It’s been a busy waiting season. I started several posts. How many “Life on the Farm” posts are too many? Creativity was not a topic either, I had not been creative. That has changed a little.
Life in the country seems to be about the only thing I have to share… no one wants to hear about the difficulties… of day to day living in the age of COVID-19, or my thoughts on our politics, or other regular life issues like going to the farm store, the grocery store, or in my case the Podiatrist!!!
Seasons Changed
Not to be wishing life away… at one point, I found myself looking a bit forward to November, (which is here and now almost gone). In Kentucky, it has gotten cooler at night. Cooler is a relative term depending on where you live. There have been nights as low as 21°. With the frost, the growing season, (aka ‘the allergy season’) is over. In November, the days usually become cooler and signals the season for nesting. The ‘political season’ is lingering on and we all want to see it done, too. I think it’s safe to say, we all wish that the “COVID-19 season” was over. Again it is something that will linger through the New Year. We will have Thanksgiving at home, this year, with just the 2 of us at the table.
The Current Creative Space
My “Creative Space” is set up! I was busy. Currently, it remains an unfinished one! That may change. I just couldn’t wait any longer. No painted walls or carpeting for now. The floor is unfinished concrete. There is an ugly area rug, (it came with the house). I hate it. If the floor needs to be upgraded from concrete, I’ll have to decide what type of flooring to install… ‘wood look’ vinyl stick down flooring, click floating laminate flooring, or a low pile carpet. I personally like the idea of carpeting. It’s warm and soft and will soften the rest of the unfinished space. I plan to cover all the concrete walls with insulation for design walls. I don’t mind the open ceiling. It means I can move the lights around at will. A little fine-tuning and shifting is in the future as well.
Creating the Space
It is interesting that room design and organization have become a hot topic again in the quilting world. I have lots of practice organizing and setting up my space. This is my 8th move in 20 years. The different types of spaces have been, unfinished rooms with cobbled together furniture to almost perfectly coordinated spaces. I don’t think this ‘Creative Space’ will be perfect. I am too thrifty. The only way to perfect is to win the lottery, and for that to happen I would have to play…
Where do I Put It?
As I put things away I try to find the best location the first time for my tools. For me, if I change or rearrange and move items to a new location it causes a disconnect in the brain. We always look for something in the original location or container first. To find it we have to reconstruct the moving sequence to remember the new location.
Some things need to be where I use them. Keeping the items I use often close at hand on the cutting table. The rotary cutters, scissors, (fabric and paper scissors), pens, pencils, fabric marking, compass, poking sticks, glue sticks, etc. One of my favorite tabletop keepers is a kitchen utensil spinner, (this is from Pampered Chef circa 2006-ish). My other favorite is a box with 4 compartments. It is perfect for larger tools or the many duplicate tools like rotary cutters and all the different kinds of scissors!!
I keep other duplicate tools, similar or more specialized tools in clearly marked storage boxes. Some of the labels on the boxes, are ‘marking’, ‘measuring’, ‘pins, needles & thimbles’, ‘sharps’, etc.
Storage
I like to keep my fabric where I can see it, now. It used to be in labeled clear plastic bins. I found that taking one bin down, digging through it was always a problem. Keeping them neat in the bins was a problem, never mind the constant issue of outgrowing the bins and having to rearrange or heaven forbid, discard a fabric for space. And if getting fabric out was difficult; the prospect of putting them away was daunting, so piles ensued. Keeping the fabric on in the open was a nice change.
Where are the bins now? In the bins are collections … like buttons, ribbons, laces, braids, elastics, and project parts or in a few cases the actual project and all the components! All the bins are clearly labeled too.
Unfortunately, the closet is not yet finished. The plan is for the bins to move into the closet, out of sight behind closed doors. I could not decide on the type of shelves to put in the closet. The decision has been made. I will use adjustable wall brackets and wood shelves. The adjustability and sturdiness behind closed doors will be wonderful. I have a few areas that are in need of attention, mostly paint. Since I dislike painting, I procrastinate.
Something Cute
In the previous post, I promised a cute picture of a pig. It was sunny, hot, and humid the day I took this! Iggy Piggy is deeply asleep and snoring.
For the next post another picture promise. I have a really cute picture of cats to share.
Going forward, I will try and be more timely… As I set up the room, I tested the location of the furniture and the setup. Which, allowed me to finish or moved several UFOs on to the next step. The longarm needed a repair, had a sewing session with a 10-year-old, and have a swap to work on!
More soon- Beth