organizing my head

Yesterday I went to my sewing room and just looked at the mess for a while.  The day before that I looked at the mess then knit a few rows and thought about my plan of attack and went back upstairs.

First I had to sew a label for a quilt but then I thought maybe I would like to make a new baby quilt instead of the one that is finished that I really do like so I got out the western and cowboy fabrics lots of leftovers from all those boy quilts I made.  Look at pictures of those quilts to help me decide what to make...........look through all the pictures.......maybe a sailboat quilt would be quicker,  pull out the bright fabrics I need 4 or 9 fat quarters for the boats,  sashing and border fabric if I only sew 4 sailboats.  Most of the bright fabrics have been cut so there are very few full fat quarters............spot the background fabrics from the finished quilt.  I could make another one just like it because I really like that quilt. I felt like I had accomplished a lot at this point even though I had nothing to show for it except more fabric on the table.

Still didn't get the label sewn but I did get the table cleared and cut the sashing for this quilt which has been on the design wall since November.  Tomorrow I will blow the dust off the sewing machine and sew.  I feel like my head is organized for 2020.  --Ann--

buttons

 I had a bad case of monkey brain last week.  Too many things to do and not knowing where to start.  We are moving this week, on Thursday the movers are going to move our furniture to the new house so I have been moving stuff the past week and lots more to move this week.  I started moving some of the dishes and picked up a glass jar that had yogurt in it and thought should I keep this or put it in the recycle.  It is the perfect little jar for buttons so rather than sorting and tossing more of my stuff I sorted my buttons into the little jars by color.  Sometimes I just need to accomplish one little thing to feel like I accomplished something.  I found these really old fabric covered buttons I think they were on a coat my mother had in college. They were stitched to the garment through the cloth that pokes through the hole in the back of the metal part.
I'm moving my sewing room closet today.  I sure hope I can concentrate and not find trivial things to organize but I really like having my stuff organized.  --Ann--

Design Wall Monday

After almost 3 months of no sewing I was able to spend some much needed time in my sewing room. My Elna machine just groaned when I put my foot to the pedal.  She just needed a little oil which I found in the safe spot where I knew I put the oil when I packed my sewing room.  It was in a sealable bag in a tin box and after I thought a bit I found the right tin box, the box that always sat to the left of sweet 16 machine, I should have looked there first.  But I honestly couldn't remember where I packed it.  I just had to pause and think for a few minutes with a cup of coffee and wait for the aha moment. And there it was.
A cousins daughter has a new baby boy, these Buggy Barn sailboats are quick and easy and such fun to sew and I found all these fabrics in my newly organized closet with all the neat and tidy stacks of fabric.  Next to find the jar of thimbles and extra SD cards which might be in the camera bag but then I need to find the camera bag, and a couple books.  It seems I spend at least an hour everyday looking for something in a safe spot that was at my fingertips before we moved.  Or maybe its a memory thing but there are so many things to remember after a move like where I put everything!  The treasure hunt for safe spots continues.  --Ann--  Linking to Judy's DWM

Ann's other spot......Sewing room

My sewing room is finally in working order and look no clutter......not yet......and a whole closet full of safe spots.  Just because its unpacked doesn't mean I know where everything is.  I'm still looking for my sewing machine oil.  I packed it in a safe spot,  its in a little plastic bag somewhere safe because of course I would put an oily can of oil and a plastic bottle of oil in a plastic sealable bag before putting it in another tin or plastic box and then into a packing box with lots of paper but I haven't found it yet.  Its a little too tidy right now I feel like a guest, just give me an afternoon with the rotary cutter.  After all creativity is not a neat process.  --Ann--

new mantra

My new mantra is I can't break it if I don't use it.  I love pretty dishes, my mother loved pretty dishes. I have more pretty dishes than the average person just ask the movers.  But the thing is I just move the dishes and don't use them because they are so pretty.  Darling daughter has made it clear that she doesn't want all the pretty dishes someday.  She claimed the grocery store premium dishes that grandma so frequently used because grandma didn't care if a piece broke and they went in the dishwasher.  Which leads to the argument that if you don't use it it doesn't become a treasured heirloom.  So I am going to start using my wedding dishes for everyday along with my fostoria goblets ( my mother and mother-in-law bought every last piece of misty blue fostoria the shop had before they went out of business a couple decades ago,  I have 20 goblets and 15 sherbets, does any one really need that many pieces?) and if something breaks so be it. Rather than my pretty dishes ending up at a yard sale or the second hand store and selling for next to nothing,  I am going to use them and enjoy using them and if they break they break.  I know people who have helped set their kids up in an apartment by furnishing it with hand me down pretty dishes from aunts and great aunts and being told to just use them and put them in the dishwasher.  So I am going to honor my mother and grandmother by using their dishes and please my children by maybe leaving them some tea sets of six instead of twelve.  --Ann--

P.S.  I thought green tea might taste better in a china teacup but it really didn't help.

Better than a new box of crayons

I have spent the last week lovingly caressing, fondling, folding,  refolding, patting and smoothing my collection of quilting fabrics. I'm sure I touched every piece of fabric that I have. The top shelf is lengths for backing, the next 2 shelves have stacks of fabric two deep with longer yardages of similar colors in the back stack, the fabrics are sorted by color and theme.  It really is better than a new box of crayons!  The two totes are filled with bags of leftovers from various projects and the seeds of inspiration if I need to make something small and quick.  Oh the ideas I had while I was working..............next to get the sewing machines set up and find the cutting mat, rotary cutter, thread and scissors.  And get the design wall up and running again.  --Ann--

On the needles

It's been a non-blog-worthy week.  We have had rain and wind, a dusting of snow, more wind and sunshine then I had to dust.  I got a good start on the sweater but have questions on the directions, some of the numbers do not add up right or I am doing it wrong. I have been looking at other patterns. I might email the designer or I might start fresh.  

I just need to focus to finish the gloves, it takes so little time to knit each finger............I keep getting distracted. 

 I got an email from the  library that an ebook was available so I clicked a few buttons and opened the book.  I can be a very disorganized person I have read lots of books on dealing with clutter and getting organized.  I like to get organized but never stay organized.  The book is the life-changing magic of tidying up the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing written by marie condo.  yes all small letters.  How could I not read a book with all those catchy words, magic, life-changing, decluttering and organizing in the title?  It was a quick read with lots of good information. She has clients start by going through their clothing and if the garment doesn't "spark joy" when you touch it get rid of it. She had a whole chapter on socks so that is where I started. She said we abuse our socks all day when they are stretched over our feet and crammed into our shoes,  we should not roll them in balls and stretch the cuff over the sock or tie them in knots when they are not in use. They should be rolled toward the cuff and stored on end, even panty hose.  Maybe thats why I had so much trouble putting them on, the hose were not "relaxing in my spa drawer for socks" on their days off. I should have rolled up all my footies too. She said we should spend as much time caring for our clothes, folding and rolling carefully as we do choosing and purchasing a garment.  Some parts were very amusing. As a fiber artist that should be easy since we love to touch the fabric or the yarn as we work on it.

 So what did I do when my sock drawer was organized? Start a new pair!

Why did the elephant paint her toe nails all different colors?
    
 to hid in Ann's sock drawer!
Happy Easter  bet you thought I was going to say jelly beans.
linking to Judy's OTN  --Ann--