Getting Organized

I love getting organized. I like to work in an orderly environment, so when I sit down to sew or work on photo albums, budget stuff, etc. I like everything in it's place...and handy. And when I take time to get organized, I get all excited -- I feel like something may be getting accomplished some time soon. This morning I had to get a few things at Target. So, while I was there, I sauntered down the basket/box/container aisles and picked up a few things. This afternoon I treated myself to some time in the sewing room getting these new boxes, bins and baskets loaded up with projects to take with me on the "blended arts" retreat in a couple of weeks.

Jodi -- along with 13 of her scrapbooking buddies, and me -- along with 14 of my quilting friends, are going on a Friday to Sunday retreat at the Charlie Elliott Conference Center the weekend of the 18th of April. These are SOOO much fun...and we all get SOOOO much done! We "work" until the wee hours of the morning, then catch a few winks and are at it again early the next day. We don't worry about catching up on our sleep until the following week.

Here is a picture of what I got organized this afternoon. I always over-plan for a working retreat just like I over-pack for a vacation. You know...you take more clothes than you will wear, but you want options. Same with the projects to work on at retreat. In this picture there are enough supplies for making 6 or 7 full-sized quilt tops. Even though some of them are started already...like Jeremy's large stars (bottom left) in homespun fabrics, Emery's fish bowls (top center), and Jodi's Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks (top right), as well as the blue/brown/tan half square triangles (center right) which I'm making just because I saw it in a magazine and had to have it...this still represents a lot of hours of rotary cutting and machine piecing. I'm sure I won't get them all done, but it's great to dream big and have plans and options.

So the fabric part is ready to go. Now I need to remember to take all the tools and supplies I will need to accomplish these tasks. Then I will have to turn my attention to all the food and drinks I want to have handy for snacking on, a few DVDs to pop into the big screen TV, (Jodi says "no X-rated") and if there's room...maybe some pajamas and a toothbrush. I only have two weeks to get this all together, so it's a good thing I'm starting early!

PS: If you click on the pictures, you can see the fabrics and blocks better.