When we decided to sell the house last february and had a few visitors come see the house, my sewing was put on the back burner. My sewing room became a storage room for things that I was wanting to sell and I thought that I would need to start packing up sooner then later, so I didn’t want to start on any new projects anyway. The longer things dragged on, the more things accumulated and the task of clearing the space and getting back into sewing was a bit depressing and overwhelming. A few weeks ago though, I finally decided that I was going to do it. One day, luckily on the “oversized items” garbage day, I decided that the old oversized TV unit that was holding my fabric quite messily was going to go. I emptied it onto the floor and I asked Simon to help me take it to the curb.

What was left in my sewing room was a total mess. I should have taken a picture but even i didn’t want to see it. That is when I emptied two of my shelves on my bookcase which prompted my post on stuff, as the shelves that I emptied was full of magazines that I was having trouble letting go of. I was able to place all of my fabric on those two shelves but was still a bit overwhelmed by the rest of the mess.

Over the next two weeks I did a little at a time and then yesterday, I finally pushed through the last bit of e mess and am now so happy of the space. Though the space was not yet done last week, just the potential of it already had my creative juices flowing, and I decided a few days ago that I was going to finish the quilt I had started making for Wilhelmina last year so that I can give it to her for either Xmas or her birthday. I can’t believe that it has been sitting there waiting for me for nearly a year and half. I started on it when Willa was just over a year old and then with her being a toddler and into everything I slowed down, and then her health issues last year and everything else, I just never went back to it…

Now that I started sewing again, it feels so good! I love being at the machine! I just go into my own little world and it is so relaxing.

I am also thanking myself for what i had already done. I might have let the sewing room get out of control but I didn’t let my things get out of order. My plan was still on the wall where I had easy access to it, all of my fabrics were together and prepared, I had pre-cut most of my fabrics and stitched together my dresden flowers so that I wouldn’t lose any of the pieces. (actually, I did that a few months ago because I didn’t want to lose any pieces if we moved) and basically, I proved to myself that I can actually be very organized.

Yesterday, I finished piecing together the squares that will be around the center… I had already done three of them but finished the 7 that were left… These are the images from last year, but they still look the same except that I have also quilted the sash between the blocks.

Today, I finished one of my dresden flowers that will be one of the four corners. The flower itself was already sewn, I just needed to cut the fabric it would be on, cut the backing, make a “sandwich” with the batting, press it, pin it, sew it, make the center and quilt it..

I have three more to go but if I can do a bit each night I could hopefully be done my major components by the end of the week. After that I need to decide how I am going to quilt it. Another thing that I did today was make a few scrap “quilt sandwiches” which I practiced my freehand quilting on. I am still not at all comfortable doing it but I do love that even though I make mistakes, with the pattern that I am practicing, you cannot see the mistakes unless you really look for them. But of course, doing a practice run and actually putting the foot down on my hard work are two very different things.