Organization

Organization is a good thing, and I'm up to my ears in it in my sewing room. Moving to a smaller room may seem just plain wrong; however, it's helping to focus my efforts and take care of stuff I've had packed away for years. Behold, my fabric stash...

We have quilting cotton on the right-hand set of shelves, and crazy quilting and clothes fabric on the left-hand set of shelves. I also have some BOLTS (yes, bolts... what was I thinking???) of fabric in the bottom of the cutting table. I've found fabric everywhere... in bins, in drawers, in boxes, in bags, and in closets. I'm sure I've missed some, but I'm not done yet. The original plan was to put my fabric in the top portion and books in the bottom portion. Heh... not so much. I forsee some more bookshelf shopping in my future! I also need a better system for storing my CQ fabric... those green bins don't show the color very well and they are not in a place that would facilitate inspiration. I have some thinking to do on that point.

This reorganization and shuffling has pretty much taken over the house (and our lives). Furniture is being moved to better locations, dog beds are being thinned out, clothing is being donated and discussions are being had about a new (king-size!!) bed. We bought a huge wooden dining table (off eBay... for $21.17...!!!!) for the patio so we have a true entertaining space out there. This has meant cleaning and organization occuring outside, too. It seems a bit like we are constantly doing this, but my goal is to actually fit into this house. Nothing extra smooshed under beds, no overflowing closets with clothes we might wear sometime, no sheds full of boxes, no plastic bins stacked in corners, no piles of picture frames we might use someday and no old boxes of old papers we don't need anymore. So there!!! :0)

Anywhoooo... that's what I have been doing instead of stitching... a picture of my stash is the sum total of anything even resembling fiber content in this post. A few more days of concentration should have things back to semi-normal around here; although, semi-normal is about as close to normal as we get! Then I'll be able to think clearly and concentrate on the task in front of me... embroidering my CQ. I'm so looking forward to that!

Changing rooms

While we were in Colorado, we helped Josh remove the carpet from his livingroom, revealing the hardwood (and some plywood) underneath. It really got Glenn in the mood to get started on a few things around our house. So, when we got back from our trip, he was all ready to attack the first thing on our to-do list... we wanted to switch the guest room and the sewing room around. We are going to be doing some rearranging of closets in the future, so we wanted to get started by moving the sewing room into the smallest bedroom. This entailed mattress and boxsprings in the hallway, stacks of books in the office area, plastic boxes of beads, buttons and trims in every corner and piles and boxes of fabric everywhere. What a mess! There wasn't room to take everything out at once, so we worked in stages. We pulled up the first piece of carpet only to discover that there was peel and stick tile under it... ugh!

We were expecting just the original concrete so it was rather disheartening to see the tile, but we kept on moving forward...

Glenn used a flat bladed shovel to remove the tile, which actually came up pretty easily, all things considered. Then there was the adhesive left behind... it didn't come up so easily... he had to use a razor blade to remove it.

We also tried vinegar and water, which did help some, but he was still scraping away with his razor blades. The only other alternative was to use a chemical stripper, and there was nooooo way we were gonna use that nasty stuff when it was 113° (45°C) outside, which meant we couldn't get adequate ventilation. Finally, we decided that as long as it looked OK, and there was no stickiness left on the floor, we would call it good. Somewhere down the road, we'll be removing all the flooring in the house and replacing it with wood, so we'll worry about it then. Here's what it looks like with the guest room furniture replacing the sewing room furniture...

That vinyl tablecloth draped across the bed is my "design wall!"

We are working on it a little bit every night. Moving books back in and deciding what goes where. Sorting, too. Getting rid of fabric I'll never use, books that don't interest us anymore, and pieces of furniture that just plain don't fit anywhere. It will all be good once it is done; however, it's still a bit of a mess and there definitely hasn't been any stitching going on. That will start as soon as I can walk into the sewing room!!!

One other very special item I must show you... meet Gus...

He's standing amid the stacks of books. He's a briard that showed up at the Arizona Humane Society and he went home with me last week. Here's a front view...

His owner died and he was taken to the Humane Society... he was so scared! I just fell in love with him on the spot. His fur was apparently pretty badly matted because he really had a chopped up coat, as you can see. He is a real sweetie, though. He hasn't had any accidents in the house, he doesn't bark much and he's all around a pretty good addition to the pack. We are going to have to get a bigger bed, though, he likes to stay really close to his humans!!

That's the latest update from Phoenix... plans are to finish up with the major moving, sorting and stashing by the end of this coming weekend. I'm getting antsy to get started again on my Midsummer CQ. We put the "design wall" up in the sewing room, with the outer blocks still on it. It made me realize how much I have to do yet... gotta get going on it!! Until next time, kiddies!