What's in your purse - part 2!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a bit obsessed. I get onto something and won't let it go. On the other hand, I'm lazy. Like not cleaning the purse out until it is jammed full and there is simply no more room for anything!

We went to the movies (Rogue One) on Christmas Day. While we did have dinner at the theater in the restaurant (VIP Lounge which was our ONLY splurge during Christmas - no exchanging of gifts), I still managed to buy a bag of Twizzlers when the girl came around once we were seated.  Yes - I NEED a bag of Twizzlers which I promptly crammed into my purse and well - that was the last straw.  The purse was full and I had no choice but to empty it the next day.  

So - what do you have in your purse????

The purse is bursting!

I think Michael (Kors) would be appalled that I filled his beautiful purse with so much stuff.  But on the other hand, a good selling feature is "look at all that you can put in that purse!!"

There is the emergency food stash. OK - so it's candy and chocolate, but still - that's for emergencies!

Emergency food supplies

Ooops - more chocolate, some mail, and some gift cards

Am empty candy wrapper, a shopping list, and an expired parking permit

Not one, but THREE bottles of SierraSil that different people gave me, PLUS TWO bottles of Advil that I bought.  Yep - the box has another bottle in it!!!  You never know when you're going to need lots of drugs!  And I hardly ever take a pill!!!

Drugs

A wallet filled with receipts and other junk

Receipts shoved in the bottom

A fabric postcard, a notebook and a piece of paper with a phone number on it

Reusable bag and hand cream

Jewelry - note there is only ONE ear ring and yes - there is a bracelet in the Pandora bag

Writing instruments  - OH and a fork!!!

A loose dime, a key (to the house????), an empty plastic bag and the bag from Murphy's dog tag

An elastic band and the missing ear ring

In the pocket, I found a wad of cash and my car insurance and registration

TWO copies of expired insurance in the folder (plus the current one)

Nail file, MORE drugs, lip balm (all contained in that little black bag)

A pack of sewing machine needles - who knew!

Expired lotto tickets (from the wallet)

More stuff from the wallet - more cash, boarding pass from November, etc. 

I removed all the stuff that didn't need to be in the purse. I still have to deal with some of it, but lots went in the garbage or recycling or got put where it is supposed to hang out.

Purse looks pretty decent now

Remember that I weighed the purse when it was full of all that stuff????  Well let's weight it again.

1.53 KG.  I think it was 2.75 KG last time.  Yikes!!!!

The trick will be to clean it on a regular basis!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!!


Ciao!!!

Motivational Monday - The numbers are STAGGERING

If you're going to be appalled by sheer numbers of UFOs, then I advise you to NOT read this post.

This is a bonus post for the Motivational Monday group.  In light of trying to get things done, one must take stock of what needs to be done and that makes it easier to prioritize. Basically, it's a super organizing tool.  Put "like" things together, then find storage, catalague, priortize and get the stuff done!

Here's the deal, I'm a prolific piecer. I've taught quilting for almost 20 years and as a result, made MANY samples for classes and sometimes, just because. I'm not so good at getting them quilted, although I do quilt but mostly for work or for others.

I keep my "to be quilted" quilts in tubs, along with the backing and the binding. The tubs were labelled on the outside with the quilts that were inside. But it was hard to see the labels on the bottom bins. And when I needed a specific quilt for a trunk show, well, things got out of hand and this is what the "to be quilted" tubs looked like.

A HUGE mess

 It was getting impossible to find things and well, the mess was just ugly!

Since my main work area was now clear in preparation for the sewing day. I love sewing days if for no other reason, that it forces me to tidy up!

I lugged all the tubs to the main sewing area.

Tubs waiting to be emptied

Tables ready to receive quilts

 And then I started to empty the tubs. While I emptied them, I also sorted them.  All the small stuff went into one pile. Like quilts went together - stack n whacks, special class samples, etc.

Let the sorting begin

More tubs emptied

Down to the last three bins to empty

Would that be a gaggle of tubs???

 Here are all the quilts that need to be quilted. Sorted into their respective piles. Now the process of cataloguing and putting back into the tubs.

All this needs to be quilted! - Obscene

Some of these quilts below are half or more quilted. Some already have the binding on, but I decided there needs to be more quitling. Or the batting is already with the project. Seriously????   This pile is HUGE!!!!  I told you, I'm NOT a finisher!

Quilts that are half quilted - waiting to be finished

 This is the stack that I would definitely want to keep for myself. And LOOK - I found a red/white quilt in there. Had forgotten about that one!

Quilts for me!

 Then I grabbed a few more quilt tops, bindings and backings that were hanging in other places than the tubs and those got added to the mix as well.  OK - NOW we're ready to put everything back.

ALL the quilts are now on the table!

 What I did was to label each bin with a number. Then on the laptop, I created a document and each page corresponds to the tub number. The quilts are listed by name/description so if I'm looking for something, it should be easy to find by perusing the list. Which I will print out and keep in a small binder with the tubs!  It will be easy to keep updated when someting gets quilted by crossing it off, it will be easy to find which tub holds which quilts without crawling on the floor to read labels.

Here is the very sad part!  I estimated that there was well over 100 quilts in those tubs (some are wall hangings or table runners).  There were 143! in the tubs.

I'm putting the quilts away and I'm at number 101 and the tables still look like this!!!!

101 projects have already been removed from the table!

 OK - get a grip - we have a serious problem here!!!!  Some of this stuff NEEDS to get on a priority list!!!

Almost done!

 Believe it or not, I found orphans. Quilt tops with binding, but no backing. Quilt tops and nothing else. Quilt backings.  One top I know isn't there - it's at work. I was able to marry up the only backing with what I think was the top, but there's no binding. And a couple quilts?  Who knows how they snuck into this pile.  They are now in the border/binding/backing pile where they will be processed in due time!!!

Orphan quilts/backs

All that remains is my laptop!

 And here are my neatly labelled tubs.  There is ONE that doesn't have a number - I didn't think I was going to need that many tubs!  But it's the PRIORITY tub - including the quilt that didn't fit in the tub.  I want these done ASAP.  They will need to be scheduled into The Task Master.

The "to be quilted" pile!

 I did unstack some of those tubs as they are very heavy and I had visions of the entire stack toppling over last night!!!!

So what is left???  You mean there's more???   Oh gosh yes!!!!!   There is still this in the "to be quilted" area.

More quilts to be quilted

These belong to customers - only five

And all of this is community project quilts

 I know - the numbers are obscene. I didn't count these. I will do that another day. I have to figure out how to get these into the prioirty pile as well and get them out in the community.  And unfortunately, I don't have time to take any more on.  When these are done, so am I!  Some of these have been sitting for a while. Time to get them done!!!!!

I feel that now I know what needs to be done, it should be easy to sneak one or two in a week. Of course, putting it all on the list!!!!

And I unearthed this stand for holding quilts when I got everything sorted out!!!  I may put the community projects on this rack as a means of keeping them neat and orderly. BTW - most of the community projects quilts are ones that I made (or made kits for my Monday sewing group to sew), although there are about 5 that belong to a guild.

Quilt rack

Plus there are hangers on the walls for storing quilts, so I don't think it will be a problem to get the rest of this area tidied up!!!

Once the sewing friends leave today, I have plans for those big tables!!!!

All of this wasn't to show you how ridiculous my situation is.  It's to show how important it is to put "like" things together. You can then tell how much/many you have, how much storage space you need and how to prioritze things.

BTW - the total number of quitls in those tubs?????  Any guesses?????   178!!!!!   Disgusting!!!!

And on that note, I'm out of here.


Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

Motivational Monday - I did that?

Can you believe it's almost 2017?  That means we're about to step our quilting into high gear and get motivated and get things done!  I've been at it for a month now and I'm so happy and learning lots. And getting lots done!

To recap, we have created a list of 12 UFOs that, in addition to our day to day quilting, we would LOVE to get off our plate. You have chosen ONE of those UFOs for January. And you have been careful to pick a project that will fit your January schedule. Choosing to do Dear Jane in one month is not a realistic goal. I don't care how good you are!  It's not going to happen!  Next up, you broke that project down into doable tasks depending on your availability. And the last thing you did was to write the tasks in your Task Master spreading the tasks over the number of weeks in the month. Feel free to schedule your other quilting tasks in that book by week, BUT remember to not overload yourself!  More on that in a minute.

There is one more tool that we should probably look at and thanks to Peggy for reminding me of it. This is a book of accomplishments. Wouldn't it be great at this time next year to reflect back on what you actually accomplished this past year?  I don't care if you only get one project done. It's still nice to look back and see the finished project, especially if the project was given away.   I was looking for the name of a quilt pattern so I could make the label.  I couldn't find the pattern, but Peggy (who had made the same quilt) was able to go into her accomplishment book and found what I needed. Thanks Peggy!

So here are my thoughts on the accomplishment book which I think is an excellent idea.  I have kept accomplishment books - well sort of!  I have a box of labels from local quilt shows where my quilts had been displayed. I have thank-you cards from recipients of quilts. I have a photocopy of the actual label of the quilt and in some cases, I have pictures of the quilts. Unfortunately, they are all thrown into a box!

Box of quilt memories

There are quilting journals. While this one is very cute...............

Quilter's Journal

 I don't like the inside pages.  The left page is titled "Place for sketches, magazine clippings, photos or fabric swatches" and the right side has two sections" Insights I have gained from my current project"  (I've got a doozy to tell you!) and the second title is "Inspiration for future projects".

Inside the cute journal

 While those are all good things, they don't really let me create a "to do" list with those titles, and they certainly don't leave space to record my projects.  It would be a good inspiration journal!  Maybe I could use that for inspiration?  OH GOD - I do NOT need more inspiration. Inspiration for new projects oozes out of my pores!

If I were going to use that journal, I could cover up the titles and do my own thing!  Anyone want an inspirational journal???  It's free!

I found this journal years ago. It was put together by a local guild.

A Quilt Journal assembled by The Halton Quilter's Guild

I do believe I filled mine with the first quilting projects that I actually finished.  There is room on one page for pictures and fabric swatches or whatever you want. The other page has information like quilt title, size, date started and date completed (SERIOUSLY???  Like I want to publicize that information????), pattern source, quilted by, shows exhibited at:, and additional comments.

Inside the quilter's journal

 All in all, that's not a bad format.  Or simply create your own journal pages with things you want to remember about the quilts you do and then have them printed at Staples and bound. Simple!

But I'm going for drop dead simple. (Peggy did too! She went to the dollar store and got a notebook!) Mine is similiar to what Peggy is using, but I had this journal in my stash of journals and I had purchased it (50%) off at Indigo, probably years ago!  It's a simple lined page notebook!

Simple lined page notebook

I'm going to use two pages per quilt. One for the picture and fabric swatches (if I still have the fabric). The other will have the details I want to keep about the quilt. I'm not sure if I will handwrite the information or if I'll type it on the computer and print it out and glue it in the book.  My handwriting sucks and it's getting worse but if I do take care, I can manage. I mean, what's the point of writing this all down if no one can read it!!!

The other thing we have to remember is that these journals (for the most part) are for US alone.  Do you think our families/friends will care how many quilts we've made in our lifetime (after we've gone).  Not likely and that's why a coffee table book is a great idea!  YES a coffee table book of your quilts???   Wouldn't that be amazing??? They might keep a nicely published book, although some would appreciate the hand written journal of their mother's quilts. Many would not!  But it's an excellent record of what we've accomplished and then tell your kids, they can burn the journals when you die!

So what have I accomplished since I started The Task Master?  I started the week of November 27 so it's been ONE month.

1. Quilted FIVE quilts. 
2. Two of the five quilts had to be pieced before I quilted them. One had to be designed, one had applique blocks that needed to be trimmed. 
3. Prepped one quilt by making the binding, the backing and finished sewing the top together
4. Made 7 blocks for the 150 Canadian women project
5. Finished Tote bag and zippered pouch for my Mom
6. Machine bound three quilts (one had to be trimmed first)
7. Sleeves made and sewn on two quilts
8. Sewed binding on THREE quilts - one side only - the rest went to the owners for handstitching
9. Three labels were made and sewn on
10. Quilted and assembled FOUR preprinted Christmas stockings
11. Added hangers to TWO other Christmas stockings because I forgot when I made them
12. Made TWO blocks for the group project with one of my Modern Quilt Guilds
13. Edge stitched a Christmas table topper (scalloped edges no less!)
14. Finished the fleece mitten
15. Designed and made a bag for work  (a pattern will be coming!)

WHOA!!!!!   Seriously????   IN ONE MONTH - I did all that?????   If I wasn't keeping track of the tasks in The Task Master, I would have NO idea that I did all that!!!!  Of the above items - what would I put in my accomplishment book?  Well - I would probably only put the items that belong to me. Some of the stuff above is for work, some is for customers.  I'll have to see how it goes as I move forward.  I'm NOT looking back - today is a new day!  What gets completed going forward will be documented if I feel it is appropriate. Otherwise, I can always look back to the Task Master to see what I've done!

I will say that I'm a very focused person!  I'm even way more focused now that I've ever been. The numbers from yesterday's post (if you read that) were obscene. I'm embarrassed that the situation is so out of hand. Wait until you hear what the real numbers are!  That's for tomorrow.

Please don't compare ourselves to each other about how much work gets done!  Our situations and motivations are completely different. I work full time (1 ½ hour commute in total - still figuring out how could I quilt during that time, but it's problem solving time for sure!), I spend close to one hour a day at the dog park (two on week ends), but in total about two hours per day is devoted to the girls, and I like to read. I don't clean my house  - when I was 13, I told my Mom that I would pay someone to clean for me and almost my entire adult life, I've had a cleaning person. I have made that a priority in my life!  DH works from home these days - he does the cooking - I'm NOT qualified!  (I love that!).  I don't watch TV, haven't in 6 years, although I do watch the occasional movie.  So you see, the ONLY thing I do is eat, sleep, work and quilt. And work and quilting are combined for me - so much so that I'm making a stand and going to sew ONE day per week at the office. Then I'll have more time for my own projects at home!   Oh, we have no family nearby so no family responsibilites to take care of and I'm careful about dealing with people who waste my time. I've no time for drama! I don't worry about much! Zero shopping happens in my life - unless it's quilt store related!

Now here's something else to contemplate when you're creating your task list for The Task Master. I have been madly working on this project for the past week or so. It's VERY time consuming. Here's what I wrote in The Task Master - "The name of the project". Can't reveal it for the moment - I will later this week.   Why didn't I break this task down? Because I'm an idiot and not listening to my own advice. I'm thinking - this will take one week. It will be easy.  NOPE - this project has been time consuming, it's fiddly as ever, it's a nightmare (although the end result is cute as a button!)   I've been working on it for days. I'm happy to report that there is a light at the end of that tunnel and then the flood gates in The Task Master can open again!   BE VERY CAREFUL how you word those tasks - BREAK THEM DOWN.  I've not been able to cross any items off last week at all because I've been focusing on this project. The old me would have given up days ago, but I'm determined to get this thing done so it doesn't get shelved as a UFO!   The project that I started is 100% complete!  That's the good news. The bad news is that there is a second part (which I found in my UFOs) and I'm determined to finish that as well.  Fiddly fiddly fiddly!!!!   BUT the good news is, I'm making progress and I figure by Thursday AM - all will be done!

Next week, I'll be sharing with you the progress on my 13th project that I chose to work on (one for December which is almost over).  I'm also going to share with you some tips on goals for the new year!!!

On that note, I'm out of here to get some sewing done!

Have a super super day!!!!

Ciao!

If you want to follow along and post pictures, join the Facebook group - Motivational Monday!

A Christmas Miracle!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone!!!  While everywhere (or so it seems), it looks a lot like Christmas, it doesn't look like that at our house. I never even got my tree quilt hung up!

I did finish the book (Skipping Chrismtas) and we're almost like the Kranks!  (the family in the book!).  But here has been the nice part - I went to bed at my usual time last night. No mad wrapping of gifts, no mad sewing. And I didn't have to do that either this morning. I have NOTHING to do all day except for the movie later today and of course the dog park. That's the Christmas Miracle!

The dog park has become a big part of my life since we got Lexi and now even more so with Murphy. There are the regulars at the park and it's fun to see all the dogs play and chat with the owners. My two girls just need a bit more training on the word COME and we would be good!  Dog park rules at our house!!!!

I had the MOST productive day EVER yesterday. I'm so happy. Gosh - I think I could live on a desert island (with power so I could sew) and I'd never get bored!  I made decent progress on my project. I'm now up to almost 1/3 complete if I look at the entire thing and 1/2 done if I look at the part that I want for Wednesday AM - I'm going to aim to be done by Thursday AM - the timing will be better. I know - you can't wait to see it - I CAN'T WAIT to stop working on this thing.  BUT the Task Master is sitting right beside me - talking to me, helping me to focus.  DO NOT touch anything else she says!  I'm afraid of her so I keep working.

However I did do a bit more tidying up  - OK - I got into crazed tidying up mode. I'm going to share some of those photos on Monday as part of the Motivational Monday series.

 I thought I might slip the following in today in the event that not a lot of people are reading blogs on Christmas day.

If you thought you had a lot of UFOs - well you better sit back. I get to open boxes today - not presents, but boxes!  There tubs - I think there are ten of them - YES TEN are FILLED with quilts (backing and binding all included)  that need to be quilted. They are ALL MINE.   Numbers - well over 100  - YES - 100!!!!!   That's obscene.  Even if I quilted ONE per week - it would take me over two years to get them quilted!!!

Tubs of quilts to be quilted

 But wait - we've only just touched the surface here.  This pile below are tops that are waiting for backings/bindings or borders or some combination.  How many???   Over 50!!!!!!   One per week - that would clear up the pile, but it would add to the "to be quilted" pile!

Quilts that need borders/binding or backing MADE

I won't even write the number of UFOs that still need to be sewn.  Let's just say that the number is a three digit number and the first number isn't ONE.  You see how obscene this mess is.  It's gotten way out of hand and that is why I need The Task Master.  I've very good at starting things but not so good at finishing as you can see.  So far, so good. I'm making progress and that is all that I care about!  My new mantra is - it's better to have ONE thing finished, than advanced on five!"

Having to write everything down is a hassle, but it's the only way that I can keep track of things. All those quilts to be quilted and the borders/backing/bindings were listed in my previous little book.  The list can be recreated, but takes time!

Oh yes - so here's my thing for today.  This is what the studio looks like this morning. All those boxes of quilts are in the main area. I need to sort them. Why???  Well, from time to time, I do trunk shows and I need some of the quilts in the unquilted pile. All the boxes are labelled, but they are in a very haphazard order. Whenever I want a quilt, I have to rifle through the appropriate boxes to get the quilts and then put them back. So my task today is to open all the boxes and sort them.  

The studio this morning

 There are a few table runners - put them all in one box. Write the list and tape it on the box. Actually, I think I'm going to just put a BIG number on each box and have a list that corresponds to what is in each box. It's very hard to read the label when the box is on the bottom of the pile.

There are quilts in the boxes that I definitely want to keep for ME. There are oodles of quilts in the boxes that I made just because. Those need to be quilted and put up for sale or given away.  But this madness has to get under control.  It's totally insane.

There will be other categories - quilts that I want to keep. And I'll try to get ONE quilted each month????  There are mystery quilts, group quilts, class samples and much much more.  It's going to be a great Christmas to open up everything and see what is truly in those boxes.  Having it all sorted and categorized is going to make my life a whole lot easier for the future.   I also found THREE IKEA bags while cleaning up so those will be emplyed today to finish clearing the tables and I can empty all the tubs and get those quilted sorted!

And what would be nice is that in future when I finish a top, let's get it on the long arm right away and quilted.  I'll see how that goes.  I do it for work all the time, so I should just add my own stuff in there.  Wait - the only tops I'm finishing these days ARE for work!  Or made with Northcott fabric.  Ah well - it will all work out.

You know how easy it is to paint yourself into a corner?  How about if you can't get into the corner?  I'm busy clearing off the tables yesterday. Bustling around, moving tables, packing bags and boxes and merrily having a grand time. Then when I went to close down the studio last night, I realized that I couldn't get to the radio to turn it off. Why?  Because it's in the corner so to speak!!!  You can just see the antennae on the left of the door below!!

Ooops - that corner is filled!

 I did manage to sneak around from the other side and lean over the pile of boxes with the borders, backings and binding and I can reach the power button that way!!!  How funny - I never thought of the radio!

And amidst all that chaos yesterday, I did get a quilt quilted!  I'm going to trim it today and that will be one more done.  I have FIVE left to quilt for customers and I'm hoping to get them all completed BEFORE the end of the year.  There are more in the pipeline for January and these ones need to be out of the house!!  More checks in The Task Master!!!!

Customer quilt - DONE

On that note, I'm off to sew ALL day.  WAIT - I have a dilemma to share with you.  So remember the blue/yellow quilt?   DH and I had a bit of discussion over it.  He had asked me for a quilt so he could give to a friend who had a baby. No big deal.  BUT then he let it slip that it was actually the friend's daughter (whom he doesn't know) that had the baby. Apparently his friend had asked if I could make a baby quilt for her daughter. Of course, he forgot to ask me. Then he saw she had posted on social media that the baby was born and he wanted to give the GRANDMOTHER a gift to give to the baby.  I disagree!   I don't think her intention was to ask for the quilt as a gift, but instead to ask to buy one!   Anyway - I may just let it go. But I'm a bit ticked - who gives a quilt to the grandmother to give to a daughter they don't even know?  Maybe I'm really turning into Mrs Krank or the Grinch who Stole Christmas?


Now I'm off to sew all day.  The girls are pooped out from the park (hopefully) although they NEVER come downstairs. More on that another day!

Have a super Merry Christmas!

Ciao!!