>>>>

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Ding, Dong the Mail’s All Done!!

20141216_144856-1
DO YOU SEE THIS?!?

This is what it looks like from my side of the monitor when I am printing invoices and labels for book orders…

NO. ORDERS!!  Oh happy dance!

2 weeks + 1 day from Cyber Monday and I am all caught up!

That is…until more copies of 200 Blocks arrive from Martingale (on their way) and more copies of Scraps & Shirttails II arrive from Kansas City Star after going to reprint on the 18th.

I tell you…it has been a day to bust my butt.


20141216_122808-1

See this car?  ONLY 3.5 years old and she was dead in my drive!

It seams that her 96 month battery didn’t quite know how to count to 96 months and decided to give up several YEARS early. 

I was in such a panic because the car made the worst clickity clackity sound when I tried to turn her on --- and the first thing that came to my mind was STARTER!  or ALTERNATOR!  But turns out that the battery was the culprit.

Good thing…because we had a van load to go to the Post Office this afternoon.

I tell you, I think they are as glad of this 2 week run ending as much as I am.

20141216_133813-1

Goodies in the mail from Marjorie!

Marjorie sent along a shuttle and bobbin and a cute vintage North Carolina pin that she had found…only she didn’t include her email address in her parcel, so here I am hoping she sees this so I can properly thank her!  Thank you for the goodies, Marjorie…I know there is a machine that will be grateful for that shuttle and bobbin!  And I love the NC pin.

How do we celebrate the end of Book Vortex 2014?  We POWER PURGE!!

20141216_165539

Top drawer to the left of my sewing corner!

Urgh!

20141216_170324

That humming bird tin?  It holds cards and restickable mounting strips!

The tin was a gift from a visit to Canada.  And I love it…and it’s got a good purpose here, but it needs better treatment than just being stuffed into a drawer.  I use these for making my sticky seam guides.  See more by visiting my post Best Seam Guide Ever!

The purple squares are height adapters for my Sew Easy Table.  They really need to be stored WITH the table, so I moved those.  With my luck I’d go somewhere, need them, and not have them depending on which machine I was using. 

Keep stuff NEAR the other stuff you use it with!  Isn’t that how the saying goes?

20141216_165557

Oh look!  More marking pencils and ANOTHER Thread Heaven!

These were rehomed upstairs by my comfy chair where I do my handwork.  And did you notice that two of these are STILL IN THE PACKAGE?!?  I still don’t know why I do that.  But I pitched the package and put them away, taking up way less space.

20141216_170814

This is all that’s left!

I ditched the 3rd organizer basket because sometimes less is more.  That tin wouldn’t fit well with the narrow baskets, so it is much better to have it gone.

School gel glue?  I don’t even remember what I bought this for but it’s a full bottle and it’s still good so I couldn’t bear to pitch it.  If it is still here unused by next year it’s gone!

Now the drawer below…hold on to your socks:

20141216_170839

From this……

20141216_171828

To this!

Those cruise flyers are a couple years old but they are great for String piecing so I keep them hanging around.  At least for a while longer.  If I ever run out of those, there are these????

20141216_171955

Oh dear.  How many phone books can one Quilter hoard??

20141216_172300

Evidently this many!

When folks know you use phone books and can really use the LARGE ones, they find their way to you.  They do.  And because they are not making the really BIG phone books anymore it is easy to find place for…just one more…and before you know it.  You have 40lbs of phone books in the side cubby of your cabinet.

I rehomed these to a storage closet to free up the room underneath.

The cords and surge bars also went to the workshop off the back of the house where tools and stuff like this are better housed.  The extra iron is also in a closet, but I have a feeling there will be an iron purge here at some point as well!

There is now NOTHING in that side cubby.  EMPTY.  Totally!  I’ll think of something to put there.

As for the very bottom drawer:

20141216_172944

Crumb piecing bonanza!

A lot of the crumbs for my paper piecing projects come from this little drawer.  It’s been easy just to pitch small scraps in here as I cut…things too small to want to trim down to any other size, leftovers from strip ends and different smallish hunks and chunks.

Do I need to do more with this?  Do I even consider separating it Colors vs Neutrals?

No.  I really want to sew!  I’ll leave that for another day.

Tomorrow….I might just hit this cabinet up, it’s on the RIGHT side of my sewing table:

IMG_20141216_174042

Play some spooky music, this one is going to be BRUTAL!

There are lots of bonus triangle sets and other leader/ender stuff in here.  It’s BAD I tell you, very very bad!  But I’m going to be brave, and I’m going to do it and it will be so much better!

But not now. 

I’m going to go sew!

Have a great evening, everyone!


Click Here to like our Quiltville Friends Page on Facebook for more fun!


Click Here to join our sister group, Quiltville's Open Studio on Facebook, a place to Sew, Share & Grow!!

13 comments:

  1. Bonnie, that looks so much better. I know you are relieved to have the book orders caught up also - at least for now.
    Thanks so much for introducing us to the lovely machine quilting lady. I downloaded her video today and have so many new ideas spinning in my head. There are several smallish finished quilt tops lying around my sewing room and I really think that I can finish them now that I have some interesting ideas. You are right, it's worth the price just to listen to her lovely accent. Happy sewing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:30 PM EST

    Thanks for giving me the push I needed to do a little purging and straightening up of my own. The amazing part is that it really does just take a few minutes to do a drawer. Looking forward to the next Quiltcam!

    Susan L.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hope you are going to remember where you put things. Course you aren't as old as I am. You're doing great.-

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous8:22 PM EST

    I remember complaining to my mechanic son about a dead car battery. I said 'why isn't there a warning'? He said, 'Mom, that is the warning!' hahahaha Since then I learned that the heat will cause a battery to deteriorate as quickly as the cold.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ok - I have to ask.... Bonnie...how many more drawers like that do you have?? LOLOLOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my goodness. I recently purchased a Singer treadle machine that uses a shuttle bobbin at an outdoor flea market. The person I bought the machine from had a new belt put in and told me the bobbin was in a bag of attachments she gave me. I didn't check until I got home and there was no bobbin. I have been checking ebay for one with no luck. If you don't need the one gifted to you I would be very happy to purchase it from you.

    Terry in So. Calif.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well did some purging myself not necessarily drawers but other places and things. Gave 2 large garbage bags of stuff to the kidney foundation. I know there are many other places to be purged but it is a start! Finally finished up the last of my 120 of clue 3 tonight. Cleaned the cutting table and I am ready for clue 4. So far so good. This next clue might not be complete before clue 5 but at least I am caught up so far. Enjoy your sewing time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Terry, who is looking for a long bobbin you are lucky it's a Singer this bobbins are still being made and sold. Ask at your local sewing center they will either have them or be able to order for you.
    Colleen in rainy N.California

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, so organised!
    If you fancy a to to the UK you can used my 'stuffed to the brim' sewing area to demo your skills to your fans here :) - I wish...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Been watching your five minute purges and I really want to jump in but I'm such a procrastinator. Maybe 2015! Got your Patch Pals book today and can't want to make every quilt in it. Carol

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Bonnie thanks for referring us to the machine quilting lady. I ordered her video. I've been purging in my sewing room. Not every day but WOW it sure feels good to see an empty drawer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Maybe you need to do a 5 minute purge give away. Thrill one of your readers with one of Bonnie's old phone books. =) I'm sure it makes you smile whenever you open a drawer you have purged and see that organized space.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nowadays, car batteries do not last much past 3-4 years. And they also give no warning they are about to fail. I miss it when you had symptoms and knew you needed a new battery rather than the all-or-nothing we have now.

    ReplyDelete

If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.

Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.

Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)