Life has overtaken my life. HA!! Don’t you feel that was sometimes??
Well things have settled down a bit. The grandkids are back in school. Rick has settled into his new schedule with classes. I checked off a whole bunch of doctor appointments so I’m in the clear to start getting back to me things…and where are my things??
In the sewing room. UGH.
I need a day in here strictly cleaning and reorganizing. When I’m not in the sewing room regularly, everything just gets thrown in here.
You might remember long ago a friend gave me two bags of scraps…well, there they are.
YES. I still want them. I’m still thrilled to have them. I just haven’t gotten to them. One of my favorite things ever is to pick out a quilt and cut it from scraps as I sort them. It’s on my list to do and I’m so looking forward to it. Time is the only thing in the way. HA!!
Did you notice the big television there on the right? That’s Rick’s from his apartment when he moved in. We plan to set it up in one of the bedrooms. We just haven’t gotten that far yet. It’s low priority. So where have all the low priority things landed lately??? In my sewing room. UGH.
It just goes along with my statement that life is taking over my life. HA!!
I have my Midnight Flight quilt out front and center…I still need to work more on it.
I finally found all of the wool applique pieces that I stitched back in March when I was having radiation. I can finish them now. I’m embarrassed to say they were missing for about five months.
This chair is covered with four different quilts that all need attention.
In the stack are:
The community quilt from Ila
The bow tie quilt
The John Deere quilt
My original star block quilt
Off-da. That a few weeks of work right there.
At the other machine is this quilt that is just barely started. I’m remaking it to suit the bonus triangles I have. I’m hoping I can con my daughter Kelli into coming one day and we can pound out some of the string piecing. She love string piecing and it’s something we can easily do when the kids are running around and playing.
This is a community quilt my friend Connie gave me to finish and donate. Gosh, I would love to replenish my finish community quilt stash. I like to keep some on hand in case someone asks for a quilt for a benefit.
Then hanging on my door I have these two. One is a community quilt I need to finish. I’m been thinking about adding a red border to the embroidered quilt. The other quilt is one I’ve needed to finish for some time. I made a video on how to make it to get it this far so I feel like I need to make another video on finishing it. So, first I have to clean the sewing room. I can’t possibly film a video with my sewing room looking like this!! AH!!
So my goal for the next couple of weeks is to try to get back into the swing of things and to get the sewing room cleaned. UGH. I’ve had a great summer and I wouldn’t change a thing but I think I’m ready to get back to some (not all) of my regular routine things.
Anyone what to join me in unearthing our sewing rooms?? Feel free to jump in!!
Hi Jo!
I just spent an entire week cleaning and rearranging my quilt studio! I’d let it go for far too long, due to heart failure, insertion of a pace maker, and a total shoulder replacement this year! The space was dusty and buggy! (We have lots of house spiders around here!) Anyway, I’m feeling good again, have energy and little pain. So, the floors, baseboards, sinks, counters and bathroom have all been cleaned to spic & span! It looks so beautiful now! I am so proud, and enjoy working on my quilts again! I’m doing my first “on point” quilt, a large basket quilt started yrs. ago! I have a king size spool quilt at the quilter now. Should be done next week, for my sister’s 83rd birthday! It feels so good to be back to quilting after such a long dry spell! Love your blog, and hearing about your sweet family and new love and all. You make the most amazing quilts, and so fast! Keep up the wonderful work, quilting, cooking and stitching! I love it all! Take care! Brenda King, Bend, Oregon
Thanks for sharing your story Brenda. It brings a lot of hope to those with medical troubles…things can bet better!!
Wow Brenda you have had a lot going on this year! I wish you the best of health!
I’m needing to organize my stash. It’s not a huge stash, and I organized it into totes and pretty boxes early this year. I’ve had a goal of using only stash, and have been mostly successful, but that means I’ve dug through itmultiplel times to find the “right” fabric for several different things, pulled stuff out and put some back – not necessarily in the right container! Plus I’ve acquired more and just tossed it into the nearest container. Now it’s all messy and mixed up again. Ugh! Time for a reset!
Unfortunately mess is one of the side products of using only stash! Don’t ask me how I know. Haha. However the amazing quilts that come out of these messes are well worth it! Keep sewing!
Yup. Count me in. Husband was away visiting our daughter (I stay to look after the homestead) so I took the opportunity to clean the kitchen. He did have a shock this morning! Hah! So now I can spend time in the sewing room. I did start, but the cats want to come in – and as we’ve had hot weather – they were covered in dust and debris and now wet, so they have muddy feet and still not allowed in much to their disgust. The begging meows drive me nuts! They just want to lie on the unfinished quilts on the binding pile. Nope. Not happening mateys! So now husband’s home they can pester him instead!
It’s September 1st. National Sewing Month! My goal this month is to clean, organize or sew for 15 minutes each day. Let’s do this!!!
I don’t have a sewing room but I do have totes filled with fabric. I too am sewing from stash this year and next as a promise to dh. In return, there’s a cruise on the horizon! I am going through each tote to see what I really have, what I can donate and what I can use. I have four quilts to make, another in badly need of repair, 2 quilts requested by my dd while she’s on patrol next year…oh and Christmas ornaments to finish. I guess it’s a good thing I’m retired. ;-)
Love and prayers
Hi Jo,
One way to get more space is to put the TV in the room it’s going to that might help
Good thing Rick is in classes for the rest of the year! While he is attending and studying, you “get” to be in your studio!! :-)
Happy organizing Jo.
Wow….you certainly have some work cut out for you! But Beware! I purged my quilting room a few weeks back and reorganized it. And yesterday, I got the bright idea to paint it! And wouldn’t you know I have the supplies to do so. So, this morning I began finding temporary homes for all that room holds! The brushes come out tomorrow! Yikes ! LOL
I recently cleaned my sewing room and it feels amazing. I moved almost everything out to the hallway. After a good vacuuming and dusting I edited everything as I put it back in the room. I added a shelf high on a wall that was wasted space, and it’s used for boxes of seldom used supplies, labeled now. Projects and UFO’s were stacked together in plain sight and I’ve been working on them with great success. This is how I clean and work best. I’ve made a deal with myself to “tidy up” and the end of every week.
Uff Jo, that’s alot of sewing projects, but I know that is how you like to work. My mind can’t handle more than two or three at a time. I have been sewing this summer (I should be making salsa), and I am finally getting to quilt one of the donation quilts today, yeah! I know you probably told us, but refresh my memory, is Rick retired? Or is he still working and going to school?
You will feel much better after you get some of your room organized! Remember, eat the elephant one bite at a time! I am kind of in the same boat! I have been so busy making the prizes for my granddaughter’s bridal shower games and have made such a mess in my room. I’ve also been working on some other small projects and avoiding the fact that my yearly stack of community donation quilts is nonexistent! I MUST get busy!
I recently got a table with a cut out for machine. I’m slowly working my way around the room to get things organized/tidy/cleared out etc. I’ve done the cutting table. The bookshelves are next.
My room looks the same every summer, everything gets tossed in there out of sight and the first few weeks of fall are spent cleaning and organizing….and promising myself I won’t do it next year.
Huh. Except the TV which IMHO should never been put in the sewing room, this doesn’t look that bad to me. OK, it could use some neater folding of a few things, perhaps containers for a few others. But it’s not really bad considering that you work on multiple projects at once.
Remember the old joke about lying down until the urge to clean the house passes? I seem to sew until the urge to declutter or organize the sewing room passes. I mean…actually using the fabrics *does* count as organizing, right?
Oh Jo, l understand. September 1, always signals time to get busy. First thing, clean the quilt room. Mine isn’t that bad. But it has been better.
Your quilt room looks like mine, minus the big TV. I’ve got quilt tops on hangers all over the room & blocks for #14 & #15. I work quilts in bunches. Once I have the last 2 piles of blocks installed into a quilt top, I’ll start sandwiching with backing & batting. Have to get the dimensions of 14 of the quilt tops first (#1 was just finished, by hand – a Sunflower Sue w/ alt blocks of snowballed flowers). The batting is on rolls in the garage on the top shelf of a huge metal rack – so hubby will have to help. That’s why I do it in bunches – cutting batting off the rolls is a bit of a hassle! No room for rolls of batting – its wall to wall of Ikea cabinets and one huge wood bookcase FULL of book collections I go back & read again every year or two. Add in a few hundred DVD’s I pop into the player when sewing (when not watching Acorn, Britbox, Netflix, etc…). Several hundred quilt books, the stash of 50+ years and precuts in plastic shoeboxes for quilt patterns, strips, etc – it will take me at least a week to clean up after I finish the quilting of the last 14 quilts. But it’s all good. It’s my happy place & I’m in there every single day. Very blessed to have the ability and the materials to keep going with what has made me happy (and many others) for over 50 years. My goal is to use up every bit of fabric I can – these are now quilts that I love. New patterns I never used, ideas I’ve had written down & never followed up with — I am now! My family (present & future) will be the recipients of these quilts & other items in the future.
I’m so happy that you are happy. That is what it is all about….being happy! You made my day!
Pure coincidence. I actually started unearthing/tidying my sewing room last night. It needs a lot of work!
Good luck on your project. Then you will be back in the swing of sewing.
I did a big clean of my sewing room recently! I pretty happy with it at the moment. O bought a bunch of plastic baskets from Dollar Tree and I put quilts in progress in its own basket. I’m terrible about forgetting to keep everything together. I still have much more than I can ever sew but I donate to my local quilt guild every so often. I have a big tv in my sewing room and I love it! Hugs,
I sew 2 to 10 hrs , 300 +_ days a year. Baby to v lg king. I sell at farmer’s market, tied, keep a few, I rent time on long arm, locally. In studio I have about 31 qt. Totes, around 80+, 25 more in shed, 10 are solids by colour, rest are “kits” I create with patter inc., & backings collected. My studio has 10 x 12 ft floor space, so it’s a bit limited on movement! Have been quilting since I was 9yrs, am 81 presently. I purge/cull/ rethink, ??? AT LEAST 1x monthly. Have made a better dent lately. NO purchases unless solid or just don’t have what is necessary. My only weakness is Batiks, but only if on sale or desperate! The big question is… Will I live long enough. HAHA. I’m praying there are sewing machines in Heaven. I will make Angels quilts. Presently have about 40 quilts to tie, 14 to bind ( I did on longarm, hate to bind), 11 boxes to Arizona to a group of friends I found on your sight, who finish to donate. AND ? maybe 20+ I hope to quilt. Nobody in family wants quilts, have no luck with local donations, also send 10/15 boxes to bestie (52 yrs) in Florida, she passes on to her guild, friends, etc., anything she doesn’t want. Just started a ‘salvage’ pattern, do when I’m not inspired or a all blue scrap q., I’m a blus & batik addict. Happy for you & Rick, you both deserve/earned happiness. Praise the Lord.