The Ugly Truth, and a Cure

HAPPY EASTER!!

I hope each of you enjoy your Easter weekend as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And now, on to the topic of this post…

Is your sewing/quilting/fabric storage area neat and tidy?  Can you find what you are looking for in short order? Are you filled with joy (rather than dread) when you walk into your sewing room?   Do you spend way too much time looking for things you know are there, but coming up empty-handed?  (My answers are, no, no, no, and yes.)  I will post no pictures of my room(s) at this point because it is down right EMBARASSING!

I have stumbled across some solutions in a blog by Teresa,  at Fabric Therapy.

Step one: Organizing your stash.

Step two: Taming the scrap piles.

Also coming soon is how to organize your tools.

I must caution you… when you look at this you will think, “I can never do that!”  The good news is, we don’t have to. 

I plan on using her ideas as inspiration and a springboard to organize my stash and sewing things into a system that works for me, using what containers I have on hand right now.  As things progress (and this word means I must set aside TIME to work in there as opposed to just looking  at the mess and sighing loudly) I plan to purchase needed containers to truly organize my stuff. 

I guess I need to take the Flylady.com solution and just dedicate 15 minutes per day to working in my office area.  It is the WORST of the bunch because I have my computer/office, files, fabric storage, book/magazine storage, a sewing machine that I can’t even get to, and then all the “shtuff” (Hi Paula!) that I don’t know where else to put, piled high in there.

I’ve started organizing in the past.  Last fall I started emptying the room (into an adjacent room) so I could “start fresh with an empty space”.  That might work, but only if I could set aside a WEEK to do nothing but work on my organization.  That does not happen in the fall when you are in the machine quilting business!  When it came time to use the wood heater in that room all of those things got stacked back into my office area.

EXCUSES:  We’ve all got them.  Mine are, 1) I’m too busy.  2) I have time to create, but not put things away when done with them. 3) Fun trumps cleaning/organizing ANY time.  Things must change.

So, this spring/summer I will try again.  We will  see how it all falls out, but something must be done.  I think I need a 12-step plan for people that hoard (fabric, sewing/quilting gadgets, and now sock yarn, also).

Step one for me is sorting through and getting rid of some of this “shtuff” that is filling my space.  This includes cast-off furniture we don’t want to get rid of, but have no room for in this house.  Those things will have to be moved or stored somewhere else!  I plan on spending 30 minutes, twice each week working in this area.  I plan on at least once every 2 weeks giving you an update, on progress or lack-of.  That holds me accountable, and I work best with accountability.  Perhaps when I make good progress I will be brave enough to show you before and after pictures… we will see.

But it won’t start today!  I am now heading to the quilting room to get a quilt in the machine, sew the binding on a customer quilt, practice my musical solo for church tomorrow, and do some food preparations for tomorrow’s family Easter celebration.

Have a wonderful Easter weekend because…

HE IS ALIVE!

KAT