Disaster Areas

Sometimes when projects are plentiful the house can get into a bit of disarray. Sorry folks, there’s just no way around that.

Currently our kitchen table is flooded with cardstock, rubber stamps, ink pads and felt tip markers surrounded mostly done Christmas cards. If there was a way to take up less space I’d have figured it out by now. With so many different supplies needed at your fingertips, it is near impossible to reduce the required square footage. Trust me, I’ve tried. Even when I had the craft room at the old house with a specific scrapbooking/card making station, it still looked like a tornado had come through and tossed everything onto the desk.

Now that we share the office space and craft room, it is less likely to simply see a closed door concealing the contents inside. Of course, I have half the room set up just for sewing currently. My cutting table, otherwise known as a foldable card table with a cutting mat on it, currently has fabric stashes for at least four different projects I’m working on. Seriously I have yardage, bits and pieces of batiks for The Desperate Housewife’s Quilt, various sized pieces and scraps from the Auction Quilt I just finished, the backing and border fabrics, along with the remainder for the Green and Brown Baby Quilt I’m working on, and piles of fabric strips ready to be cut and pieced for final blocks on The Fall Quilt. They are just all over the place on that small table making it a wonder I can use it to cut anything at all!

The obvious thing to do would be to organize it all, but then I’d end up taking everything out again and the process would start all over. So instead I will simply put the fabrics away that I’ve already used and are finished with and fold them into columns onto the bookcase I have in the room to hold it all. That way, should I need to come back to any of those projects, the pile used will still all be together. As for the stamps and cardstock, I just need to finish the damn Christmas cards already!

Addendum: I just walked into the craft room/office because I was trying to upload this onto my blog and lo and behold I remembered I had fabric for a fifth project piled up on top that I scrapped because it was, well, far too uninspiring to even start. Oy.

Quiltiness

Ah, to finally start to feel like the craft room/office is becoming such. Ah, now if only I didn’t have to work so I could finally enjoy the room.

Yesterday, after getting home from being called in to work on my day off, I finished folding and stacking my quilting fabric not in my current project folder. Funnily a majority of this is leftover from other projects throughout the years. I’m sure that many of you who have received quilts from me will recognize the fabrics. I suppose it would also be wise to bring in my finished quilt tops from the garage and put them on a shelf too, if only to make it look more quiltier.

While I know this isn’t anywhere near as organized as it should be, it’s a start. Hell, the fact that my fabric isn’t contained within plastic bags anymore is more than a start. Okay, so except for the scraps. I’m thinking I need to empty out a basket or something to put all those in. And all of my fleece and foam for puppet making is still in the garage in a box. And all the batting I hoarded with fifty-percent off coupons and cake order money. Okay, so perhaps in trying to prevent this room from becoming another cluttered chaotic conundrum, I’ll attempt to keep my craft contents in the house to a minimum. Although a cutting table might be nice. Hmmm… I wonder what it would take to turn my old wall cabinet into a table? Other than legs, of course, this might be quite doable. I’ll have to do some measuring to see if this will work.

However, I will say that I finally did the embroidery work on my nephew’s quilt and plan to finish it tonight after the boys go to bed. While it takes hours to do, I find it quite comforting and relaxing, which makes me think I might finally be ready to tackle a hand quilted piece. Might be is the key, so I think I’ll start small.

Creative Space

The craft room/office is coming together nicely. And by coming together, I mean not just a bunch of random boxes strewn throughout.

Yesterday my goal was to get the craft room/office in order so it could be better utilized than a room our female cat uses to hide from everybody and everything that isn’t us. With so many places to conceal herself it was the perfect place. However, we started putting stuff in place and the room is starting to take shape. Well, I mean, the room is square, which is a shape, but beginning to look like people use it for something other than storage.

After figuring placement for both of our filing cabinets (one ended up in the closet) I decided to bring in two of the four remaining bookcases from out of the garage. My plan was to use the large one for fabric storage and display and have my husband use the medium sized one for books and computer related stuff. He says he doesn’t need it, but we’ll see. I won’t complain if he doesn’t.

Setting up the entire room, according to calculations made in my head, should’ve only taken a couple hours. Alas, my brain’s calculator must be off. I will say it is nice to see that, once I started unpacking and refolding the fabric to fit onto the shelves in a somewhat orderly fashion, I realized I don’t have nearly as much as I thought I did. However, then the realization that there are still boxes and my old sewing bag with fabric in them too out in the garage I haven’t brought it. Of course, refolding takes a good amount of time to get all the various sized remnants and yardage into uniform widths for stacking, and I’m sure that is where a majority of my time was spent.

I still have to go through at least two more bags of quilting fabric and then almost all of my upholstery weight fabric before I begin working on the rest of the sewing space. I’m thinking it might be nice to bring in my canvas and denim from the garage too and maybe make some market bags like the one my friend Sarah gave me so I can replace the Crap-Mart reusable bags I end up taking to the grocery store quite embarrassingly. Okay, so if they indeed said Crap-Mart instead of The-Store-That-Must-Not-Be-Named I’d probably use them. Oh, so many ideas getting in the way of what I was setting up my sewing space up for originally! I must tell myself to stop thinking and start quilting.

I Have a Plan

Today, for the first time in a long time, I have a plan. Well, the makings of one anyway.

So with today being rainy outside, practically everything but garage sale stuff moved over from the old house, and less money in our bank account to fill the gas tank in one of our cars, I’m deeming today crafty day. Of course, that means we will have to get the office/craft room in order first, which means arranging and rearranging and getting everything put where it makes most sense. In my mind I’ve got the layout, so it will merely be a matter of putting stuff where I already visualized it being.

And what is this plan after that? To quilt of course! Between my nephew’s quilt and new baby blankets to make for upcoming baby showers, I’ve got a fair amount of small projects to work on in the short term. Long term, I really want to get back to working on The Fall Quilt I started last year so it will be ready for, well, Fall. Of course, I also can’t wait for the “The Desperate Housewife’s Quilt” series being put on by Jane on her blog Want it, Need it, Quilt! (http://quiltjane.blogspot.com) in which she, along with some brave folks who volunteered, will present fifty original eight-inch blocks in fifty weeks. Okay, so now you know the real reason I want to get the craft room set up. I’ve gotta be ready for this challenge! Of course, it isn’t really a challenge or even a quilt as you go kind of thing, but I figured I’ve wanted to make a sampler quilt for years and what better way than with this. Who knows, maybe when Jane is asking for volunteers again in October I’ll feel a little more up to the challenge to come up with something for it.

Stamps or Fabric

I’m torn because of a silly dilemma deciding between two crafts, rubber stamping and quilting. Something tells me one of the two is going to stay boxed up and in the garage.

Okay, so a few years ago I decided to completely overhaul my craft room to make it not only a functional space to actually, well, craft, but also be a guest room that didn’t scare the bejeezus out of our guests. Part of that meant wrangling in my scrapbooking obsession, so I went to IKEA and got a wall cabinet big enough to hold two full-grown adults if you wanted to smuggle them across the border and a stainless steel desk to stamp on, figuring any mistakes could easily be wiped off a metal surface versus a laminated top along with a few storage bins to put the actual items to be scrapbooked in. This looked amazing, with the cabinet filled with rubber stamps and inkpads and pens and glues and pretty much stayed in place unused the entire time we lived there. Oh, I made a few cards here and there or started working on our wedding scrapbook when I’d get inspired to do so, but honestly a part of me got overwhelmed when I realized just how much stuff I wanted to scrapbook I had. A really, really big part of me.

That’s when it hit me. Something about organization curtails my creativity. I mean, I can organize a project as I’m working on it, but if I see everything laid out in front of me ready for the taking, part of the thrill is just not there. I kind of enjoy having to search for what it is I’m looking for, which makes me nervous to instead use the cabinet to hold my fabric stash and put it above the wall where I plan on having the sewing machine here in the house we just moved into. I mean, it’d be a perfect way to contain all those precuts and the typical small yardage I keep on hand, but I know that if I do this I’ll probably end up in the same boat as I did with my scrapbooking stuff. Or will I?

Currently all my fabric, except for the bolts of fabric I have, are in the garage in boxes, for the most part organized into potential projects contained within plastic bags. I’m eager to get it all out, but at the same time, eager to paint the ceiling in the craft room/office white instead of the current blue, which is making the golden hue we painted the walls look dingy. Of course, I’m also eager to get the chickens and all of our fish over here too. Anyway, I suppose I don’t necessarily need to make up my mind just yet as the cabinet is still at the old house, of which the auction was postponed yet again so technically we now have until mid-July to be out, so I guess I should focus on the unpacking process of other things. Of course, the craft room/office really is the last major part besides organizing the garage, but with the garage being the hub of all things unpacked, we really can’t focus on it until we bring in what we want. Then again, we do still need to paint the bathrooms too. Ugh.

Of course, with us currently using the desk as our computer desk, which is great because it is so sexy, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to instead use the cabinet for fabric. Perhaps I can simply organize it in a way that it isn’t really organized. Should I separate by color families or lines? Should I keep all my precuts in one area and yardage on the other side? Or perhaps I should simply shove it all into the cabinet and close the doors and find out what happens. I’m thinking it’ll be a process. Then again, I want the process to be done so I can start sewing again. With so many projects on my mind right now and the inability to work on anything, I’m beginning to get a little stir-crazy.

To Pack or Quilt

I should be packing but I want to quilt. Something tells me there is about to be a tug-of-war.

Under times of immense stress I find that I usually need to take a little time out. For me that means crafting of some sort. With the move so close and the house so not ready to begin transferring items from here to there, I’m beginning to get to the point that I shutdown from being overwhelmed. Sadly we’ve hardly even scratched the surface and I feel this way so I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when we are in full gotta-move-now mode!

Alas, I’m also afraid that the three baby quilts and my brother’s new baby blanket I’m in the middle of making will end up being lost in the abyss if I don’t finish them and get them to their proper homes. But then again, maybe it’ll be better to have something to take my mind away from all the unpacking in the new place. Of course, I suppose that it would be best if I finish up the three baby quilts for our church’s auction next month after we move since the auction isn’t until May 21st, and who knows when I can finish my brother’s new baby’s blanket since I’m still waiting on them to figure out a name.

Focus, focus, focus.

That’s it. Today I am packing up the bookcase and all of my rubber stamps and scrapbooking supplies. Perhaps I need to make a list so that I can simply cross off what I’ve done and organize what needs to be done still. I’m not much of a list maker, but I must say that having one sure makes for a more focused and productive day. Assuming, of course, I don’t get all nostalgic and start reading another R.L. Stine book instead of putting them into a box.

Packing

Today I am planning on starting to pack up the craft room. I’m certain it will be an exciting adventure.

The craft room shares its space with our guest room because, well, although it has enough stuff to make two rooms (or three, perhaps), we do not have two rooms to devote. However, when we move, the guest room portion will be specifically for the boys’s room and we will combine the craft room and the office. This should be interesting, but nothing we haven’t thought of doing in the past. We’d tinkered with the idea a little over a year ago, but I had just created the craft room space the way I liked it and really didn’t want to move stuff around. We also tinkered with the idea of taking the futon and dresser out of the craft room and putting that in the office instead, but neither of us liked the thought of having the computer in the guest bedroom. Alas, the move will force us to rethink our reasons.

What concerns me most is that I have a lot of craft stuffs. I mean a-lot-alotalotalotalotta craft stuff. I’ve got supplies and plentiful amounts for puppets, quilts, embroidery, beads and jewelry, scrapbooking, painting, illustrating, and so many more I don’t know if I could name them all even if I had them all laid out in front of me. What can I say, I craft. It is true that I tend to craft in phases and develop obsessions that come and go, but honestly I couldn’t tell you the last time I scrapbooked or did anything with my beads other than place them all in a box in the bottom of the closet in the craft room and covered them up with bags upon bags of quilting fabric and polar fleece and batting I picked up on sale because I’m a sale-whore. Something tells me I’m going to have to sort through what I really want to keep and what I have no business still having in the house. Some of this stuff I’ve had since I was a kid, I know it’ll mean some tough decisions to make, but also some necessary ones too.

So with that, it is time to open the room, open the closet and lift up the bed and see what wonders and horrors await. If I don’t blog tomorrow can someone please come search for me in my craft room? I may have gotten buried alive.

I Miss Scrapbooking

The other night while we had friends over we got on the subject of Disneyland and Disneyworld, which in turn brought up scrapbooking. Or should I say, the vast amount of stuff I have yet to scrapbook.

Let’s see, with an entire area devoted to scrapbooking in my craft room, one would think I’d be able to simply sit at the desk (yes, even a desk and stool!) and work on a few pages here and there. However, my craft room is in a nearly constant state of chaos, and the desk is usually covered in random unrelated crap. I could blame my scrapbooker’s block on having not printed pictures in nearly four years, but I have so many pictures already printed, many in their own box with the paper, album and other scrapbookables, that this excuse is bullhonky.

So perhaps today after I finish the ladybug mobile I’m working on for my Etsy shop, wash the dishes, go grocery shopping, make a pirate ship out of Rice Krispie Treats and cover it in fondant and make fondant pirates for a cake order this weekend I can work on a page or two, probably from our wedding. I know that once I start that will be all that I need to gain momentum and finish one of them at least.

Of course, my partner came up with an excellent way to scrapbook our random collage of crap (greeting cards, plays and programs, funeral programs, newspaper clippings and pictures) which is to separate everything by year and make a scrapbook for each year. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this. I will still make the special scrapbooks, like big vacations and life events, but by making yearbooks so to speak, it will not only give a purpose to some of the random stuff I like to keep (even the not so pleasant stuff) but also reflect our lives together. Isn’t that the purpose of a scrapbook anyway?