Time Flying By, Priorities and/or Procrastination, Staying Busy

Here it is the end of February already.  I know it's a short month but it's gone by awfully fast.  I don't feel like I am getting anything done. I guess that is why time seems to go by faster when you are older.  You have so much you want to do and more responsibilities than ever.  It just seems you can't do everything and so you prioritize or you don't do anything. I tend to do the later.  I feel so overwhelmed that I kind of shut down.  

But that hasn't been the case lately.  I've been busy. I just haven't been doing what I planned to do.  I seem to have side tracked myself with worthwhile activities. I am also procrastinating what I need to do to move forward. 

I have not done the maintenance on the long arm. It's not even a very onerous thing. I just haven't settled down to do it. Largely because I then have no excuse to put off quilting the Flimsies I have completed.  Is it because I am afraid that I won't be able to do a good enough job on them?

I haven't gotten the shelf up for Steven's flag.  Is it because I am afraid that seeing his picture will make me sad?  

I haven't gotten the dressers and cupboards cleaned out and organized.  Is it because I am afraid that I can't find a place for everything? Is it because I won't be willing to get rid of my excess?  

I know that I am still working on things but not the things I need to and I need to get the incentive to do it.  I also need to do things around the house and quit coming home and collapsing.  I guess I will just have to take more vitamins. 

As for my worthwhile projects. I've cut up a bunch of scraps.  In fact I got a little carried away with cutting scraps for the basket weave quilt. I still need a lot more of the 3 inch white squares. But I have way more of the 3 inch print squares and 3x8 inch print strips than I need.  I could probably do 4 quilts with what I have cut.  I am going to probably do a larger quilt than the pattern is for. Well, that is once I get the 3 inch squares cut.  In the mean time I have switched to 5 inch squares and 2-1/2 inch squares for scrap management. I am thinking of finding another pattern to cut pieces for in the meantime.  

I also worked on a UFO. I dug out the Windmills and Cobblestones quilt. I have sewn all thirteen rows together.  I plan on finishing up sewing the flimsy together this week. I have an idea of how I want to quilt it as well.  I am really pleased with how it is coming together.  I just need to get to my stash and pull out some backing fabric.

This week I tried my wool pressing mat.  I love it! No steam and a really crisp press.  I actually ended up with two of them, a square one and a rectangle one.  One was given to me because the person didn't like the "smell" when using it. The other one, Tatianna and Zach gave me for Christmas.  For the record, I don't notice a smell but again I am not using steam.  I got a bonus with the mat that the kids gave me, a silicon iron rest. I can leave the iron on the silicon rest, it stays hot and nothing gets burned. So definitely worth getting if you don't have one.

Well that's it for this week.  Time to get out my quilt journal and plan the next month and week.  Not that I have to plan much, I just need to copy over from last week and month.  But there will be a few minor changes. Maybe a little less emphasis on declutter/organization and a little more on sewing.

Fabric Hoarding

 Hi, My name is Amy and I am a fabric hoarder. Now I don't know many quilters who don't have a stash. But I am beginning to think my stash is a little out of control.  Today while looking for a particular bin, I found another bin of scraps. How on earth could I not know it was there. I just cleaned under the long arm the day after New Years.  Yet here it is a bin full of scraps of all sizes.

This bin was stuffed full. so I decided I would start pressing some of the scraps and get them ready for trimming this week.  What I discovered was I had a lot of rather small pieces.  Less than 2.5 inches and that is the cut off for scrap sizes for me right now.  I only got about a quarter of the way into the bin and I had this little pile that was just going into the trash. Some of theses were the ends of strips sets that weren't even an inch wide. Some were bits left over from cutting blocks out of fat quarters and were only about 1.5 inches.  I don't know what possessed me to save these little bits.

I did get a few scraps prepped for trimming this week.  I took them out of the bin and pressed them, then put them in my scrap basket. I probably have more than I can do in a week. But I do enjoy cutting fabric and this will go a long way to getting my basket weave fabrics cut.  My son is actually excited by my find because he thinks scrap quilts are the best quilts. I do enjoy making scrappy quilts.

If you recall I just went through a scrap bin a few weeks ago.  I had the larger scraps to cut still. So I put those scraps in with these scraps and now I only have one full bin to process. Well, after I do the ones in my scrap basket.  I will just have to set my timer and work on these a little every night until they are done and then get more out of the bin.  Of course, as I create more quilts the scrap pile will grow, so it's important to stay on top of it.  Any new scraps, I will continue to put in the scrap basket for processing that week. Old scraps will be processed as the basket is emptied.  

Before I know it, I will have this bin emptied too.  I already have 2 empty bins set aside.  I can easily fill them with stuff I have on hand. But that will wait until I decide how to organize things.  One thing I know is that I don't want to be buying any more bins.  I just fill them up and I don't even know what I have. This is not going to be a quick and easy project.

I may be in denial but I've decided that I don't like the term Fabric Hoarder. Instead of calling ourselves fabric hoarders, let's call ourselves fabric dragons.  Fabric Dragons sounds a lot more romantic and fanciful than Fabric Hoarder.  Fabric Hoarder has negative connotations.  I am a Fabric Dragon and my hoard is made up of fabric.

So are you a Fabric Dragon?  Is your stash out of control? How do you organize it?  

Cold and Rainy Equals a Slump

The gray skies and cold temps we have had this week put me in a slump.  I tend to suffer a little bit from Seasonal Mood Disorder. Gray rainy weather tends to slow me down.  When I lived in Washington state, I baked all of the time.  We replaced the light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs and the lights were on all of the time and I still struggled with depression. Here in Georgia, I don't tend to have that problem as much.  Even when I leave for work in the dark and return home in the dark, its not that bad.  But this week, it was cold, it was rainy and it was miserable.  Even the bright lights of my studio didn't seem to work.

On top of all that, I have learned that when the weather turns cold, my asthma acts up.  When I am in an asthma flare, I get exhausted just doing everyday things. I was in bed by 8:00pm most of nights this week. The flares also make me very sensitive to my triggers, many of which are at my work place.  And I worked Saturday this week so I lost a whole day in my studio. This has been a dead week for quilting and working on the studio.  That has me a little bit down as well.  

Today, I tried to break that slump.  I finally unpacked my Big Board Ironing Board. I think I have had it about a year.  I attached the hinge and put the cover on. Then I got my batik strip quilt down.  I really like the Big Board.  Not having the taper at one end is great. I can't wait to press some yardage on it.  I think it will be a lot easier.

As for the batik strip quilt I did get 5 rows attached with some difficulty.  The longer I worked on it the more the fabric seemed to slip.  I am now putting in extra pins and trying to keep seam allowances going in the right direction.  It is not being as relaxing as I wanted it to be. Oh well, I will just have to slow down and take a break.  In the meantime, I need to come up with a better name for it. I am thinking Island Fields. 

It is taking a great deal of self control to not just start another quilt.  One where I just sew squares together. Simple patch work is a great stress reliever but another UFO is not.  So I am going to get some of these UFOs over the finish line before starting another project.

On another note, I have developed a new appreciation for applique scissors.  I don't really do applique so I hadn't really used the 3 sets that I have been given. I almost threw them out when I was decluttering. But they were gifts and so I kept them. Besides my daughter loves them for trimming the baby's nails. Today I found out that they are really great for trimming threads that come through to the right side of the quilt. The curved edge makes it easy to get close to the surface without risking cutting the fabric.  I really found them useful.

How does weather affect you and your sewing?  

How is your UFO pile coming along?

What is you favorite project to work on when you are stressed?

What tool did you find was more useful than you thought it would be?