Closet Chaos

Have you ever wondered sometimes how some people just look a little too happy. They look so together and organized, they never forget anything and they always look like they can handle anything life throws at them with the perkiest smile. I always wonder whether their lives behind the scenes are that pleasant. If they really suffer from closet chaos.
I am not one of those people. I wear my chaos on my sleeve. Everyone knows when I am not happy. Everyone can see that I am behind most of the time, I get things done but only at the last minute and I have great intentions for organization but never quite seem to get it fully completed. Today I was suffering from closet chaos, only my chaos involved a real closet.
My sewing room is out of control. I know this is true for many of us. Even if you are not a quilter, sometimes it seems it’s your primary workspace that really takes the brunt of the chaos. I recently installed that new organizer unit. Hubby said he really wanted me to get the storage inside organized so that the plastic containers on the far wall could go away because they didn’t look good. I also wanted to set up new tables all the way around the room so my sewing areas could be up at once.
So… I cleaned all the plastic storage out and organized the center island. I also put labels on all the project boxes so I knew what was in them and could check my UFO inventory. I was able to complete those tasks but the one area that I have been avoiding was the side of clutter as you enter the room. Everything that didn’t have a place was piled there. Some of the things piled there were only there because the storage closet was in such a state of chaos that I was afraid anything important that got put in there would get lost. I have also been missing a few things that I have been thinking about lately.
So… since I am getting ready to sell my old Bernina and needed to find everything that went with it… and I really needed to clean up the clutter in my room… I will tackle the chaos and take everything out of the closet. I should probably purge it anyway. So I did. I have to tell you I had a lot of things in that closet that should not have been there. I also emptied out two more cabinets that I can put all kinds of things in. It took me all day. I was very proud of myself. I threw out two big black trash bags filled with junk. I thinned out some of my fabric that I was given (mostly flannels for pajamas). I cleaned out lots of old pieces of batting. I can’t believe I kept that much stuff.
The good news is while taking inventory of the small kits that I have and what projects they are for I found a few things that I forgot that I had and one thing that I had been looking for.
I found this wallhanging that is almost complete. It needs the outer border. I made this in a 3-D flying geese class about 6 years ago.

I also found these Chicken of the Month stitcheries that I have been looking for. I thought about them the other day when I was looking for some handwork to do. Aren’t they cute?

I also pulled out Hubby’s other quilt that I have half completed. It’s a difficult picture piecing quilt that I enlarged (thank God) to make a bigger wall hanging. I think it might be really fun to work on this one a little in the upcoming weeks.

Maybe I will even finish it for the quilt show in October. I don’t have anything really special for the quilt show this year except for Hubby’s house quilt which I am really hoping wins that UFO FQ basket for me. Keep your fingers crossed. I also managed to put the binding on the house quilt so that I can finish it by Monday night’s Guild Meeting. I think I have a whole week to put the binding down and put the label on the back before show-n-tell. Hubby worked outside for two days completing the concrete for the footers on the deck project. He has been working very hard lifting all that concrete by himself.

The boys even wanted to get into the act of hard work. For payment of course, but I suppose there is no time like the present to teach them that hard work gets rewarded. Hubby agreed to pay them to be water boys. At dinner last night the boys asked for jobs that they could do to earn money around the house. I offered to pay them to clean my car. They worked on that job today as well when there was no more concrete to do. They worked together and had a good time.
Duncan, however, was not into working today. For him it was a “dog day afternoon”. As you can see he was caught sleeping like this most of the day. You know the dog has taken over the house when he sleeps with all four paws in the air.

At the end of the day we are all tired and have decided to retire early. I am still awake but have been in bed for about an hour. Hubby is getting rested up for work tomorrow and I am preparing my list for tomorrow. It’s amazing how much energy it takes to clean out the sewing room. It’s like letting go of little pieces of you. But now I have a little less chaos in my house (if I only had the energy to keep going and clean out the rest of the house) and plenty of room to create something new.
Happy Quilting!