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Wow! Seventeen years, and I’m still not completely organized. Who’da thunk?!

And I’ve worked pretty hard at it! I’ve made some great progress, but a lot of what’s left is hard stuff, and I tend to get stymied by the hard stuff — you know, things that require decisions, or things that I think will take longer than they probably actually will. I like to overinflate the difficulty of some tasks in my head. Am I the only one?

I think 2026 is gonna have to be my year of tackling the hard stuff, so I ...

Well, that week has flown by! My year usually starts off a little calmer than this one has — I hope this isn’t a bad sign! But once again, we’re in the middle of real winter right now. We had two days of blowing snow, and now the bitter cold has set in. We’re just doing our best to keep our critters comfortable and their bellies full. We knew this was coming, so we stocked up and are settled in. I hope neither one of us has to go anywhere for a while.

As for the Final Countdown ...

Well! Task Three already?! Did you make some good progress with the first two tasks? I did, and I’m hoping to give you a “new studio tour” shortly after the first of the year. Several of you have been asking, but I obviously haven’t been ready for that!

But here we are at the last task for this year’s Final Countdown . . .

I usually try to make the final task something a bit more fun, and also thought-provoking, such as making a list, or taking an inventory of your UFOs, and while you’re certainly welcome to do ...

Are you working on your sewing machine areas? I put away some scrap triangles and pressed some pieces I had laying there already sewn, but I still need to examine the drawers and clean up the dust bunnies during my next session.

But it’s already time for Task Two!

What you can’t see in the photo of my sewing area is the floor in my studio. It’s a mess. So that’s our next task:

Aside from all the random piles of “stuff” sitting everywhere, the dust bunnies multiply like . . . well . . . bunnies! I’m shocked at how ...

Each year, I try to pick tasks that I myself need to do to get a jump start on the new year coming up. And I always hope there are others out there, just like me, who also need to do these same tasks to get back on track. Lots of years, I’ve repeated some of the tasks, but only because they seriously need to be done again and again. If you’re creating, then you’re probably making a bit of a mess, and sometimes we all just need a boot in the butt to address that issue ...

Yes. 16th Annual. And even with a brand new studio, I’m still in dire need of continued organizing!

I have to give myself credit. I did a LOT over the last two years to make some great progress. I downsized a lot, I built some good habits, and I worked hard to not make things worse for myself (aka: exercising willpower).

But even with all that I did, I still wasn’t completely ready to get everything moved over to my new studio. I still have too much stuff! And most of what’s left is stuff I want ...

I’m late posting the winners. We’re in the middle of a winter storm, and we had to spend yesterday getting our animals all settled in and ready for it. And this morning, the power was off and on and off and on, so I was afraid to plug anything in. Currently, there are supposedly 5000 folks in our area without power, but thankfully, we are not among that 5000. Miraculously, it came back on here and has stayed on, and I’m crossing my fingers it doesn’t go out again.

So . . . about those tasks . . .

I have spent ...

Here we are, already at the final day of The 15th Annual Final Countdown! If you’re just now finding this, it’s not too late to join in. You can start right HERE and catch up with us!

I hope you’ve accomplished a lot with the first two tasks to give yourself a good start on the new year, which, by the way, starts TOMORROW!

We have one final task to tackle. I usually make this task a “thinking” task, just to give us a break from the hard labor of the first two tasks (giggle). This is ...

How did you do yesterday? I see from the comments that we’re all in different stages of the stash organization game!

But you have great ideas for handling it!

And we’re already moving on to Task #2. This is a big one for me. I could assign myself this one every single week, and it would still be a trial for me to get it done.

Clean off your main work surface

I love this one, tho, because if you do manage to get your main work area cleared to begin the new year, it really does feel ...

Here we go! Are you ready?! I’m so excited for this. Probably way more excited than I otta be.

We’re gonna re-visit some oldies but goodies this year. I received lots of ideas and suggestions from readers this season, so I’m choosing from among the most-requested ones, since those seem to be the most-needed. I can tell you that I also need these for my ownself, so I’m totally on board with these!

And remember, if this is a task you don’t need to do cos you’re already just that organized, you can go ...

It’s time! We’re starting tomorrow!

It’s the final few days of 2023 — how did that happen so fast? — and I’m going to be offering up a few organizing challenges over the next few days, mainly to help give myself a fresh start on the new year. Will you join me?

Over this past year, my organizing took a more drastic turn as we are getting ready to move, and in order to do that, I must downsize a lot. The construction delays have afforded me time to practice patience on a grand scale, and to keep ...

Where DOES the time go? January 9th already! And if it seems like I’ve been ignoring all of you, I haven’t — it’s just that my email has been broken for a week. Terrible how we get so dependent on that stuff. I’m trying not to be upset over it — I used to work in IT, so I feel their pain at losing a server. They’re still working on it, so I’m exercising some patience and granting them some grace. Maybe I’ll get extra work done if I can’t be on email!

I ...

Time for the final task already! My, how the time does fly.

Our final task is usually one that is a bit easier and helps us get a good handle on the upcoming year’s projects, so in keeping with that tradition, this final task is:

Take a project inventory and devise a plan

If you don’t have your projects listed, maybe it’s time to make a list.

If you have some of them listed, but there are others hiding in your space that haven’t made it to the list yet, maybe it’s time to add ...

Moving right along . . .

It’s time for Task Two! I hope you found a quick finish yesterday.

What are we tackling today? Well . . . We’re going to . . .

Clean out a storage area

You get to choose the storage area you think needs the most help. I think I’m gonna tackle a closet, but I’m not sure which one just yet. I have four storage closets in my studio, and they could all use a good purging. Wouldn’t it be great if I could get all four of them cleaned out?

How about you? Do you have a ...

Are you ready? I’m excited for this. I hope you are, too. Here we go . . .

Task One of The Final Countdown!

Choose something you can finish quickly and do it

Do you have a project that just needs something simple and quick done to it to call it finished?

Get it out and do it — you could have one more project checked off your list before year’s end!

A quilt top that just needs borders?
A quilt top ready to quilt that just needs a backing prepared?
A top that only needs 3 more blocks made to be ...

Fourteen years we’ve been doing this! And here we are again, at the end of another year already. And the final few days where I make one last effort to finish up and clean up as many things off my to-do list as I can, so as to not have to carry them over into the new year — The Final Countdown to 2023.

I love that fresh start. How about you?

Every year I make more and better progress, and learn more about myself and the way I work in the process, which helps me move forward without slipping ...