Oh My !!

Okay, I am going to be totally honest here.  I don't usually admit to New Year's Resolutions, but I can see that a couple are going to have to be in order this year.  Let's just take a look..........

The cutting table piled with UFOs and mending.  Cutting board wavy and nearly unusable due to me ironing on it :-((  Note brand new cutting mat (in my possession for over a month) rolled up to the side of cutting table.  I think that is called lazy.

Main sewing storage closet with fabric stuffed in all willy nilly and pouring out onto the floor.

View 2 of main sewing closet.  No more room!!!

 Small storage closet with three large unfinished rugs and their wool stuffed into the bottom, along with plenty of other stuff.

View 2 of second storage closet.  Too much stuff.

Chair with quilts ready to be bound, baskets running over.

Side of cutting table.  Nice new rolling bag from DD2 as Christmas gift.....where to store??

So, I have cleaned these closets out in the past year.  The truth is that there is NOTHING that I want to donate, trash or give away.  I want it all!!!!!  And I could clean it out again, but the reality is that there is no place for all of it.  I would just wreck it again when I start dragging fabrics out looking for the perfect piece.  And there is not a single space in the sewing room for another storage shelf.  Honestly, I don't want any more storage.  I want things to fit nicely in what I have.  I want the space to be accessible and lovely.  My conclusion is, that in order to obtain the desired results, in 2014 I must stitch like a maniac to use up some of that stuff, and I must shop from stash first.  And I really want to bust some UFOs......especially those big rugs.  Sounds familiar, huh??  Well, I am holding myself to it.  I might need some encouragement, a reminder here or there, but I have some great fabrics, rugs, UFOs and kits and I need to use them.  I am committed .  I just need to keep coming back to this post to remind myself.

I have also been working on my overflowing scrap bin.  I would say that about half of my scraps are now neatly cut and organized into Bonnie Hunter's Scrap Saver system.

Friend Sandy, who just got through with a major studio reorganization, ditched this organizer and I relieved her of it and set up the system in it.  I hope that after doing all of this cutting I will actually use these gazillion strips, blocks and bricks.  Does anyone out there do this???  Tell me you use them after going to all of this work........

All of this being said, I am not limiting myself from starting new projects.  I will just do my very best to use some of what I have in them.  And if I see something I absolutely can't live without, it will probably be mine.  But not in massive quantities, and not if I have something that will work.

Last night I actually put the new cutting mat on the table and weighted it down.  Today I am going to get things in enough order that I can actually get some work done.  And then, little by little, I am going to get those closets into shape by getting some things finished.....not by reorganizing!!  Wish me luck here.

GRATITUDES:

My stuff and a sewing room to keep it in.

Leftovers and food gift cards....no cooking today.

Sunshine.

Take care,

Jennie