Spring Clean Your Studio

I admit the house and, in particular, my sewing room has gotten away from me lately. I could give you all the excuses but you probably know them. My job, my kids, this endless cold that just will NOT let go, the fact things always get worse before they get better – ARGH!!

The most time-consuming thing is that I have been redesigning the PhoebeMoon website. I came across this article I wrote years ago called Organizing Your Quilting and Sewing space and reread all the tips. I’d like to say it made a huge difference – and it did, sorta. Lots of people contributed tips at the bottom, but none was more important than getting the dog out of the way. Every time I cleaned a spot, he would move into it, and eventually, I just gave up.

Then Muppin issued a challenge: show your space and then clean it up! OK, I can do that! Well, I can take pictures of the mess, anyway.

The picture above is my general sewing area. It’s the second-largest bedroom in the house. I try to keep sewing-related items in one place – you can see that I have too many books and random stuff piled here and there. I was trying to sort things out when this picture was taken and it was all just getting to me. Easier to just close the door.

But I can’t do that – I have patterns to write and blog post deadlines to meet. I was working on T is for Temperance when this picture was taken. I am pretty sure I own a Temperance quilt but I never did find it. You see, this isn’t the only room in the house that I have taken over.

The picture below shows the bedroom that is supposed to be a guest room. I have been haphazardly sorting through those buckets for almost a year – I never seem to get anywhere! Once in a while, I will package up some fabric, patterns, books (etc.) that I know I will never use again in my life and bring them to my next guild meeting for the share table. Of course, I always seem to bring home more than I brought. That doesn’t help much.

If I am being truthful, at least half of those buckets are full of the antique blocks, tops, and quilts that I used when I taught with the Quiltbus. Now I travel by RV but my “lecture buckets” have been reduced to rolling suitcases. I can’t bear to part with some of my treasures though!

By the way, here is what that room is supposed to look like:

I did ask my husband to install shelves in the closet, so when I decide to keep things, they get piled in the closet. Now, that is a door that is EASY to keep closed.

I have the same shelves in my sewing room, and they are equally full, but I also keep my longer Accuquilt dies in that closet. The rest are in a former bookcase.

Well, after a week of cleaning, here is the guest room. You can see I emptied 4 buckets (on the right.) Most of them were quilts that went into rolling suitcases and were sent to the attic. The other buckets are antique blocks and fabrics, which I will organize and sell someday. That day is not today.

Have another tip to offer? Send it to me or reply below and I will add it here.

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