Purge and Organize

In the last post I alluded to the purging going on in my sewing room. In the course of this clear-out, I am rediscovering things that had been buried and forgotten for awhile - years, in some cases! You will have to plow through rather a lot of material before I get to the treasures, so please be patient. *grin*

Because I did not take any before pictures of the mess I am currently working on, I scrolled back through all the photos on my phone to see if I had any old ones that would work. The two I found are from 2-3 years ago, evidence that I have done very little in the way of chaos control in ages. Don't judge!! I have always been able to work amongst the chaos; my desk at CHS was always in a heap. Here is a mantra I grabbed from Instagram - @trudi_wood - 

I know, though, that the excessiveness of all this has inhibited my productivity, and with that in mind, I decided that my focus for 2019 is going to be...drumroll, please....PURGE AND ORGANIZE!!

And, then almost as if preordained, I saw this on Instagram via @sweettreasuresquilts (who credits it to Better Homes and Gardens/January issue) and had to snatch it as well!

The idea of straightening up this room is totally a daunting one if I think of it in terms of the whole. It absolutely has gotten out of control. I am in a purging frame of mind, so I must strike while the iron's hot!

I am focusing on just one part at a time so the task won't be so darned intimidating. Therefore, this past week the bit I've dealt with is the area behind my sewing desk. The two pics at the top are of this exact space. On the desk are piles of paper, notes, lists, mementos, and all manner of whatnot that has been moved around and stacked for years. In the boxes stacked against the wall, I have all my grandmother's sewing things, and gobs of crap piled in front - mending, unfinished projects, school stuff, bigger mementos - honestly, my sewing room becomes a dumping ground, and I just climb over the piles to get to my machine. Shameful.

It occurred to me that I ought to be able to pare down Grandma's stuff into tubs that would be less messy looking. I went through every one of Grandma's boxes and combined items, pulled items that will go into a donation or yard sale pile, and, yes, threw out some, too. One entire box - and a large one at that - was full of white and muslin scraps. I will never use those! I sorted through, pulling out any bit that appeared to be sizeable yardage, and discarded the rest.

While sorting her things, I came across two boxes with projects she never finished. One is so far along that I am going to finish it this week.

These pleasing patriotic fabrics were stacked ever-so-neatly (Grandma was a neat-freak, a quality I sadly did not inherit). Do you see some blocks that are constructed? There are 9 finished blocks and 4 finished sub-unit blocks.

Nine of these. Hand-pieced, of course.

Four of these.

Because she had all her fabrics stored together, I know exactly what to use as sashing strips for these blocks, and a finish should be fast and easy.

This post has morphed from purging and organizing into finishing one of Grandma's UFOs. If you have any experience at all with organizing things, I suspect you know how projects present themselves.

I will finish straightening up this area this week, and post an 'after' picture to share here. I have a sewing day planned at Terry's on Wednesday and will work on Grandma's project. I will have pics to share of that, as well.

Hope you have a productive week! I begin my spring semester tomorrow; I must update my syllabus next. Busy, busy!  Have a great Monday!

Happy Quilting, Friends!