There’s something about organizing stuff that is very satisfying to me. I find that many times, when I have a creative project that I’m about ready to start working on, I procrastinate. But, if I spend some time organizing my workspace, I can approach my creative project in a much more relaxed manner. Weird, huh?
Now, I may be great at organizing stuff, but I’m lousy at keeping it that way. That’s because I pull out all the stuff I’m going to need on a project, I do the project, but then I don’t get around to putting it away until [ ... ]
Archive for the Category »studio «
Jul 05
2011
There’s something about organizing stuff that is very satisfying to me. I find that many times, when I have a creative project that I’m about ready to start working on, I procrastinate. But, if I spend some time organizing my workspace, I can approach my creative project in a much more relaxed manner. Weird, huh?
Now, I may be great at organizing stuff, but I’m lousy at keeping it that way. That’s because I pull out all the stuff I’m going to need on a project, I do the project, but then I don’t get around to putting it away until [ ... ]
Category: organizing, storage, studio
2 Comments
May 06
2011
I just got back from being away for a week (more about that later). Waiting on my coffee table, welcoming me home, was Cloth Paper Scissors’s Summer 2011 Studios magazine. A quick flip to page 21 and you’ll find my instructions for building your own custom thread storage unit!
I know I mentioned it recently, but I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve been using mine for about four months now, and I love it! I’m hoping other people will enjoy it too.
I was a little disappointed with the editing because they renumbered the steps, so [ ... ]
Category: published, storage, studio
One Comment
Apr 28
2011
How often do you clean your machine? I know I’m supposed to do it fairly frequently, but I usually forget. After I had a couple threads break this morning, I decided it was time to see what was going on in the bobbin area. Yuk! Look at what was down there.
My sewing machine has a drop in bobbin, so this procedure might be different than yours. For mine, I remove two screws to take off the needle plate.
Then the bobbin holder slips out. I know there’s always lots of lint under there.
Now I can use [ ... ]
Apr 27
2011
I’m really good at procrastinating. Maybe it’s because I practice so much. Particularly when I have ridiculous deadlines. Then I’m totally interested in cleaning and sorting stuff. Maybe the process of having to face things logically and unemotionally helps me to get ready to face my deadline logically. Or maybe it forces me into a complete state of panic until I can’t procrastinate any longer. I’m not sure which.
I also need to learn to take before and after pictures. In any case, my quilt guild is getting ready for our annual auction, so that was my excuse [ ... ]
Category: organizing, storage, studio
2 Comments
Apr 26
2011
I’m excited! A double whammy! I just saw that the Summer 2011 Studios magazine is available for preorder, or the digital version is available immediately. My instructions for a do-it-yourself thread cabinet are in that issue! If you go to the link and see the phrase “Instructions for Making a Customized Thread Organizer,” that’s my article!
I admit I’m completely addicted to anything that organizes. I love nice, neat little rows of things. I’m not saying my life is actually like that! It just resonates within me. So, I naturally fell in love with Studios magazine [ ... ]
Category: organizing, published, storage, studio
8 Comments
Apr 25
2011
I’m procrastinating. I have something I need to do, so naturally I end up doing something else.
I continued the magazine purge last night and today. I’ve now gotten rid of enough magazines to clear out an entire shelf! That’s 23″ of space! Now…what to put there…
For now, I’m putting my pretty Ruby Mountain Dye Works fabric on the empty shelf so I can soak in the colors for a while.
Okay, enough procrastinating…
Category: studio
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Apr 23
2011
I lost 9″ today! Nine inches of magazines taking up shelf space. Okay, I admit that might not sound like much. But, that is 38 magazines that I paged through and got rid of. Some I gave to a family with three kids so they can cut them up. Some went into the trash. I have a stack of more magazines to go through in future nights while we watch TV.
I’m glad I spent the time to flip through each magazine before I threw them away. See the tiny stack on the right? That’s what I’m keeping. I [ ... ]
Category: documenting quilts, storage, studio
4 Comments
Apr 22
2011
I spent today cleaning my studio – again! If I plan on actually using it, then I guess it’s not realistic to expect that it will always be clean, right? After a couple of projects and then preparing for a lecture and two workshops, I could barely walk back there. So, I dedicated all of yesterday to put things away, throwing stuff out, and prewashing fabric.
I also reorganized the bookcases in my studio. I have some Qube Carts that I use when I lecture or teach a workshop, and I realized it would be nice to be [ ... ]
Category: organizing, studio
2 Comments
Jan 28
2011
I have a confession. I hope you will all understand.
I bought more fabric. These beautiful hand-dyed fabrics came to live with me yesterday.
Actually, I’ve bought an absurd amount of fabric since Thanksgiving.
It all began when I pulled out my old pack of Color-Aid paper and made a color chart, followed by some color wheels. That led to sorting my stash and reorganizing my fabric cupboard which, of course, made me realize that I had a lot of empty space don’t buy certain colors very often. Since that time, I’ve [ ... ]
Jan 15
2011
Seems like I’ve been spinning my wheels the last couple weeks. For the past five days I’ve been drowning in paperwork. Mostly end-of-the-year paperwork and tax stuff for my family, for our church, and for my quilting. Of course there were a few distracted side trips sprinkled in. One of my rabbit trails was organizing the drawer where I keep files on each of my quilts. (Wow — just about anything is better than taxes!)
I began to realize how important it is to document quilts when one of my own quilts was lost during shipment. This led me to [ ... ]
Category: documenting quilts, studio, tutorials
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