The End of May
I have sewn up most of the fabric I bought in April. I have about .5 meter left to make something. Probably a couple of mug rugs and I will call it used up.
I also made grandson a small bag for his food scale. It was quite the feat as it needed to be well padded. As the seams were going to be raw on the inside, I covered them with fabric and hand stitched them in place. I also sewed large snaps to close the bag.
I dug in the doll's stash for a piece of Nova Scotia plaid and cut out a gift bag. I will finish it today. It is an easy sew as I have made 4 already.
When that is done, I want to clean up the sewing room and start on a quilt. I am going to cut only 6 strips of each fabric and make 9 patches out of them. I will repeat that until I have enough 9 patches. My goal is to make the 18 - 9 patches first and then add the borders to them. I may make more 9 patches and make this quilt 80 x 80" rather than 60 x 60" I will see how much fabric I have (which is a lot).
My other plans for the month is to sew some more doll clothes plus an outfit for my rabbit. I will make her a dress to start off with and then go from there. I also want to sew up some more Christmas fabrics.
The stash is still bothering me a lot. It actually has me not wanting to sew some days. I have a feeling it is because what I own is stagnant and I want to sew new fabrics. I keep telling myself that when the fabric is sewn up I can sew new fabrics one project at a time. I keep focussing on that.
Another May Update
I had a day of recovery on May 21 and I started thinking about the fabric stash. I have been wondering what to do with it as it has become stale or maybe I am ready to move on from it. Having sewn up the fabric I bought in March and trying to sew the other fabrics I bought this year I wondered if it was time to let go of the old stash. There are several reasons.
1. Some of it is old. I mean 15 years old. Some is 10 years old and some is 5 years old. Most of the newer fabrics I have bought have been sewn up.
2. There are pieces I am holding onto that are orphans. Nothing goes with them and most are just scraps. Time to let them go as they are taking up space.
3. There are pieces that have been given to me and I need to deal with them. Sew them up and give the finished items away as gifts. I can give some one else joy in having them.
4. Make gift bags and give what I can't sell away for others to use.
5. Sew up as much of each piece as I can. Make piping from fat quarters for daughter to use on her western shirts.
I am sure I will find other uses for some of the fabrics I have put aside. Though I was going to sew for enjoyment and not worry about the stash, I have decided to worry about it. It is not shrinking as fast as I would like. I am making small projects that use small amounts of fabric. I need to be creative and not worry about the little things. I have been one who likes bindings to be one colour but I am going to start making bindings using the left over fabrics from the project. I can piece the backings of small quilted projects. I can do what I want to do as long as it looks tidy.
I will not be worrying about the scraps as much as I have been. I will make some mug rugs if there is enough fabric. If not, it goes into the donation pile. I am learning that what I do is my business.
My goal for the next 4 months is to sew down the stash on the shelving unit. I know I will need interfacing and fusible fleece to make some of the projects. If I need a bit of fabric to finish a project that is also okay. My goal is not to buy fabric for a new project until after I have sewn down the stash. Once the shelving unit is dealt with, I will move on to the doll's fabric. That is going to be difficult for me to work on as I have lots of ideas for it.
At this time, I am giving myself until the end of March 2026 at which time I will do another purge of the fabric. What will be left be minimal in amount.
May 2025 Update
I have continued to try to keep the sewing room tidy and not let the family room get into shambles. I am focusing on not having a lot of extra items in those spaces. I need to keep it under control no matter what I am doing.
1. I took a large paper bag of fabric to my friend for her quilting group. It was so freeing to see the fabric leave my house. Most of it was scraps which I had left over from projects I had made.
2. I have basically sewn the fabric I bought in March. Just 2 gift bags to finish and it is done except for the piece I am hand stitching lace onto. That is my slow sewing project and could take a couple of months to do. My next goal is to sew the 2.35 meters of fabric I bought in January and April 2025. When I am done that, I will have sewn all the fabric I bought this year.
3. I am still trying not to buy fabric unless I really need it for a project. I am using what I have in the stash first. It has been satisfying to see the piles of fabric go down as I challenge myself to make something. Some of my projects have used only .25 meters of fabric but it is fabric I liked and I made something for the dolls using up the last of it.
4. I am knitting most nights and am seeing the yarn stash slowly decrease in size. I decided to try knitting socks for part of the evening and something for the dolls the rest of the evening. Socks are slow but sweaters for the doll's are fast to knit.
I am continuing to work on making items I like and want to sew and knit. April and May saw me making a lot of doll's items which was fun. I will be making more for them as time goes on as I can use up fabric and yarn I love on something for them. Paper crafting will eventually be gone from my life unless I do something small for the fun of it.
April 2025 Update
I have been working on enjoying my sewing and making what I want to make. My sewing lagged in the first three months as I had to shovel snow, ice, and slush, caught a cold, and then needed my thyroid medication upped. Once I got over that, I started back to creating more regularly.
I have cleaned the sewing room twice. I did get rid of fabric both times. It felt good letting go of fabric I didn't like and wasn't grabbing for projects. I got rid of 40% of the yarn I had in bins. It was either yarn I wasn't going to knit or was balls left over from projects I had squirrelled away. Most of the fabric and yarn I have in the sewing room will be used as I like it.
I moved my focus to the maintenance/storage room where I did a total clean up. I boxed what I no longer wanted and kept only what I knew I would make. I have decided that what is left in November will be gone from the house. I will no longer need it as I am going to limit my crafting to what I know I will make and not for another craft bazaar.
The family room was harder to deal with as I had no plan in place. I did get half of the room cleaned and organized knowing I will let go of certain items when I finish a project on the craft table. I know I will buy some paper for another project but it will be limited to what I need for it. The second half of the family room needs to be dealt with next. It isn't as bad as the part I did. It is the area where I do hand work and a few items need to be dealt with so it has less clutter in it. The boxes that contain what I have let go of are stacked in that part but I am fine with that for now. I have a big bag of fabric scraps to donate to a quilting group and some odds and ends to put away. Dusting and vacuuming will be done and I hope to keep it tidy and free of clutter.
I have also changed a few of my thoughts since the beginning of January. My goal was to focus less on sewing down the stash and focus on more of what I want to make. With the turn in the world's economic climate, I have had to combine the two together. I am trying to buy less materials and use what I have. I have allowed what I don't want to use to go into donation or sell boxes. I have focused on sewing or crafting from what is left -- things I like. I am not churning out items to use up the stashes but am being more thoughtful of what I am making. I am allowing myself to buy a bit here and there.
With my overall plans changing, I am working on what I will focus on when sewing/crafting. It is something I continue to think about.
Sewing - to make quilts using the fabric I have in my stash. I know I will buy some fabrics to complete some of the quilts. I will also continue to sew for the dolls so each one has a wardrobe and a quilt. I will make a few items to donate as it will allow me to make items I want to make.
Knitting - to knit socks and items for the dolls. I know I will buy yarn when I get near the end of the sock yarn but know I have plenty of yarn for the dolls. If I could find a place to donate hats I would knit up a lot of yarn into hats and donate them. Still looking.
Crafting - I will be letting go of the paper crafts when I finish a memory book. I have one more memory book to make. I will need to buy for it but I am keeping it simple. My goal is to make what I want and buy the materials when I need them. I know that a small trolley of glue, ink, etc. will be purged when I am done. I will only keep what I absolutely need for the few crafts I will do. I will keep the Cricut as I do use it and plan on making gifts for family or for donations. I have thought long and hard about this part of my life as it is something I thought I would enjoy. It allowed myself to go down a rabbit hole and now wish I hadn't done that.
With a lot of thinking, I have realized that I need to be more focused and disciplined in what I will create. I need to let go of what I don't like and focus on what I like. I am slowly working on it and it is hard work making decisions, dealing with everything I have. But, I am starting to feel that my spaces are becoming more calm and that I am feeling more creative.
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With 2024 coming to an end, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what next year will look like. Not just in the sewing room but the family room where I do crafts. My desire to work in both of those spaces came to a grinding halt and it had me asking my favourite question -- why?
As I asked the question and thought over many days, I realized that I have been uninspired by the amount of stuff in both spaces. It was leaving me stressed out and avoiding the spaces. I would walk in, turn around, and leave. I stood one day in both spaces and made myself focus on why I was leaving. Both spaces were a mess and full of items I didn't want to work with. That lead me to think and find out why I was in this spot in my life. Why wasn't I enjoying sewing and crafting. Here is what I realized:
I want to do things that I enjoy
I want to be interested in my activities
I want to feel like what I do matters
Making items to use up the stashes was killing my creativity. When I found something that spoke to me I would enjoy what I was doing. This was in both spaces. If I was making for the sake of making, I would do it and walk out of the room I was in leaving a huge mess. What I enjoy doing was no longer a joy.
In early November, I made a huge decision to do the following:
Purge both the sewing and crafting areas keeping only what I want. I needed to let go of what I wasn't using. Having a stash of what ever that was never looked at was taking up space. My areas are big but they are also cluttered with stuff I don't use.
Have spaces that feel calm and inviting to work in. It should be easy to keep them clean and tidy. Remind myself my spaces are not storage places for unwanted items that take up real estate or make me feel anxious.
Choose projects that I want to make from the inventory I allow to reside those spaces. There will be some inventory but I know that I don't want to stock pile. I can go buy it as I need it.
Allow myself the time to plan, research, and play. Allow myself the grace to do other things I want to do in my life.
Problems I May Encounter and Will Need To Solve
Realize I will hit some rocky patches. Not everything is going to be easy to let go of. I have encountered a few rocky patches already.
Review what I have kept and eliminate pieces I push aside even though I think I will use them. I need to realize that some items will be kept due to emotional attachment whether it is positive or negative.
Be an astute consumer. Buy only what I need to make/finish a project. I do not need a lot of extra inventory. What inventory I decide to keep needs to be on the to do list so it is gone. This is very true of items I will be making for craft bazaars.
Realize that if I have large scraps left over, I need to use them up quickly or let them go.
Doing 2 craft bazaars next year is going to need careful planning. What do I need to buy now vs buying it when I want to make the items.
I am getting excited to start cleaning (again) after Christmas. I know there will be emotional ups and downs. I will need to have time to think and plan. I will need time to sew and craft. But I do know that I will get both spaces done while having winter keep me closer to home.
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