Oh gosh—I'm not even sure where to begin or how to say it. The NEW Studio B is a dream come true! If only I had known years ago what I know now! Would I still have tons of UFOs? I might, but I sure would have looked at my buying and making habits a whole lot differently.
I guess it's like trying to tell a teenager to do something differently based on your experience. They don't want to do it and must learn their way.
Please do NOT be jealous of me and where I am. I've worked my butt off for many years to get to this mindset and to have my space more or less where I want it. It's been challenging, frustrating, and time-consuming. But now that I have the room where I want it, I'm excited beyond belief and feel so much better.
OK - enough of that, let's see what transpired yesterday. FYI, I made it to Studio B after 3 PM as I had other things to do, including sending out some e-mails concerning my fall schedule. So, I hope to put my entire schedule for fall classes up sooner rather than later. I'm waiting for confirmation from the shops. I also had my walks to get in, and there was a "little" bit of decluttering. Don't worry; for your sake and mine, I'm trying to keep my schedule limited and focus on things that help us, not give us another project!
I am PROUD to say that the decluttering/tidying thing is getting under my skin in a good way, and, dare I say, it's becoming a habit? I can clean up some areas in a matter of minutes, so it takes zero effort to get the area clean. The office is getting there, but it's still a struggle.
I texted M about her stuff that I am storing that hasn't been touched in years—TEN YEARS! I hope to keep at her because I'm working hard to make life easy for her in the future, and I feel she should return the favor!
I returned to Studio U to clean up the stuff I left on the counter. Within minutes, all that was left were the HSTs that needed to be sorted. And YES, everything went to its home; nothing was set aside to be processed later.
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| HSTs to be put away |
I sort my pressed and trimmed, scrappy HSTs by size. I used to cut the maximum size from the scraps, like 2¼" and 2¾", but that's weird, so I keep it to inches and half inches now. A few need to be trimmed down, but I can do that when I start making something from them.
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| HSTs sorted by size |
The bottom of that container holds the 1½" HSTs, which is just one place where they are stored.
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| 1½" HSTs |
I put all the 1½" into the container and then all the bags of other sizes on top. Phew—it just fits back on the shelf. I'm going to have to find another place to store them when I work on the next batch, but that's a task for another day.
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| A bucket of trimmed HSTs |
This shelf in Studio U holds most of my scrappy HSTs. The blue bin and down are HSTs that are pressed and trimmed. The buckets above are bits that need to be sewn together. There's a lot of sewing there that'll take years—something I can do when I downsize! Or, I can just start going through it slowly and do some every day/week. It's off my radar at the moment as I have some downstairs that I'm working on.
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| A shelf of HSTs |
The bottom line I've learned is that if you are going to keep something—like scraps—you MUST keep on top of it, or it becomes a huge job. I'm keeping on top of the HSTs now, but a lot needs to be dealt with. What I mean here is that if you're going to keep scraps, sort them so it's easy to find them again. If you keep off cuts of batting, label them with the size so they are easy to find the right size. DO NOT stack up stuff and say you'll get to it one day because that day will be so overwhelming that you won't know where to start.
And so you know I was once an idiot, I found this bag. More on this tomorrow.
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| What's this little treasure? |
Since I had some space to spread out, I took all my non-wall-hanging samples and sorted them—journal covers, cushion covers, etc.
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| Samples are sorted |
Then I went even further, as there were some oddball samples in the spare room and two tubs of stuff in another bedroom.
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| More samples |
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| Two tubs of finished projects |
Don't panic. There isn't a whole lot in those tubs; it's mostly some tote bags that I made. I don't really want them, so I must find a home for them. I would prefer to sell them rather than give them away.
But the next goal is to empty the tubs and put everything in the appropriate pile. Then I need to sort out what I want to keep personally, what I need for traveling samples, and what I don't want. Then I can make some decisions.
I wouldn't have been able to do that without having some space and the mindset. OH --- this is so wonderful! I know you must be absolutely tired of me saying it, but I don't care! I've worked hard for these bragging rights. I've still got a long way to go in some areas, but every little bit helps. And trust me, the more you do, the more you want to do. The more you get rid of, the more you want to get rid of other things. I'm eying some books on my shelves in Studio B that have to go.
I am back at Studio B, where I did some work. I finished the top of the dust cover!
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| The top of the dust cover is done |
Then I got the fabric for the backing out and pressed it.
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| The backing fabric |
I made the binding, and the "top" is loaded on the long arm. I'll quilt it later today. Phew—guess what that means? YES—I can take another project off Mount Projects!! I did take one off last night before bed, and I'll share those adventures with you tomorrow.
I trimmed the last of the three piles of HSTs that I had pressed the other day. I still have a few scraps to press and put in the scrap boxes and I hope to do that tonight during Virtual Retreat.
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| More HSTs pressed and trimmed |
I got this customer quilt done and it's trimmed.
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| Customer quilt - DONE |
Even though my dust cover is small, I'm not sure I will get another customer quilt on the long arm today, so I'll aim to load another one, but not get it quilted. I plan to experiment with my dust cover.
And YES - my helper was right in the way! I swear, she does it intentionally so I will pay attention to her! Of course, I'm always talking to her, but that doesn't seem to be enough! She says I only speak to her when she's in the way!
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| MOM -- TALK to me!!! |
At one point in the clearing process, I glanced at my watch, and YEEZ - what happened?
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| I've been wounded! |
Somewhere along the line, I scratched my arm, and it bled like crazy. I was so focused that I didn't feel a thing!
Speaking of focus, I've shown you this before, but it's becoming so true. Who knew when I got it MANY years ago how important that phrase would become? It's the one at the top—PRIORITIZE—FOCUS—WIN. That was when I worked in sales for a computer company. How come it took so long for me to realize that? The other two quotes are also pretty cool, and all this hangs over my cutting table.
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| Important words of wisdom |
As I was winding down for the night, my life took a silly turn. I have a Rowenta in Studio B, but it's not an iron! It's a cordless vacuum and I LOVE it. When I was using it earlier in the day, it had stopped. Hmm - it didn't even slow down as it usually does, it just stopped. So I looked at the basket, and yes, it was overdue for being emptied. But it still didn't work, so I plugged it in to recharge it. I decided to turn the header over. YIKES -- there's a lot of crap in the roller and the wheels. Most of it was gone when I took this picture.
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| The underside of the vacuum |
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| Dust in the front wheels! |
Call me crazy, but I found sitting and doing a mindless task very therapeutic. Plus, knowing the vacuum was clean and ready to go made me feel like a million bucks. At this rate, you're going to find me on my hands and knees washing and painting baseboards!
Murphy was in my office telling me something was under the buffet beside me. Murphy, there is NOTHING there. I bent down to look, just in case. Nothing. But she insisted, so I moved the set of drawers on wheels, and voila -- there was a ball! Oh Murphy -- you are so smart!!!
So we played fetch with the ball for a bit. She made me feel guilty because we hadn't played ball in a while, which is one of her favorite things. I should have taken a video of her trying to find it in those bushes. She's such a goof and tried to stand on the branches, not the rocks. Thankfully, she did NOT go for a swim!!
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| MOM -- I will find it! |
That's an important reminder to play with your pets, children, or loved ones NOW because if you wait until tomorrow, they may not be here! Thank you, Murphy, for that lesson!
And YES -- it's Virtual Retreat today!!!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89816483795?pwd=Mjc3M3pvVmZPdjdsQzlHS3Zhck52dz09
Meeting ID: 898 1648 3795
Passcode: 248667
Sunday, June 30 - Starts at NOON.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82983517671?pwd=ODdsa1FJenQwdFNaQWFTNGd4bEhPZz09
Meeting ID: 829 8351 7671
Passcode: 117636
And I'm off to find more stuff to tidy up - what will I do when I'm done? LOL - I'll never be done, I'll just keep giving away things until nothing is left. I told M that she had better hope that I would live at least until I was 80 because that's my plan! By 80, most of the stuff will be gone! You never know!
I, for one, will not tire of your organizing and decluttering. I know from experience, It is exciting!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI have loads of HSTs as well-maybe half of what I see here visually. I have started a project with them at last!
Happy Saturday :-)