Saturday, December 27, 2008

Your Quilt Room - Recovering from the Holidays

Raise your hand if your sewing area/quilt room looks like World War III took place in there -- fabric and thread scraps everywhere, fabric unfolded and in a pile on the floor, paper-printed patterns strewn about, sewing machine feet here, there and everywhere, half done Christmas projects... and possibly piles of received gifts you haven't found a place for on your cutting table (me! me! me!)...

If you have family home or guests in your house, explain to everyone that you need 15 minutes undisturbed (C'mon - you deserve 15 minutes! You've spent weeks making sure everyone else had a great holiday -- surely you can devote 15 minutes to YOU!). Vow not to answer the phone or front door, or respond to your husband's pleas to help him find the mustard. (I used to tell my kids "Don't bother me unless you're broken or bleeding.")

Grab a trash bag. Set your timer for 15 minutes. You may go past 15 minutes if you have the time, but don't stop until 15 minutes are over!

With Trash bag in hand, find 27 things to throw away. Start closest to the entry to your area and move from left to right. Look on your cutting table, the floor, your sewing table. Think about throwing out fabric scraps too! Do NOT stop until you have 27 items in your trash bag. You may NOT take it out of the bag once it goes in!

If you have time left, place your trashbag outside of your room, again start closest to your entry to your area, moving left to right -- look for items that are not where they belong. Return them to the "zone" where they belong -- thread to thread storage, fabric to boxes or shelves, rotary cutters back to their home, etc., patterns into 3 ring binder, etc.

At the end of 15 minutes (or whenever you finish AFTER 15 minutes) take the trash bag directly to the outside trash can.

If your sewing area is really messy (mine!), try to do this at least three times this week! Wouldn't it be wonderful to start the New Year with a clean and organized sewing room?

"Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it's not all mixed-up." - A.A. Milne

2 comments:

Jackie's Stitches said...

I SO wish I had that problem! I don't have a dedicated quilting/sewing space and instead have to use the dining room. I packed everything up a week ago and now am itching to get back to it!

Joyce said...

Sometimes I think having a sewing space is not a good thing. I tend to leave things laying around. Your picture looks good compared to my room!