I guess the studio cleaning fairy didn't show up last night! I'm going to sew in the middle of this mess. Do you clean before you sew, as you sew, or are you like I am and build piles until you simply can't stand it anymore and have to clean?
I clean after every sewing session. If i'm working on something midday, I will clean up after. Even if I am going back in to work that evening! I guess I'm a little neurotic about it. :)
when the fairy leaves your house -- send her my way ...... dang it's a never ending job.... it would be much easier if I did't hang on to every little bitty scrap of fabric.... I need therapy to learn to toss!!!!
I almost laughed out loud at the notion that I might possibly clean up before sewing. If I did, I'd never get to sewing! But if it is VERY messy - so messy that I can't think - I'll clean up. My dining table is much messier than your sewing table most of the time. I'd love to keep it clear, but it just doesn't happen :)
My sewing area is really never clean. But I do try to clean up in between projects to make room to work. I really wish I was neater because I feel a lot better when my space is clear and organized. Makes me want to sew more when it is. Makes me want to avoid it when it isn't.
My sewing space is pretty small, so I need to keep it picked up to even work. BUT don't look in the drawers of my sewing cabinet, in the closet, OR in my stash bins!
I leave it until I absolutely can't stand it anymore. Which is bad b/c I sew on the dining room table where we eat. I'll either toss it all aside so we can eat - after which it all returns to the table in a big messy pile - or I tell my husband to go get dinner and we'll eat in the living room. So bad, I know! But sometimes I will sit and organize my piles while I am trying to figure out a problem or come up with a creative idea. Oh, and I usually clean between projects, too, albeit quickly and not too well. I just don't get enough sewing time as it is to spend it all cleaning!
Must have piles up to my neck to get anything done. I do clean up after a project is completed. Just that project, however, not the other ten that I'm in the process of finishing.
I've turned over a new leaf I try to straignten after every project however I sometimes can't resist beginning a quick new project whenever I see one I can't wait to start then the trouble begins but, as I said I am trying to turn over a new leaf and keep things looking more tidy than what has been the usual. Hugs & ♥♥♥s, Gerry
I think the cleaning up fairy is on vacation with the cutting fairy and the quilting fairy. I wonder where they went and more importantly, when are they coming back!!!???
I'm a pile builder unfortunately. It's the unfinished projects that are really my downfall, and repairs that need to be done. What do you do with your 'to do' pile?
Yeah, cleaning, hmmmm.....well, to be honest, I share my sewing room with my Mom, and I have my longarm business, so I frequently have customers wanting to see my own personal projects that I'm working on, and thus the room gets cleaned up (don't hate me) daily. But in all actuality, daily picking up helps keep it from getting out of hand. ;)
I am constantly wondering where that cleaning fairy is!! I tend to clean up in-between each project/quilt. If I am working on several at one time...things get really out of control and then I just have to clean my slate to keep going.
I belong to the last alternative, I'm afraid. Compared to my sewing room, yours look tidy and clean... Maybe you could send the cleaning fairy to me when she is done with your room?
No matter how clean it is, it will look messy soon after me starting to work. Then there are those project and possible project piles not to mention my ufos. Have to clean a bit though cause my 2 years old is far too curious and tries to pick up the fabric and things laying on the sewing table. So now I have also a lot of project bins (and still my piles LOL)
So far this has been one of the most entertaining list of comments I have read in a long time. I think of myself as an organized person. Clearly I am mistaken and don't know myself as well as I think I do. Sometimes I move piles around until an area looks clean. Ideally I would love to have it clean but on the other hand I would rather sew. So...I wait until I can't stand it any longer.
I'm definitely a pile builder. But seeing as my dining room table is also my sewing table, I have to clean before and after I sew. What a drag. I think my time would be much better spent baking something yummy to entice the Cleaning Fairy to come and visit, don't you?
I only do one project at a time and make a fine mess while I'm doing it. No sense in cleaning and putting stuff away because I might need something again. My sewing room is in the basement and private so I can get away with this. When the quilt top is done, I CLEAN and put away things. I can't stand to start a new project while the old stuff is out. Works for me.
Sigh. Here's the story: I want to sew in a beautiful, clean, orderly place like the ones I see in the blogs. I just know I could accomplish so much there. BUT, I have to see it, and my mind needs to percolate it, and while I'm auditioning it it needs to bake, and sometimes I want to work on more than one thing, and while I'm doing other things it breeds. Aaaauuugh! So then I have a marathon cleaning session, have a lovely place to cut and sew, can't figure anything out, and start the whole thing over.
Like you I clean when I can't get in the door or someone is coming home and I need the bed! I have nice piles and I can find whatever I am looking for!
At home I'm great and have a designating cleaning day - but the studio is another matter. I 'usually' clean up after a project but at the moment seem to get inspired/ distracted to work on something else, mid-project and thus the mess is piling up!!!
In general, I'm a total neat freak. In my quilting world, I live in chaos. My husband probably wishes it was confined to just one room! But it's not and there are various selections of fabric ALL OVER the house at all times except when company is coming. And I definitely don't put things away until I've completed projects, if it's in the way, I figure I'll complete it faster!
I quilt in my attic. It's a space where I can leave things where they fall. Nobody goes up there but me. I rarely pick up. You know what Einstein said about a cluttered desk? Is the sign of a creative mind (or something like that). I must be VERY creative, as I have an entire floor of disarray!
I always joke that unfortunately my sewing room is not 'self cleaning'. Darn! at the moment it looks like the big giant mess fairy did pay me a visit though..hmm.
I'm definately one of those "don't clean until you can't stand it" types...My craft room doubles as the kids' craft room as well, so double the mess. Let me know if you get a hold of the fairy...I'd love her to pencil me in!
...HA!...sorry....she was here at my place. She determined mine was worse than yours so she came here first........a lot of the time I go until there isn't a clean space to work......thanks for loaning me your cleaning fairy...wow she worked wonders here!!!
I tend to work amid the mess - until it drives me crazy and I have to clean it up, or until my sewing sisters are coming and I need the space for everyone to work! But I'm finding that the more I quilt, the more it becomes a vocation as opposed to a hobby, and I must have a neat work area! Oh how I wish I could clone myself so that one of me could clean and organize while the other one sews!!
mmm I'm a clean as I go but it's a new thing...we'll see how long it lasts ;)
So have you quilted anything large on your 820 yet?! If so, how was it?! I'm bringing mine to the dealer on Friday for the newest firmware update and I'm curious about maybe getting a table for it...like where the bed of the machine is flush with the table..I think Tia has one & it makes quilting look easier!!!!
I have been looking for that cleaning fairy as well, no show so far! I clean after I am finished with my project most of the time. I do have a multitude of baskets with projects in them, but everything looks great in a basket.
I try to clean as I go, but usually things don't get really put away until I can't get any sewing done because there are too many piles of stuff! Moving piles from the cutting area to the chair to the ironing board so I can use these areas gets old pretty fast!
I usually break down and clean up when I need to clear off my 8'x 8' table to lay out a quilt to pin baste. If it is a small piece, I may only clear off enough space just for it. I also will clean up when it gets so deep around my sewing chair that it won't roll.
i am just like that, my brain works faster than my sewing machine, so as i'm working i start piling up other projects everywhere around me, until it is out of control that is : )
If I cleaned before I sew, I'd rarely get to the sewing. If the stuff on my table is starting to get so that it's touching the sewing machine, then I will clean. I used to be a much tidier person until I had kids.
I tidy up a bit each day that I sew. My space is small and in a common area so unless I'm coming right back to it I have to straighten up. Little kids and rotary cutters, sewing machine, pinking shears - oh my.
Maybe I should revise, I tidy up the sharps but I generally leave my fabric piled up for the various projects I am working on.
I long to be a clean-as-you-goer person, unfortunately I am a piler. However, I usually clean up after every project. At least then I can maintain some type of sewing room sanity.
In my last apartment, the sewing stuff was in the office along with the husband and I's desk. It's a partner desk so we were sitting across from each other, and not very wide. Needless to say, when I was organizing fabric or picking fabrics out for quilts (I have very little yardage...probably less than 10 yards total...I love FQs!), my little sewing table (a card table with a blanket over it) would be covered in fabrics. While I was sewing, I'd have piles of pieces for blocks, but those would be temporarily on my side of the desk.
We're in the middle of moving, so we'll see how I am when I have part of an actual house-sized room (not part of a 2nd bedroom in a 2 bedroom apartment) to myself. It's still shared with the office desk, but I have more room, at least visually.
Clean up? What is that? We have piles in more rooms than where we sew (spare bedroom). We move things into that room when we know company is coming. (like off the dining table when there are 3 or more for meals). However, we are rather neat in our piles.
I craft in my bedroom so it has to stay relatively clean otherwise I step on needles. But I'm envious that you can spread your fabric everywhere. . . must be nice!
Im make a mess till I can't stand it anymore.... right now Im sewing together all the leftovers from the last few projects and a couple of abandonded UFOs/never gonna finish/experimental blocks into some charity tops- which feels liek th emess is bigger... I kinda work yearly... August is my quilty new years. So its time to clean house and start my Xmas projects...
I'm glad to hear that you make a mess too when you quilt. I tend to go ninety miles and hour. Everyone I quilt with is amazed how much i get done. I clean up when I can't find a clear spot, and that can be put off for quite a while!!!! ,Jackie
I have to get everything out every night and pack everything away every night otherwise my children will go to town with it! If they weren't around, I'd have fabric everywhere!
;-) seriously, my sewing machine is in the living room with the kids, buried behind furniture in an attempt to keep the kids safe. So before I sew I must move furniture and after I sew before the kids wake up I must put everything away and put the furniture back.
oh how I long for a room of my own with a DOOR and a LOCK...so I could leave it as is till I'm ready to sew again!!
Even though I actually work best when the tabble is clean, I allways wait until I sit in between high piles of fabric, thread, spools and pattern, (and then I usually wait a little more ...)
I clean up at the end of each day. Because I sew, dye, paint, ink, and so on all in the same small space. In order to keep projects clean and organized it is the only way. I find I am not interested in working in my room if it is a jumbled mess. The more tidy it is the more I can focus on the project at hand.
Just make sure you leave the cleaning fairy a nice tip!
So, what are you thinking? (please don't put links in your comments...the spam police like to grab them and hide them away! if you want to share a link, feel free to email me.
I clean after every sewing session. If i'm working on something midday, I will clean up after. Even if I am going back in to work that evening! I guess I'm a little neurotic about it. :)
ReplyDeletewhen the fairy leaves your house -- send her my way ...... dang it's a never ending job.... it would be much easier if I did't hang on to every little bitty scrap of fabric.... I need therapy to learn to toss!!!!
ReplyDeletem
I have curious cats, so they leave me no choice but to clean up meticulously after every evening of sewing!
ReplyDeleteI almost laughed out loud at the notion that I might possibly clean up before sewing. If I did, I'd never get to sewing! But if it is VERY messy - so messy that I can't think - I'll clean up. My dining table is much messier than your sewing table most of the time. I'd love to keep it clear, but it just doesn't happen :)
ReplyDeleteMy sewing area is really never clean. But I do try to clean up in between projects to make room to work. I really wish I was neater because I feel a lot better when my space is clear and organized. Makes me want to sew more when it is. Makes me want to avoid it when it isn't.
ReplyDeleteoh, i wait until i can barely get into the room! it's kind of ridiculous...but creativity is messy, right? :)
ReplyDeleteMy sewing space is pretty small, so I need to keep it picked up to even work. BUT don't look in the drawers of my sewing cabinet, in the closet, OR in my stash bins!
ReplyDeleteI leave it until I absolutely can't stand it anymore. Which is bad b/c I sew on the dining room table where we eat. I'll either toss it all aside so we can eat - after which it all returns to the table in a big messy pile - or I tell my husband to go get dinner and we'll eat in the living room. So bad, I know! But sometimes I will sit and organize my piles while I am trying to figure out a problem or come up with a creative idea. Oh, and I usually clean between projects, too, albeit quickly and not too well. I just don't get enough sewing time as it is to spend it all cleaning!
ReplyDeleteMust have piles up to my neck to get anything done. I do clean up after a project is completed. Just that project, however, not the other ten that I'm in the process of finishing.
ReplyDeleteNo Cleaning Fairy here in mid-MO
ReplyDeleteI've turned over a new leaf
I try to straignten after every project
however
I sometimes can't resist beginning a quick new project whenever I see one I can't wait to start
then the trouble begins
but, as I said I am trying to turn over a new leaf and keep things looking more tidy than what has been the usual.
Hugs & ♥♥♥s,
Gerry
I think the cleaning up fairy is on vacation with the cutting fairy and the quilting fairy. I wonder where they went and more importantly, when are they coming back!!!???
ReplyDeleteI clean when I can't stand the mess any longer. My sewing is usually pretty messy by this point.
ReplyDeleteI'm a pile builder unfortunately. It's the unfinished projects that are really my downfall, and repairs that need to be done. What do you do with your 'to do' pile?
ReplyDeleteYou mean you're supposed to call the Cleaning Fairy. Do you have her number? I've been doing it wrong all these years!
ReplyDeleteYeah, cleaning, hmmmm.....well, to be honest, I share my sewing room with my Mom, and I have my longarm business, so I frequently have customers wanting to see my own personal projects that I'm working on, and thus the room gets cleaned up (don't hate me) daily. But in all actuality, daily picking up helps keep it from getting out of hand. ;)
ReplyDeletemess it up.
ReplyDeletesew.
mess it up.
sew.
repeat......
I am constantly wondering where that cleaning fairy is!! I tend to clean up in-between each project/quilt. If I am working on several at one time...things get really out of control and then I just have to clean my slate to keep going.
ReplyDeleteI also build piles until I can't stand it anymore. Glad to know I'm not the only one! :)
ReplyDeleteI am just like you... why spend sewing time cleaning?... until you just can't stand it...
ReplyDeleteC. I hear that in multiple choice you should always choose C until an "all the above" or "none of the above" is offered.
ReplyDeleteHere's how I handle it. I have two machines and two "stations" where I work. Each is in a separate room.
ReplyDeleteThe messy one is the piecing section and the clean one is the quilting section.
Pretty darned smart, huh?
I clear just enough space to do what I want and when it's too messy, then I'll clean:)
ReplyDeleteI belong to the last alternative, I'm afraid. Compared to my sewing room, yours look tidy and clean... Maybe you could send the cleaning fairy to me when she is done with your room?
ReplyDeleteNo matter how clean it is, it will look messy soon after me starting to work. Then there are those project and possible project piles not to mention my ufos. Have to clean a bit though cause my 2 years old is far too curious and tries to pick up the fabric and things laying on the sewing table. So now I have also a lot of project bins (and still my piles LOL)
ReplyDeleteSo far this has been one of the most entertaining list of comments I have read in a long time. I think of myself as an organized person. Clearly I am mistaken and don't know myself as well as I think I do. Sometimes I move piles around until an area looks clean. Ideally I would love to have it clean but on the other hand I would rather sew. So...I wait until I can't stand it any longer.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely a pile builder. But seeing as my dining room table is also my sewing table, I have to clean before and after I sew. What a drag. I think my time would be much better spent baking something yummy to entice the Cleaning Fairy to come and visit, don't you?
ReplyDeleteI only do one project at a time and make a fine mess while I'm doing it. No sense in cleaning and putting stuff away because I might need something again. My sewing room is in the basement and private so I can get away with this. When the quilt top is done, I CLEAN and put away things. I can't stand to start a new project while the old stuff is out. Works for me.
ReplyDeleteSigh. Here's the story: I want to sew in a beautiful, clean, orderly place like the ones I see in the blogs. I just know I could accomplish so much there. BUT, I have to see it, and my mind needs to percolate it, and while I'm auditioning it it needs to bake, and sometimes I want to work on more than one thing, and while I'm doing other things it breeds. Aaaauuugh! So then I have a marathon cleaning session, have a lovely place to cut and sew, can't figure anything out, and start the whole thing over.
ReplyDeleteha ha! it's piles til I can't stand it for me
ReplyDeleteI must not clean up after every project because I did after my last one and I have wanted to tell everyone about my accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteI clean once a day....although most days you can't tell because I always end up sewing and messing everything up again :)
ReplyDeleteLike you I clean when I can't get in the door or someone is coming home and I need the bed! I have nice piles and I can find whatever I am looking for!
ReplyDeleteAt home I'm great and have a designating cleaning day - but the studio is another matter. I 'usually' clean up after a project but at the moment seem to get inspired/ distracted to work on something else, mid-project and thus the mess is piling up!!!
ReplyDeleteIn general, I'm a total neat freak. In my quilting world, I live in chaos. My husband probably wishes it was confined to just one room! But it's not and there are various selections of fabric ALL OVER the house at all times except when company is coming. And I definitely don't put things away until I've completed projects, if it's in the way, I figure I'll complete it faster!
ReplyDeleteIt's a self-cleaning sewing room, meaning:
ReplyDeleteyou have to clean it yourself!
When shame sets in ... that's when I clean up. Now I feel ashamed just for actually admitting this.
ReplyDeleteI clean the sewing corner when I absolutely have to -- usually when my husband can't stand it anymore or I really need to find something I've buried.
ReplyDeleteI quilt in my attic. It's a space where I can leave things where they fall. Nobody goes up there but me. I rarely pick up. You know what Einstein said about a cluttered desk? Is the sign of a creative mind (or something like that). I must be VERY creative, as I have an entire floor of disarray!
ReplyDeleteI always joke that unfortunately my sewing room is not 'self cleaning'. Darn! at the moment it looks like the big giant mess fairy did pay me a visit though..hmm.
ReplyDeleteI'm definately one of those "don't clean until you can't stand it" types...My craft room doubles as the kids' craft room as well, so double the mess. Let me know if you get a hold of the fairy...I'd love her to pencil me in!
ReplyDelete...HA!...sorry....she was here at my place. She determined mine was worse than yours so she came here first........a lot of the time I go until there isn't a clean space to work......thanks for loaning me your cleaning fairy...wow she worked wonders here!!!
ReplyDeleteIf I clean before sewing I won't be able to find anything. I clean at the end...if there ever is one or when I just cannot turn around in the room!!
ReplyDeleteI have to straighten up before I start a project. What happens in the middle of it is something different.
ReplyDeleteSend her over here when you are done w/ her. I need a cleaning fairy. I tend to keep going until the piles take over and I can't stand it anymore.
ReplyDeleteI tend to work amid the mess - until it drives me crazy and I have to clean it up, or until my sewing sisters are coming and I need the space for everyone to work! But I'm finding that the more I quilt, the more it becomes a vocation as opposed to a hobby, and I must have a neat work area! Oh how I wish I could clone myself so that one of me could clean and organize while the other one sews!!
ReplyDeleteI always plan to clean first, then just sew in the mess. Oh, the mess I have right now. Eeeeek is right!
ReplyDeletemmm I'm a clean as I go but it's a new thing...we'll see how long it lasts ;)
ReplyDeleteSo have you quilted anything large on your 820 yet?! If so, how was it?! I'm bringing mine to the dealer on Friday for the newest firmware update and I'm curious about maybe getting a table for it...like where the bed of the machine is flush with the table..I think Tia has one & it makes quilting look easier!!!!
I have a sewing corner in my dining room, so I have to keep it tidy. I definately clean as I go!!!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
KT
I have been looking for that cleaning fairy as well, no show so far! I clean after I am finished with my project most of the time. I do have a multitude of baskets with projects in them, but everything looks great in a basket.
ReplyDeleteI try to clean as I go, but usually things don't get really put away until I can't get any sewing done because there are too many piles of stuff! Moving piles from the cutting area to the chair to the ironing board so I can use these areas gets old pretty fast!
ReplyDeleteI usually break down and clean up when I need to clear off my 8'x 8' table to lay out a quilt to pin baste. If it is a small piece, I may only clear off enough space just for it. I also will clean up when it gets so deep around my sewing chair that it won't roll.
ReplyDeleteI work until the piles fall over!
ReplyDeleteI am one who does it when I don't have room to work anymore!!! Sigh!
ReplyDeletei am just like that, my brain works faster than my sewing machine, so as i'm working i start piling up other projects everywhere around me, until it is out of control that is : )
ReplyDeleteIf I cleaned before I sew, I'd rarely get to the sewing. If the stuff on my table is starting to get so that it's touching the sewing machine, then I will clean. I used to be a much tidier person until I had kids.
ReplyDeleteI clean before I sew which is probably why I don't sew as often as I'd like!
ReplyDeleteI tidy up a bit each day that I sew. My space is small and in a common area so unless I'm coming right back to it I have to straighten up. Little kids and rotary cutters, sewing machine, pinking shears - oh my.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should revise, I tidy up the sharps but I generally leave my fabric piled up for the various projects I am working on.
while sewing and after sewing. for me, it's just impossible to be creative in a messy space.
ReplyDeleteI long to be a clean-as-you-goer person, unfortunately I am a piler. However, I usually clean up after every project. At least then I can maintain some type of sewing room sanity.
ReplyDeleteIn my last apartment, the sewing stuff was in the office along with the husband and I's desk. It's a partner desk so we were sitting across from each other, and not very wide. Needless to say, when I was organizing fabric or picking fabrics out for quilts (I have very little yardage...probably less than 10 yards total...I love FQs!), my little sewing table (a card table with a blanket over it) would be covered in fabrics. While I was sewing, I'd have piles of pieces for blocks, but those would be temporarily on my side of the desk.
ReplyDeleteWe're in the middle of moving, so we'll see how I am when I have part of an actual house-sized room (not part of a 2nd bedroom in a 2 bedroom apartment) to myself. It's still shared with the office desk, but I have more room, at least visually.
Clean up? What is that? We have piles in more rooms than where we sew (spare bedroom). We move things into that room when we know company is coming. (like off the dining table when there are 3 or more for meals). However, we are rather neat in our piles.
ReplyDeleteI craft in my bedroom so it has to stay relatively clean otherwise I step on needles. But I'm envious that you can spread your fabric everywhere. . . must be nice!
ReplyDeleteIm make a mess till I can't stand it anymore....
ReplyDeleteright now Im sewing together all the leftovers from the last few projects and a couple of abandonded UFOs/never gonna finish/experimental blocks into some charity tops- which feels liek th emess is bigger...
I kinda work yearly... August is my quilty new years. So its time to clean house and start my Xmas projects...
I'm glad to hear that you make a mess too when you quilt. I tend to go ninety miles and hour. Everyone I quilt with is amazed how much i get done. I clean up when I can't find a clear spot, and that can be put off for quite a while!!!! ,Jackie
ReplyDeleteI have to get everything out every night and pack everything away every night otherwise my children will go to town with it! If they weren't around, I'd have fabric everywhere!
ReplyDeleteyou sposed to CLEAN??!!
ReplyDeletewow, knew I was missing something....
;-)
seriously, my sewing machine is in the living room with the kids, buried behind furniture in an attempt to keep the kids safe. So before I sew I must move furniture and after I sew before the kids wake up I must put everything away and put the furniture back.
oh how I long for a room of my own with a DOOR and a LOCK...so I could leave it as is till I'm ready to sew again!!
cleaning fairy, we need you!
ReplyDeleteEven though I actually work best when the tabble is clean, I allways wait until I sit in between high piles of fabric, thread, spools and pattern, (and then I usually wait a little more ...)
ReplyDeleteI clean up at the end of each day. Because I sew, dye, paint, ink, and so on all in the same small space. In order to keep projects clean and organized it is the only way. I find I am not interested in working in my room if it is a jumbled mess. The more tidy it is the more I can focus on the project at hand.
ReplyDeleteJust make sure you leave the cleaning fairy a nice tip!
Unfortunately, I just sew amongst the mess until I can't take it anymore. Then I do a major cleaning session. Wish I were different, but . . .
ReplyDelete