Weekend Project....

What's a girl to do on a weekend these days?  I decided that I would take a couple of hours to do some clean up in my sewing room.  That pile of "stuff" was making me crazy!

 Oh boy, did I ever find a lot of interesting things.  Mostly "leftovers"from past project.  But there were a few little piles of fabric that I had bought for projects that I haven't worked on yet. 

 After I sorted everything out, I put it all away, right now I'm trying to focus on finishing up what I've already started - not starting new projects.  At least for a little while!

 That little white bin is what I throw scraps into for making strip quilts.  Well it seems that pile was not just strips - so I spent a couple hours pressing and cutting into strips and squares for the other bins.  I didn't get all the way through it, but I did manage to cut it down to about half size. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll start some strip blocks for a fun scrappy quilt.  But first, I have a few more projects that I need to work on, so I need to stay focused!

Now my view is much better, so I think it will help keep me from being distracted while I do a lot of sewing.  My April challenge for Island Batik is almost finished, and I can't wait to share it!  I just love it, and had so much fun working on this one - it seems like every month I have a new favorite collection.  I think you will, too!

A Fruitful Week

It's been a pretty quiet week this week, which set me up to make a lot of progress on varying projects.  I finished up the "Make Time to Breathe" embroidery piece and started working on finishing up my cross stitch cat project -

I don't know how long this has been waiting to be finished, but I know it's been several years.  I was about halfway done working on back-stitching the basket when I put it away last, so I picked up there again.  So much back-stitching to do!

I've made a lot of progress on this piece so far, but still have more to do.  I've been thinking about what to work on when I finish with this.  I have several pillowcases that need to have the embroidery done/finished on, so I might do those.

I got this little quilt pieced and quilted -

I was short about 6 inches of having enough of that viney looking fabric for the back, so I pieced in a strip of jungle animals.  I was very pleased to have done this entirely from stash!

I decided to quilt this with orange thread, and it looks perfect.  Another quilt added to the inventory in my Etsy shop - I have a goal to go through my bin of 5 inch squares and put together a couple of these a month.  That drawer is stuffed to the brim and needs to be reduced!

I had a dentist appointment on Tuesday... two more cavities taken care of.  I have three more fillings scheduled for next month, then it will be time to get those wisdom teeth extracted.  Needless to say, I am not looking forward to that, but it's time to get it done.  I spent the rest of the afternoon working on some ideas for future Island Batik projects,  I got one block sewn, then realized that I reversed a couple fabrics.  I haven't decided if I actually like the accident better than the original yet!  I might have to make a few more blocks before I decide for sure!

Wednesday was my normal half day at the quilt shop, then I spent the afternoon cleaning out my sewing room closet.  I got tired of everything falling down whenever I tried to find something in it.  I was looking for a backing for a top I wanted to quilt.  Here is what it looks like after, it's pretty cluttered, but at least it's not falling down on me!

  The pile on the far left was the biggest problem - it is flannel scraps that I have been saving from the annual Christmas PJ project.  I have been thinking it would be fun to make scrappy quilts from them. I even went as far as cutting a bunch of squares of flannel and batting some time back, but never really got to work on them.  This week I decided to challenge myself to sew an x through 10 sets of flannel and batting every day.  So today, I have 30 squares done.  Hopefully by next week the pile of blocks will be taller and the pile of fabric will be shorter!

Thursday I spent working on a journal cover - I'll show you that project tomorrow.  Then I went through some of the fabric that was given to me last month - it was all washed, but not pressed.  I pulled out some pieces and spent some quality time pressing and folding while I thought about what I could make with them.  I also started cleaning off my cutting table - it sure gets cluttered after a few projects.  I'm at least attempting to clear off my surfaces once a week if not after every project.

Speaking of cleaning, I recently purchased a new vacuum - which was very overdue!  It sure has been interesting seeing how much dirt it pulls up out of my carpets - yuck!  I completely filled up the canister with dirt in just my bedroom.  I also got inspired to go through my closet and get rid of a trash bag full of things from my closet.  I feel so happy to have more breathing room in there, too.  Must be spring - I feel like cleaning out the cobwebs and clearing out some space everywhere.

Yesterday I had a call about a bride needing some emergency alterations, so spent the afternoon and this morning taking care of that.  I was glad I had the time to do that, it is always lovely to send a bride out the door excited about her dress looking just the way she wants.  This was a mermaid style with a long train that needed a bustle.  It came out pretty, and I foolishly forgot to get a photo so you'll just have to take my word for that one.

Then this afternoon I added one border to a quilt top, and prepared the backing for another quilt.  I'm thinking about my goals for this coming week - I have a couple of quilts I want to get quilted, and just a couple customer projects to finish up, so need to see what else needs my attention before the end of the month.  I finally feel like I am making some progress on creating some space in my sewing room and time to actually enjoy my sewing instead of feeling like a hamster on a wheel.  I'm looking forward to lots more creative projects over the next couple of months!  I know there will be some Island Batik quilts, and more mini quilts (don't forget my giveaway of a Miniature Quilts Magazine!) plus some soft and pretty floral projects.

Hope spring has all of you feeling productive and happy as well!

Spring Cleaning my Sewing Room

I have to confess that I did more of a tidy up than a spring cleaning, but what a difference!  I hardly knew where to start, there was such a mess in there.  You know it's time for a good cleaning when you walk in and want to walk right back out again!

I started with the worst corner - this is where I store my scraps and scrap batting.  When I get busy, everything just get tossed in the corner until I have time to fold and put away the leftovers.  Here is the before, and the after:

Yikes!  Towers of leftover batting and fabric ready to fall over!

Much better now, leftovers are piled neatly and batting is folded and put away in it's bin, except for some small scraps that are easy to grab when I need a small piece for something.

The next area to tackle is the dresser.  Again, random stuff is just piled on top of it - makes it hard to get to anything and is really unsightly!

Now it looks much better - still cluttered, but at least there is some order going on there!

Next I worked on the Design wall area:

I could barely even reach my design wall due to the stuff on the floor in front of the plastic drawers, not to mention the mounds of stuff piled on top.  The two plastic bags of fabric were gifted to me from a friend who got them at an estate sale.  Good stuff - lots of calicos and florals to make scrappy quilts from!  I need to purchase a large bin for those because I do want to keep them.  The rest was just sorting and putting away, so now this area looks relatively tidy:

Much better!

Now to get the cutting board cleared off - both on top and underneath.

It makes it really hard to get anything done when your cutting table looks like this:

Again, more putting away and sorting so now this area is ready for some quilting!

So many projects that I want to work on in all those bins and drawers!  I cleaned off the sewing table, that was also a mass of piles of fabric and leftover supplies from all the projects I've worked on over the past couple months.  Yes, that pattern laid on the floor for several days after I first dropped it - so embarrassing, but I want to keep it real here!  Do you see the ruler jutting off the edge of the table with a rotary cutter sitting on it?  Looks like an accident waiting to happen!

I put everything away, then organized the most urgent projects into piles so I can get to working on them:

Yay!  I can see clean table space!  Plus, as I work on those projects there will be more clear space, so hopefully I will be inspired to get them done in good time.  Now that I've got everything cleaned up I'm ready to get to work and do some sewing - a good reward for the time spent cleaning up.

I'm linking up on Cheryl Sleboda's blog - She and some bloggy friends did a fun spring cleaning blog hop and she has started a link up on her blog for other bloggers to join in!  I felt so much better seeing that mine is not the only hot mess sewing area around, so go ahead and check out all the other posts.  I hope I can keep my room looking a bit better this month, but I can't promise anything!  At least I hope I can get some of these piles of projects finished up.

What causes the most mess in your sewing room?  I know that I just have too many projects going at once and it makes it hard to keep things neat and tidy.  But I just can't see myself as a one project at a time kind of a person, so I will have to try a bit harder to keep things neat.