What a month! A member of Stashbuster mentioned a book called "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" written by Peter Walsh. I have seen him on the Oprah Show and was interested in reading one/some of his books. So I ordered the one mentioned. While reading this book, Peter referred to one of his earlier books. Turns out that I had that book in my to-buy list at Amazon, so I moved it to my cart and bought it. I got inspired. That's all I can say. Before the other book had arrived, I was already de-cluttering.
I started with the master bedroom and master bath. I cleaned out "stuff" from the under-sink cabinets. I cleaned out the shelves in the top of the closet. I removed "stuff" from the closet floor. I emptied out 3 dresser drawers and 2 nightstand drawers. I removed more stuff from the hallway storage cabinets. I have even started removing unused items from the (gasp) kitchen!
In the past 3 weeks, I have filled up the curb-side trash bin 3 times. Trash pickup was 2 days ago. Today I made a small dent in the garage, and the curb-side bin in nearly full again. Oh, that's not all! I filled 3 boxes and 3 large shopping bags with clothing and other usable stuff, then I called Salvation Army and scheduled a pickup. They came today. In addition to the boxes and bags, they also took with them 2 office chairs, 1 other chair, 2 cake carriers, and a pressure cooker.
Since there is enough room in the curb-side bin for this week's regular trash, I guess that most of my tossing-out is done for this week. Yes, it feels good to get rid of all this stuff. And I still have more to go. After I make a complete pass through the rest of my home and garage, I will reasses where I stand. I may need to repeat this exercise and look at the things to which I am emotionally attached. For now, though, there is still plenty of "easy" stuff to toss or give away.
Kathy
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Catching Up
Well, here it is the very last day of 2008. Here's how I stand on my 6-month challenge. For easy reference, I am repeating the description of the challenge.
For the rest of 2008:
1. I will not start another new project. If it is a project I have already started, I may keep working on it. A project counts as "started" if I have started cutting fabric. But if it's nothing more than a collection of fabric plus a pattern, it will have to wait.
2. I will keep true to the no-buy challenge: no more fabric will be purchased; nor will another piece of fabric enter my home, regardless the source or the reason.
Before the end of 2008, I will
1. finish the bindings on 4 quilts before the end of the year.
2. finish the pineapple wall hanging before the end of the year. (finished top)
3. finish the small applique wall hanging. (finished top)
4. add borders to my Tennessee Waltz quilt.
5. finish reorganizing my stash
So, how'd I do?
I have not started any *new* projects (approved exception: I decided that using my President fabrics was OK, and I have selected 3 patterns and started cutting for one of them).
I did OK on the no-buy part of this, not a perfect adherence, but not way overboard either. I bought a few FQs in fallish reds to add to the fabrics that I want to use for my Autumn quilt. In addition, I bought some fabric for my niece's quilt. I offered to teach her how to make a quilt. When I asked what colors she wanted, she said "purple, black, and silver". I had a solid black in stash. I had a lovely floral with pink, blue, and purple flowers with green/teal leaves on a black background. I had some purples that went with the floral. But silver? So off to the quilt shop. Do you think I could find silver? Noooooo. Any gray that would look OK with the floral? Noooooo. So I selected 2 white prints that might work. But now there was too much contrast between my purple and the white. I started looking for a lighter purple to add to the mix. Do you think I could find one that would go with the purple I already had? Nooooo. I ended up buying 2 purples that I am happy with. Maybe a week later, light bulb moment ... What about Fairy Frost? Is there a gray Fairy Frost? Off to the internet. Yay! It exists and will be just
great for what my niece requested. Whew. While I did buy those 5 fabrics, none of them were for me. And had it not been for my offer to help her make a quilt, I would not have made that trip to the fabric shop.
But, now for the rest of my challenge... Yay! I finished the binding on the 4 largest of the 5 quilts that needed binding, and the 5th is halfway done. (Do I get extra credit for this?) I finished my Pineapple wall hanging over this past weekend. I decided that my applique wall hanging is a good project to use as a take-along (small and very portable). So I kinda moved that project off the "must get it done" list, but I do take it with me when I visit my parents. I also take it with me when I meet with friends once/month. Big, big YAY because I finished reorganizing my stash. The only thing that remains in my Tennessee Waltz quilt that needs borders. Since I started working on another UFO (something I can work on in a more confined area than the TW borders would have used) I decided it was OK that I haven't yet started working on that project.
While not an A+, I think it was a very good 5 months (Aug - Dec = 5 months). No regrets.
Now what?
Do you really need to ask? Definitely another challenge. I had already made up my list of projects for the next 6-month challenge and taped it in plain sight. Then I was challenged by another Stashbuster member to use my oldest fabric in a quilt, and I accepted the challenge (with a deadline to have the top finished by end of 2009). At this point, I may have more than I can do in 6-months and I also want to keep working on at least one project that uses my President-fabrics. Oh, what the heck. This time I will extend the challenge for the entire year of 2009. Here's my list:
1. Finish my Storm at Sea quilt
2. Finish my Stack & Whack quilt
3. Add borders to 3 quilts (my planned projects, but my Mother actually did the piecing)
4. Finish my Potted Flowers wall hanging
5. Complete my Oldest-Fabric challenge
6. Any/all of the 3 quilts that I have planned using my President fabrics.
Let's see if I can't post updates a little more frequently.
Kathy
For the rest of 2008:
1. I will not start another new project. If it is a project I have already started, I may keep working on it. A project counts as "started" if I have started cutting fabric. But if it's nothing more than a collection of fabric plus a pattern, it will have to wait.
2. I will keep true to the no-buy challenge: no more fabric will be purchased; nor will another piece of fabric enter my home, regardless the source or the reason.
Before the end of 2008, I will
1. finish the bindings on 4 quilts before the end of the year.
2. finish the pineapple wall hanging before the end of the year. (finished top)
3. finish the small applique wall hanging. (finished top)
4. add borders to my Tennessee Waltz quilt.
5. finish reorganizing my stash
So, how'd I do?
I have not started any *new* projects (approved exception: I decided that using my President fabrics was OK, and I have selected 3 patterns and started cutting for one of them).
I did OK on the no-buy part of this, not a perfect adherence, but not way overboard either. I bought a few FQs in fallish reds to add to the fabrics that I want to use for my Autumn quilt. In addition, I bought some fabric for my niece's quilt. I offered to teach her how to make a quilt. When I asked what colors she wanted, she said "purple, black, and silver". I had a solid black in stash. I had a lovely floral with pink, blue, and purple flowers with green/teal leaves on a black background. I had some purples that went with the floral. But silver? So off to the quilt shop. Do you think I could find silver? Noooooo. Any gray that would look OK with the floral? Noooooo. So I selected 2 white prints that might work. But now there was too much contrast between my purple and the white. I started looking for a lighter purple to add to the mix. Do you think I could find one that would go with the purple I already had? Nooooo. I ended up buying 2 purples that I am happy with. Maybe a week later, light bulb moment ... What about Fairy Frost? Is there a gray Fairy Frost? Off to the internet. Yay! It exists and will be just
great for what my niece requested. Whew. While I did buy those 5 fabrics, none of them were for me. And had it not been for my offer to help her make a quilt, I would not have made that trip to the fabric shop.
But, now for the rest of my challenge... Yay! I finished the binding on the 4 largest of the 5 quilts that needed binding, and the 5th is halfway done. (Do I get extra credit for this?) I finished my Pineapple wall hanging over this past weekend. I decided that my applique wall hanging is a good project to use as a take-along (small and very portable). So I kinda moved that project off the "must get it done" list, but I do take it with me when I visit my parents. I also take it with me when I meet with friends once/month. Big, big YAY because I finished reorganizing my stash. The only thing that remains in my Tennessee Waltz quilt that needs borders. Since I started working on another UFO (something I can work on in a more confined area than the TW borders would have used) I decided it was OK that I haven't yet started working on that project.
While not an A+, I think it was a very good 5 months (Aug - Dec = 5 months). No regrets.
Now what?
Do you really need to ask? Definitely another challenge. I had already made up my list of projects for the next 6-month challenge and taped it in plain sight. Then I was challenged by another Stashbuster member to use my oldest fabric in a quilt, and I accepted the challenge (with a deadline to have the top finished by end of 2009). At this point, I may have more than I can do in 6-months and I also want to keep working on at least one project that uses my President-fabrics. Oh, what the heck. This time I will extend the challenge for the entire year of 2009. Here's my list:
1. Finish my Storm at Sea quilt
2. Finish my Stack & Whack quilt
3. Add borders to 3 quilts (my planned projects, but my Mother actually did the piecing)
4. Finish my Potted Flowers wall hanging
5. Complete my Oldest-Fabric challenge
6. Any/all of the 3 quilts that I have planned using my President fabrics.
Let's see if I can't post updates a little more frequently.
Kathy
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