In Anticipation of the Stash Bash

Our ASG chapter is having a stash bash in conjunction with our Annual Meeting in October. I'm planning on (hopefully) selling off a bunch of my stash (like 50%, I hope!). I've gone through all my fabric, pulling out what I want to sell, and reorganizing what's left. I have about 80 pieces of fabric to sell. When I look at the boxes and boxes of fabric that I acquired during that really dark time of my life, I am truly saddened. That fabric brings me no joy. I will be so glad to get it out of my life. It's almost like chains holding me down. I told my friend, Aline, that I didn't want any of the fabric back. If it didn't sell, I just didn't want to bring it back into my life. She gave me the name of a charity I could donate it to. I really hope I sell a lot of it. Ninety per cent of it is really quality stuff. I know that there are people who would love to have it. I just hope they come to the stash bash and buy it. 

Here are pictures of the mess created while sorting, culling, and reorganizing the sewing studio.

Tubs & tubs of fabric. Aagh!

Now what happened to the inventory cards on these?

The paperwork to organize it all!

The mess before the calm.

UFO's To The Rescue

I was so bored at work yesterday that I was motivated to finish 3 knitting UFO's. What's a UFO, you ask? UnFinished Object. I bet every crafter, regardless of medium, has them. In the knitting and sewing world, UFO's abound. I've been reorganizing my sewing studio and found way more sewing UFO's than I care to reveal. I'm working on finishing up many of them. It is puzzling to me why some projects get set aside with so little left to do to finish. A thought for another day. I want to write about what I finished. 


Socks
I finished these 2 sock projects. 

The colorful red sock on the left is the dreaded "2nd sock" from a pair I started last summer in the Purl Hunter KAL. The mate has been in my sock drawer for 9 months. Here is the perfect example of "Why didn't I finish this?" I had 10 stitches to bind off. That was it! Bind off 10 stitches and it was completed. It took me about 10 minutes. Now why didn't I finish it? Why did I lay it aside with only 10 stitches to bind off? No clue, but it's finished now and happily united with its mate. 

The odd looking socks on the right are yoga socks. They have neither a heel nor toe to provide grip when doing yoga poses. I only started these in June so they've not been laying around long. Still I'm glad to have them off the needles and available for my weekly yoga session. 

Cardigan

I also finished this cardigan. This was a KAL at my LYS last early fall. I actually had finished this and worn it a couple of times. Then I realized that the sleeve seams were finished on the right side. Oops! It was a pain to take out the seams. The yarn is thick/thin and because the fabric is so open, the seams had been crocheted, not just regular-style seaming. So the cardi sat around for several months before I tackled taking out the seams. Then it sat around a couple more months before I resewed the seams. Again, it took me all of about 30 minutes to accomplish the seaming. And now I can wear it again. 

I know this doesn't look very exciting, but the yarn is interesting and the cardigan was knit and constructed in an interesting manner. Instead of a back, 2 fronts and 2 sleeves, this is knit in rectangles that are then seamed together to create the garment. It can actually be turned upside down and worn that way, but I think it creates too much fabric around my neck, not a good look for me. I wasn't that crazy about the color, but I was matching it up with tops I have and it looks great with a navy or dark brown knit top underneath. 

So I'm really pleased with what I accomplished yesterday. With these 3 projects complete I'm pretty sure I have only 4 projects left on my needles. 

• My Dahlia cardi which is coming along nicely. I'm about halfway finished with the 1st sleeve. 
• My Bayarri cardi. This is a challenging entrelac cardigan. It's another knitting project way above my skill level so it's slow going. It will move up in priority once I finish Dahlia.
• A simple fuzzy scarf for Miss Riley's Christmas present
• A simple g-string project to match a knitted nightgown I made a couple years ago. This is going to be one of those projects I finish up in 30 minutes and wonder why it took me so long. 

So I celebrated my accomplishments by ordering yarn for a project I'm planning. And that's all I'm going to say about that!

Food For Thought

I really enjoy Grandma's Sewing Cabinet, a podcast and blog. I've been listening to the podcast since it's beginning. Dr. Julie-Ann Fann, the owner, has an educational background, and started out just talking about her sewing. However, like many podcasts, it has evolved over time. Recently Dr. Julie-Ann returned to school to study sewing; not design, but rather custom clothing. She has regaled us with stories of her classes and has generously shared lots of great information. (Grandma's Sewing Cabinet gets its name from the cabinet that Dr. Julie-Ann uses as her sewing headquarters. The cabinet was made by her grandfather for her grandmother. Dr. Julie-Ann is lucky enough to have inherited it.)

Her most recent blog post and podcast is titled Plan Your Sewing Like A Designer. Looking at the blogpost I saw all these really fancy pictures of her "look book" for a wardrobe class project. My initial thoughts were about how much time it took to make these illustrated pages. "I'd rather spend that time actually sewing" was another arrogant thought that crossed my mind. And then I listened to the podcast. In her charming manner, Dr. Julie-Ann explained the process she went through to create this "look book". And I humbly admit it is a very worthwhile process.

I am not one of those sewers that buys fabric willy-nilly, paying no attention to color or pattern. I try very hard to sew items that go together and blend in and work with other items in my wardrobe. But recently I've been thinking alot about my lifestyle and how my clothes don't really reflect how I actually live. And the steps Dr. Julie-Ann talks about can really help me out in this area. Thinking of myself as a customer will help me identify what items I need to sew and add to my wardrobe.

For instance, I love wool slacks and tailored jackets. Unfortunately, I work from home and have very little need for a tailored outfit. I think I need to embrace the fact that my lifestyle is casual, not formal or tailored, not business casual, but just plain casual. I could get away with shorts & t-shirts for most of the summer. But I don't really like to dress that way. The challenge is to define what I like to wear in the realm of casual.

I really see the value in Dr. Julie-Ann's process. I don't have the expertise to create beautifully illustrated pages like Dr. Julie-Ann, but I definitely will create my own "look book" and use it on an ongoing basis.

Mindless Sewing For a Good Cause

This is one of those "friend of a friend of a friend of a friend" stories. The daughter of the sister of our ASG Chapter President is in charge of a fund raising event for a local charity. The event involves participants and their dogs. Each participant gets a goody bag filled with stuff for their dog. Neither the daughter nor the sister sew, so the sister asked the Chapter President if any of her sewing buddies would help make dog collar covers/sleeves. Of course we will help! So I've been sewing these very simple dog collar thingys. Basically it is just sewing a 4" x 30" piece of cotton into a tube. Pretty mindless—serge each end and then serge the wrong sides together. The seam stays on the outside. I've made about 100 so far with another 100 to go.

I'm also working on some pillowcase dresses to send to my friend in West Virginia. She is putting together a box of these dresses to go to little girls in Haiti. My goal is 24, but I don't know if I'll make that by the deadline.

I keep working at cleaning & organizing the sewing studio. I'm looking forward to the stash bash our ASG chapter will have in 2012. I really want to clean out the fabric and pattern stash. I feel weighed down by all the fabric I have that I know I will not ever use. Ever since my time with Nancy Nix-Rice last spring I realize how much fabric I have that is the wrong colors for me. So in addition to taking up way too much physical space it infringes on my creativity. I'll be glad to move it out. I've thought about opening an Etsy shop but that's too much work, taking pictures, setting it up, listing everything, promoting the shop. I'll just put up with it till the stash bash and move it out then. What I don't sell I'll donate somewhere.

Umm, Can You Say Messy?

This is how my sewing studio looked Saturday morning. There was stuff piled everywhere. The pictures don't show the projects piled on the floor and the clothes to be ironed piled on the ironing board. Ugh! It was awful. I have a hard time sewing & creating when my environment is chaotic. So I took some time to clean up—only a little as it turned out. Then I got distracted and decided to finish up a couple of projects. (This is what happens when my sewing studio is a mess. I find it difficult to focus on one thing at a time.) 

By Sunday evening the cutting table was better. The sewing machine area was much better, although not completely clear. I did however, make these cute wool pumpkins. And I finished up a purple knit top for The Princess and made 2 pairs of pajama pants for The Youngest Grandson. 

Wool Pumpkins (see next post for details)

The Love will be camping with his buddies this weekend and I will be spending most of those 3 days in the sewing studio. 

4th of July Sewing Marathon

I made it a goal to sew, sew, sew this weekend and boy did I! 

I made a laptop computer case from the quilting fabric I purchased in Cincinnati. (More about that later.) Then I made the Biased About Jackets from Fashion in Harmony. And I am well on my way to creating another Creative Sweatshirt Jacket.


Sunday morning when I walked into my sewing studio I realized I had lots of piles of stuff sitting around. Time to do a little picking up and reorganizing. I spent a couple hours Sunday and Monday on the task and the room looks much better--less chaotic. I feel better with all my projects in bags, lined up and ready to go. I'm not completely finished, however, there are still a couple piles of patterns to be filed and papers to be sorted through. But it is 99% better than before. 


I plan to finish my sweatshirt jacket in 2 more evenings of sewing. Then I need to make some walker bags for a nursing home my ASG Neighborhood group will be visiting on the 13th.  

…And the Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds…

I've closed the door on 2009. It's over, done, gone, in the past. I am looking forward to 2010.

I have done some soul searching the last few weeks. I'm not big on new year's resolutions. Rather, I try to look at me, my life, and decide what areas I would like to change or enhance. And this year I want to make better use of my time. At work, at home, and in my sewing world.
One thing I am doing to enhance my life is training to run a half-marathon in April. I actually started this journey in November. My oldest daughter, Jeni, is my trainer & coach. Jeni has run since high school and has competed in marathons, triathalons and numerous half-marathons. Check out my running blog.

I have accepted the position of co-leader for my neighborhood ASG group. I am pretty excited. I haven't been very active in the past, but attended several meetings last year. When they asked for volunteers to help out, I spoke up. I felt like it was a way to commit myself to the organization.

The other aspect of sewing that has been on my mind is how to do more of it. I read other seamstresses blogs and marvel at how they a) work outside the home; b) have a husband & kids; c) do volunteer work and still manage to sew 70+ garments a year. By comparison, I work from home (no commute time), have no kids at home, only The Love of My Life, and managed to sew maybe 10 things last year. What's my problem?

I have tried to master the "10 minutes every day" motto. But it just hasn't worked. Some days there are not 10 minutes for me to sew. I am out of town, I have customers to entertain in the evening, sometimes I just don't feel like sewing. So I've been trying to figure out how to do more of my most favorite hobbies.

Well, yesterday as I was shoveling 6" of snow off the driveway in sub-zero temperatures, I listened to the latest podcast from Grandma's Sewing Cabinet. (I know, I'm behind on my podcasts also.) But the topic was so right on for what I'd been mulling over. Dr. Julie had a conversation with Dr. Meggin McIntosh, a productivity specialist.

Dr. McIntosh used the visual of life as a tote bag. (Dr. McIntosh also sews so she was talking about all the beautiful tote bags we all sew. I could just see the most recent bag I made my granddaughter for Christmas.) Then she went on to explain that the most efficient use of your bag is not to just throw everything in the bottom. Rather, make lots of pockets for all the things you carry—your wallet, cell phone, photos, change, make-up, whatever it is. That way, when you need something you can find it quickly and efficiently. Life is like that, she said. You need to have "pockets" of time to do the things you need to do and want to do. In plain everyday language I think it is called "scheduling". Duh! How simple is that concept?

This conversation fit perfectly into my overall desire to make better use of my time in 2010. So I have started thinking in terms of "scheduling" my sewing time. Next week I have scheduled Monday evening and Thursday evening for sewing. I'll let you know how it goes.

Weekends Were Made For…

Yard Work—I've been making an concerted effort to work in my yard for several hours every weekend this summer. I'm not a real gardener kind of gal. Don't get me wrong, I want the yard to look really nice, but gardening and yard work is not on my Top 10 Things I Love To Do list. However, this spring I looked around and decided the yard really needed some TLC. So now I listen to podcasts on my iPod and spend time on Saturday morning or Sunday working around the yard. I've transplanted some plants to better locations. I reworked some edging around one bed. And I pull all the little weeds before they get big. All in all, I think the time spent is paying off. The yard is looking a little more loved.

Sewing—I find late July and early August to be sewing black holes—too late for summer clothes, a bit too early for fall & winter items. So I decided it would be a good time to work on UFO's. I went on a scavenger hunt around the studio and identified 18 UFO's. Only a couple are actually clothing items, thank goodness. Most are crafty things where the item is 90% complete and I just need to finish it up. For instance, I have some cute Halloween stuffed goblins about 50% complete. I just need to spend an hour or 2 and assemble them.

So in that vein, I completed 2 items that I actually will use in the sewing studio. One is a cover for my sewing machine. It matches the cover I made for my serger. The other item is a hanging fabric wall organizer. Right now I have these little metal basket things hanging on the back of the door to hold stuff. The problem is the baskets are just a bit too wide for that space so the door is only open part way or the baskets bang into the wall. This hanging wall organizer will be flatter so I can put an end to the little dents in the wall (which will have to be spackled next time I paint).

Knitting—On the knitted sock front--woo-hoo! I am working the ribbing at the top of the sock. Only 1" to go and I will be finished. I am so close that I took the plunge and began swatching for my next project. Details later.

Immersed in Fabric

I finally finished!

I have been cataloging and reorganizing my fabric stash and cleaning up my sewing room. Whew! What a job!

I struggled motivating myself to sew after the holidays. I realized it was because my sewing room was really (for me anyway) a mess, with piles of fabric, patterns, magazines, fabric matched to patterns, books, and videos all around. I am, I think, a pretty neat & tidy seamstress. I operate on the philosophy of everything has a place and everything in its place. Where I fall down is in the planning stage. I look at my patterns, then match them to a fabric. Then repeat the exercise. So I end up with, as I said, piles of projects placed everything.

Recently I was looking for a particular fabric and for the life of me I couldn't locate it. Since this has happened more & more frequently of late, I decided to put away all the piles and re-catalog my entire stash. Part of the problem with the stash is that several years ago when my fabric buying was out of control, I did a pretty poor job of keeping track of what I purchased. So I had lots of fabric that wasn't on my stash list.

So I made up a Swatch Card on 5x8 index cards and began to catalog & swatch my entire stash. Mmmm, wow, had I underestimated my stash! At first I was overwhelmed by how much fabric there was. Then I felt guilty for having spent all that money in accumulating all that fabric. But as I made up a card for each different piece, I came to terms with my over abundance. It is what it is and you can't cry over spilt milk. So I started to enjoy all the fabric. I dreamed of what would be the perfect garment for a particular fabric. I realized I no longer need to accumulate and hang on to fabric for dear life. I realized the best way to deal with all this fabric is to create beautiful garments!

I was surprised there are only about 5 pieces that are in the "What was I thinking!" category. There are maybe 5-10 more pieces that are beautiful fabrics, but just not right for me. I need to find a way to sell these. But overwhelmingly I love every piece of fabric in my stash and now that I have my sewing room neat and tidy and all cleaned up, I can hardly wait to get back at the sewing machine!