This last week, I spent four days doing a major clean. . . a purge really. I went through every shelf, closet, drawer, & cubby in the guest/extra room (or what I was lovingly calling the 'dumping' room), my office & my studio. I looked through 2 years worth of magazines to pull only the pages that had something on them that really inspired me & I wanted to keep. An almost 3 foot pile of magazines reduced to little less than 1" of pages - which will now go into one of my new fabric covered notebooks. I even went through every file in my office (4 file drawers full!) & I ended up with 3 full kitchen size trash-bags full of papers I didn't need. Then I got busy with my shredder & filled another bag with the shreds of another pile of 'papers' that I had (for some reason) saved for shredding later. . . (Seriously - if it needs shredding. . . why wait?)
I found three bags of wool strips/scraps that I gave to my quilter - who will make beautiful hooked rugs from them. I have filled 2 boxes with fabric that will be donated . . . most pieces were ones that I have held onto for years, & although I love them still, I know that even if I did nothing but make quilts for the rest of my life. . . I would probably never get through them all. Not that I had a warehouse of fabric or anything - it's just that now that I am designing fabrics & have bunches of new pieces coming every 6 months or so. . . there is not room for all of it. . . & it's a shame for the older fabrics to just be sitting in a closet! (Oh, but I must confess. . . there are still some 3 Sisters, Fig Tree, & Blackbird Designs fabrics (moda!) from years ago that I'm not about to part with. . .!)
Needless to say - I was pretty tuckered out last night when I finished dusting off the desktops in my office (that I could once again see now that all the piles of paper are gone!) - but it was that wonderful kind of tuckered out. The kind where you feel like you just can't do another thing - but you know you just accomplished something big. . . real big . . . & you feel a bit lighter. . . (but too tired to fly!).
Now that my studio, office, & spare room are spic-n-span & clutter free. . . I'm ready to start on a fresh batch of new designs & so I'm celebrating & in the mood to do a little 'cleaning out' of the pattern & book inventory to make room for the new!
So. . . I'm celebrating & having a summer sale on the website. . . where all patterns & books are 30% off! (July 14 - 21!)

♥ Bren
Gotta love you for saving your old Fig Tree... blush. I am so jealous of your major purge/clean! Believe it or not, that sounds like heaven to me!
ReplyDeleteHappy Organized Living,
Joanna
Pictures, pictures please!
ReplyDeleteI need to do the same, spending time organizing, decluttering and purging is just as important as sewing and after I see how much fabric I have, I cannot allow myself to buy more!
Have a great weekend!
Dear Bren, I have just been looking over your blog and you are such a talented quilt designer.
ReplyDeleteI so appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment on my blog about my dog Cindi.
Your little Bailey is a sweetie.
I enjoyed reading your daybook entries too. I am adding your blog to my list.