What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

How did you do with your old UFOs? I really loved hearing what you all were working on — so many bindings! — and some of them made me laugh. Projects can sure get some age on them really fast, can’t they?

Since I’m not letting myself start anything new, I’ve been digging around in the old projects, and every now and then, I pull out one that makes it seem like I started something new! For this challenge, I grabbed a bag of embroidered blocks that my grandmother had been working on. It was her only UFO when ...

How has it gone with trying to get rid of one thing every day? I’ve been doing OK with it, but at the time of this writing, I still need to come up with two things that need to go. Well, actually way more than that, but only two to have my 30 days in!

It has felt good, but it has also felt like “not enough yet”. So I’m sure I will continue on with trying to get rid of things.

Meanwhile, it’s past time for another challenge. My friend, Amanda, reminded me about it last ...

I’m about to let the month get away from me! I’ve just been working away and not paying any attention to what day it is. I’m trying to stay in as much as possible, since it’s winter.

But I’m all ready with this month’s challenge:

Get rid of one thing a day

By the time of the next challenge, you’ll have rid yourself of nearly 30 items you no longer need or want. Think of all the space that will clear up!

I’m going to be getting rid of worn out tools ...

I went through so much paper! But I didn’t make a dent in it. Because this time, I’m getting super serious about thinning it ALL out. So, rather than just dealing with the piles laying around, I’m actually forcing myself to quit rearranging them, and deal with each piece. Usually, I just leaf through a few pieces, combine several piles into one, and tell myself I’ll deal with it more later.

But that has simply led to bigger piles that need decisions that I never seem to want to make. So this time, I’m forcing ...

I’ve been trying to get around to posting for nearly a week, and can’t seem to find enough time to sit down and do it. But today, I was supposed to have jury duty, and it got cancelled!! So I took the time to tend to some things I’ve had to put off, since I had unexpected time at home, which is always a welcome thing, right?

Our last challenge was to clear off our main work surface, which I sorely needed to do because I had (and still have) some large things to trim and need ...

While September was a whirlwind of productivity, October seems to be going in slow motion in that regard. I’m facing a bit of overwhelm with the last big things that need to get organized in here, coupled with a lack of motivation. Not a good recipe for getting anything done!

I did sort out all the pieces for my Star Storm quilt, located my pattern pieces that I apparently lost in the move and had to dig for, and got one section ready to put together.

Here’s my next problem: Once I get it pieced, it has a ...

How did you do with the last challenge? Did you get rid of any messy piles? Find things you had forgotten about? Were you able to get rid of some things?

I’m back to my normal urge to work my way through the piles, which is a super slow way to get rid of a pile. But even slow progress is better than none, so I’ll take it! And keep working on it.

This month, I’m going to expand on last month’s challenge, and . . .

Work on something found in a pile and try to finish it ...

Well! Here we are halfway through August already!

How did you do with the last challenge?

I got my sewing machine area all spiffed up, and that inspired me to use it so much, I’ve already had to oil my machine again since then! It also spilled over into other areas, and I’ve been making some good progress on random stuff I was procrastinating on.

So that leads me to this month’s task:

Clean up at least one annoying pile

Back at the beginning of August, I made a goal of organizing something (anything) in my studio ...

So . . . it’s been a whole month since I popped on here! I seriously need to step back up!

The last challenge wasn’t even all that tough for me, but I can truthfully say it’s about all I had time for.

How did YOU do getting your notions organized?

Here’s the after shot of my notions drawer:

As suspected, it didn’t change a whole lot. I did do pretty good getting it organized when I first moved in here, but I can’t say the same for most of the other areas!

I wanted to post ...

Hi! I’ve missed you all! I can’t even find time to sit down and write a blog post!

But I’m pushing everything else aside for the moment to offer up our next Studio Organizing Challenge, since I need one for my ownself.

I love the variety you all came up with for the last one, when I gave us all the option to choose our own task. Some great ideas in there!

I did get my bookcase all loaded back up, which did away with so many piles in the floor, it was like a breath of ...

I’m not even calling this Task One this time — haha! I’m fizzling out on posting at all, let alone posting two organizing challenges! But I’m hopeful that things are going to level out sometime, and it won’t be quite so crazy around here.

I did get rid of a couple small piles from the last challenge, but what did I do? I made about five more! But there’s a good reason for that . . .

My friend, Amanda, came down and helped me move over the rest of my books and magazines, and then she and her ...

I’m calling this Task One for April because I’m holding out hope that I’ll have the oomph to post another one later in the month (gotta give myself incentive wherever I can)!

I didn’t accomplish much on the last challenge. I guess leaving it up to myself didn’t help me decide on just exactly what I should do! I did keep working on putting things away or getting rid of things. And I worked on my scraps a lot more, getting them sorted out and processed. The box is slowly getting emptier.

I also brought ...

I know, I know, I’ve been MIA this month!

My mojo has kind of vacated the premises. I haven’t been sewing much at all, only running the longarm, and not even doing that as much as I should.

I was off to such a good start, but events have conspired to knock the wind out of my sails. I’m hoping that the warmer weather brings calmer times, so I can recover my mojo and get back at it.

So right there, you can tell that I didn’t do much with my books or magazines over the ...

I have not been doing as well as I had envisioned with putting away one thing a day. It’s not hard, but you do actually have to pay attention and remember to do it! But I’m still gonna keep trying for another couple weeks, anyway. How did you do with it?

Hopefully, it’s made a bigger difference for you than it has for me so far.

Because here we are, it’s already time for the next challenge!

What shall we do this time?

I’m going out on a limb with this one, but here it ...

Our last task was to clean off our main work surfaces, and altho I struggled to get this one done on time, I did manage to do it. Here’s the state of my cutting table this morning.

Two projects on top! Pay no never mind to the piles stacked in other places. But I did include a shot of my ironing station in this photo so you can see that I did not just relocate the piles to the ironing board (which has been known to happen in the past).

My friends, Krista and Carol, came down last Friday ...

Before we get to the organizing task, a couple notes regarding my last post about my grandmother’s little Singer sewing machine. So many of you had wonderful stories about your own vintage machines. I know they’re popular, and most of you remark on how well they sew. I went back and updated the post with the actual links that readers provided on how to look up your machine’s birthday. Both of those sites have a wealth of information on vintage machines.

And . . . I decided that my little machine needed a name, so I’m announcing right here ...

Didn’t we just organize a bunch of stuff??

But here it is already time to begin our annual slate of Studio Organizing Challenges!

Since we just did The Final Countdown, and I’m still not quite done with one of those tasks, I’m taking it easy on us this time, and choosing something that might help me finish that up . . .

Put away stray fabric

If you have any piles of fabric laying around that you aren’t intending to do anything with right now, put them away. It’s OK to go ahead and earmark them for a ...

Is all your stray fabric put away from the last challenge? I have to say that mine is not, but I did make some progress. I simply haven’t had time to really work on it, even tho I try to take a few minutes every day for it. Evidently, a few minutes a day is not getting me very far very fast, so at some point, I’m gonna have to take some dedicated time to really make any visible progress.

But it’s on to the next thing already!

As we gear up for the holiday season, lots ...

Altho I haven’t actually taken the time to sit down and sew here yet, I did get my handwork table cleared off. Once I DO start working there, I expect it to stay about as clean as my cutting table does! (See the reflection of my design wall in the window? — since I took this photo before daylight — I’ll be telling you all about that quilt in a couple days, so stay tuned!)

How did you do on the last challenge?

I’m late with this next one because I’ve been so scattered, I can’t decide ...

Well, I failed miserably on the last organizing challenge, so I need to do much better this time!

The pile I was going to tackle has doubled in size, instead of getting any smaller. That’s because I’m still moving stuff over from the old studio. Will it ever end?? How do I still have so much stuff left to move???

But I did spend a lot of time organizing the things I’ve moved, or the pile would be even bigger than it is. So I’ve made progress, just not enough to suit me yet. My new ...