Divide and conquer

 Before I begin blabbing this morning, I want to revisit the picture from yesterday. 

The crazy quilter on a bike with her trusty companions

Someone suggested I could download a picture of myself and use it to create the photo. I figured I could, just not there yet. 

What I wanted to say is that I didn't tell ChatGPT anything except "crazy quilter on a bike" and the two dogs, and to make the photo realistic. I did NOT tell it to make a quilted jacket, nor hair or skin color, nor gender, nor clothing. It did that on its own. Law of averages? Does it know me, and I don't know it? I'm not sure, but it's kind of creepy!

I'm reading a book at the moment - a fantasy book, which is not my norm. It's called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It was written in 1992. But it's kind of creepy how this author envisioned our interaction with AI and technology! A bit further along than we are now, but still very creepy. As I said, it's not my genre, but I find it a fascinating read. 

And I had another dream. Please don't yell at me if there is a slight political undertone to it. My cleaning lady was here cleaning, and she was berating my young child (not sure who that was) about wetting the bed at night. She went on and on about it. I told her to stop that, or she would be out of a job. She was furious, and the look on her face was pure hatred. Hmmm --- these hateful dreams have to stop! 

Something unbelievable happened yesterday. I'm not sure what got into me, but I was on fire. It resulted in me walking over 23,000 steps. What happened? Studio B is looking mighty smart!. I'm not sure that pictures can even describe what it looks like now, but I'll try. 

Remember that I took everything off the floor in the central part. There are still a few tubs of things, and I'll work on those over the next couple of months. There's a reason for each at the moment. 

But that resulted in three tables and the cutting table being a complete mess. 

Filming area - a total disaster

Cutting table -- no cutting happening today

The current project table

The sewing area

I will say that it was overwhelming. And NO, more lights did not go out. I was working on that in the middle of the night a couple of nights ago and didn't bother to turn on all the lights. 

The biggest dilemma was what to do with all the stuff. Remember how I said I needed to get those bindings done so I could use that tub? Well, I didn't need that tub yesterday, and NO, I did not get a dumpster, although the thought is enticing! 

I started by getting my sewing station back in order. I have a couple of projects to sew, and everything is going well. I should be able to get to some sewing later today, and I'm looking forward to it. Even my blocks are precut! 

The sewing station

The serger is back in place, and I have a bit of serging to accomplish later today as well. 

The serger station

The machine embroidery station is good to go, and I've been doing some embroidery that I may have time to share with you today. If not, then tomorrow. 

Machine embroidery station

But I was still left with this mess on one table. 

Table number one

And this one. 

Table number three

The cutting table. 

The cutting table

And the current projects table.

The current projects table

Now what? If only I had an extra shelf. But NO - there is no room for that. How about tubs? No - we need to deal with this mess once and for all. 

So I did what any sane organizing guru would do, and I divided and conquered. 

I had not made any headway on that current projects table for years, so it wasn't working. I began by clearing the four work surfaces of items I wouldn't need for a while. That included some of the stuff that had been hiding in the back on the floor. 

These things will go into deep storage

I needed to find a home for it all because there was no sense in cluttering up space. The puzzles went into the puzzle closet, and if I purchase another puzzle without doing one, you can certainly yell at me! 

I have two spots where I could tuck things away and was hoping not to use them, but in this case, I had no choice. So this is one of the spaces - the tops of those shelves in the stash room that I cleared off a couple of months ago. The projects I won't be working on for a while are now on top of these two shelves. 

An empty storage space

It is nowhere near as packed as it was when I first started months ago, which makes me feel pretty good. As a reminder, the excess fabric for Vintage Farm Girl is stored in one of those baskets. I have quite a bit of yardage, which I've set aside because I'm unsure which one to use for the border of my quilt, and I'm also undecided about the backing. So, if I forget, please help me remember that it's on top! 

OK -- that got rid of a little bit of the mess, but barely touched the enormity of it all. 

Then I had a brilliant idea. Why not sort the remaining stuff into different categories? I like categories, so that's what I did. 

The current table now holds the projects I can do while on a Zoom call, including cutting scraps for a scrap quilt or two. My Mom's hexagon quilt, which I'm binding by hand, along with a few other items, is also on this table. Let's say the table is full. But now, when I have an upcoming Zoom call, I can grab something and I'm good to go! The tubs under the table are a problem, but no time to address those at this time. 

The Zoom call work table

This table became the new current projects table. It's a sad state of affairs because the items there are quilt tops that need a border, or a quilt that needs a backing. Two quilt tops require a lot of work, but I can quickly grab a project and work on it. This is making so much more sense! I allowed myself ONE small white basket where I put some supplies for new projects, including my two upcoming challenge quilts I need to make. I also included that brown binding because I can use it for the quilt I need to make. 

The new current projects table

The third table actually has a vast empty space on it. WHAT????? This one includes stuff that I want to cut on the digital cutters. There are a couple of projects to quilt on the embroidery or domestic machines. A basket of things that could probably be completed in less than one hour. A basket of stitch outs that I need to finish or find a home for. So it's a bit of a crap shoot, but I put like tasks together and all of a sudden, I had a ton of space! 

The "other" table contains an empty space!

The ironing surface is clear, except for the small basket of half-square triangles that need to be pressed and trimmed. WAIT - someone asked me what I'm going to do with them. Scraps quilts! I've made a few quilts with those little triangles, and I should dig them out to share with you. I love working with little pieces because they are fun to work with. 

The ironing surface is clear

The cutting table needed a bit of work in this photo, but if you look at it this morning, it looks pretty amazing. My goal today is to finish sorting through everything and find homes for the items. I'm sorting through crap. Odds and ends that end up in a basket, and I have no idea what to do with them. So you'll see more of that later. 

My sorting station

Currently, three pizza boxes on the floor need to be dealt with. I have shuffled them around long enough. I'm motivated, and I want the cutting table and those boxes to be dealt with by the end of today. 

Once that is done - guess what? Studio B is back to normal, making it easy to find and work on the projects. Now that I have the time to work on things, I see no reason why I can't tackle a "new" project each day or over several days to get them done. I don't really have anything new to start with, except for the jacket class, so all is good. Once that mess is done, I can start pulling things off the shelves to work on. WAIT --- don't get ahead of myself, there is a TON of work on those tables. Let's see what progress I can make between now and the end of the year! 

With no significant commitments on my schedule, I envision being able to work on the current project table and see some progress over the next couple of weeks. I have two personal trips I want to take, and I have one lecture at a guild. I must be honest!

Am I excited? You bet! I didn't throw anything away - I just put things in their home and voila --- easy peasy! 

Oh, I've been meaning to mention that these are the light bulbs I've been using in Studio B. They're LED bulbs, which cost a fortune, but they're well worth it. As the old bulbs died, they were replaced with these. But I need to get that electrician here so he can replace those three ballasts. 

My LED light tubes

Can you believe that I walked to Indigo JUST to see the state of the jigsaw puzzle? Yep! I did. I wonder how many times I can do that before they won't let me in the store? I notice that the orientation of the puzzles was as I left it. 

The jigsaw puzzle at Indigo

BUT all the pieces that I had placed outside the frame were back in the box. Oh boy -- at this rate, it will take weeks ot get that puzzle together. I wonder if the staff did that, or if it was a customer? I can see the value in keeping the pieces in the box to prevent them from getting lost. 

The loose pieces are back in the box

However, I did root through the box, looked at the pieces inside the frame, and managed to get a piece in the puzzle. I should have put my finger on it! 

One piece in the puzzle

Well, you can't just put in one! I also found a second one. 

Puzzle piece number two

After the third piece, I thought I had better leave and continue on with my errands! 

Puzzle piece number three

My next step is to wrap up those current projects quickly, so I can set up a jigsaw puzzle in Studio B. I could do long arming and a puzzle at the same time! WAIT --- I need to get downstairs immediately! 

I just need to add some pictures to the final document, have one last review of the instructions, and then I'm done with the writing for a bit. 

I also managed to get some paperwork done, and I have cleared the floor in the office. Oh yes -- I'm back with a vengeance and my goal is to get a lot of work cleared up in the next couple of weeks. The weather has suddenly cooled, so I no longer need to be outside working or sleeping. 

Bring on the sewing! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!