Done and Done and Gone

I finished up the slow-stitched beach bag, which turned out neat, I think.

More than anything it was a relaxing project, and gave me time to think about lots of stuff.

I also finished this treat bag I made from my bargello experiment and filled it with snacks before mailing it off to my kid so she would get it in time for Halloween.

I'm writing this post on 10/22, but it will publish on the first day of NaNoWriMo. With the puppies, my work schedule and some other things I need to deal with it's probably going to be very tough to swing. I may change my mind, too (again). Anyway, I'll update this post if I decide to participate, but right now it looks like a no for me.

Comments

nightsmusic said…

The slow-stitch turned out beautiful! Truly.

I will not be doing NaNo this year. Hubs is getting his knee replaced January 3rd, I have three birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and a dozen doctor appointments between now and then not to mention a few more tests for him so while I could probably find the time if I pushed it, my concentration wouldn't be there. Better I write when I can focus than try to push myself right now.

November 1, 2021 at 7:17 AM

the author said…

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it.

I decided not to do NaNo this year, either. I'm feeling a bit jaded about the way it's being commercialized, and I'd rather not be distracted from work writing. I'd like to finish one more novel before the end of the year. Also, with the short story project I feel like I already have plenty to write just for fun.

November 1, 2021 at 8:23 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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