Making Lemonade

I'm looking on the bright side these days; if I didn't, the whole situation of living in a construction zone would drive me over the edge. I knew that I had to shift the focus to that which I could change for the better. As someone who craves order and tidiness I am faced daily with my biggest enemies: disorder, clutter, chaos and dust; piles and piles of it! My challenge is to deal with all of the above and make constructive use of this current state of our home! When the new drawers were installed, including the one that would house our silverware, Mr. G. had already outfitted that one with custom dividers, I no longer needed the cutlery insert that I'd had before! Hmmm... I thought... would it fit in the top drawer of my cutting island where I keep thread? Would it EVER!! Not only did it fit nicely but the sections were the perfect size for my small spools to be arranged by color. No more rolling around and getting mixed up with each other every time I opened and closed that drawer! SCORE! My next victory is with spices, extracts and baking supplies. Since all of the cabinets that contained those have been removed, I am now intimately acquainted with each and every bottle and tin that we have. Those that were old, dusty and of unknown origin have all been discarded, as have multiples of the same item! Now to separate those remaining into like categories and alphabetize them before they're restocked; this will be a HUGE (much needed) accomplishment! Likewise all of the no longer useful and questionable cleaning supplies that had been stored beneath where the kitchen sink used to be: gone, gone, and gone! Getting that future space under control in a neat and orderly way will be a breeze now!

We've gone from left photo to the right one this week, the backsplash has already been removed and the wall resurfaced; fingers crossed that all of the new cabinetry will be installed this weekend.

While Mr. G is working on the kitchen re-do and I've done as much as I can on that front, I've been escaping to the sewing room and a precious scrappy quilt loaded for clamshell quilting. A friend brought this to me, it has such a wonderful story: her mother had begun piecing this before she was diagnosed with a fast moving illness that ultimately took her life, it was out of the blue and completely unexpected. Following her death the unfinished quilt top sat for a long time until recently, her father picked it up and finished piecing it! It's huge: 96" X 102", entirely made up of three inch squares; yep, that's 1,088 scraps of love! My friend wanted double batting for a weightier, more substantial quilt. Sew it goes, this is destined to become a treasured family heirloom. 

Augie's been hanging out with me while I quilt lately, the sewing room is a peaceful place for him too. We're rising to the current challenges by squeezing lemonade out of the "lemons" that our construction zone has presented and making the best of it. Someone asked me the other day if this wasn't worse than moving; "no, not at all" I answered, emphatically, "I don't ever plan to move again, if I can help it! When this is over, and the dust settles, it will all be wonderful" (and tidy and better organized than it was before!). 

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the laundry room not only for doing up the dishes by hand 

but even for plugging in the crock pot for tonight's dinner. It's all good!

Life is Good! 

Corralling the Cutter Clutter

Baking and decorating cookies takes time and practice, I'm okay with that. I am completely dedicated to the learning curve and all that entails. Naturally, a new hobby includes lots of new tools; collecting them is the fun part: cookie cutters, specialty gel colors for the icing, icing bags, bag ties, tips, couplers, flooding bottles, sanding sugars, rolling pin spacers, spatulas and the list goes on.  I dedicated a kitchen drawer to the ever-growing collection and quickly learned that organizing all of the tools was going to be the bane of my excitement, each time I opened the drawer for "cookie day" I sighed-- and wrestled out what I needed before quickly closing the drawer again; the tools and equipment were all piled on top of each other in one huge mess. I felt defeated before I began. Well, enough was enough! I knew what I needed, dividers in the drawer! The space seemed sufficient, the drawer is big: 19.5" square and 7.5" deep, the problem was, as I saw it: no way to confine certain tools to their own area-- every time I opened the drawer the motion itself contributed to creating a disheveled heap. I mentioned this to Mr. Goodneedle after I took everything out of the drawer and laid it out on the counter top so that he could see what I was dealing with. He perused the "pile" and suggested "laying out the drawer space" as I envisioned it with dividers. The real problem was the cookie cutters; they refused to comply with space restraints. "Oh, wait" I thought; "I have some storage bins that might just work". (Actually, one of them was holding a UFO that needed to be released into the light of day so that I could work on it. But then, that's another story for another day!) As fate would have it, those two bins, stacked, fit perfectly in the front of the drawer and held all of my cutters nicely! Who knew? In no time at all the cutter clutter had been corralled. Mr. Goodneedle suggested I live with this drawer arrangement for a little while and if it made sense after using it a time or two then he would, indeed, install custom dividers to the space. That makes sense to me. What doesn't is the fact that I put up with this messy, disorganized drawer for months. What seemed to be a HUGE problem for me was easily and rapidly managed. Hmmmm.... what other mountains are looming that can be reduced to mole hills this efficiently? I know I won't have to look far. In the meantime, I am enjoying the happy solution to my formerly "overwhelming" cutter clutter problem!

Life is Good!

Stick To It!

It's been a long time since I sat, evening after evening, devoting focused hours to hand quilting. It's extremely therapeutic, being caught up in nothing more than the rocking rhythm of the needle in my hand and the thimble on my finger. Once I settle in and get under the hooped quilt, with my steaming hot cup of blueberry tea beside me, the last thing I want to do is jump up to retrieve some forgotten item. It's taken some time, but finally I have defined exactly what I find necessary and contained it into one small basket to keep beside my chair. The obvious items are thread, needle, thimble, scissors and marking tools. The needle threader and the beeswax candle (I shove the needle into it from time to time to reduce drag) make the task so much easier; but, a short strip of double-sided tape attached to one side of the basket has proved to be the handiest item of all! Those pesky little thread ends and, sometimes, even a bent or broken needle are placed onto the sticky surface and held there to be disposed of later. I can clean off the tape for several evenings in a row before the tape loses its adhesive properties and needs replacing. Whatever your handwork is, and however you keep your tools, consider adding a strip of double-sided tape to your area to work more cleanly and effectively. It's a simple little trick that makes a big difference... just stick to it!!

Life is Good!

Space To Breathe

I  need space to breathe, it is vital for me to function properly!  Of course, breathing is vital; so is food, water and rest, I know that.  But, I have also come to learn that the way I am wired, the manner in which God made me, requires SPACE to breathe.  I think of breathing space and breathing room differently. The room required to breathe is within my body, as much area as it takes for my lungs to fill and expand; that's the literal definition for breathing room.  The more common "room to breathe" phrase is figurative; as in: "back off, I need room to breathe", when one feels boxed in or crowded.  When I proclaim that I need space to breathe the knowledge behind that statement comes from my requirement for tidiness and order.  If my desk is cluttered and my quilting projects are piling up and weighing me down, I cannot breathe;  I have lost the comfort and peace that space provides for me to make it through the day, I gasp away, one breath a a time.  Can I function in a cluttered and disorganized environment?  Yes, I can; but in the same way that someone might suffer through respiratory challenges it is a constant struggle and I find myself worn out and exhausted in no time. On days when that breathing space is compromised I feel tense, frazzled overwhelmed, and distracted, not a fun person to be around!  So, how do I go about creating that much-needed breathing space?  My challenge is an ongoing one. I began on Monday evening by cleaning off my desk, the place where I begin every day. I put away, or threw away, notes and clutter that were distractions and infiltrating my breathing space; the effect was immediate, I could exhale!  Next: my cutting table, I can only work on one project at a time so why am I looking at the pieces and debris from half a dozen UFO's that only overwhelm my senses? Much like weeding a garden, the noxious offenders were pulled and pitched.  I can, once again, take a deep breath and feel the peace that accompanies space to breathe. My challenge in the coming weeks will be to create space on my calendar, on my "to do" lists and, ultimately, in my daily routine; it is a deliberate and conscious step for me toward living "lighter" and less encumbered, which should equal space for breathing easier.  With God's help, I can thrive in that created space and be the woman that He had in mind. After all, He created me in this manner, I recognize that and gratefully request His guidance to lead me down the daily path; I've spent far too long cluttering up the way, leaving precious little space to breathe; the peace-giving space that I need!

Life is Good!