Sorting out

 "I just need to get sorted" has become a humorous catchphrase in our house, because DH's elderly mother has been saying that for years - like there will come a moment when all the stars are aligned and she can finally get started on doing 'the thing' - only that day never comes.  But it does seem to be human nature to create mental barriers to pursuing the fun stuff - "I need to finish X project before I can start something new"; "I need to use up my old fabric before I can buy any more";  "I need to do some paperwork before I can go play in my sewing room" etc.

With the eternal chores of housework and cleaning temporarily off my guilt list, after our cleaning marathon for my relative visiting last weekend, I have been sorting out some of my barriers to creativity. I've been reorganising my fabric stash - in particular I unpacked two large carrier bags of repro fabric and folded it all into squares I can stand up in some plastic trays I bought.  I went through my crammed shelf of special fabric and dispersed it into more sensible collections where I can see what I've got (and hopefully use some of it). I emptied out bags of scraps and threw out a lot of small pieces I will never use, and cut up others for my scrap bins.  I also went through my boxes of 'patterns or kits I want to make' and pulled out several to kit up in preparation for some retreats I will attend in October.  

One of those was the clever Clover gadget that lets you easily sew jelly roll rug fabric tubes.  I tested it out on some wadding scraps after doing some Youtube research, then cut up a bunch of wadding scraps left over from longarming to be 2.5" wide.  The plan is to make some baskets from my scrap 2.5" fabric stash.  I also researched how to make selvedge fabric, and chose some projects to make with that, once I use my selvedge stash to cover some foundation fabric.  Today I sat in on an online zoom retreat organised by one of the regions of the UK quilters guild, which gave me something to listen to while I was cutting a million strips of wadding.  After that, I was stitching on a little beginner's Boro panel that I started in a quick workshop at Festival of quilts a few years ago, which I found in the box as well.

In the attic disaster room that houses my knitting, bobbin lace and junk journalling stashes, I have also made inroads.  I've pulled out some of the bookcases lining the edges of the slanted ceiling, so that I can access the wasted space behind them.  DH took the old dining table I was using as a stand for my ScanNCut off to the re-use centre today, which freed up a lot of room. I've moved several things I only use occasionally into the slanted low part of the room to free up more floor space.  I had two crates of tatting stuff, a hobby I've hardly done at all for a couple of decades.  One crate was just books, patterns and newsletters - I was able to discard or donate almost all of it.  The other is full of threads which I haven't tackled yet.  I've put together a big bag of acrylic worsted yarn to donate.  So it is gradually looking better.  I've been on a bit of a decluttering roll - I've sold a chair, a shelf and a towel rack on Facebook Marketplace this week, and let go of a wooden quilt display ladder that never really fit in this house.  So there is more space and more empty corners than there used to be - it feels good.  

The visit with my relative and her partner went fine, although very low key.  Disappointingly (especially after all our work) they didn't seem very interested in our nice old house.  I gave them the tour but they looked in most rooms without comment and showed no interest at all in my dollhouse or sewing rooms.  I suppose to Canadian eyes, our Victorian house may look old fashioned or cluttered.  Much more satisfying was a visit a few days later by my sister-in-law with her partner. They hadn't visited since we were renovating the house 12 years ago because we usually go down to them.  They loved the house and expressed much admiration and interest, and asked lots of questions, which feels more like what our nice old house deserves, lol.

While I was tidying my sewing room, I found the embroidered house sewing accessory that I finished a few weeks ago and realised I had forgotten to blog it.  I based my little house on photographs that I found online of a design by Australian company Faeries in my Garden, which they call 'Little House of Needles and Pins'.  I undertook it partly a technical challenge to see if I could come up with a suitable construction method.  I eyeballed the proportions for the components and used cardboard inside the pieces.  My embroideries riff off of their designs but are of course cruder, my embroidery skills are only so-so.  There are small pockets on all four sides, inside the roof panels there is needle storage, and there is a ribbon to hold a pair of scissors. Construction wasn't entirely successful, I had trouble with bulk in the seams so I wonder how the original dealt with that, but it did go together. I made a boxed pincushion that fits inside.  The final result isn't as cute as the original but it's still cute.  Not sure if I will use it or not, it may just be a decoration.

I said last week that I had finished the knitted shawl that I started in St Kitts.  It is now blocked and dry.   I like the design but I don't like the colour - I used a variegated sock yarn and it has come out much more lime green than I expected.  I have a friend visiting in a few weeks that likes bright colours so I might see if she will want it.

Once the family visit was over, I could start making a mess in my dollshouse room again so I have made a start on a kit by Petworth Miniatures for a 1:48 book box on the theme of Pride and Prejudice.  I remember buying this from a dealer at the York miniatures show some years ago, and there were several book boxes themed on different books.  I've been making the box itself first, but the kit also includes some laser-cut furniture kits to make.  I am not overly impressed with the kit - the instructions to my mind are not in the right order, like they want you to install papers and then try to paint the edges of the box (I did it my own way and reversed that), and are also a bit confusing; there is no mention of painting the ceiling that I have seen so far anyway; the supplied wallpaper was on light cardstock and difficult to fold into the room, and I'm finding it difficult to get a good finish on the laser cut wood.  Hopefully I will like the end result. There was no frame supplied for inside the window so I bodged one in Tinkercad and 3D printed one.