Welcome to the Quilting Board!
some of us are energised and our creativity swings into high gear when we are surrounded by stuff, i can sit at a plain desk and be nearly paralyzed. but get out a box of cards and a couple pens, and maybe a doll, and take off my bracelet, and suddenly i've got an idea and i'm raring to go! they (those who study these things) seem to attribute it to the side of your brain that is in control. naturally, i'm in the messy side of my brain.
The only bad days are the ones you don't get.
Neatness like dogs is/are a very nice concept. And not worth the time or energy to keep.
So I am a cat person whose sewing room is a mess. I know where everything is and the only time I get frustrated is when I put everything away and can't find a thing. All my UFOs are in bags or boxes and labeled and stacked. But the general room condition? Looks like my woodshop, my living room, my bedroom, my kitchen. Being a bachelor has its privileges.
Life is too short to be neat. tim in san jose
I need to start new sewing projects in a clean environment. As I work, it gets messy and I'm forever moving things that are in my way, which I hate. Tools beside my sewing machine are kept in an old pickled herring container. My sewing room is lower level with East garden windows so it's bright. There is a 8" ledge mid wall on 2 walls and I utilize it for the CD player and smaller items. I inherited a tall narrow wood cabinet (similar to lingerie chest) from my parents house. 8 drawers so it holds a lot. There is a bank of built in shelves at the end of the closet which holds clear shoe boxes of thread, sorted by color. My 4 machines each have their own plastic shoe box for manuals and attachments. Fabric is sorted by color and stored in Avon cardboard boxes on free standing shelf unit. Plug ins are all waist high. I HATE digging and looking for anything.
I don't care if my sewing room is tidy when I'm making a quilt. I'll clean and organize between projects to a degree. I'm just the opposite when it comes to the rest of the house. I can't abide waking up to a messy house. DH is ex military so he was trained to be organized and likes things to be neat. He never makes a mess and leaves it for later. He doesn't understand how I can make such chaos in one room. LOL
I love my life!
My sewing room looks like a tornado went through it. Must be how my brain works, going in many different directions at once.
I also don't care for a messy sewing room but while I'm working on a project, I'll just keep piles of the project along the edge of my cutting table. I also keep all the fabrics I'm using for that project at the edge until I'm finished with it in case I still need some of it. I have a 4' x 8' cutting table so its large enough to hold a couple projects if necessary. Once I'm done with the project though, everything gets put away, floors get vacuumed for the next project. On quilts I get the binding ready as well as the backing and place on hangers together and onto the rack. Then I go to work on the quilting layout and once that's done I pin it to the quilt top so I know its ready to be quilted. Sometimes I have a couple projects going at one time so I designate a corner of the cutting table for each project so I don't get them confused. Also having a design wall helps when arranging the project as I go.
Suz in Iowa
Designer 1, Babylock Ellegante, Brother XR3140
Babylock Evolve, Elna 945
Innova 26" LS, MQR
ProQ Designer, EQ7, Embird
I find that if I take even 10 minutes to tidy up before I sew, I am more productive once I sit down to sew. If I take 10 after I sew, I tell myself the little bit of time spent today will mean I can just jump right in tomorrow.
Having said that, I am not that disciplined. I have a room that I can shut the door on (took me 25 years before kids moved out but it's mine now!). So the shut door policy sometimes makes up for my discipline! LOL
Let me preface this article with: I AM in the process of reorganization of my Office/Studio/Sewing room/Mom Cave (which is about a 10.5X12.5 bedroom not being used by any children at this time), depending on whomever is talking about it. I have spent the last 2.5 years working 45-60 hours a week, and things became VERY disorganized. I have painted, yea!, bought a nicer desk that will also be used as a sewing table, YEA again!, and am now desperately trying to determine where I had all of this stuff stashed??? YUCK!
However, when I read this article a while back, I feel/felt somewhat vindicated.
http://qz.com/112520/want-to-be-more...tive-trash-it/
I am a creative person as are any of us on this board, and I will say that I am not always ready to put things away or in order when I am done with whatever project(s) I am working on.
That being said, back to the gargantuan task of organizing this mess.
To answer the original question, I'd say it depends on the moment. I think we all can be a fusspot, or just nice and neat depending on our frame of mind at the time.
Happy Quilting, and Happy weekend.
Susan
Creative clutter is more blessed than tidy idleness.
Susan - AKA _ Anglelight
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