Organ'I'zed. I think I can

I have already written this post once.  On Saturday.  I sat down.  Wrote it.  Published it.  Then, I took a long hot bath and thought about it. I then came back and deleted it.  Since I have been writing on this blog I have NEVER deleted a post.  I'm not sure why that one felt so wrong to me, but it's long gone and here I am re-writing it because getting organized is an important part of me trying to work daily on quilting.

A few posts ago, I made a commitment to accepting 15 minutes at my machine working here and there rather than trying to be so focused on long periods of time.  Sure, I am much more productive when I have a long time to work, but for now, I don't have the time for that.   I'm taking what I can get and learning to let that be enough.

My friend, Francyne, made the suggestion to get well organized.  That way, when I sit down to work everything is there waiting for me and I can just jump in.

At first, I thought to myself,  "I'm organized."  In my life I consider myself to be a relatively organized person.  I have to be in order to be involved in as much as I am and to do as much as I do.  I like my house to be orderly, not necessarily spotless clean, but orderly.  I like to know where things are so I don't have to search for them.  I like for things to get put away when we are finished with them.  And don't even get me started on how I've got my craft supplies organized.  When storage space is a prime commodity a girls got to be super diligent about how things get stored.  One day, I'll bust out the bead box (sterilite container) and show you what it looks like.  Between the bead box and the fact my fabric stash - which is not only color coordinated, but also divided by gradation has led my kids to think I'm a little obsessive about order.

The more I thought about Francyne's suggestion, the more I realized how much I was fooling myself thinking I had it all worked out when I sew.  I realized I was nurturing the chaos around my machine and using it as an excuse to not sew.  Somewhere in my subconscious I was sabotaging myself.  I never folded fabric back when I was finished and I didn't have any neat piles to go to.  Everything was scattered all about my table.  I even convinced myself this was how I worked best - looking at it now, I realize this is not how I work best.  Truthfully, more often than not I was frustrated by my own mess.  I needed to believe I couldn't get there in order to be ok with not getting there.  I don't know if it makes sense to you, but it is crystal clear in my mind.

How often do we do this in our lives?  There is all this talk of manifesting what we want and then we do something that keeps us from creating what we want. The worst part is we do it without even being aware of our doing it and our own undoing.  The more I think about this, the more I realize how often this happens to me.  I think I'm all focused and on the right path to my goal and then something happens and I get all down and depressed.  I start feeling like some external force has thrown me off - I want to blame everyone but myself.  The hard lesson is when I sit down and really think about it and what I need to do to change things more often than not I realize it is usually of my own doing.  My own attitude waiting for something to go wrong.

Now that I see it clearly, I'm determined to get organized and I'm working on making the change to keep my space ready for me to work at it anytime.

I have all my yellows organized by color and there are 6 fabrics in each stack because each flower has 6 petals.  They are all neatly folded and ready for me whenever I'm ready.  All I have to do is pick which shade of yellow I need next.

I have also traced more flowers than I will most likely need and then when I'm ready to start a new flower I've already got one traced.

 Thanks to my handy dandy thread shelf, I don't have to go looking for thread.  It's all color divided.

I've pulled out the spools I'm using and having them right there by my machine ready along with my free motion foot, the screw driver and the three different pairs of scissors I typically use when working on a project.

Everything gets put away as I finish with it and the best part of all.  It makes working in those small spaces of time a lot easier!

Thanks Francyne for getting me going and helping me realize I was a big part of my time problem.

And one more thing... starting tomorrow, I will be posting a photo India took during the previous week on my blog.  It's a great opportunity for her to have folks see what great pictures she takes and helps keep me from spending a long time writing posts since Tuesday in supposed to be no computer day in house.  We haven't come up with a quirky name for her Tuesday photo spot, so if you have a suggestion, we would love to hear it!

Now, back to those flowers! 

Every Step is Still a Step

As you know I recently read Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg and it had a profound impact on me.  Not necessarily for writing purposes, but for quilting.  I don't know if I will ever become a passionate writer.  I enjoy it a lot, but it's not where my heart lies. 

Quilting is.  

Many of the lessons and thoughts she has about writing I think can be applied to quilting.  The thing I most took away from it is the lesson of no matter what - make time to do what you are most passionate about.  

We work, we have commitments, we have schedules.  Our lives move at such a fast pace.  When do we slow down and do what we really love if we aren't fortunate enough to make a living at it?  

I have started reading another of her books, Thunder and Lightening.  It is also filled with so many words of wisdom not only for the writer, but for the creative spirit.  

The lesson thus far  - We simply have to find time to do what we love - we have to make the time.

I get all bogged down in my days quite often.  I run here and there taking the kids where they need to go and scheduling their plans. I teach the kids, I work, I clean, I cook, and then trying to find the time and more importantly finding the motivation to do what I love is HARD. I want hours of time to sit at my machine sewing.  I think of all I could accomplish if I could just sew for 3 hours a day.  I get into my groove and I can really work fast.  Unfortunately, I'm lucky to find a spare hour during the week and I struggle with guilt when I turn down social engagements to stay home to quilt.  

I am letting go of my attachment to sew 3 hours a day for now. Instead, I am scheduling time on my calendar as sew ins. I am writing them on there as a reminder of my commitment to my passion  - and in hopes of helping me to keep myself from scheduling things on those dates.

  2 weekend days a month that I intend to be home working on a quilt and then I am determined to learn to be ok with 3 hours split however during the week.  As long as they happen.  I'm going to work harder at appreciating the 15 minutes here and the 15 minutes there.

I still won't make as many pieces as I would like, but I will be making more than I would if I don't up my commitment and do it even when I think I don't feel like.  It never fails to surprise me how much better I feel when I make myself sew.  I think I don't feel like it, but then when I do it anyways, everything else simply slips away. All the details of life that sometimes bog me down get lost into the ethers and I get to take a deep calming breath in.  Ahhhhhh.... And then I feel peace again.

The same little mantra keeps coming back to me...

Each step no matter how small is still a step.

 I am committed to being a creative person and making time to quilt.  A commitment to a little more time is a step in the right direction.

I am committed.  I am passionate.  I am doing it.

Thread... Before and after.

It is amazing what an impact something as insignificant to most people as thread is can have on a person. Not to mention the impact on the creative space a person works in.

The thread mess has been an ongoing issue since I started quilting.  Because, as you all know, thread is what holds quilts together. Then, there are the threads you actually do the quilting on top with and if you start thinking about fancy threads and variegated threads, before you know it you have too many thread spools. Well, maybe not too many thread spools, but plenty of thread that then you have to figure out how to store it all.  Before long, you have a thread stash and a fabric stash.

I bought some of those thread racks and put my thread on those for a while, but they never worked for me and took up too much room without holding enough thread. To be honest working in a space that is 10 ft by 10ft nothing can take up too much space.  I gave those away to a quilter friend and went back to the basket. I also tried those plastic thread boxes for a while, but I could never remember which thread was in which one and would have to go through them all to find what I was looking for. Inevitably, I always went back to the basket because at least then my thread was visible and it fit on the shelf behind my sewing machine.

How I loathe the basket.  Looking for thread this is what I constantly found:

A tangled mess. 

 Not to mention I can't tell you how many times I bought the same thread twice because I couldn't find it in the basket of thread.

Then, that glorious night, India's birthday to be exact, I was having that conversation about woodworking with Jason and his grandfather and the idea came to me. 

 A shelf for thread that squeezed just under the ironing board and the wall. 

 Ahhhhhh.... even now it is music to my ears and a sight to behold to my eyes. (Not to mention a wonderful use of wasted space. And in my small little corner of the room no space should ever be wasted.)

My thread shelf. All color organized and ready for projects and right at my side and not in a tangled mess. It's visually stimulating and what I'm looking for will be easier to find.  And, hopefully, no more double buying thread, unless I need it, of course.

You love it too. I know you do.

The funniest part about it all to me is the amount of thread I have. Looking at in the basket it didn't seem like so much. But, looking at it on the shelf, I'm blown away. There is so much of it. So many spools. Almost all the spools are vibrant colors though, so if I end up using pastels anytime soon I will have to buy some thread and if I need any brown I'm really up the creek. I only have one spool of some really old brown thread.  How funny is that?

Now, I'm off to hang the quilts for the quilt show this weekend and to get my dose of inspiration because the folks in the Cotton Patch Quilters Guild are some talented ladies.

Who's coming?

If you are, let me know on FB, I would love to meet you if I don't already know you!

I'm taking my camera with me today and I will try to give you a sneak peek of some of my favorites over the next few days for those of who are too far away and wishing they could come see.

Enjoy your day and quilt some!