Well, with one sewing machine down for the count and in the shop, where they can't seem to figure out what is wrong with it, and the other needing desperately to be taken apart and given a good cleaning after 2 completed quilting projects... it's time for a time-out and a good spring cleaning. I suppose it is the time of the year, a spring time renewal of sorts. This time of year I always get the itch to empty out, purge, clean out those closets, you know the ones, where you open the door really quick, toss in the item you need to put in there and slam the door before it all tumbles out at you. Time to bag up all those old clothes that I'll never fit into again because lets all face it... that pair of acid washed jeans from high school that you think looked really good on you so you've been dragging along all these years not only will never fit again... but truthfully... are you really ever going to find the perfect place to wear them... say.. a Bon Jovi concert?? No! Time for the big bag and off to the donation bin. It is ingrained in us, at least in my family it is, "Spring Cleaning", it's nearly automatic.
It's kinda the same as the urge I get in September to buy new clothes and shoes. When I was a kid every August we'd shop and shop for "school clothes" and a new pair of shoes and sometimes a new pair of sneakers. I remember a few specific things about new school clothes; (1) they were always itchy and stiff... big bulky sweaters, heavy wide wale corduroys and stiff shoes that gave you blisters the size of silver dollars, (2) you bought them in August and had to try on every item on in the store to make sure there was some 'growing room', then the first week of school we'd wear each outfit and could feel ourselves melting on the way to the bus stop in 95 degree weather, (3) you had all these new clothes and new shoes but for the 2 weeks before school started you were not allowed to wear them, even if your current sneakers were held together with duct tape you had to wait til the first day of school to wear those new shoes!
Anyway, in light of the season's spring clean-out and with Jason's school vacation I had taken a bit of time off. The intention was to spend some time with the family and take some day trips, to clean out and build a work area for myself to work from home, try to empty out the basement so I can start thinking of finishing it to give Jason a play room (and me a bigger sewing room) and lastly to do some general spring cleaning. I suppose I over-estimated how much I can get done in 2 days. I took a total of 5 days off, but 3 of them I dedicated to spending time with Jason. Three of those days we did day trips (went to the beach, climbed on the rocks at the light house, went to the Lego store, that kinda stuff) and then two days after he went back to school I intended to get about 764 things done. Didn't' happen. So it will be an ongoing project. One of the projects should have been titled; "how to get the man who lives in the house with me to give up and toss some of that *stuff* that he keeps dragging along with him." You know the things... the "collectibles"...the baseball cards and the hot wheels from when he was a kid.. I just don't see it. I guess because I'm just not that much of a sentimental person when it comes to items you can touch. I don't put too much of myself into any one item or hold an item because of it's attachment to a place, an event or a person. That's just not what I'm about. Ask yourself this; If you had an urn that contained the ashes of a loved one would you be a saver or a sprinkler? Well, I'm a sprinkler. I'd rather symbolically say good-bye and sprinkle the person's ashes in a garden or on a mountain or where ever, and move on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not heartless.. it's just that things that are important to me are more memories and experiences than items. I think this years' spring cleaning is likely to be an ongoing project. And, perhaps we should all clean out our closets more often.
As for projects... my sewing table will soon be buzzing back to life. I've got a lot of projects on my list. I've got 2 half finished quilts; a baby quilt I made but can honestly say I really don't care for the fabrics in it but I'll finish it anyway, and a Spiderman novelty quilt that I'm making for Jason kinda like Jack's Batman project. I've also got 2 new babies (2 of my nieces are expecting) to quilt for, one of which I have chosen the fabrics and just need to pull the project together and the other I will pick fabrics for in June because we don't yet now if it is a baby girl or a baby boy. I've also purchased fabric for my new office window. I'm going to try to put together a window treatment for that room that will be a valance that looks like a roman shade, kinda like a mock-roman shade as it won't go up and down. That is a project that is somewhat beyond my abilities, a bit of a stretch for me, but I've got some advice and instruction from my sister (who is a professional fabricator of window treatments and general sewing guru) and I found drapery fabric at Joanne Fabrics for 50% off... so I'll give it a try! After all those projects I have drawn out a quilt project for my own bed, something I've been trying to get to for years and something that this year I am going to hold myself to completing.
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