Cleaning up the Ivory Tower…..

Do you ever feel like you need a magic carpet to make your way through your quilting room?  

This is what I’ve needed this past week to get through my sewing area! 

I don’t know about you, but I just can’t work in a messy, disorganized environment.  It’s okay to turn the room on its head pulling out fabrics to start a new project…. Oh yeah!  That’s FUN!!  But once it’s planned and cut and I’m ready to sew, I have to put things back in order before I start sewing! 

So, not much sewing has been going on the past few days because I’ve been very busy taming the stash!  It had seriously begun to get completely out of hand, and I found myself wasting a lot of time just looking for fabrics because they were not where I thought they should be.  A few days ago my studio looked like this….

Pulling out fabrics to give away.....

Flannels.... Wow! These are like dust bunnies,  multiplying while my back is turned!

How many greens do YOU have?  I obviously have more than I thought :*)

Stuff just shoved onto the shelves... not good!

Now all these piles have been neatly organized...........

............ and put in their proper places on their shelves….

I remember when my mom would view my room after I had cleaned it (under protest of course!)  She'd always say, “Now, doesn’t that look better?”  Yes, Mom, it does!!!

I’ve also pulled out a LOT of fabric that no longer works for me. 

TONS of fabric being pulled out!  These are fabrics I bought or picked up on the “free” table at guild when I first started quilting, and I know I’ll never use them.  Tastes change, and I only have so much room, so I’m getting a lot more picky about what is allowed to remain in my stash!  I’ve pulled out some that I’ll sell at our guild’s yard sale, but most of it I’ll put back on the “free” table or take to Goodwill. 

I'm sending out a HUGE Thanks to my good friend Dar over at Dar's Patchwork Garden who reminded me that I can count destashing older fabrics like this as MINUS YARDAGE on my Stash Report!  Yoohoo!!!  And it’s a lot of yardage too!!!  More room for new stuff, right ;-)  Thanks Dar for reminding me to count this!

So, as I said, not much sewing getting done.  Lots of Plotting and Planning though!!!  =^..^=    

Planning as in picking lots of DOTS fabrics out as I’ve been reorganizing. 

Why?  Because my day on the Dots on Dots Blog Hop is September 17, and I’m really looking forward to showing what I’m planning on doing with all my happy little dots :*)

And Planning my next Promises & Borders block for slow stitching. 

I just LOVE these sweet little blocks!  Each stitch reminds me of how wonderful my Father is and how much I love Him!!!

I’m also doing a lot of Plotting …. What will my September NewFO Challenge project be?  Hmmmm…. So many quilts, so little time!!!  I think I’ll explore those options in tomorrow’s post.  Be sure to come back & see what I decide!  =^..^= 

Today I am keeping those in the path of Isaac in my prayers!  It looks as though it will miss us all the way up here in Nashville.  Although we may get some of the outer bands of activity.  My friend Norma took this picture while on her morning walk - is this spectacular or what???

Red sky at morning, sailors take warning!

Later in the morning, this was the view from my back porch....

......... the cloud bands can be clearly seen but it is only the very edges of it, so no rain or other types of weather yet.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed though, because we sure could use some of that rain!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=