Saturday started the first day of 4 days off in a row. It will be a quiet Christmas at our house as only one of our four children will be home. Yesterday morning I decided to fill my coffee mug and headed downstairs to my original sewing room. It’s been occupied by someone other than myself for the past 15 years. It is a beautiful space with windows, built-in cupboards and a functional walk-in closet that my husband built to house my sewing supplies and stash. Like most spaces that have not had any attention in years, things were added to the room without properly storing them. I am at a point where I can no longer find what I need.
I was determined to work in my studio for the length of one album. I put on Cher’s new Christmas album and rolled up my sleeves. There are bins and baskets everywhere to be sorted. Some things were no longer important and hit the trash or the donate bin but other items were a reminder of projects past. Some were projects were just gathered into a project bag and others needed to be sorted into project bags. I have been collecting them into one location and as I have heard from many of you, I have no business starting anything new.
One Project of Christmas Past that was taking up a significant amount of space in my closet was my byAnnie Project bag. I love her bags and projects and some of you even came to my monthly byAnnie Club. A few of my projects of my past were the step outs from class. Basically, I made a sample and then I made bits and pieces of a second one to use as a teaching tool. There were also other projects that I had quilted the fabric but not started and another that was all cut out but assembly had not begun. In total, there were 5 projects in that bag just waiting for me to get around to it.
So, after my sorting time, I rolled up my sleeves and got around to it. I have nearly finished my Stash and Dash. I went as far as I could but I need a few zipper pulls to complete the project. I had to rummage through my zipper cut offs to get as far as I did. The binding is even made and ready. As soon as I have zipper pulls, I can bind and I will have completed a project from Christmas Past.
Next up, I decided to wait on the Laptop Bag until the end. I love the fabric and the project but I cut out the wrong size bag. I wanted the larger one and I am still deciding whether I repurpose the quilted fabric into another bag or if I just go ahead and complete the smaller bag. Time will tell.
The lingering projects are matching Get Out of Town bags that Alyssa and I chose fabrics for when we were back in our old Pine Needles Store…..way back in time. This project has been waiting for me for awhile and it is truly one I wish to finish but to even start it required a clear table to lay out the quilted fabric to cut it out. That was a project in itself and the remaining bits of the table clutter just settled under the table. Some of the zippers and hardware that were originally purchased have gone in other projects but I am going to forge ahead and get as far as I can until the store reopens on Wednesday. Since I have two bags, I think I can get quite far before I am at a stand still.
It feels good to take action and that large space in the closet has already been filled with other stuff that still needs to be sorted but at least it’s not in my walk space. The room is taking shape one album and coffee at a time.
Cheers to all of our Projects of Christmas Past and I look forward to starting new ones as soon as this one is finished. Chatsworth is on the design wall waiting for it’s turn on the sewing machine.
Happy Sewing! Joy