The holidays have been busy.

Christmas has come and gone so quickly.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends. I know we had a wonderful Christmas here.

 

I had the week off before Christmas, so it was pretty stress free having all that extra time at home to get prepared, but for some reason I got into the gutting, purging, cleaning and organizing mode just before the holidays; and I am still in that mode.  Below is my emptying out of my hutch in the sewing room.

 

 

 

It consisted mostly of finished quilts, but I just couldn't find anything in there anymore, so the best thing was just to empty it, reorganize it and put it all back or maybe I should say "almost all" of it back.

 

 

I hung  holiday quilts in the closet....which by the way, I gutted, purged, cleaned and organized the week before Christmas (two double bi-fold doors wide--the width of the whole room!!!).  That was such a horrible job that I wouldn't/couldn't even take pictures of it.  I was almost in tears that I even "started" THAT project.  But it is all organized in containers with "like" things in their proper places.  I will post on that project another day.

 

I have decided to make a list of all my UFOs, .....oh lordy......I can't believe I put that in writing!  I said I would never do it because it would probably depress me, but after cleaning up and seeing just how many things there were, I need to do it so that I can "check" things off as I get them done and see that the list is getting smaller. 

 

Below are just a few of the ones that came out of the hutch today. 

 

First Saturday basket blocks (12 - 12 1/2")

 

 

 

Christmas Star blocks that I won in a drawing at a retreat (17 - 12 1/2")

 

 

Embroidered star blocks (12 - 12 1/2") These were given to me and if I can think of what to do with them I wouldn't be opposed to cutting them down. 

 

 

Birthday exchange Star blocks (19 - 12 1/2")

 

 

I think these are called Turning Twenty  blocks  (50 - 9 1/2")

 

 

There were a few more projects in there, but I will save that for another post, too.  I wouldn't want to overwhelm you!!!

 

I did come across my very first quilt though.

 

 

Oh my.....I just had no color sense at that time.  The green and red matched a chair I had in the living room and because I thought having "too light of a background was just not for me and stood out too much", I matched the carpet to the background.  Egads!!!  But it is hand quilted and I did do a pretty good job otherwise. 

 

I plan on organizing my lists under categories such as "blocks"; "quilt tops needing to be quilted"; "projects that I want to make and have the fabric for"; "blocks that are already in rows"; etc, etc. 

 

Eventually I will post my lists.  I was just happy to get to that hutch today and even did some drawers in the sewing room.  As soon as those lists are made, then I will feel free to get back to sewing in a clean and organized room that now welcomes me rather than distracts me. 

 

Hey!  I will start the New Year with a VERY clean sewing room so that means it should be neat and clean all year......right?  RIGHT!!!

 

If I don't get back here before.....have a Happy New Year!!