Literally.
And that’s not an ironic use of that word.
To see if I’ve made any progress, here’s an earlier shot from January 2020:
I know it’s a little fuzzy, but the glump of fabrics in the lower right, for Bee Happy Sew-A-Long? It’s finished and renamed Picties and Verities. So is My Small World, now called Golden California. And North Country EPP, called almost the same thing: North Country Patchwork.
I’m here to say that messes can be creative, and allow us to focus on the big picture, and not sweat the small stuff, like seeing the floor once in a while. Projects can get done, even if it is a mess. And doesn’t it feel nice to clean up the messes once in a while — I feel so virtuous when that happens…before I mess it up again.
The other night at Guild, I offered to do an EPP demo for them, and they accepted. So I packed up all my little EPP kits I used to teach with and then made 30 more, a few examples of EPP quilts, tons of needles and tins of thread and participated in the round-robin. The grandmother’s flower garden quilt, above, is designed by Sherri McConnell of A Colorful Life, and is titled Flowers for Emma.
I said I would bring back the RWB version of Shine, and there it is, in all its glory. I have now returned it to its place of honor, hanging in our upstairs hallway. The title, I Hear America Singing, is from the Walt Whitman poem.
Maybe all this was triggered by seeing the movie, Barbie, where mess and chaos and order and structure are part of its themes. A friend bought me this little souvenir treat; it’s the first movie I’d been to since covid, and boy, has movie-going changed! You buy your seats ahead of time, they are the size of my car and they have foot-rests and tilt backwards and arm rests with trays the size of what I used to take notes on at school. When the previews would pause before the next one played, the entire theater sounded like munching mice. And the line for the concessions was longer than the line for getting in. Who knew?
What else have I been working on?
Well…living.
Laundry
Meals.
Dishes.
Making messes in my sewing room.
Quilting on the Guild’s Challenge Quilt. I don’t think it’s a problem to show it publicly, but just in case, I’m not. Yet.
This block, from Raincross Guild’s BOM, called Sedona:
If you want to play, the lightweight pattern has two sizes, and two versions of putting it together. Have fun.
I use the no-waste version of Flying Geese. You can find directions for it on the Flying Geese Tips and Tricks handout that I made — click the black download button to get a copy (again, it’s free). Or click on the title to see it online.
I think the AMH fabrics in the second version look like the Very Large Array in New Mexico. With all the press about the Oppenheimer movie, I think I should also see Trinity (the testing site), the VLA, and certainly Roswell. I’m adding it to my travel list. I’ve already checked out hotel rooms, as we plan to head to Texas for the Solar Eclipse. Rooms that are normally $134/night are now $500. I saw some in Fredericksburg for a thousand bucks. Wow. Celestial events of one kind or another are big business.
I once made an eclipse quilt, but I think I’d rather see the real thing in person, thank you very much. And yes, I just noticed the monster in the upper right corner. Maybe you have to take your celestial events with a creature from Outer Space?
Happy Messy Room and Sky-watching!
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Thanks for sharing your sewing room. Makes me feel like I am pretty normal. It’s so hard to keep things clean and straight AND get things done! I am the most disorganized organized person I know! The other day, I couldn’t find my seam ripper. I have at least two. I couldn’t find them anywhere until I bought 5 of them online! They were right in front of me the whole time but I couldn’t see the forest for the trees! The large flying geese is interesting but I will have to put it in my “squirrel” binder! I have a quilt planner book that holds information for 48 quilt projects in different stages of completion. I have 10 completed so far since January. Maybe I can get close to half done by the end of the year.
You have made some beautiful quilts.
My favorite Madeleine-ism of all time was a 3 year old “yiterayi”. What? Foot stamp. “YITERAYI”, already adopting the philosophy of saying it louder, makes it better. Sadly she has now found all her “L’s”.
We are sewing room twins at the moment. I think I am reaching “ Where is my underwear status” although in this case, it’s my rotary cutter I can’t find. And I thought maybe I would just pick up another one at Joannes yesterday only to learn it was $54. Literally!
That RWB Shine keeps calling me, but I’m committed to a WIP fall!! Hugs.
And isn’t it amazing that in all of that mess, we still know exactly where everything is? The human brain is amazing.
My studio gets the messiest when I’m doing a fabric pull and cutting. I tend to cut and toss which creates quite the pile not to mention wrinkled fabric. I can only stand that for so long and then feel compelled to iron, fold and reshelve. I sometimes have multiple project boxes out and on the design wall but eventually even those need to go away so I can focus on the one project I’m actually doing. No doubt if my space were bigger the mess would be bigger.
In my messes, I often find serendipity. Some unexpected combination will spark new ideas, or perhaps solve a dilemma. Glad I’m not the only messy one!
There is such comfort in knowing that I am not the only one with a sewing space that can get completely crazy. I’d hate to have a perfectly neat space and never feel the joy that comes from cleaning it up!!!! 😉 That monster in your Eclipse is too funny. I wonder if Walmart will allow you to sleep free in your cars in their parking lots like the last big eclipse! lol
Ha! For me, the creativity/mess curve peaks more to the left and I have to make more of an effort to keep things clean and organized in order to function well. Things do get a little wild when I’m choosing and cutting fabrics for a project, but at least there’s usually only one at a time in that phase. 😊. Hoping to see those movies at some point. Great opinion piece by an environmental professor in the Washington Post about our Anthropocene era being defined geologically by radioisotopes (Oppenheimer) and plastics (Barbie) – connecting the current environmental “terrors” represented by each movie.
I am in the messy camp although I will say, if I had more storage space I don’t think it would look so messy. Those laundry baskets filled with fabric are pretty to look at until they start taking over! I am on a fabric buying diet. 🙁
Your comments about some people having walls up took me back to high school, all those cliques that had walls so high you couldn’t even see over the top. So many years ago, some things never change. So many things have changed though since Covid, sounds like movie theaters are in that category.
I just love all your quilts and thanks for the pattern!💖
Whenever I read that one must keep a neat studio in order to create, I thought , NO WAY! Glad to have reinforcement.
A fun and interesting read Elizabeth! I think 40+ years of teaching pushed me into the ‘organised’ camp! But now I’m trying let it go more and work with the mess, especially as I make my string quilt! The budgies paper piecing project was also a mess-in-progress!
I love seeing a messy sewing room, especially knowing it gets picked up after a project. What I can’t abide is a messy sewing room that STAYS that way. Ugh. I’m like you… focus on the project, make a mess and work in a mess, until mess-making on that project is finished. Then, have a virtuous clean-up. Ahh. Must tell you… you made me look up the date of an eclipse because I hadn’t heard about one. Which one are you going to Texas to see? October 14 annular eclipse, or April 8, 2024 total eclipse? I can’t believe it’s big business, but I shouldn’t be surprised.
my sewing area looks like a bomb went off when I am pulling, ironing and cutting. but I never stops there because as I am cleaning up I find fabric I forgot about that is awesome with some new pieces and it starts again. I will typically have 3-4 quilts cut and ready to piece at a time. love those gallon ziplock bags!!
Well, that was fun! No way am I seeing the Barbie movie, but I’m hoping for Oppenheimer.