Lightening Up

It all started when we painted our bedroom. I had an inexplicable urge to clean up, throw out and reorganize. Well, I suppose it could be spring cleaning, but I really hate to use that term. For years I was a devotee of a website that sent me emails telling me what to clean every day. (I still get the emails). The whole idea was that I'd never need to do a major cleaning job again because everything would stay clean and beautiful and organized. And it really did work fairly well (or well enough) when I was working at my career. But when I retired, a strange thing happened. I had time to clean things up, but no commitment. I wanted to do all the other things I had missed out on when I was working. Like quilting. And quilting. And quilting.

But this week, I have been purging and cleaning. I've only made a small dent in it all--my dresser drawers are neat, but that wasn't such a satisfying job because I'm the only one who looks in them anyway. BUT, here's something I can share with you. I'VE STARTED ON MY SEWING STUFF!!! I know, I know. Everyone else started that in January when they made their resolutions. (Have you followed through??) But I don't make resolutions. So here I am mid-March starting on a daunting task. And just so I have something to brag about when I'm done (and to keep me accountable to actually completing it) here is my sewing closet. 

And this is after I weeded out some paper mess yesterday. The closet is a mish-mash of reject bookcases and chests. The blue contact paper covered one was my brother's when he was little, then it was passed to me and was my "pantry" when I was in grad school and then it went to my son, whose room was red, white and blue, hence the blue contact paper. How do you like that sponge painted chest? That was my daughter's. We got it at a thrift store and brightened it up.  What you can't see is an ironing board to the left with a bunch of tote bags (full of fabric) and rulers wedged in. Yuck. All those totes to the right are filled with my old dolls and my daughter's dolls and stuffed animals. And up top are some containers of baby clothing I couldn't part with (but would never fly with modern babies). In the half that you can't see of the bookcase on the left are more bins with fabric scraps, and more books and magazines. (The bulk of my fabric is in dresser drawers in another part of the room.) But I digress. See how hard it is for me to stick to the job? I can't even talk about cleaning up without going down Memory Lane.

I have good intentions of getting rid of some things. I woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago and decided that I didn't need to keep all of the quilting magazines I've kept for years. They are in all the binders you see at the bottom of the bookcase as well as the bookcase you can only partially see. My goal was to page through them and just keep the ones that had held inspiration for quilts I made or had articles about quilters I really admired. The next morning I sat down and started paging. And you know what? I just couldn't do it. I couldn't throw out any of the magazines. They are full of history and are still inspiring. I know a lot of this is available on CDs or online now, but it's so easy to just pull these off the shelf and page through. I'm holding on a bit longer. (My kids have permission to just pitch them when I'm gone.) I think what really bothers me is that they are in all sorts of mismatched binders, also rejects. You know--the ones you get at conferences and workshops. So they're not attractive. We'll see what I can do about that as I continue on my cleaning spree. 

There's another area of the room that needs help, too. Another bookcase. It holds old favorite books and a bunch of leftovers of my Birdhouse Period. More nostalgia. My daughter and I painted a lot of those. But it's time for something different or at least something less. I'm trying to look at the house with fresh eyes, as if I've been away for a very long time. So much stuff just becomes background noise, and I want to pay attention to what's actually on my shelves again. So, to keep myself accountable, here's that bookcase:

It looks extra mussy because I have my treadle set up in front of it right now. But that won't be for much longer, because (I need to shout this) THE BIG QUILT IS ALMOST DONE. Yes, you heard me. I'm on the last block Yippee!!  This is all that's left:

In the meantime, I'm going to pick away at pitching and reorganizing, and if it works out, maybe beautifying my closet. Then I'll be able to start anew with all the other projects that are renting space in my mind these days. 

I'm linking up this week (bravely, because it's hard to expose my mess) with Sew Fresh Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and My Quilt Infatuation because if you've read all the way to the end of this post, you will see it's a bit about quilting--and I know you can relate to the clean-up problem. Buttons are on the right. 

Have a beautiful weekend, and if you celebrate Easter, a lovely holiday.