The Quilting Blogger's favorite tool:

10:27:00 PM


the 'crop' tool.

You know what I'm talking about. I can't be the only one guilty of this.

Exhibit A: don't let the picture fool you.
You take a pretty photo of what you're working on. Clear a space around the area surrounding your subject. Your photo looks nice and dare I say it, internet worthy. Close-ups of what you're working on. Neatly folded/pressed, no stray threads, photo taken at just the right angle so as not to showcase that less-than-straight seam; close-ups of all the right things, distance shots of the not-so-right things...

See Exhibit A, pictured right. Today's finishes while the little ones slept. Three midwifery slings for the ol' Sew at Home Mummy Etsy shop.

Nice, right? Stacked nicely, fanned out to show the labels, no debris on the beautiful blue cutting mat, no stray threads...


When in reality, all around you, it looks as if a bomb went off:
Exhibit B: Yikes.
Note the two baby monitors on the table center: no doubt the primary reason for the chaos.
Also note the Batman duct-tape holding my LED light in place on my sewing machine. >grumble<
Ugh.

It's chaos. Not even an organized chaos. My problem is this: I can't find the time to organize anything back in it's place - I just start pulling stuff off the shelf haphazardly and in a rush to get things done and move on to the next thing, nothing is getting put away - because heaven knows one of those kids is gonna wake up any minute so rush! rush!

...and if you knew me in real life, well, you'd know how much this disorganization makes me TWITCH.

To the point where, today, I actually asked my mother (who is coming to visit in a few weeks) if she'd mind helping me by putting her [obsessive] laundry-folding-idiosyncrasy to work in my sewing area...maybe with the two of us we'll get it all neatly organized.

You know, it's definitely true what they say about when you have kids, that it's inevitable that you'll relax, be "less of a neat/control/[insert Type-A personality trait here]". It's happened to me. I thought it never would. But it has. And most of the time, it's great! But when it comes to my sewing space...I'm in trouble.

You know, as I write this, it pops into my head that I should run a link-up party. Air your dirty laundry, so to speak, share photos of your cray-cray sewing spaces. It'd make me feel better to commiserate *wink*. What a good laugh it would be.

Anyway.


A heads up (sponsored links ahead....) Craftsy is having a big sale on their courses starting tonight. This weekend only, until 11pm PST on Sunday, they're offering up to 50% off of 2 paired Craftsy online classes. I'm thinking about taking Leah Day's FMQ and Beth Ferrier's star blocks course... If you take one of them, or have taken them, let me know if you liked the course(s). I really like the Craftsy platform, actually. I like that I can sit and learn in my pjs. Or in the middle of the night when my little one won't sleep. I've taken a few of their courses and have recently signed up for Jacquie Gering's new modern quilting course (she's a fellow Chicago MQG member!) and I can't wait to get a minute to actually sit down and learn!

And to sign us off on this chilly Valentine's night, the other man in my life:
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. I hope you're snuggling up tonight with a quilt you love.

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10 comments

  1. Too funny, you definitely got me there...I thought that I was going to have a look at a new fan dangled quilting tool....but then again I guess the crop tool is all that and more.

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  2. Oh yes you should make a linky party, I showed my pictures to a friend a few weeks ago, cra-cra is right.

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  3. looks tidy compared to mine!! lovely picture of your valentine date xx

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  4. At the workshop I took is week I intentionally took pictures of my work space craziness. I makes me pleased that something good was made out of that.

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  5. I honestly don't think your sewing room looks so bad! My room is tiny. To keep a handle on clutter I bought cheep wire desk trays. Like this - http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/809541/Office-Depot-Brand-Letter-Wire-Desk/.

    I put fabrics I pull for different projects into separate baskets. My baskets don't stack. I just place them one on top of each other. My craziness looks more organized and I can easily see what I'm working on.

    I took Leah Day's FMQ craftsy class. She is fabulous! My FMQ improved significantly thanks to her!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Diane! You're a no-reply blogger so I hope you check back here for my response.

      Thanks for the tip on the trays - those look fantastic! I'm going to measure my shelves today to see if something like that may fit. Thumbs up baby!

      Also, thanks for the review on the FMQ class. My FMQ skills are definitely lacking - well really, I suck. LOL. I'm gonna see if it's in the budget to be able to take the classes, I really want to!

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  6. Oh yes... The crop! Oh so handy even without little ones. ;-). I have learned to keep an empty drawer to swoop my mess into - but then I need to make a point to clean it out for next time. Quilting is messy!

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  7. I've taken one of Leah Day's classes and started a second. I appreciate her attitude and her teachin style. I've gotten great ideas and increased my confidence.

    The crop tool, YES! I used to take photos of quilts on the floor. When my daughter made my website one year and wanted to use them, first she "vacuumed" with another took, one that changes the color of the background. Another good tool.

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  8. Im suffering from waiting for my new sewing room to organise. The house is under construction but in the mean time my sewing is a mess. I have found though that if I put fabric into large ziplock bags with the pattern and other assorted things I gathered for a project then I don't need to dig so much when I start something. And I'm less likely to use fabrics that should have been saved for something specific. It also makes it easier to stop the kids spilling it off the table for me.

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  9. So good to know I'm not the only one who tries to get just one more thing done before nap time is over! And nap time is always too short, isn't it? Unfortunately, my sewing area is also our kitchen table, where we eat all our meals, so I'm always needing to put everything away when I'm finished sewing. I never thought about that as being a good thing, but it does force me to be at least a little organized.

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