She Cleans Up Nicely

Am I the only one who starts to feel like they're living in Santa's little sweatshop as the week before Christmas nears?  I think I'm usually more organized, although I fear a trip into the archives lest it proves me to be a disheveled human overall.

Anyway, the last 24 hours leading up to Christmas Eve were almost a nonstop sewing extravaganza complete with a near constant stream of scraps being thrown over my right shoulder.  (I noticed I only throw over my right shoulder and part of me wonders if that means something but I had no time to investigate.)

Christmas is no longer at my house since my kids are older now, so part of my holiday prep now involves loading up the car and checking my list sixty four million times to make sure no ones' gift is left behind.  No one was forgotten and except for a pair of partly finished slippers and a pair of not even started yet boot toppers, all was completed.  Our visit to family was a whole lot of fun and everyone seemed happy with their presents.  Whew!

When I got home Friday evening and went back up to my craft room, it was worse than I remembered.  To quote my older son, "Its a crapfest in here."  I assure you,  he was being kind.  There was not a flat surface that wasn't covered in something and that included the floor.  When the dog sniffed the floor, thread stuck to his nose.  Nothing productive could go on until this creative explosion was brought under control.

Since then, I have spent a portion of each day organizing things in a way that makes sense.  Future etsy shop projects live in one place, large pieces of fabric  are in their own bin, small scraps in  a separate one, you get the idea.  Its starting to come together, although yesterday my son son said, "Its still a crapfest in here."  I think I need another day or two.

Part of this process, is letting go of the things that you aren't going to ever use.  That's hard but made easier by the fact that I can take these items to a local reuse shop for others to enjoy.

I leave you with a peek at the tops of two quilts I made for Christmas.  (For heaven's sake, don't look at the floor!!!)  The first was for my niece, the second for my nephew.  The tops were made out of fabric I already had, a fair amount of it was clothing that had cool patterns but were no longer functional (too small, worn out, unfashionable, etc).

If you're inspired to use your scraps and some of them are t-shirts or other stretchy fabric, know that interfacing is your best friend.  How did I get along without this wondrous stuff?

Anybody else cleaning up their craft stash?