Old Tasks, New Direction

I got this warning in my fortune cookie from our Chinese takeout:

It sounds ominous, right? It certainly could be, but I don't think it is. What it immediately called to mind for me was all the projects I've stuck in my to-do bin:

As I mentioned last month I'm losing function in my only working hand due to the progression of my arthritis, and I think by this time next year I won't be able to hand stitch anymore. Now I can whine and cry about that (and I have), or I can get on with what I want to do right now while I can still do hand work. I can do a lot in a year, trust me. :)

Along with my silk crazy quilt I've added my to-do bin to my hand quilting bucket list. So I unpacked the bin to look at everything and decide in what order I should do them:

These are shibori fabrics dyed by a textile artist; I have some vague notions on making them into an art piece.

I've always wanted to make a queen or king size version of the Yellow Brick Road pattern in greens, teals and blues. I've slowly collected fat quarters to do one.

I really, really want to make a My Secret Garden quilt out of these scraps.

Two piles of patchwork I purchased from KnJ Studio that would make pretty lap quilts.

A four-patch quilt top and some matching fat quarters that I picked up for a song. I wanted to make this into a charity-donation quilt.

No idea what to make these fabrics into; I just liked the vibe of the prints. Sort of industrial/grungy/steampunky.

Two more table runners by KnJ Studio waiting to be made.

There were a few more, smaller projects as well. I sat and thought about it a lot before I repacked the to-do bin in the order I want to do everything, and I'll be working on these one by one until I can't hand sew anymore.

To see the first four projects I chose, stop in tomorrow.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

I really like that grunge grouping. I have no idea why, but it's unique.

I'm still picking away at things, sewing, piano...but my right index finger continues to twist. It's good for my arthritis though, my hands don't hurt so much, so I keep on keeping on too. Don't stop until you absolutely can't do one. more. thing.

August 20, 2020 at 5:56 AM

Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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