Friday, July 16, 2010

Little Boxes ...

"... on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky, little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same."  Ok -- I'll admit it: I might be slightly obsessed with the Showtime series Weeds.  I've been watching episodes on Netflix while working on my Schnibbles project, but more on that soon.

My sewing studio has been literally littered with different projects in various stages of completion -- which explains why fabric keeps coming in ... but not being busted!!  Before I forget ... here are the latest numbers, since I haven't posted them in awhile:

Stash Update (June 15th - July 16th, 2010):
Used:  2.56 yards - This number is lower than the average quilt, as I used a sheet from Target for the backing, rather than yardage.
Purchased: 12.93 yards ("Cherish Nature" for Cherish, "Safari Jungle Baby" for In the Jungle, "Verna" for Schnibbles, and a number of Fat Quarters ... just becuase)
YTD: +43.58 yards  -- all I have to say, is that it's a good thing that we get to start over as of January 1, 2011. :)

Ok, so back to the boxes.  If you've been following my blog or know me from our sewing groups, you know that I adore starting new projects, sometimes to the detriment of my current projects.  I'm not sure why, but when a new idea pops in my head, I have the tendency to drop whatever I'm working on to start the new stuff.  Lately, instead of packing away the works in progress (i.e., labeling the cuts and storing them in plastic bags, making a note of the inspiration or the pattern I'm following, and where I stopped or was at least planning on going ... etc), I've just left everything out on my table and started the new project right on top.

However, now that I've been done this several times, the resulting "mountain" is starting to become a bit of a problem.  I can only imagine ... if a volcano errupted tomorrow and buried my house in ash, what the poor archeologist who discovered the remains of my studio in 1,000 years would say about the layers upon layers of fabric he would unearth.  Luckily for me, there are no active volcanoes in Sacramento. :)

So, to tackle the monstrous mess, and in an attempt to finish more of the projects I start, I've enacted the POPLUN-5-BOX policy.  There are now five little boxes ("...on a hillside...") that live at the end of my sewing table, each with a different project inside.  My new rule is that a new project can only be started if there is any empty box on the table to put it on.  If there's not an empty box, then I'll have to finish a project (or permanently side-line it) in order to make room.  It is my honest intention to hold myself to this 5 box limit ... so we'll see how it goes.

Stay tuned over the weekend to catch a sneak to see what projects are currently living in the boxes and for the In the Jungle pattern introduction!!

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