Domestic pursuits

I walked into my craft room a few weeks back and just about laid down and died.

It’s. SO. messy.

Disaster zone messy. Can’t walk anywhere without tripping over something messy. “Were you born in a barn?” kind of messy.

It’s horrendous.

As I began to sort through the mess of fabric and notions and thrifted items and scrapbook paper and stuff salvaged from the recycle bin, I began to identify my problem: Too many ideas, not enough follow through.

I have half a dozen hundred (and that’s not much of an exaggeration there) projects in progress–or fabric and notions paired for a project that’s just in my brain.

I have a ginormous tub full of jeans ready to be made into a jean quilt. I have homespun flannels paired to be used in a braided rug. I have a teal matte velour for a skirt and a gorgeous lavender satin with a scalloped edge for a formal gown and bright green sateen for a Christmas dress. I have flannels already cut to size for receiving blankets, appliqued blocks ready to be pieced and quilted, crazy quilt blocks to be combined. I have bags of fancy fabrics for a crazy quilt of my own design, bags of old t-shirts for a throw quilt, old clothing articles waiting to be upcycled or used as a pattern.

The problem is that all these projects are in some state of UNDONE, and are filling my craft room past its capacity.

I decided that rather than try to reorganize my many ongoing projects ad nauseum, I would try to reduce the mess by completing some of the projects.

So I’ve been doing lots of little stuff around the house these days.

Repainting a thrifted file cabinet and sorting through my files (I still have to repaint the cabinet next to it–then I can empty the filing crate that’s hanging out in the middle of the office.)

Finishing up a bath mat that I started ages ago. It’s made with old t-shirts gathered into ruffles and sewn onto a canvas matting. I had about five rows done and a whole scad of t-shirt strips pre-gathered. I just needed to get sewing.

Making a “Christmas” throw rug (easily washable for bathroom use) with the thrifted towels I’d bought for that purpose a couple of winters ago.

Making a pillow cover from an old sweater (and a pillow form to go inside of it).

Making the needed repairs to this lovely maxi so that I could wear it at last (I bought it in rather shabby condition.)

Altering this shift down a few sizes so that I could finally wear it. (Yes, I do buy vintage clothing that doesn’t quite fit if I think I can figure out how to make it fit.)

Making a bag (using thrifted fabric) for the waffle blocks I’d bought at a thrift store a month or so ago.

Finishing another row of quilting on a quilt I started three or four years ago (using old dresses and skirts!)

Decoupaging 20 advertising magnets so that they don’t advertise anything anymore.

Except one, which advertises myself:

(Beyond the glare, that one reads “Bekah Bekah Bekah”)

Can you tell which patterns I liked best?

And I’ve made a new Kindle cover (for which I will someday put up a tutorial–I’ve taken the pictures and I have the steps written out–I just need to translate it into web-speak.)

Fully opened:

Fully closed:

Unfortunately, all this has barely made a dent in the disaster that is my craft room. I did, however, at least get my larger pieces of fabric in some semblance of order:

(Please pardon the blurriness of that photo).

And I pinned a few hundred additional craft ideas.

Of course.

:-)