A binding marathon!

I'm disgusted with myself! OK - not horribly disgusted, but still - I have way too much stuff for the amount of time that I have to do it.

There's a sit n sew tomorrow. You know what that means - the studio has to get tidied up. And as I surveyed the wreckage yesterday morning, I was totally dismayed. There's stuff there that I've moved for the last several sit n sews. What is wrong with me? Why am I not getting those things completed? I'm getting lots done, but the quantity of stuff that I'm working on is HUGE!!! Where's my FOCUS?

So while babysitting a quilt on the long arm, I moved things where they are supposed to go. It doesn't help that there are numerous sewing machines as well. Stuff was all over, on the floor, on chairs and everywhere in between.

I cleared off the cutting table.

Cutting table ready for cutting

I cleared off the ironing board. Notice how I switched the cover end to end (the black used to be where the iron sits). This cover has lasted MANY years and you can see exactly where I've done the majority of my pressing. After many years, there's one small hole in that spot. By switching the cover around, I can get a few more years out of it, depsite the fact that I have a brand new cover.

The ironing board is ready for pressing

By the way, does anyone have a Reliable ironing board that they use in the traditional format with the narrow end? I have a brand new cover that I don't need and I'm ready to part with it. I LOVE my Reliable ironing board.

Then I cleared this one group of tables.

One group of tables - clear!

My regular sewing machine is in the small table to the left. I know - how silly is that. There's this big beautiful table that I could use and I'm using the small one. I'm strange like that!

Then there's the table with the loaner machines.

My serger and two loaner sewing machines

Oh - so what happened to all the stuff?? The same thing that always happens - it all goes on the other set of tables.

The disaster zone

There are four tables buried under the wreckage that is my "current" UFO pile. It's a rather sad state of affairs.

I decided that I'm tired of moving that stuff and some of it has to be finished. I figured the easiest thing to get started on would be binding the finished quilts that are on the table.

If you remember, I was just whipping them off the long arm or the domestic machine and throwing them on a chair. Well, I needed the chair for the last sit n sew and they got thrown into a heap in a corner. Time to deal with that.

I found one wall hanging and two table runners that had the binding stitched on the back and needs to be stitched to the front.

Binding is sewn to the back on these projects

I found one quilt that was trimmed and needed the binding sewn to the back of the quilt. Then I trimmed THREE quilts and stitched the binding to the back of those as well. Now there are four quilts that need the binding stitched to the front.

The binding needs to be stitched to the front of the quilts

As I was trimming and binding, I also dealt with all the scraps of batting, fabric, and binding. It's all sorted and in its appropriate home.

I trimmed one more quilt and it's waiting by the sewing machine for its binding to be stitched to the back.

A quilt ready to have the binding stitched to the back

There are still four wall hangings that need to be trimmed.

Four wall hangings that need to be trimmed

And there are five more quilts/wall hangings that need to have the binding stitched to the back.

These quilts are trimmed and need the binding sewn on

If I counted correctly, there are SEVENTEEN projects that need the binding completed. They are all MY projects. Isn't that ridiculous? What am I going to do with 17 more finished projects???

I don't seem to get a lot of sewing time for myself these days - there's plenty of other non-sewing stuff to do. I'm going to make sure that I'm super productive on those sit n sew days. So I'm going to take a wee bit of time this afternoon and make sure that I have work prepped so I can sew the entire day! Just like I do for Monday.

I have to clear five of those 7 tables for tomorrow. That's OK - most of that stuff (once I finish those bindings hopefully today) can be scrunched onto two tables. It's the Thursday Sit n Sew that's going to be a problem. There are 10 people coming so ALL the tables need to be clear. It's going to be a busy week.

Plus I'm prepping more blog posts, but I have a plan to help clear the tables and do the blog posts at the same time! Stay tuned for that!

And there are MANY projects on those tables that are so close to being finished - I just need a kick in the butt to get them done. I don't want to move them again!

Since I didn't get any quilting done earlier in the week, I had to make up for lost time and managed to get two quilts done yesterday. Both are for customers.

Customer quilt - DONE

Another customer quilt - DONE

 The next quilt is loaded and ready to go this morning. I'm trying to keep a schedule so no one has to wait super long. So far I'm doing OK. Trying to do four customer quilts and one of mine each week.

I didn't manage to sneak into the gazebo yesterday and I think you can see why. It was a LONG day. However, one of the audio books that I had on hold came in and I listened to half of the book while I puttered around yesterday. I hope to finish it today as I have another heavy duty day of work in the studio planned. Although I might slip out to the gazebo and try some embroidery now that I have the audio book.

I need to make a pact with myself. There will be NO pulling projects from anywhere except the tables. I don't care how "fun" the other project is. Those projects have to get completed so I don't have to keep moving them. That's such a time waster! And I know those tables have to be clear at least twice a month for the Sit n Sews and hopefully more often as I intend to teach some classes here in the fall.

I'd like to make note that I have completed 41 projects so far this year!  Yep - 41!!!!!  Sleeves are on the ones that are getting sleeves and they all have my small label. Some may require another label - I'll see how that goes. It's time to get serious about a quilt storage system before my stair rail collapses.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day!!! And I hope you're as productive as I am!!!

Ciao!!!!