Stay.See.Make.Do.

31 Days Over, or Don't Let the Screen Door Hitcha on Yer Way Out

I still plan on "Making a Dent" but deciding to post every day obviously didn't do it for me. I've learned that a daily deadline for me just results in a lot of rambling.

You know what I did get finished? I organized my yarn. So there's that. Here's a bit:

I also managed to reacquaint myself with some of my supplies. I didn't remember I had those little wooden doll head beads, or the bag of mini clothes pins buried underneath.

And what in the world am I doing with all this plastic lanyard cord? Some of it even glows in the dark! I think a chaplet was planned, but most of it was probably for pony bead weaving. 

As far as the other stash goes, I didn't even touch the fabric, which was where I had decided to begin. So... yeah. Still on the list. There is a plan for that polar fleece, though, thank goodness!

So if "well begun is half done", what is "half begun"? Better than none! Lol

And don't even bring up NaBloPoMo. Really.

Fluff

Isn't this pretty? 

Do you know what it is? 

You'll have to guess. Bwahaha.

Today I decided to go after a few of the storage drawers in my craft closet. The most I can say is, I made a dent. And now I am ready for a little more work, for some chocolate ice cream, and to call it a day.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

At some point I decided that putting all this crap priceless stuff into a closet was a good idea. In part, it was. It no longer sits next to the television, staring at me the way it was in the picture below. But once I tucked it away I hardly ever looked at it again. Sure, there's the glue drawer, where I keep the adhesives. Need some tape? I know where it is. Same for ribbons, paints, and yarn. It's where I can get to it if I want it. But it seems I don't want it very often. And what about the weird stuff? Two of those drawers are full of unfinished wood items, everything from coffee sticks to picture frames. Those things have been in there for ages, unused, unloved. There's also a drawer with several empty Altoids tins. A bag of rafia. Styrofoam balls. Pastel pom-poms. Magnets. You get the picture.
And there it sits, waiting...

AAAAAHHHH. I don't have space in my life for all of these things anymore. Makes me want to run and hide. But that is why I decided to tackle this problem for my 31 Days of Decisions. Face fears head on. Don't be a wimp, right? It seems that what once was a treasure trove is closer now to the stuff of nightmares. (Wait. Were these things stolen from the Aztecs by Cortez? That would explain a lot. RELEASE THE KRAKEN.)

Much of this was saved with some project in mind. Often that project involved having fun with my children. So, one option is to turn a lot of it over to my kids. Which I am happy to do. Except. Do you know what it is like to craft with kids? Well, think about yourself and your crafting space when you decide to make something. Don't you spread out a bit? Don't you stop and daydream? Don't you spill things occasionally? Now at least double the area you use, and then multiply it by the number of kids participating. What I'm saying here is: It takes room. And time. And some planning. And while it is totally worth it, it does take patience.

And then you get to try to convince the kids that the priceless work of art they just created needs to be sent to Grandma. After all, your house is overflowing and you'd like to spread the wealth. Right, kids?

Okay. So now you see what I deal with in my head even before ideas become reality. Heavens. No wonder I'm in this pickle.

Do you think "out of sight, out of mind" would apply to me if I hid in the bathroom for awhile?

************

Apologies for these posts. I know they are rather rambly and sound like stream-of-consciousness meandering. I'm hoping the plan will eventually come together, and then this whole journey will look genius. Hey, a girl can dream.

 

 

Making a Dent, Part III

Start with the fabric.

Is that where we landed on that?

Using it. 

Yup. And I'm deciding... 

... *crickets*...

Just kidding. I actually have a couple of pretty straightforward ideas for how to go about this, and they both involve a lot of sewing. I'm brainstorming here, and these are the first two plans. No idea which one is going to work, if either one will, but for now here 's what I've got: 

The Trilogy Plan.

Pull out three pieces of fabric. 

Think of at least three things you could do with each, including but not limited to: give it away, make it into a pillowcase, make it into a tote bag, make it into an item of clothing.  Choose the thing that makes the most sense. Not locked in at this point, but any idea is better than none.

Sort fabrics by similar projects. Start a dollclothes pile. A household items pile. An accessories pile. (This step is a little fuzzy to me still. I don't want too many piles, but I don't want too many limitations, either.) Maybe I should stick to my trilogy theme. Three piles - Clothing and Accesories, For the Home, and Gifts?

Start sewing. (This step is also fuzzy. It's like when Ray Stantz yells "Get her!" in Ghostbusters. "That was your whole plan, huh?") Three things a week. Or three a day if they're quick projects.

Then there's...

The Flylady* Plan.

Each week gets its own "zone" for projects and each day gets its own task. So, say the first week is the polar fleece blanket zone. (These blankets are to be donated to the local foster care backpack program.) For one or two days the task is cutting, one or two days to do the sewing, a day to wash and fold. The next week's zone could be flannel pajamas. Cut, pin, sew seams, sew buttons or any handwork, each on a different day. Or maybe instead of each task on its own day, just make sure I give an hour of my Pinterest time to sewing instead. 

An oldie but a goodie. Clothespin dolls I made long ago. From my Flickr.

I'm leaning toward the second plan. And I'm deciding right now to focus on simpler projects. Sure, I want to piece a quilt some day, but I'm not starting something big like that right now. First, I need to make room. The easier and quicker a project is, the better. I'm looking for results.

I think I can get a serious amount of sewing done if I just make myself do it. Stop with the whiney but-I-don't-feel-like-it that's been plaguing me. Yes, it will be a delicate balance. I'm not out to make myself miserable. But can you imagine the awesome feeling I'll have if I manage to bust through even part of my supplies? Not to mention the guilt-free shopping I'll be able to do once our local Jo-Ann Fabrics opens! Ha!

Do you have any other ideas on how to get some Serious Serial Sewing done? Have you powered through your stash at any point in time? Please leave a comment!

Tomorrow: Making a dent in other crafty areas.

* If you're not familiar with Flylady, here's her homepage.

Making a Dent in Your Stash, Part II

This stupid flicker made more than a dent - we now have a hole in our house!

If you read yesterday's post, you probably know where I'm going with this. I'm deciding to take a stand against (with?) my crafting supplies and use some of them up. Radical, I know. But when you are faced with such a ridiculous amount of stuff, you know you'd better use it or lose it (donate it) before it takes over your room, second room, house life. I don't mind losing the "she who dies with the most fabric wins" competition. I also want to lose the "with the most scrapbooking supplies" and "with the most Sharpie markers" contests.

To begin, I thought I'd take a look at what is taking up the most space in my craft room. Fabric wins, hands down. Here's a prime example: I have an entire bin of polar fleece, for Pete's sake. What is up with that? Ok, I know what is up with that - I've had it forever. I made sweaters, blankets, neck gaiters, even a bathrobe from the stuff several years ago. But now? Now it sits there. Waiting. For what? 

That is the sixty-thousand dollar question, isn't it? "For what?" For a project to come up that I want to make, for inspiration to strike, and then hopefully I'll have the necessary yardage and/or color to fit the bill? Sometimes it happens. I'd even say many times it happens. But how long is it worth it for me to store the stuff, waiting for that perfect idea? It is arguably lowering my quality of life because of the clutter and lost living space. What is that worth?

Now here's the real money: Can I apply that question to all of my crafting supplies? Should things in my stash have an expiration date? Is that the same as giving myself deadlines to use them?

As a girl who can accomplish incredible things when given a deadline, but pokes along in Procrastination Land without one, I'm hoping the answer is yes. Give the stuff a shelf life, and if it doesn't pass the smell test every so often, out it should go to a new home. 

I need to stop for a minute here and make a few things clear. I'm not going to apply the same standard to every single thing in my stash. I couldn't. Some of this stuff, especially the vintage stuff, just can't be replaced. Some of it has too many memories attached. Some of it just makes me happy. Just as dry pasta has a longer shelf life than cottage cheese, so do buttons keep better than novelty yarns.

There's also a difference between supplies:tools and supplies:raw materials. Most of the tools will stay, no matter how infrequently I use them. But I'm going to try to look beyond a thing's original monetary cost. I don't want to hold onto things just because I remember what I paid for them. If they are costing me in other ways to keep them, I can take the money loss to regain the value of a peaceful state of mind.

But wait. I'm rambing a bit here. Yes, in a round-about way I am talking about de-cluttering, but what I really want to talk about isn't just sorting things into the keep/donate/trash piles, but rather more of a plan it/make it/do it mentality. I've already done the weeding out bit, and I'd wager a lot of you have been through that process too, but obviously that wasn't enough. Now we need some kind of strategy, not just for keeping, but for using. 

...to be continued.

Use it. Do. or How to Make a Dent in Your Stash.

I decided today that I am going to try something new with the way I go about my crafting. But first, a little background.

Like most crafters, I have a stash of supplies. It's not just fabric. It's not just yarn. It's not just ribbon, or paper, or ephemera. It's all of the above, and more. Much, much more. And it's nuts. It takes up an entire closet, a dresser, and a large utility shelf. It has overflowed onto every flat surface in the room, including a couple of piles on the floor. And for me the visual clutter is worse than the actual clutter, so I'm really in a spot. Because of the visual clutter I'm not motivated, and because of the physical clutter, even when I am motivated (Thank you, Pinterest! I think.) I have to complete a cleaning project before I can start a creative one. And how much easier is it GIVEMEMOARPINTEREST to keep looking at pretty ideas instead of cleaning? But what do I have all these supplies for anyway if I'm never actually going to make something with them?

So I decided to take a closer look at my stash, and I realized that the way I was thinking about this stuff was part of what was defeating me. I've been looking at my stash as a kind of store where I can "shop" when the mood strikes. I come across an idea for a craft and say to myself, "Ooh, I want to make that" and I go looking in my stash for supplies. If I'm lucky, I have everything already. But often, and I know you know how this goes, I think I know what I have but then either I don't have it or I can't find it. Now, what's going to happen? Most of the time the project stops right there, because I am not the kind of gal that drops everything and goes to the real store. I am a make-it-do kind of gal, and if what I have won't do, the project just has to wait. Now, I said how I look at my stash is just part of what defeats me. The other part is this: The longer a project sits on a waiting list, generally, the less enthusiasm I have for it. Not every project, not every time, but most of the time I end up with that meh feeling and no finished project. 

Finally my brain put into words what my common sense already knew: If you want to use what you have in your stash, you have to start with your stash. 

In some areas I've been doing this already. Take my knitting, for example. I don't have the budget in most cases to buy a pattern, then go out and pay retail for the yarn the pattern calls for. But I do have a nice stash already of Brown Sheep seconds from their wool mill store, and some lovely KnitPicks wools, and lots of other miscellaneous yarny goodness. So lately when I knit, I don't look at all the mittens or all the socks, I use a Ravelry search to find out which patterns fit my yarn. I don't choose a project first and then hope I have a yarn to suit the pattern. 

This is no amazing breakthrough. I know a lot of people who use Ravelry for that same purpose. But it was a happy moment for me when I decided I'm going to try working through my other crafting supplies in a similar way.

... more on that tomorrow.