The elephant in the room

Before I get into today, I want to clarify one point. In all the decluttering, I have perhaps "strongly" advised everyone to stop buying, which is undeniably true. 

Here's the thing—we live in a bizarre world where our wants are dictated by marketing people, who are motivated by CEOs who want more profit on the bottom line. This goes for any industry. Did you know that marketing and research people intentionally make products that appeal to our want mentality? 

We have wants that must be fulfilled, so we buy, buy, buy. Sometimes, we buy and bring home a bag of stuff that never gets opened! So, who benefited from that transaction? 

It's OK to buy, but you should buy for your needs, not your wants. We still need to support the local economy and small quilt shops—I totally get that. But why should I be the one to end up with the problem? By that, I mean I'm the one with the massive fabric stash or gadget I will never use. And how much does all this cost me?

What we need to do with our buying power is to tell the shops, the fabric, and the notion companies that we want GOOD quality stuff that is useful to us. Don't be selling us crap for the sake of their making a more considerable profit margin. Hell will freeze over before that happens because we are conditioned from a VERY young age that we must buy those WANTS!

Sadly, in our "first-world" countries, everything is driven by money and power. Most companies don't care what happens to this stuff (it becomes fodder for landfills) as long as they get their money from it. It's a vicious model, and while I'm happy to support the local shops, I won't go broke doing it. 

I used to feel that it was my job to support the local quilt shops, and guess what happened? I bought WAY more than I would ever want or use. I also purchased a lot based on guilt. But why should you feel guilty about buying something in a small shop when you don't feel guilty going into a clothing shop and not buying anything? 

So yes, continue to buy, but buy smart! If you must sneak your fabric into the house or hide it, we can safely say you have a problem! I'd seek help because you are NOT doing yourself or your family any good. You have a disease (hoarding) and need to stop buying! 

And how do I know this or feel qualified to talk about it? I've been there, done that, and am trying to dig myself out of a decade of want! It was not uncommon for me to walk into a quilt shop and easily spend $300 on stuff I never needed. I would bet that most of it is still unused in my house. That is wasteful, and I think of what family experiences we could have enjoyed with that $300 and all the other $300 I spent. 

And now, onto something different. 

I will confess that I accomplished a significant task yesterday, which resulted in panic-packing last night for the retreat this week. I have work to do and didn't get it all done, so I'm taking it with me. Oh yeah - at least there is lots of room to work, so I'll tuck myself in a corner for an hour a day to finish the writing. 

As a result, this must be loaded into the car this morning. 

What I'm taking

And there's one more sewing machine to add. Good grief - I'll get a full day of steps just doing loading and unloading the car. There's stuff for the Pony Express, my "office" work, and my sewing work. There's also a lot of Diane's stuff that is up for grabs to the retreat attendees. 

While quilting on the long arm, I brought in the bags of Diane's stuff one by one and went through all the bags from the most recent trip. The bags of fabric are still in the garage, and I'll deal with them another day. 

I know—I was shocked that I could go through it so quickly, but I'm learning. Not much went into the garbage. Any paper that was GOOS went into my printing pile. Anything with printing on both sides went into the recycling. Patterns went into the giveaway box. Rulers and templates are also in the giveaway box. Oh, and I found some sewing machine bits, so they went into a bag, and I'll sort that out when I get the machines. 

There were some notions, and they are in the giveaway box. And so on, until I even had a chance to go through some project boxes. Hmmm - not much in the way of UFOs, but I am bringing them with me, and we'll have time to explore them further. I will wait until everyone is there, which I think is Wednesday, then I will lay it all out, and they can have a go. But there will be VERY STRICT instructions - they are NOT to take anything unless they do NOT have one already and that they will use it! I'm happy to bring it back home and take it to the thrift store rather than clutter up someone else's home. 

Those project boxes contain cut and labeled fabric but no pattern or pattern name! That might all just have to go in a scrap bin! 

What did I learn from this? If you have small things - binder clips, paper clips, pens, and pencils, PUT THE LIKE ITEMS in a plastic bag. Good grief -- I had some plastic bags and was sorting, so it made more sense. I found little bits of paper - get rid of them. OK - I'm guilty of that. 

I'm glad that part is over. I was not looking forward to it, and having the retreat people entertain me was the perfect opportunity. I had ZERO desire to take anything. I kept one thing—the curved-tip hemostats! Sorry, I didn't take a picture. I had several pairs of straight tips, but I didn't know you could get curved ones!!! 

I may take on this task for my non-fabric stash for the next virtual retreat. It's a great way to purge my stuff mindlessly! 

OK, so Miss Lexi alerted me to the following picture. We were walking in the forest, and she stopped dead to look. I thought it was a squirrel, but NO—it was a crow or raven standing on top of a wasp nest and pecking madly away, so bits of the nest were flying. It was pretty entertaining. Lexi didn't care, but I thank her for showing me. 

A crow or a raven attacking a wasp nest

And I don't know what Murphy's problem was. I was sitting at the computer, and she was over by some embroidery machine hoops I had put on the floor so I could take a picture. She had her paw on one of the boxes at one point, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. What a silly girl. What was she trying to tell me? 

MOM -- LOOK at me! 

And now for the elephant in the room. I had a large quilt to get quilted. It is actually more of a decorative item than a quilt. An interior decorator hired me to do this project. She had ordered yards of digitally printed sateen from Spoonflower—enough for the front and the back. Yes, the front and back are the same, just one large piece of fabric. 

I had cut the backing, which I loaded on the long arm the previous night. So, I cut the front, loaded it, and then added the batting. That was a long piece of batting, as I'm making the coverlet and two pillow shams, and I might as well quilt them simultaneously. 

Loading the quilt

The required pattern was purchased - you have to love downloading stuff rather than waiting for it to arrive in the mail. It was to be relatively dense - thank goodness, because it was 140" long and 94 " wide. 

The loose pattern

I was pleased to see the bottom of the fabric at about 7 PM last night. 

At last - the bottom

You can't tell, as the lighting isn't good, but here is the quilted fabric. I'm taking it to the retreat, where there is loads of room, and I'll spread it out and trim it. There are NO reference lines or marks for trimming. That should be fun!! 

The quilted fabric

I finished all the quilts except two before leaving for the retreat, so I'm pretty pleased about that. I'm not happy that two remain, but it was a big push. Those two will be done as soon as I return. 

Yesterday, my stairs were very busy. I had various piles up the side—they were sorted, and as I went up and down, I grabbed something and dealt with it. Nothing is left to be done! That is a bit of a first for me, but once something is sorted, I'm very good at finding a home for it. 

The stairs as a sorting station

By bedtime, they looked like this: Everything but one sewing machine was by the front door, and as soon as I finished here, I was off to load the car! 

The stairs are clear

After going through Diane's stuff, I feel qualified to offer my services to help anyone who wants it. I can objectively look at almost anything and tell you it's a keeper, thrower, or seller! And if I were standing in your house with something in my hand that you shouldn't be keeping, I would be mean and NOT let you have it! OK - we might negotiate a bit, but still. I'm getting very good at this! And I'll be tackling some of the non-fabric areas in Studio B, but not at the moment. I've got other things that need to be done first. 

Thanks to everyone who came to the Virtual Retreat. I wish I could have spent more time talking, but I enjoyed listening to all the conversations as I worked! The next one is on February 15 and 16. I know it can't be helped, but I'm away on the weekend, we usually hold it. 

Well, that's it for me today! 

I can't wait to get to the retreat house. I think I will unpack all that stuff and spend the entire day sewing. Then tomorrow, I'll get to work. I have a ton of phone calls to make, articles to write, photos to take, and so on. I can hardly wait!!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!