cleaning/reorganizing studio

My contribution to "The Official RCTQ Studio Clean-Up Project" is to re-wash all my fabrics. Ugh! The reason is that I am using a lot more fusing in my quilt making and I used to pre-wash and use fabric softener sheets in the dryer. Fusibles and softener are a bad combination and I have noooo idea which fabrics have been dried with softener and which ones haven't. I have recently read that the softener can attract bugs which is another good reason to rewash my stash. I am looking forward to revisiting my "old friends"- fabrics which have been shoved to the back of the stacks and overlooked. The fabrics will be lovingly fondled and refolded and organized by color, batiks and hand-dyes, novelties and large pieces. (I originally typed large *prices*... then I decided large prices and large pieces are darn near the same thing!) I won't iron the fabrics until I am ready to use them.

To everybody getting into the cleaning and reorganizing kick- best of luck! Pace yourself and have fun.

Leslie & The Furbabies > I decided to change the subject line from "The Chi is flowing again"

I try to clean it every time I switch projects (notice I didn't say finish ;-) Good vacuuming, dusting, putting away of things. Makes it nice to move on to the next quilting adventure.

No way could I move things out. Well, I could but dragging everything up the stairs would wear me out too much. No energy left to clean.

marcella

On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 09:30:24 -0500, Leslie & The Furbabies in MO. wrote (in article ):

I'm going to look in my drawers while I put the new stash away and pull out the uglies (to me-hopefully someone else will thing they are beautiful) for the guild's quilting garage sale next week.

Maureen

Two more old people having fun on a holiday: Our computer lives in the same room with the quilting, side-by-side, actually. This morning we turned off the power, very carefully removed all the cables (each with its own detailed tag explaining where it went back) and took off the side cover of the computer. For crying out loud. The amount of quilt batting fuzz inside would gag a goat - not to mention setting the pc on fire. This computer is barely a year old. How long has it been since you peeked inside your computer? Polly

This sounds similar to what I do, Marcella. I try to dust and mop in my sewing room weekly, since we live in such a dusty climate; dust can't be good for my SM or my Mac, after all. Between projects (again, not necessarily "finished" projects!), I neaten up. My space is rather cramped, so I can't let it get too far out of hand, or I won't be able to work in here at all. Besides, I have young DGSs who wouldn't be safe.... I never move things out, since most of my stuff is far too heavy for me to manage. LOL!

I'll be cleaning up the "inside" sewing room before I move the "outside" sewing room back --probably the middle of next month. I tend to hang on as long as I can outside, but when I have to wear a heavy jacket and wool socks to sew, I know it's time to give in.

For now, my sewing "room" is a small covered deck off the kitchen: a table for the machines, another table to cut and press on [gotta love the Cut and Press boards], a couple of pieces of Warm and White batting tacked up as design walls plus a rocking chair and a padded lounge chair with a footstool for anyone who wants to talk while I sew. Nice gentle breeze off the river is my "air conditioning.", large cedar tree provides shade. But, no room for much clutter: most of the fabric I'm working on gets packed into my big rolling bin at night; and my machines get covered to protect them from dew.

My favourite organizing hint is to fold fabric around a 6"x24" ruler: keeps everything neat, and easy to see what you have: 1 complete fold is 1/3 yard. After I do that, I fold it in half [except flannels which are too bulky]...keeps the edges neat inside and they fit nicely on standard shelves or in bins in the "inside" sewing room. Now I keep an older, slightly damaged ruler in my laundry room and fold the fabric straight out of the dryer. Most often, I can press what I need to cut as it unrolls, without unrolling the whole "package."

I'm biting my tongue! I promised myself I would keep quiet...and this is as quiet as I can be!!!!

Dannielle *humming a delightful tune to keep myself from commenting*

I bit my tongue as well, especially after Ms. Ragmop's comment last week when I was mentioning that all I had left to clean on the treadle was some dirty drawers. *snort*

Hey, Ragmop, my drawers are clean now, and I'm about to spray them with shellac! How's that for a mental image? *evil grin*

"The amount of quilt batting fuzz inside would gag a goat - not to mention setting the pc on fire." That was my very first thought when you said your computer was in the same room as your sewing setup. Computers have that fan inside to cool them down, and it sucks in everything. I remember when I was a smoker, I had to replace the fan in the computer every year or so because it got mucked up and died under the nicotine load - so I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if it were near all that fuzz-making equipment.

Is there anywhere else you can put your computer?

Keeping my sewing room tidy and comfortable is something I do for *me,* which means it's a commitment I've made. I don't really give a monkey's if the rest of the house looks like a cyclone hit it, but my sewing room will be neat. I go for weeks without vacuuming the living room, but that doesn't matter to me.

My sewing room is my sanctuary. It's just one small bedroom of the house (and I WISH it were larger, but who doesn't need more space?) but it is MINE. My cats are not allowed in there. My husband is not allowed in there unless he's invited (which means unless I need something heavy moved). I have my favorite pictures on the wall. I have a stereo with CDs I've made of my favorite music. And because it is so small if I want to get anything done it has to be kept neat.

I find that there are times I go into my sewing room when I am in between phases of a quilt or I'm not feeling instantly creative, and when that happens I take a good look around and put little bits of things back into their places. Then I instantly feel better and the creative juices usually flow. If they don't, I'll pull out a pad of paper and doodle a little, or just crank up the tunes, move the ironing board to one side, and dance to the music.

My sewing room is my favorite space in the entire planet, and that's why I keep it as neat as I can.

Sounds itchy.

Ever watch Survivorman on TV? We saw an episode with him in Costa Rica and he made interesting things out of his Scooby Doo boxer shorts.

marcella

Never heard of it, but I'm shuddering at the thought of Scooby Doo boxer shorts!

Or at the very least, find somewhere else to store the batting! LOL

Hello, Mama. Soooo happy to see you pop in here. How's our wee little darling? Polly

Howdy!

We saw that fuzzy computer mess for the last time in March (we say "Gag a maggot!" in my family)--and moved it all out. I don't miss it.

Ragmop/Sandy--w/ more floor room for pin basting quilts ...

The computer could be relocated but I like having all my toys together. I guess it's a good thing that I haven't taken up woodworking. Yet. This big room was built to be a pool table room complete with beer and blue chalk cue marks on the ceiling. I love it. Polly

"Sparky" asked > Is there anywhere else you can put your computer?

Howdy!

In the words of my southern belle m-i-l (she's from East Texas):

Well REEEEEEALLY!!! *hmph!*

Shellac on yer drawers--lord have mercy! Yeah, the mental image that brings is your DH standing by w/ a can of lacquer thinner to help you take a shower. *more evil grinning*

Dan-the-bug-man is scheduled to show up here, Wednesday. Tomorrow I'll do the white tornado treatment on the house (he's told me more than once that he "can't exterminate dust!" ). I like Dan, he likes to talk about quilting, keeps giving me quilty contacts (another client who quilts, 1 has an online fabric shop, emailed me a pic of Sandy's Quilt Shop in Joshua which I've known for years but was new to him and the name caught his eye), and he's just a nice guy. This kind of cleaning gets done every 3 months; thank goodness Dan's visits keep things under control around here! ;-D

Ragmop/Sandy--Casual Housekeeper, professional handquilter: I have my priorities!