Decluttering!

Well, Christmas is gone for another year. I must say that we had a great day -- there were zero disappointments in who we met or didn't and what we got or didn't. We set no expectations for the day beyond our control, and you know what? It's always a great day! 

One other thing that I do not understand is Christmas decorations. Don't get me wrong - I love all the Christmas decorations, and putting them up is fun if you are having a party at your house. We don't have guests, so it would be purely for personal enjoyment. We don't enjoy Christmas that much, so we don't bother.

I'm surprised at the number of people who leave their Christmas tree up all year round. It gets relegated to a closet or a corner, but again - what's the point? Why bother if you don't enjoy the putting up and the taking down? 

It makes me think back to my days at quilt guilds. It would frustrate me when I asked if we could change something. "OH, NO - that's how we've always done it!" That statement drives me mad, and if you don't like something or don't want to do something, don't do it! I may sound like Scrooge, but I'm just being practical! 

But everyone has to find their day - some LOVE the chaos of many family members and kids ripping open gifts. We don't find that relaxing at all! Hopefully, you all had a great day!

So what happened at our house? 

First there was time to quilt another customer quilt. The backing was fleece, which always takes longer to load but quilted up nicely. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The big question with this quilt was whether there would be enough backing. Was it long enough? The customer and I discussed the situation when I got the quilt, and I cleared this. There was enough, but just! 

Just enough backing!

I'm trying out a new batting as my supplier changed the brand they carry. I love that the batting isn't super compressed into those bags. This means I can keep the batting dust-free by putting it back into the bags, and it seems to quilt up with no problem. 

New rolls of batting

The next quilt is already loaded. I had a wee surprise when I opened that bag as I thought it was one large quilt, only to discover two lap quilts in the bag. Oh well -- one extra day of quilting to get caught up!

Then, I got to work on the sewing machine. I got the sleeve made (finally) for my Halloween quilt. I'll pin it in place during our sewing session this morning and hopefully get it stitched on. 

The sleeve for the Halloween quilt

Then I got the backing sewn together and the binding made for my Barn Star Sampler quilt. It's now sitting in the "to be quilted" pile, which I must tackle one of these days. 

The backing and binding for the Barn Star Sampler

Here's the pile of quilts still waiting to be quilted for customers. The pile is very small! The ones on the right-hand side belong to me, as there are a few things I'd like to get out of the way. When we roll over to the New Year, there won't be much backlog for customer quilts, so that's good. 

The active pile of quilts to be quilted

Then I decided I was having so much fun decluttering in Studio B that I continued. I got rid of the second extra table. How did I do that? Well, I knew there were some empty spots in the project storage areas. So I took stuff off that other table that was filled with stuff and emptied a good part of that. Then I moved the stuff on that second table to the permanent "waiting in the wings" table. 

The "waiting in the wings" project table

This is what the table looks like now. Should I have done that? Probably not, but I like to have the space clear and try to only put out what I should be working on - not a bunch of stuff that sat there all year and wasn't touched. So -- it will be interesting to see how I fare with this setup. 

The table of current stuff to do

I also tackled this other table that had stuff sitting on it. Several quilts need to be trimmed - those will get done later today. Four more quilts need a hanging sleeve on them. My goal is to prep those sleeves; they are good projects while on Zoom. I am OK with being on Zoom, but I don't get much sewing done, so if I do all this hand stuff, it will work out OK and be a win-win. 

One more table to clear

So this last table looks like this at the moment. The two bins on the floor need major cutting, and I can also do that while on a Zoom call. So, I need more Zoom calls! No urgent need, but I want to get that done. Those bins were sitting UNDER that second table in the middle of the floor. 

More current projects to work on

And now, when you enter Studio B, it looks like this. 

Looking into Studio B

Wait --- there is one small table with the EXIT Game that M and I were playing. I carefully bundled that up and set it aside, and now this is what the space looks like. 

Now the space is clear

Yes -- there is stuff on that work table that is all hand stuff - I hope to get most of that cleared up today and on our next Virtual Retreat on New Year's Eve. There is stuff on the cutting table, which I hope to work on today. So all is good. What I need to focus on for 2024 is to have a short weekly planning meeting with myself. What things need to be done that week (being super realistic with time), and what else do I want to do. Now that fewer classes are on the schedule, there will be a lot more time, and I look forward to getting some of this cleared away. 

The day was wonderful - OK -- so the sun wasn't out, but the temperature was warm, and there was no rain. We walked to the movie theater! Yep -- even DH, because I said he could take the car, and I would walk! I mean, really -- it's not that far. We watched Aquaman, which was entertaining. Lots of visual graphics in it!

Times have changed at the movie theater - the preview show used to be all about upcoming movies. There weren't too many movies, but lots of ads for things on Paramount + streaming service and commercials. OK -- the Quaker Oats ad is heartwarming! It's probably on YouTube. Hmmm - I could not find it -- it's long. 

I had a medium bag of popcorn, hold the butter, and that was my afternoon snack and dinner. That butter is filled with chemicals and calories, and the popcorn has enough flavor - I can enjoy it and not feel guilty!

After we got home, we tackled the EXIT Game Advent Calendar. Yep --- I guess that's why Christmas didn't come to our house, as we had not finished the game! We did two puzzles yesterday to try to finish before the end of the year. The first was easy, and so was the second one, except we keep OVERTHINKING the puzzles. Just look for the obvious - the darn clues are there! I think we have seven puzzles left. So far, we've done well in solving them without looking at the clues. There were three days when we had to look at some part of the clue to figure out how to solve the puzzle. 

The EXIT Game Advent Calendar

So we've lived in this house for 20 years, and there is one thing I hate. It's a small thing so I won't move because of it. This is our dishwasher. That is an island on the right-hand side, so I could walk around. But the space between the island and the door is tight when the door is open. I can hop through there, but it's annoying. And yes -- I have to be on both sides of the door depending on what I'm unloading! If we ever get our kitchen redone, we must figure out how to fix that!

A bad layout with the dishwasher

I had some time this morning, so I decided to tackle the mat to fix all the seams that had popped open after I washed it. I should have put a new topstitch needle in as I was getting some skipped stitches, but I'm sure it will be fine. 

And there was my trusted helper. She was so clingy this morning. I think she wasn't feeling well as she had several small accidents (bladder), even after I took her outside. Let's hope that it's a temporary thing and that the medication still keeps working. Otherwise, it's not going to be pretty. 

My faithful companion

Well, I'm off! It's time to get things organized to walk the girls, quilts to quilt, and sewing to do, and I think I can say that I'm done with the decluttering (at least the major part) in Studio B for the moment. That means I can focus on sewing! Yeah!!!! I'm not done by a long shot, but it looks much better. I need time each day to tackle some of those projects. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!