Thursday, October 16, 2014

Pile Appreciation

Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed about the volume of "stuff" in my life, in my daily schedule, at work, and in my home. When this happens, I start to really dislike the mess in my sewing room, and especially "the piles". You know the piles I mean... piles of patterns, books, fabric collected for a future project, fabric scraps, batting scraps, blocks, half finished quilts, and completed quilt tops. 
Just look at my cutting table! There is no room to actually cut anything! Usually I just accept that this is how I work. When I have time to sew, I can pick from a variety of piles to work on depending on my mood. 
But sometimes it gets on my nerves. This week it was frustrating me, until I read an interesting article on why it's a good thing to have many projects on the go.... you can read it here
Cheryl reminded me about why my space is the mess it usually is, and why I have so many projects in various stages of completion. She said:  "I am simply willing to embrace the ideas and inspiration as they come. To me, this all
"They represent you and your creativity"
Cheryl Arkison
represents creative freedom and opportunity."


YES! Love that!
I am off to the sewing room to embrace my creative freedom. 
Thanks Cheryl! I feel so much better about my piles! 
Now...what should I work on?!?

24 comments:

Kathy S. said...

Thanks for posting about Cheryl's article. I have piles of things everywhere in my sewing area too. Part of the reason is that it is confined to a small space. But when I think about it, I DO get many things done. They don't all become WIPs forever. I love being able to consider myself an organized hoarder... I mean multitasker.

Debra said...

Looks like my cutting table! Have you been in my studio lately with a camera? :-)

audrey said...

I read that post too! LOVE it! We really need to quit trying to stifle our creativity.:) lol

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Super post today. I do a good job at containing piles during the week as I share my space with my SIL and I want to give her room to create. The weekends are another matter.

Janet O. said...

Nice perspective. I'll have to keep it in mind as I fight my way into my sewing room. : )

Dasha said...

Looks so much like my sewing room! Every so often I get a wriggle on and make an attempt to tidy things up, but end up putting things into less messy piles. LOL. People keep posting photos of their pristine sewing spaces and I. Hate. Them. Ha ha ha. Anyway, time spent cleaning up is time taken from sewing time. My motto anyway.

~Niki~ said...

means you're making progress :) nice!

TakeMeThereTotes said...

My sewing room looks like yours right now. In fact, it looks like that most of the time. Organized chaos I call it. I only clean it up just to start a new project. I enjoy your posts.

The Cozy Quilter said...

every so often, we all need a Preparation H day to deal with our piles....

Cathy said...

Hmmmmmm...... that looks exactly like my cutting table....... Did you sneak into my house overnight and take a picture? ;-)

Jo said...

That looks like my room sometimes

cityquilter grace said...

thanks i needed that...solves the problem of my piles too...LOL

julieQ said...

I too have piles of projects!! I do love them, but they beckon me...and the noise becomes overwhelmingly distracting! I do better when I put a few piles out of sight and concentrate on making bigger, better piles. Snort!!!

julieQ said...

I too have piles of projects!! I do love them, but they beckon me...and the noise becomes overwhelmingly distracting! I do better when I put a few piles out of sight and concentrate on making bigger, better piles. Snort!!!

Scrappy quilter said...

So good to read others feel like I often do.

Missy Shay said...

I always seem to have a pile of stuff in my sewing room, right now I don't think I will ever get it clean!

Teresa in Music City said...

I certainly couldn't have said it better - hooray for creativity! And down with guilt or pressure! This is our hobby - let's ENJOY it!!!

Kate said...

It's hard not to have piles when dealing with fabric. If that's what it takes to create, why fight it.

Catherine said...

I love to be creative but unless the mess is cleared I feel overwhelmed. I suppose this is why I only have one or two projects on the go. I'm off to a UFO day this morning. I have a few blocks and a Christmas stocking to finish.

Kaelyn Angelfoot said...

I finally had to cave and clean up my sewing space this week when I couldn't find room for my ironing board any more. Got rid of some projects I don't like anymore (including an "ugly" quilt that I dreaded finishing the quilting on) cleaned out my scraps and only kept the ones I could see myself using, and sorted current projects into shoeboxes. I can instantly grab whichever project suits me. Now I have a happy medium between a creative mess and organized chaos. I hope you find a system that works for you!

beaquilter said...

very good post! I do have piles of completed quilts I need to donate or give away, though I love to keep them JUST in case :)

Quiltdivajulie said...

Like the idea of removing UFO and WIP labels . . . it's either a plan, a project, or a finished quilt.

Great post - thanks!!

Chantal said...

I am with JulieQ. I do have to hide the fun somewhat otherwise I binge on it and then I get an upset inspiration lol. Too many piles get me dizzy with ideas and I can't hear the inspiration anymore. I look at a pile of fabric and can't remember which project it was for. For those of you who can tolerate a colony of ideas at once, enjoy!

Sew Create It - Jane said...

I only have to look over my left shoulder to see my piles! Seems to be the nature of quilting! :o) You are in good company!