There's no stopping me now....................

If you know me or if you only know me through the blog, you have probably figured out that I'm a bit of an obsessive person. I've now become obsessed with cleaning this mess which is our house. I go to bed at night trying to figure out what to get rid of the next day! It's ridiculous! But as I said the other day, the mood might not last forever and I'm taking full advantage of this situation.

I zipped off to the recycling depot and got rid of the extra recycling bins that were kicking around the garage - there were FOUR of them. I also got rid of the white styrofoam and all the hazardous waste that I had rounded up. I'm sure there'll be a wee bit more of that but for the moment that is gone.

My car is now filled with wood. Can you believe how much wood accumulates around the house? We had bits of baseboard - saved for when we needed something replaced. Come on - there was nothing long enough to do anything with. I found a lot of stakes that came from election signs that I saved to make the bag bottoms. I found slats that I used to use to hang quilts and I found dowels that were either too long or too short for my dowel racks in the basement. I found shelves that we haven't used and I found three kitchen doors.

I removed all the nails and screws and it's all on the way to be recycled this morning. Along with a wee bit more cardboard that I found and some stuff for the donation center which is also in the same location.

I did find two long slats that I kept as I hope to use those when I put the net over the fish pond. That's going to have to happen shortly as the leaves will start falling soon.

Holy cow - it feels amazing every time I drive away from that place.

There's a certain feeling in the decluttering world these days. One must say good-bye to the stuff you're getting rid of or at least thank it for giving you joy. Nope - not even one thank you to any of this stuff. It's just gone!

I'm getting to the end of the stuff that can be recycled. Although I think there are a few more things that can be recycled. I have a pile of plant pots and I'm sure I read on that web site that as long as they are clean, they can be recycled. That's a job for later today. Plus it's time to start separating what we want to keep from what is garbage so I can arrange a garbage pickup.

I couldn't just stop there. I was back in the basement and tackled that electrical room.

Before in the electrical room

Shoot - I've got to get better at taking the before pictures. I had already removed a bunch of stuff when I took that picture above.

Now I'd already been digging in this room. Behind the door are four hooks on the wall that I use to hang bags. Those hooks were chock a block filled earlier this year. Suzanne (The Quilting Barn) was looking for bags that she could use in her quilt store and I took her up on the offer so most of the bags went. Oh - I had to laugh. A while back, I gave away two boxes of old patterns. Amanda from Quebec picked them up and she uses them to fill her quilty subscription boxes. She mentioned me in her video. Here's a link to her website - Quilter's Stash Builder. I love that the things that were languishing in my house are now being used!!!!

This is what has collected since June. The ones in the bottom left are MY reusable bags so those won't ever go away. The others? I could put them in the recycling, but bags are useful so I'm hanging onto these. There's not many. I'll deal with them if they get to be too many. This is NOTHING compared to what I gave away and they are neat and hidden. I'm good with that.

Bags are neatly hung on the wall behind a door

My extra light bulbs for Studio B are in the box on the left. The other three boxes are things to do with photography and those are staying.

Stuff neatly arranged in the electrical room

Just inside the door are some long things. One is a curtain rod that I have no idea where it belongs. Maybe I just had an extra one. There's a small one that is missing the end - I hope to find the end. If not, then I guess I'll buy a new end or it goes. And there's that long white tube which is a part for the long arm that I NEED to put on.

I should be making a list of things to do as I progress through this cleaning thing. 

Long stuff stored neatly in the electrical room

The floor is nice and clean and there's the finished room. Yeah!!! I'm super excited and OK - I admit, I opened that door several times yesterday to enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done.

The electrical room is neat and tidy

Since I was on a roll, I decided to tackle the storage room beside the electrical room. Oh boy - this one's a mess. Seriously?? Why is stuff haphazardly thrown onto the shelves?? I've no idea, but this is what happens over 15 years of living in the same place.

Stuff is haphazardly thrown on the shelves

There's the toolbox on the floor. The lid can't close because stuff is thrown in. There are tools and bits of hardware everywhere. I'm afraid to organize the tools for fear of seeing how many hammers we have. There was one hammer that we had for years and at some point, it went missing. I think I found that hammer in a bag of stuff in the garage. Why???  I just shake my head and wonder who the person was that created this mess. It couldn't be me - could it???

The toolbox can't close because stuff is thrown in

And behind the door in that storage room is this mess. Some of this is leftover from the days when I was dying fabric. There's still jars of dye!!!  Why????  I won't be dying fabric any time soon. This needs to go!!!

More stuff behind the door

I decided to tackle the shelves. I pulled things off the shelves and then flipped the shelves over since there was a wee bow starting in several of them. That was a wee challenge.

The top two shelves are jigsaw puzzles. There are 34 of them!!! There's also a puzzle mat for them. Hey - I could even start one now. But no - I'll wait until the dreary days of winter to make up or two. 

The shelves look much better

I came across this box and opened it and got a good laugh. This is the Madeline doll that we bought for M when she was little. I think I bought every outfit and every accessory. I think that I was more in love with Madeline than M was. I'm not ready to part with her yet. Matter of fact, I'm going to keep her so when I'm in the nursing home, I have a doll to play with. They say that dolls are good for elderly people!

Madeline doll and accessories

I bought a few other things that were Madeline as well. I've also saved them. It doesn't take up much room and now they are neatly arranged on the shelf. 

More Madeline stuff

The bottom shelf is still a mess and I need to tackle that another day. I've also realized that I need to get a shelf that will fit behind the door so I can store all the tools and hardware bits. Maybe I can stop and pick one up today. I won't be able to move forward until I do. Then I can move all the fabric dying stuff to the furnace room temporarily until I can get to that. And how much painting supplies does one household need?? Especially when we don't paint!

One messy shelf left

I can definitely see the light at the tunnel for these three small rooms and the furnace room. A couple of hours each day and they will be done! If I can get those four rooms, the shed, and the garage done before I run out of steam - I'll be laughing. One room is done - three to go. Plus the garage and I'm well on my way there. Just a few things to remove from the shed and it'll be done as well.

As I was running around the house collecting wood, I came across this. I made this trellis years ago and I was going to hang it on a wall for a plant - I think! Anyway - does anyone want this or have suggestions as to what to do with it?? Those slats are stapled together so it's fairly sturdy. It needs a home. I could donate it as well and hopefully, someone could find a use for it.

A wooden trellis up for grabs

OH - not going to post a picture of the sander I found that had NEVER been out of the box. Matter of fact, the box was still sealed. It's already gone. But I now have a small air compressor that's up for grabs. If anyone wants it - it's yours for free. I have ZERO issues getting rid of this stuff. Except for the Madeline doll!

I got most of another blog post ready for QUILTsocial. A little bit more work this morning and that will be put to bed. I also managed to get this QOV quilt done. It needs to be trimmed and then I'll exchange it for an unquilted one. The next quilt is already loaded for later today.

QOV quilt is done!!!

I was poking around in the quilt closet on the other side of the basement and I found two more huge pieces of fabric for backings. Matter of fact, I think once I finish with the non-quilt storage areas, I'm going to empty this quilting closet and get it organized. Once it's organized, it'll help to put away more stuff. It's hard to put things away nicely when everything is haphazardly placed on the shelves. But that's not for today.

Two more backings to be added to the backing shelf

I taught a pillowcase class last night. Three brand new sewists. One of them had sewn in Grade Eight - the others never! All three completed their pillowcases and were very happy with the results. They should be - they did an awesome job!!!! This class was held at Oh Look Fabric. Apparently, I'm a good teacher! But we all knew that.

Pillowcases from the class

I'm off to a bit of a late start this morning as I slept in due to a night of poor sleep. No worries - I'm awake and ready to go!!!

It's going to be another awesome day!

Ciao!!!