Gravity Stash

So I am already trying to tackle a million household projects (throw pillows, knitting myself a giant blanket, curtains, etc), and a million personal healing projects (A Year of Healing painting class, a yoga and writing workshop, and both Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way AND Marie Kondo’s The Life‑Changing Magic of Tidying Up).  Should I go whole hog and create the trifecta of “most blogged about solutions to blocked creativity and clutter” and not only make, but actually create, as in sew, a capsule wardrobe?

So, on Tuesday I got myself a new sewing machine, after my aqua Singer 347 just got too annoying to work with (the tensioner is broken, the timing is off, and the belt is old and slips anyway, plus it’s missing parts.) 

I had started the small pieced throw pillow on Saturday, and ayer the 5th time of dealing with a minute of sewing and then instant balling up and snapping of the thread, I just gave up.

 In my inexperience, I am thinking it actually never worked well in the first place, and I just didn’t know any better.  It has really never held tension for more than 20 minutes at a time.

So the Singer Heavy Duty 4453 arrived on Tuesday, and so far I am loving it.  No frills, feels study (granted not as sturdy as my 60 year old machine felt), but at least it works and is fast.  

I broke out some Marimekko Toteemi fabric that I have had for a year, some back panel fabric I bought for throw pillows for a different life, oh maybe 6 years ago to recover our old sad throw pillows on the couch. The tote bag is made from the scraps of the Marimekko as well.

The smaller pillow on the chair is quilting fabric I purchased in 2011 with some anchor patterned vintage fabric I got at the Brimfield Antique Show around the same time.

I can buy only thread, gesso, sealer, Aquabord AND *TENSION RODS*.

Because I just thought of a lovely way to not only use up mass quantities of fabric that I already have laying around, but to visually de-clutter my bathroom, studio AND office by making little curtains for storage spaces that are by their nature cluttered.

For the bathroom, there are 4 open shelves that are supposed to house linens, but right now are filled with hockey cards from the 90s (don’t ask, they’re just going on Craigslist), vintage tablecloths that belonged to my grandmother, and cleaning supplies (because the cats keep knocking down the towels and I really need to put them where the damn hockey cards are).  i am not entirely sure what fabric will suit this best quite yet.

In my studio a Lane credenza sans sliding doors that holds all my “jars of random crap” (including glow in the dark ants and acorn caps.  No, seriously, I have a jar each of both of those things.  And not tiny ones either! One is a vintage cracker jar!) and miscellaneous stacking bins, and I have just enough of a sweet Marimekko floral pattern to create two covers for the openings.

In my office I have a 4x4 Ikea Expedit (white, of course, the piece of furniture practically everyone owns) that houses an array of random and non-random things, and I figure I can make curtains for the shelves that hold things like: The graveyard of retired apple handheld products, the ransom disk drives that have work information on them that need to stay, 5 years of Sound on Sound magazine, etc.

This is not to mention that there are at least three windows and a cubbyhole in this house that could use curtains!

I have a not-insignificant and slightly excessive amount of glitter.

Yarn stash, projects not really started (casting on was mostly just me goofing off).  Not pictured/doesn’t count: The Lion Brand Hometown USA purchased for my afghan and the Berrocco vintage in Chana Dal for the sweater I am working on.

L->R

Top: Malabrigo Rasta, Lluvia.  Malabrigo Rasta Verdeazul, Malabrigo Rasta Soriano, Malabrigo Worsted Merino Mariposa x2, The Fibre Tree  Chunky handspun merino yarn

Row 2: Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Vaa, it has been felted and unraveled, not a full skein. Terrible Patons Cobbles yarn I will probably just donate I hate knitting with it so much, Knit Picks dishie in red, LivingDreamsYarn Super Zippy Undine (partial skein) Lion Brand tweed stripes Ozark Forest (2x partial skeins)

Row 3: Moda Dea Tweedle Dea in Surf and Turf, one whole skein, one partial skein that is missing the pale blue color, Lion Brand tweed stripes Woodland (2x), just a montage of yarn, some maybe Plymouth yarn nonsense possibly Colorando.  I have no idea what this messy skein is, Knit Picks Dishie x2 (blue and a pale yellow)

Row 4: Malabrigo Sock Marte (x2 two full skeins, I broke it while winding), Malabrigo Worsted Merino in Vaa (partial skein), Malabrigo Lace in Pearl Ten (x2), Fibre Company Canopy Worsted in Conifer, Malabrigo Finito in Archangel

Felting supplies