Sewing Room Sunday: One Small, Fast Finish & One Humongous Mess!

There was an orphan quilt block in a bag of free stuff at our Fiber Arts Picnic Tuesday evening. I thought it was cute and felt sorry for it so I brought it home. Usually, I throw "junque" I drag home from different places in a drawer or pin it up on a design board, where it hangs out for years while I "consider" what to do with it! In an effort to mend my ways (and decrease clutter in my cottage), I forced myself to act immediately and make a potholder out of this cute block. A finish within the week has to be some kind of record for me!

I cut up an old ironing board cover to use for the batting (also a clutter-busting move), so it has a heat-reflective layer built in, but it also made it more difficult to quilt. As you can see, I'm a little out of practice on my free motion quilting. I think the whole piece looks cheerfully like a child's art project. The binding is a little crude, but it's a potholder, for heaven's sake! At least it's finished.

Speaking of clutter-busting, my cottage is a huge mess and a major cleaning is underway. These will henceforth be known as the "before" shots (clockwise around the room):

Someone blessed with such a fabulous sewing space should be ashamed to have it look this way. Plus, I can't find anything! I decided to tackle this area first (starting with the seersucker yardage from a previous post). Today, I sorted through what was left in the bins (mostly apparel and backing fabrics) under this sideboard

and spread it out in the backyard to air out in the sun. I thought it bring to mind the pictures you see of the batiks laid out on the ground for processing in Bali, but it turned out looking more like the beginning (or end) of a redneck yard sale (if you live below the Mason-Dixon line you know what I'm talking about):

Tomorrow, what's left gets folded and reorganized in the storage bins. I think two of the four will now be empty. I discarded a lot of what Mabzie calls my "what was Mommy thinking" fabrics. I hope some thrift shop patrons will put them to good use.

A few weeks ago, Sandra blogged about the "Just One Challenge", So thanks to her, "Just One" tiny spot (my pattern drawer) has already been cleaned and organized:

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me, doesn't it? I'll keep you posted (no pun intended).

Have a great week!