It was almost overwhelming trying to decide what to do tonight. Why? Because I only have one more night left after tonight, and there's so much more to do. But seeing the progress I've made will actually inspire me to do some cleaning even after this month's challenge is over. And that, my friends, is the whole point of doing it For Just One Month. It will start me on a positive path for things I need to do, will help me wheedle out hobbies by making me put significant time into them, and will teach me new skills that will come in handy in life (can't you wait until the month I teach myself surgery? Just kidding. I don't do blood).
So, I went back to the sewing room. If you saw the shelves in the background of the days I've spent in there already, you know part of the sewing room problem is the shelves. I tackled eight squared. First, I worked on this set of six (plus others adjoining it as necessary, but unpictured):
Seriously, do you think I can find anything I'm looking for? Do you have any concept of the times I've bought hand sewing needles, because while I know I have them, I can only find applique or quilting needles?! And, with good reason. Look at those shelves! Organized, it is not! This is an IKEA Expedit 5x5. The shelves on the bottom (at least on this side!) are actually pretty nicely done--there are quilt books on the second to the bottom shelf, and clear IKEA boxes with fabric on the bottom shelf (but they don't make the clear bins anymore! I'm heart-broken, because I still need more to get the rest of my fabric in, but it hasn't been in the budget since I bought the first three!). But these cubes? Oof. So I started moving things around, and have two piles on my table now of things that belong in either the den or the family room downstairs--making me wonder what they were doing in the sewing room in the first place!
In the middle left cube, I have some white background fabric, but also a large pile of plastic or tin containers. I love little containers, and many of these are from my day as a candy merchandiser, so they're heart and tree shaped, and originally contained candy. But I couldn't bear to through them away when I could surely find a use for them! Right now, I'm hoping to be able to store things in them, but I may have to relegate them to gift boxes if I can't find things to store them in. But now they've been gathered from various shelves (both pictured and not) to sit in that cube. Sewing supplies were put into the various drawers they belong in, and many things that didn't belong in the sewing room (that basket on the bottom left cube had a lot of pictures and such stuff that belongs down in my den). And suddenly, these shelves look a little more organized. Hooray!
I hadn't planned to move over to the smaller shelves (Expedit 4x4), but I found a box of sewing patterns--for clothes (rather than quilts). I realized I had a basket on these shelves that would probably work perfectly, if only I could get to it, so I decided to clean out these two shelves to get to the basket in question:
I think henceforth I'm going to try to dedicate the 4x4 to clothing and supplies, while the 5x5 can be quilting and quilting crafts (like making purses). It's not that way at the moment, but I think that's the goal. At any rate, the right cube is fabric for clothes to make, and I had no idea what was in that basket. Batiks and other scrap fabrics, it turned out. Those could easily go into a shoe box that held some of the patterns, but was very ill suited for that task indeed. Plus, that plastic bag on the left? That's a quilt project that I've been working on for about seven hundred twenty two years, give or take a few months. Maybe someday...
The basket now holds patterns! Some day, I need to go through patterns and have active possibilities in here--the clothes I want to make myself, plus a few other little things I want to make for my nieces (should I get any) and nephews. For example, right now that box contains some patterns for formalwear and bridal wear. I'm done with weddings in which I'm actively involved for the foreseeable future (and possibly forever), and can't think of any formal occasions requiring me to sew formalwear and accessories. Those can be put to a less accessible spot and some other patterns I may have more interest in at the moment may move down to this basket.
But right now I need to do a little research on August's project, before I start it, and then get to bed!
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