I don't even know how to describe how I feel about Studio B at the moment. I'm in shock - I'm in love. I'm wishing this was the way it had always been. But for the most part - the place is TIDY and everything has a home. Now there are a few things scattered on the worktables Those are the things that I'm actively working on and should someone come to sew, it would take a few minutes to remove the baskets and boxes and put them neatly on the floor in the stash room. One day soon (I hope) even that won't be necessary, but the improvement - well - it's shocking!
Don't get me wrong - there's still a LOT of stuff. BUT all of it has a home (more or less) even if it's a temporary home because it needs further attention. I still have to show you what happened in the puzzle room, but here's what happened on my most recent cleanup day. I should mention that there's even room in the stash room. Not a lot, but there are a few empty spots where a few things could be stowed if necessary.
The one area that hadn't been tackled was the "scrapbooking" area. That was right at the bottom of the stairs more or less. All the furniture had been put back in place a while ago, but there were still boxes of stuff to deal with. Including some quilting stuff that I was in denial about.
When I started in the morning, this is what it looked like. I couldn't find the original pictures but it was much worse than this. I had been very slowly tackling a box or two.
 |
| The scrapbooking area |
This is the "to be quilted" area. It looks a wee bit different now as I added more quilts to this area, but basically, it's pretty neat and tidy and easy to get to the cold storage room if I need to. Like I had to this morning to grab some serial numbers off the sewing machine boxes. I just breezed into the room, snapped some photos and breezed right out. No clambering over stuff and NOTHING had to be moved to make that happen. Huge amounts of time are going to be saved now that everything is tidied up!!!!!
 |
| The "to be quilted" area |
Oh yes - don't judge me on the number of quilts in that area. It's obscene. We know that and we don't let it bother us one bit! I've been trying to get one quilt a day done and if I can keep that up, well - much progress will be made. There are two customer quilts left and then my goal is to work on the community projects quilts. That's mostly what you see on the left-hand side. The tubs belong to me, as well as the stuff on the right.
Then there are the four IKEA bags filled with bags of scraps that have to be made into pet mats. I'll be dealing with those (or at least one of them) on my next scheduled charity sewing day (my personal day - not the group day). I'm going to have to make some more bags for the scraps soon as I've already used half of what I had made up. I can't wait for the day when there are no more scraps and there are no more community projects (or at least fewer) to work on. Then I can focus 100% on my own stuff! And the room I'll have?? Oh boy!!!! Not to fill, just to enjoy!
 |
| Bags of scraps to be made into pet mats |
OK - back to the scrapbooking area. At one point in the day, the room looked like this. Still a huge mess. And while it was exciting to finally unpack those boxes, it was a dirty and thankless job. Many times, I wanted to quit.
 |
| Still lots of unpacking to do |
I emptied a whole lot of boxes that are now residing in the garage waiting to be picked up someone who needs boxes. Do you know anyone who needs packing boxes?? There are some in the office because I've decided to box up some stuff to make room to work.
 |
| Empty boxes |
I have two boxes of stuff that I'll donate to the Creative Zone (part of the local school board) and one box that's going to charity.
Things that needed to be put into their proper home - found a home. Some stuff did go on the shelves without being sorted, but now that it's on the shelves, I can take one shelf at a time and go through it. I'll have space to work. That's key. If you have no space - you can't work. And you've no incentive to work through the mess either.
I found this quote on a corkboard. Donated the corkboard - kept the quote. Love the quote and it's still applicable to me today after many, many years ago that I would have cut this out.
 |
| A cool quote |
I didn't throw much in the garbage because most of what I have isn't garbage. It's just a lot of stuff.
I was down to 15 boxes. Just one more.
Then 10 boxes. Just one more. Even though I wanted to stop, I just couldn't. I was so close.
Then it was down to what fit onto this tabletop! Oh my god!!!! I'm really, really close.
 |
| Only the tabletop needs to be cleared |
 |
| Scrapbooking area AFTER |
Isn't that impressive??? I'm thrilled to death!!!! And guess what? I even have EMPTY containers!!!!
 |
| Empty containers! |
For the moment, these are staying - I might need them to do a "clean sweep" of the stuff on the worktables or put quilt tops in them. They will go if there's no reason to keep, but for the moment, they stay. It doesn't matter - they are EMPTY!!!!
I have FIVE round tuffet kits if anyone wants one. They will cost you - I'm not giving them away. Perhaps we need to have ONE last class on making tuffets to use up these kits. And to help anyone who is partway through making a tuffet or those that bought a kit but haven't made it up. E-mail me if you're interested in a tuffet class or want to buy a kit. These are very complete kits - the foam is cut, there's a hole drilled in the center, there's a batting cover made for it, the wood base has pre-drilled holes. They are upscale tuffet kits!
 |
| Tuffet kits for sale |
There are two tubs and a box to the left of the tuffet kits. Those are boxes of stuff that I've carried with me for YEARS. Stuff from high school and some stuff from my grandmother. I didn't have time to deal with those boxes the other day, but I will someday. At least, they are neat and tidy and hidden behind my table in that space.
I put three baskets and a corkboard into the donation box. Yeah - more stuff - GONE!!!
 |
| Three empty baskets!!! |
And here's a blast from the past. Can you believe that this is ME????? Yep - I used to spend hours to get my hair to do that! I loved the look, but what a time-waster! Notice that I've ALWAYS worn a scarf! I like them! I have loads of them. Don't need any more scarves! I'd say this picture was taken in the mid-1990s. Earrings and makeup - holy! Who knew!
 |
| Me - years ago! |
I didn't get my sample making done that I wanted to yesterday. DRAT!!! I have something else on the agenda today. I might just take the day off and reschedule what was on the calendar today so I can get some of the silly little things completed that are on the worktables downstairs. I need a puttering day to get those crazy little things done that create clutter. There's no moss growing on projects at my house these days! It's time to sew on that button or mend that seam. Get it done and move on! I'm tired of touching the same thing over and over again.
I still have paperwork to do this morning and that cuts into my time working downstairs. By the time dinner comes along, I can't even think about going back downstairs. I've been doing a lot of reading and I'm OK with that!
I even took a brisk walk to the grocery store yesterday. This is why it's important to clean your sidewalk off when there's snow. You might not walk on that sidewalk, but others do. Some parts of the sidewalks are treacherous with the ice. Clean your sidewalks please so that those of us that do want to walk, can walk with some degree of safety!
On that note, I"m out of here to get more stuff done! I must be sleeping well because two nights in a row, I've woken up and remembered my dreams. Good grief!
Have a super day!!!!
Ciao!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment