I was in the middle of my archeological dig when my husband plunked himself down(uninvited) to stare at me while I worked. His (failed) attempt at conversation went like this: "I would go crazy in this room." When I did not respond, he left for elsewhere in the house where, presumably, he will not go crazy.
While I moved and sorted piles of fabric, I discovered:
1) untold numbers of blocks from never-finished or never-started quilts from another era. Most are in the "what was I thinking?" category.
2) many boxes of fabrics I printed for the book - some that appeared and many that ended up on the cutting room floor, where they belonged.
Since I have not been printing much lately because I have a problem with my left hand, I am relegated to the sewing machine and the design wall till I find out what needs to be done. So I guess I need to challenge myself to use some of these ugly things. Too tired tonight to get started but I'll be back in the studio tomorrow and maybe I will start experimenting. What do you do with your leftovers??
8 comments:
I have 3 higher tables plus a regular table. It seems as if I am constantly cleaning them off so that I can actually work!!
My husband comes into my room uninvited, puts the curtains right and says: "Messybear." Then starts inquiring: "Will you still need this? Can it be thrown away?" I say "gettout."
My working table is about 17x20". I do my quilt on the lap in the living room.
Leftovers? What leftovers?
Well, I know what my m-i-l does with them. She gives them to me.
Since I'm the biggest clutterbug, I've come up with rules I have to follow while in my sewing hole or else there would be no room for me! One of them is that all the left overs have delegated storage boxes in my loft. Any hand dyed scraps go into gallon size ziplocks sorted by colors. Any UFO's that I'm NEVER going to do are now being sold on Ebay, given to a friend who might do them, or thrown out. Any commercial fabric scraps get cut up into charms squares or strips and put into boxes sorted by measurement size.
My DH's workroom is messier than mine, so he would never make snide remarks if he came in. My stash has migrated to a dresser in the guest room, and right now it's overflowing onto some bins and a ratty old chair I keep in there to sit on when I dig in the drawers. I also have an overflowing work table in my studio that occasionally gets cleaned off, sorta, but almost immediately gets covered up again. Oh, for a larger workspace... sigh!
It makes me CRAZY when Craig comes into either my dye studio or my sewing room, as he always makes comments regarding the mess and how can I possibly work under such conditions! HA! When I pick up my Olfa cutter or xacto knife he generally gets the hint and departs in a hurry: HURRAY!
What is happening with your left hand that you aren't doing any printing??
xo
I cut or rip my leftovers into smaller pieces. Often, if a piece of work doesn't click as a whole, it works beautifully in small bites.
Unfortunately, my MD and I share a computer, which is in my studio. He is Mr. Neat. He refers to my studio as the dungeon. I just ignore him.
However, since he is retired he does check up on me at least once a day to see what I am working on. He comes in and ask questions. Recently, he has started picking up very tools and inquiring about their use.
Ah, yes, having a retired man in the house questioning every piece of scrap or UFO can cause some stress, who needs it? But, he's starting to come around. I recently finished two small pieces just because I was able to find tiny scraps right next to the sewing machine. Toss scraps out? Never! Though, I do try to purge at least once a year. Sometimes just letting go of piece that didn't work can open the door to new work. Clutter does clutter the mind, or so I'm told!
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