The life stages of a quilter

I love all the comments and e-mails I get from all of you! Makes my day and gives me things to think about. And then I also find enablers! Susan is going to try and find me some pattern boxes at one of those Fabriclands that are closing.

I was reading an e-mail from someone yesterday who recently moved and had to downsize.

I'm going to quote from her e-mail because I think it's quite interesting. And she called me my mother's daughter!!!  ACK!!!  I can't disagree with her, but I'm not as bad as my mother! I'm at least aware that I have an issue!!!

"Your word of the month (year) should be PURGE – you will be happier and freer AND more organized because of it.  Only keep the stuff you truly need.  Thank the rest of it for being part of your life and give it permission to move on to someone else’s life or the garbage (recycle if you can).  Just saying…  been there on a smaller scale.  Bill is entertaining the idea of an addition on our cabin to give us a double car garage with a studio and storage area above it and I am resisting.  I want to work in my current studio, which is 40% smaller than my old space and to make it work.  After purging to move here I do NOT want to increase my space so I can fill it up again.  It was a moment of enlightenment when I realized I am no longer in the “collecting” stage of my life and have now entered the “decluttering” stage of my life.  Your blog helped with this!  It is a mindset."

And Judi asked, "why wasn't I ready to cull the patterns?"

Here are my thoughts about both comments. I truly believe quilters go through three life stages. One is to amass as much fabric, books, patterns, and stuff as they possibly can. Are we nesting? Are we saving up for retirement? Not sure, but we know how to accumulate stuff and lots of it. Yes - people go through a decluttering stage where they then try to get rid of what they have bought. However, (and this is my story for NOT culling or purging yet) I think we need a stage where we actually USE what we bought. Yes - I know that there is probably lots of stuff in my stash that I'll never use, but as I go through the stuff, I remember the excitement I had when I bought the kit or started the project and I still want to finish it. 

Since I have the room, I'm going to enter (well, I'm already there) the USE IT UP stage. I'll continue to buy things that I need to supplement what I have. That could be some threads such as I bought yesterday so I could quilt a particular project or could be stuff for a class or a blog post. But to just willy nilly buy?  Nope - I'm done with that stage. So DONE with that stage. 

My goal is to make EVERYTHING very easy to access. No jumping over heaps of fabric to access something. As I put stuff back and I run out of space, then I'll evaluate what's left and perhaps that will get purged. 

I'm so glad that I'm helping you, because YOU, in turn, are helping me. I'll get there, but there is NO immediate need to do a major purge so I'm just going to organize the crap out of the stuff so I can better get it used up. In my case, it's often that the projects get shelved and I forget about it. Hence those lists - because I'd forget. Out of sight - out of mind!!!

Case in point, I've been working on a project for myself for the last couple of days. I had set it aside because - well I don't know. Something better came up I suppose. I persevered and finished the quilt top this morning. I'll share that with you when I get a picture. I also want to purge by having fun with my stash - I really don't want to just give it away. That's so boring and to me would be a total waste of the money I spent. 

I have a beef to tell you about this morning. My daily walk took me back to the mall where I mailed a couple of large envelopes to Norma - Norma - your stuff is on the way!!!  I had put the patterns into two envelopes keeping in mind that Canada Post likes to charge an arm and a leg for mailing things. I gave the first envelope to the cashier and asked how much it would cost to mail the envelope. 

While I had been waiting in line, I was looking at these flat rate boxes. Three different sizes - you fill the box and it's one price (depending on the size). The smallest box which was way too big for my two envelopes was $17.99. I nearly fainted when the woman said it would cost $16.50 to mail this one envelope. WAIT A MINUTE.  I told her that I could put that envelope and a whole lot more in the smallest flat rate box and it would be way cheaper. "Well - do you want to?", she asked me? I said "NO!"

I said that the envelope should fit through the slot and could she please check. The envelope went through the slot with PLENTY of room to spare. The final cost to mail that envelope???  $5.35. She wanted me to put both of my envelopes in that box and mail it for $17.99 instead of mailing the two envelopes separately for a total cost of $12.09. Seriously?????  I'm just not getting where people's heads are. I think she was trying to convince me that it was going to be cheaper. I may be "older" but I'm not stupid!!

GRRRRRR!!!!!   I love my walks and yes it was hot, but it wasn't that bad. I walk so fast, that there's no time to get hot! And there was a beautiful breeze. But have you noticed that mall parking lots are NOT walker friendly? And god forbid that you are waiting at the crosswalk and waiting for people to stop for you!  You MUST keep your eyes peeled when walking because I trust NO ONE behind the wheel of a car. 

I had to get more books from the library. I couldn't help myself. I just recently read the first of a three-part trilogy for TWO different authors. Of course, now I want to know what happens in each, so I got the second of each series. Not that I'm lacking in books to read. The first one was by Peter May which I told you about the other day. The second is by Linwood Barclay - the Promise Falls Trilogy. Oh god - what happens?? Who is the murderer???

And now for some pictures. 

I promised that I would start to show pictures from our North Star quilt class. The quilt is designed by Elizabeth Hartman. I'll post the pictures by each animal so there's going to be FOUR days worth. Here are some pictures of the very first block that we did. This is Rudi the Reindeer. Keep in mind, these photos were from the May class, but since we started in March, the students were not that far behind. 

This version of Rudi is done completely with Northcott Toscana. It's very cute and lots of contrast. 

Sophie's version of Rudi

Sheila is going crazy with her background fabric. I LOVE this background and I wish that I could get my head around using this kind of fabric. I must make that a priority for an upcoming project. It's adorable.

Sheila's version of Rudi

Shoot - I don't remember whose reindeer this is, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the way they fussy cut those circles. How cool is that!!! And Rudi is cute too!!!

Another version of Rudi

Another Rudi. I know that one of these belongs to Heather, but not sure which one. Look at those icy blue fabrics for this block.

One more version of Rudi

These quilts are going to be totally stunning when we see the finished tops in November. I'm stunned by how creative people have been with their fabric choices. That's one of the reasons why I love this ongoing kind of class. You get to see some very creative stuff and we're all learning from each other. That's the way it should be!!!!

There's one more crazy person like me. We're saving all the bits from the flying geese. Again, I can't remember who did this. But those triangles are all sewn together if my memory serves me correctly. They are way ahead of me on that one!!!  But will be fun to see what she makes out of them.

Cut off pieces from the North Star blocks

I know I posted this picture of Annie's Quilt Shop in Newcastle. I just love the setting.

Annie's Quilt Shop

So why am I posting the picture again??  Because I didn't get a chance to post a picture of the amazing door frame inside the shop. Seriously?  Would you think the inside of that nondescript door would look like this????  It's absolutely beautiful!!!

The inside of the door to Annie's Quilt Shop

Ronda had a very thought-provoking thought yesterday. She wanted to know why I wasn't sewing on the next batch of "urgent" quilts so they wouldn't then become urgent. Oh - that's just too darn logical. I feel like I'm on holiday and I'm sewing for FUN!

Here's one thing that I accomplished. I know - big deal - a quilt block.

One quilt block - DONE

BUT - have a look at the size of that block.  It's less than 4 inches unfinished. That's totally insane. I did it as an ender and leader project for that quilt top I made. Yikes!!! Six blocks are now done for that mini quilt. Six more blocks to go.

It's a MINI block

There was no work going on in the basement yesterday. They had scheduled three days to lay the floor. The guys did it in two. Today is another story. Should be pretty "quiet" today as they replace trim and doors. Except that the way the floor went in, they have to do a small molding around all the baseboards. I didn't have that before. I hope they are prepared for that and it means we have to move a few things from when we emptied the stash room. Tomorrow is going to be the nightmare day when they put everything back. I don't even want to think about that!!!

I was reading an article this morning and the author was talking about being a maker. She doesn't really care what she makes - it's not necessarily the end result that's important - it's the process. That's where I am. I like to sew and I'll sew anything. So I might as well sew all those UFOs that are sitting there because if I don't, no one else will and what a waste! Do I want to make the next trendy pattern? I don't really care. What's the point? If I can't even finish the previous trendy patterns why do I want to start a new trendy item? Besides, I like to think that I'm beyond making things because everyone else is. I fly by my own hands - not what others do (most of the time!). 

On that note, I'd better get out of here. I've got a lot of stuff scheduled to get done today and I absolutely need to take a nap. My clock is so out of whack. I go to bed so early that I wake up at a ridiculous time. So a nap will make me go to bed later and that will be a good thing. Thankfully, sewing is a quiet hobby so I don't wake the household or the neighborhood. 

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!