A Blast from my Past

My Mom has been doing some Simplifying of her own and recently returned a few things to me. Since I'm still clearing out closets, drawers and bins I thought today would be a good time to share them.

This is my very 1st quilting UFO. I had a red, white & black bedroom as a teen and somehow got the idea that I wanted to make a quilt. At that time my Mom had taught me to sew clothing but quilting was all new.

Let's just say that cutting the logs from tissue paper was extremely tedious... and when they didn't always go together perfectly my enthusiasm left the building! My Mom at some point picked up the blocks and remaining fabrics and put the quilt together. It was on one of the bunk beds our kids slept in at their house for a time.

She was a pioneer as I now see looking at the extra block and the back of the quilt because she used QAYG to get it done. My Mom used to do alterations as a part time job so is a whiz with a sewing machine. And, she is very organized with the left over fabrics all bagged up so I can do a little patching. How fun is that?

I used to do a TON of embroidery when I was young - mostly pre-printed dishtowels and pillowcases. I had totally forgotten about these until I unfolded them.

I can totally see sashing these with 30's prints to make a sweet baby quilt!

And it makes me smile to see that even back then I was kind of anal about planning my projects... note that there are 3 babies with blonde hair, 3 with brown and 3 with black.  I guess I didn't know any redheads back then!

Thanks again Mom for making my day!

Elsa is having a blast exploring every new space and container that gets sorted through. Yesterday she even got Tucker involved after she flung one of her favorite stuffed mice in the midst of the mess. She carries them around the house in her mouth like a dog carries toys. So funny.

A No Sew Week

I can't remember the last time I've gone a week without sewing a stitch. And I'm perfectly OK with that because I've been all about this.

Image from http://orgjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/simplify-compressed.jpg

I'm happily hooked on clearing out closets, drawers, cupboards and all of the hidden clutter spots in my home. I think my Olympic Organizathon really kick started me into the next gear of my year long plan to simplify my home one area a month. Being an all or nothing kind of person I'm going to go with the flow and get 'er done while the getting is good!

Image from http://www.onetoughmotherrunner.com/organizing-your-running-gear/

So until this addiction flames out or I've hit the last spot on my list I won't have much to blog about. Could be tomorrow... could be a few more weeks. No worries.

Simplify in 2014

I am starting to get really excited about 2014 and am looking forward to wrapping up my Year of Finish. For the last 2 months I've been allowing myself to daydream about what I want to accomplish in 2014 (before that it was a bit on the downer side because it was too far away and I was deep in the UFO pile).

from http://orgjunkie.com/2011/08/52-weeks-31-what-does-simplify-mean-to-you-giveaway.html

One of the things I've learned during my return to quilting is that I work much better with a narrow range of focus. I can build momentum along a path and I don't feel distracted by the urge to step off the path in search of something else. The key is to pick the best path!

from http://leigh-covington.blogspot.com/2012/01/making-game-plan.html

After thinking over lots of fun ideas I've settled on Sewing for the Seasons as my quilting focus for 2014. I have a fondness for seasonal prints and have collected quite a few of them. Same thing with seasonal patterns and books. It's time to get them out of the stash closet and into use.

from http://purevisibility.com/author/dgreiling/

This also ties into the word I've chosen for 2014. Now that my UFO baggage is lighter I want to feel lighter in my rest of my world too. I want to do a top to bottom purge of my home and clear out the unused, unneeded and unloved stuff. This will be happening off blog for the most part but it holds true in my quilting life too. I'd rather decorate my home with my creativity a lot more and with my stuff a lot less!

from http://www.melindabunyard.com/2011/08/simplify/

So far I've come up with stash for Winter, Valentine's Day, Easter, Spring, Fourth of July, Fall, Halloween and Christmas. Some of them have a project in mind... others will be created as I go forward. I'm going to work in some gifts along the way too. Does anyone else want to join in?  I'm going to start with Winter and Valentine's Day in January!

from http://simplesojourns.com/2013/05/simplify.html

Of course there will still be UFOs to finish and other projects will be made in 2014. But as long as I don't wander too far off my path I think I'll be happy in the end.

from http://staceyarcher.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/simplify-6103/

I think it's going to be a very good year!