lots of water and slush. What drives me crazy is meeting the high school students, walking two abreast, and they expect me to stand to the side to let them pass. NO WAY!  I've taken to my full half of the sidewalk, and when we bump shoulders, and they look back to see what happened - I yell at them to walk single file when meeting someone  God -- I sound just like my grandfather  Although, he used to yell at kids to get their hair cut. 

The messy sidewalk

Thankfully, it's above freezing this morning, or that would be like a skating rink. 

I walked enough fabric/kits over to Diane's to make five or six quilts and picked up FOUR completed tops and binding. 

More projects for community projects

Then I was back in Studio B and trying to do some more clean-up  Well, not really clean-up, just the necessary task of keeping things neat and tidy. 

I started by trimming all the hourglass units that were sewn and pressed. 

The next batch of trimmed hourglass units

I have to laugh about the cutting table. As soon as something disappears off of it, I add something new to sort, but that's OK -- it's something to sort, not something to store. So I'm good with the revolving stuff on that cutting table. And I'm trying VERY HARD to focus on one project at a time. I don't mean exclusively on one project, but since I can only work on one at a time, I try to keep the rest on the current project table. So far -- so good. 

The current state of the cutting table

Some half-square triangles needed to be marked to be stitched into the hourglass units - those are prepped. 

Prepped hourglass units for enders and leaders

I matched up some more of the triangles. When I do the initial matching, there might not be enough of one color/size to completely use the one it's matched with, so there are leftovers. I then take the leftover triangles and match them up. I'm not sure how many I'll have left at the end, but I'm just plugging away at it. 

Scrappy triangles to sew together

Then I did some counting last night. I have quite a few 5" unfinished units. Actually, I have almost enough to make a generous lap quilt. I checked the other sizes  Hmm -- only a handful of 6" squares and about 20 of the 5½" ones, so I decided to trim both of those sizes down to 5". 

Hourglass units in three sizes

Now they are all trimmed to " and the scraps are in the scrap box. I'm missing NINE units to start sewing this together, and hopefully, in that stack by the sewing machine, I'll get the nine units  I made myself a note on the bag and put it with the rest of the hourglass units. 

A bag of 5" hourglass units

Then I grabbed a box of stuff that I had set on the cutting table. This is still stuff from Pandora's Closet that I'm sorting through, and I'm almost done, but I know I'm leaving some tough choices to the end, and I'm OK with that. 

I taught this project a while back- Fancy Forest by Elizabeth Harman. 

The pattern for Fancy Forest by Elizabeth Hartman

All the blocks are made, and the sashings are cut, so assembling the top wouldn't take long. 

The blocks and the sashing for Fancy Forest

I still have all the scraps from the project in neatly labeled baggies. There's a piece of bright green fabric in the bucket. I think my intent was to make a smaller version. But why? Why do I need to do that? 

All the leftovers from making the blocks

I put everything back into the container, along with some other patterns by Elizabeth Hartman. When this comes up to assemble, I'll go through those scraps and put them away. For the moment, they are fine the way they are. But that will niggle at the back of my mind, and since this is a UFO (pretty sure it's a UFO), it might be next to sew up!

A box filled with Elizabeth Hartman projects

Then I grabbed a handful of smaller projects that were in the stack. Oh boy! There are MANY applique projects, some started and some not. Those not started will get pulled apart, and everything put away, and if it's been started, I'll put it back in the closet. OK -- I already evaluated them, and since most are small and just need to be stitched in place, I'll use them as samples. 

Small applique projects

I need some applique samples for one of my weekend classes, which was very timely. 

Here's what's left from the closet and a few things that got brought down from Studio U. So this is pretty good. There are essentially three stacks, and if I could deal with one stack a day -- I could be done. There is still lots of room in the closet, so I know that it can all disappear and that makes me very happy  Whether I'll have room for the excess stuff on the current project table -- that remains to be seen. 

All that remains from the closet

When I finished the stack that I put on the table the night before, I grabbed more stuff. I'm in the process of sorting through that  I am running out of time -- well, not exactly, but I need to get back to sewing as I have a lot to accomplish this month, and I'm on top of things, but I don't want to get behind. 

The last bit of sorting for today

I found this mini quilt that I designed and made. I used to teach this at guilds. It's about the size of a piece of paper, and it just needs the binding made and to be quilted. 

A mini-quilt

So this is what the cutting table looks like at the moment. The two bundles at the front are scraps or stuff that I have to put away. Why was there a bag (on the left) filled with bright scraps?? No idea -- no pattern, no notes. After this is dealt with, I need to get back to work!

To be sorted and put away this morning

And here's the ironing board and my sewing table, and both are in good shape. That basket is my current project, and you'll read about it tomorrow. 

Clean spaces to work on

I have a LOT of sorting and tidying up to do in Studio U as well. Remember, I switched the contents of the closets, and I never got back to finishing that  I'm going to try and spend an hour or so each day to get that done. 

The more that I do, the more I want to get done. As mentioned, most of the tidying is very close to being finished. What's happening now is the refining process. How to optimize the space I have and keep only what I need. Once I get through everything, I'm sure that I'll probably start all over again and want to get rid of more. 

But this process is eliminating all the projects that were never started, and I have no desire to start, and it's helping to sort out UFOs, excess fabric, and all that. So it's been a beneficial exercise. Technically, I have a couple of other places to do the same thing, but that closet downstairs was the worst spot. OK -- so there's a shelf in Studio B that is as bad. But thankfully, it's a smaller space. 

It just dismays me that it's taking so long. That's a lot of sewing time that I'm giving up because I have to manage my mess  NO MORE! And I can't imagine how someone would handle this if I had left it for someone else to deal with. It would be a nightmare, and the dumpster would probably be the best route! 

So no dumpster will be required at my house. At least, it'll all be neat, and when I decide to downsize, it'll be a snap to move because there'll be a lot less at that point. 

Anyway -- happy sorting and cleaning. I haven't given you a task in a while, and perhaps it's time to tackle something. Before you get started, make sure that your sewing area, ironing board, and cutting table are clear, and that's something you should be doing regularly. 

Then grab a UFO or two and look at them. Do you want them? Are they organized? All the fabric in the box  That's your task -- organize/sort at least three UFOs today. You don't have to do anything with them -- just make sure they are organized and on a list!

On that note, I'm out of here. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!