CLEANING OUT

Wow! I never realized how many patterns I have accumulated over the years, and how many are duplicates. Most of them are in page protectors or in file folders and now I am in the process of organizing them. What a job! I started off by buying a large wire mesh file organizer where all of my folders will reside. I have a lot of folders that will hold the patterns in page protectors and am sorting through them. What a job! But once it is done, it will be worth it. And here it is, sitting inside my closet next to the wall. Now, I can just open my closet and pull out the pattern that I want.

I also had a huge folder full of info, hints and techniques, a lot of which are very good but a lot of them were extras, so I cleaned it out and am donating it to the guild as a donation. I’m sure someone will appreciate it. I am putting like patterns in paper binders, such as patriotic, baby, etc. and those will reside in the wire organizer. The loose patterns that I have printed out will go back in a box or thrown away.

It feels really good to downsize and purge so my kids hopefully won’t have to do it later on. I also cleaned out my bookcases and have about 30 books that I won’t ever use or don’t care for that will be donated. Maybe after the auction, if they don’t go to a new home, I will put them on my blog to give away for the cost of postage. Will let you know what happens.

I also cleaned out a bunch of fabric scraps and UFOs that I no longer wish to work on and those will be donated also.

Back to cleaning out.

Oh, and here is my bookcase now:

And my closet all nice and organized.

Oh, those are bags of leftover batting and in the totes, that is fleece that I want to use but have no other place to put it. Right now the front hall and my bedroom look like the will-call section of a department store but hopefully by end of Thursday evening, they will all have found new homes. Maybe after the auction, the leftover books will be put on my blog to give away for the cost of postage. Will let you know what happens.

Time to go sew some more.

Guild Auction

Tonight was our guild’s auction where everyone brings gently used items and you bid on it by placing a ticket in a bag. I flung a serger, an embroidery combo machine, 30 books, fabric, patterns and UFOs, and other goodies! Guess What??? I didn’t come home with any of my own stuff. So very happy! I even brought a huge bag of leftover batting and that is gone!! Woohoo!!

In fact, before the auction Joanie (guild president) asked me if I would be willing to donate the embroidery machine to an Afghanistan refugee who had that on her wish list. I said yes, and I am truly happy that it went to someone who can really use and want it. That really made my day-night to be able to help someone.

I did come home with some fabric, not mine, as I put a ticket in a few bags, some really fun baby-kid fabric and a bunch of patterns. I really wasn’t expecting or wanting to bring anything home, but hey, since my ticket was the only one in the bag, home they came. I can use some of them and the other fabric I will gift it to someone else, along with some of the patterns.

I also turned over a QOV that will be given to a veteran at one of the homes along with some table runners. Either way, my closet and my bins thank me for cleaning them out. All in all, a very fun evening with good friends!

Signed,

Sleepy in Fresno.

And the cleaning continues! We live in a very dry area that has been affected by draught the past few years and so we have a pest problem. I keep the house clean but they still love to infiltrate our home, especially my sewing area. I have 2 dressers that they especially love to hide in and so since they are there, DH and I have decided to remove those dressers and put up shelving instead. Luckily, DD has a wire rack that was discarded by a store and it will fit in nicely. I also have a ton of rubbermaid-like products that should fit on the shelves nicely. Once we get it set up, I will post pictures.

I’ve been thinking for a while about rearranging my room again. I had a tall wooden dresser and a smaller dresser next to my formica table where my machines reside and they are now out in the garage, courtesy of DH. They have been replaced with wire shelving and plastic drawers. They are nice dressers but it just wasn’t working for what I wanted plus the wire shelving makes it more accessible and easy to find things, plus less dust. The other stuff that needs to be corralled (that also is not used as much) will probably go in the closet and I will move some of my small shoe boxes full of fabric to the wire shelves. I’m liking the look already even with my table piled high!!

The next to bottom shelf will be for my larger rulers, templates and cutting mats. Not sure about the rest of the shelves yet, one at a time for right now. Back to my table that overfloweth with stuff.

So, I decided to go ahead and put my threads, accessories and other items not used often on a couple of shelves in the closet and moved all of my shoeboxes full of scraps onto the wire rack. May as well have them right where I can see them and hopefully use. This is what my closet looked like before.

Here is the wire rack.

As you see, my patterns are all in one place and I can access them easily. Also, my machine tote fits right under it. I really like how it looks, even though my room may look a little crowded I can find my scraps easily and hopefully use them up. Of course in other containers around the room there are more scraps waiting in the wings.

I also made a couple of purchases this week. A Panasonic 360 degree cordless iron which I absolutely love!! It is so easy to use and lightweight. No more wrinkles from a cord following behind the iron! WONDERFUL investment!