MistyMarie

I just spent the last half hour in my dining room. The room is about 80% improved. There are no scraps on the floor... no thread on the table... no trash anywhere. All the fabric is in containers, or folded up. All my notions are put in a container to go through later. I am too tired to tackle the back room this evening, so I will work on it in bits and pieces over the next couple of weeks. I am NOT starting any new projects until I get the laundry room done. I have a few commitments I need to finish up, but they will be my "reward" for having spent a few minutes working on that back room.

Lori S

See you can do this!!! I" m happy for you.

leakus

Good job Misty!
I sometimes get upset with myself. I am the owner of my room and when quilting I make a mess. Then I feel overwhelmed because I have a mess and cannot find what I am looking for. My room is small, the only surfaces available are the extension of the sewing table, the cutting mat and the ironing board; so if I was messy and left all around I won't be able to quilt. So I decided to find a place for everything and when I use it I put it away.

HummerGardenCrafts

Oh gees! I have a Small Quilt House, A Big Quilt House, a room stuffed full in the house we live in. A little in my computer tanning bed room. And then what I'm working in the diningroom. And few things by my chair in the livingroom.
I know where just about everything is. But when I have to clean for company, I can't find anything for months.

lots2do

This made me laugh out loud...and I do know what you mean!
Misty - good luck, it sounds like you've already made some great progress. (And it sounds like you are being a bit hard on yourself, you're juggling an awful lot of plates right now. I teach and I've done the grad school thing but not with a husband who was deployed or little kids).

MistyMarie

Thanks for the encouragement!

I shouldn't have started those classes... but they were free since my husband is in the military and he is retiring in October, so I figured I better take advantage of the free classes.

I already have my masters... but since I need to make a few more $$$ to support my quilting habit, I need to get those classes done. :P

My husband keeps telling me to hire a cleaning lady so I can focus on getting organized instead of cleaning house. I am seriously thinking of taking him up on that!!! It just makes me nervous having another person in my house that is not a "guest" or related to me.

BluegrassGurl

Go Misty! Go Misty! Go Misty! Congratulations on your progress thus far. Keep at it girl... it will be soooo worth it.

I know exactly what you mean about being overwhelmed. I am a very organized person HOWEVER I had let my sewing area (huge area in my basement) get in a wreck.... big time. It got to where I just did not want to enter there at all. About 4 months ago, I decided to tackle the disaster area. Oh my goodness.... I had many overwhelming moments. When I could feel that overwhelming feeling start to creep in.... I walked away and came back maybe later that day... or even a day or two later. I held tight to the belief that it will be worth it.

Here is my advice...... Upon re-organizing, I realized that I had tons of fabric in multiple tubs that I never opened. The old addage.... "out of sight out of mind" became real to me. I had fabric that I completely forgot about. Enough of this!!!

I scoped a plan to make my place MY refuge.... a place where I would enjoy being. I painted the walls a cheery yellow. Bought bookcases so that I could store my fabric and be able to easily see exactly what I had. Not only do I have quilt fabric, I also have garment and upholstery fabric. My notions, cutting tools, rulers, thread, etc. all have a specific place. It is HEAVENLY!!! I love it and can truly enjoy working on my projects.

I encourage you to scope out ways to organize and pick what will work best for you. btw.... my sewing, cutting and ironing table is a very large door on two (2 drawer) filing cabinets. It is ideal for me. It is large enough to have each of those stations within reach of one another and I keep the critical/must have items in the filing cabinets.

Think outside the box. There are many, many options and ideas out there on the web and on this QB.

Good luck! Keep on keepin' on sister!

Caroltee

Your husband is right hire a cleaning lady and enjoys your self. I did and now am a happier person to be around and I even like myself. Maybe while your mom is there she will do your daily chores and let you work on organizing your sewing. It won’t hurt to ask for some help. :thumbup:

grugirl

I honestly don't think you should have someone else organize it. If it is too much for you, start slowly as someone suggested. Recently (The past 3 months) I have organized everything in my quilt room and I was truly overwhelmed. The first thing you need is some sorting bins to start separating as was suggested, notions in one, tools in another and fabric in another.

Now, you may wonder why I suggested to sort it yourself? I found that when I did, I was reaquainted with all the fabrics I had and when I organized them, I did it by color then by size. I reorganized all my tools by tower bins and found enough room to set up another machine. I am happy now and not overwhelmed when I look in my quilt room. I LIKE spending time in there because I KNOW where everything is. If someone else does organize it, you will still be searching for things because You WERE NOT the one that organized it.

trupeach1

From what you wrote I think you are the PERFECT quilter!!!!!!!