I have been thinking a lot about why I have not been sewing. Is it because my Quilt Studio is in the dark, cold basement? Or is it because I have too much stuff and all that stuff overwhelms me?When I was employed and working long hours, going shopping was therapy for all the stress. I could not resist going to quilt shops, buying lots and lots and lots of fabric, books and tools. When I bought my first single-family house I acquired a whole huge basement to store all the quilting stuff - over 400 quilting books, bins of patterns, enough fabric for several life-times, and almost every tool possible.
I like to keep my house neat and organized, but managing all that quilting stuff is a daunting task. So I avoid the basement. Right now it is an even worse mess because Christmas quilts are piled up on the cutting table, several unfinished projects are laying about in various stages, and the carpeting needs vacuuming badly.
Will moving my work space upstairs improve this situation? My thinking process tells me that when I started out quilting, I had a small apartment, fabric for one quilt, and the sewing machine sat on the dining room table. I was focused and got projects done. So I'm going to pretend the dining room table is my only working space and I intend to focus on one project at a time. All the other projects will be downstairs - out of sight and out of mind. When I need something, the basement will be nice and close.
Doesn't this set-up look nice and inviting?
Here is the fabric for my new project. I purchased this fabric years and years ago in Paducah. It is Cherrywood fabric and I have no idea what I had in mind when I selected these colors. I recently saw a very simple pattern on someone's blog (of course I didn't write down any information) and it gave me an idea that I will try - a simple, simple strip blocks. 
Note to Connie (no email address to reply) who commented on my January 1st blog - the designer is Curtis Boehringer. This was a series of 12 patterns titled Snowman-of-the-Month club and were available at needlework shops years and years ago. It was so long ago that the thread called for was "DMC Flower Thread" which is no longer made.
2 comments:
It does look inviting ... I think this is such a great idea! And I do believe there is much truth in the "burden of stuff" and how different it was when you had far less 'stuff' and got more done. I also know the therapy of shopping and I'm major guilty when it comes to buying and not doing!! Remember my "wanna gardner days" when I bought all sorts of books and almost bought a potting shed!!! Somehow I confuse buying with using and then when I don't use, I have guilt not to mention "caretaking" of the stuff. I'm all about de-stuffing!!!!!
Love you!
Hello Bonnie! I just read your last two blogs, and first I want to say you do great cross-stitch! How beautiful...it will look great framed and I can see it 100 years from now hanging on someones wall. Keep that up.
Also, I understand your frustration with your abundance and blessing of quilting/fabric stuff. I sit at the dining room table because I have a window I can look out, and I also enjoy being in the middle of the house even if it causes a huge mess...because I have piles on the dining room table. But I know it is creative! I do not buy fabric, but I use fabric given to me, including thread and sometimes batting, ect. I have a number of buckets of fabric and I leave them in the garage, and work from one bucket. I have tiny scraps, and my goal is to use everything in that one bucket and then go to the next. Unless of course I need a big piece for the back. Don't feel alone in this because I think we all have more than we need. I use to work at a quilt shop until I realized I was only working for fabric! I got paid $6.oo an hour and most fabric was $7.50..go figure!
Post a Comment