5 Things To Do Before I Leave The Studio!

Since this post is essentially about remembering I thought I would share a photo of this vase of Roses. My MIL suffers Alzheimers and her memories are vague and often muddled. In a memory flash the other day she remembered that I like Pink Roses while cruising the supermarket with her son. She bought these for me. Very touching. 

Recent posts from multiple bloggers is revealing what I dubbed "sub-trends." At this time of year, with our lazy Summer days, we have time to plan and dream about living a very efficient and organized life. Before school starts many families try to find a better way to manage their days. Late July and early August are ripe times for researching. Lifestyle bloggers are the same. For example, posts labeled 10 Things to do before you go to bed, 8 Things to do to your kitchen everyday, 3 things to check in your refrigerator every Monday.  Get my drift?

The Sewist and the Quilter are much the same. We all want to make the best use of our time and many of us find that clutter and visual disorganization tends to undermine our best efforts. Our sewing spaces, be they a large stand alone studio or a corner of the dining room, are special to us and respecting that space can only enhance our sewing experience.

OK, where is she going with this? You have all heard me moan and groan about how messy my studio gets. I am determined to change that. A recent visitor to my studio remarked that I had such a nice little sewing room. He was being kind. Add one more machine and I may have reached my tipping point 👀 So I have come up with my own list of to-do's after a session:

1. Discard:  Discard Scraps: Make sure all fabric/paper scraps are picked up from flat surfaces as well as the floor. I tend to be pretty good with the floor but hiding in little corners on the cutting mat and even behind the machine. A quick wipe and swipe should take care of that. I may come up little "catchers" for each station. I like to sew with pre-cuts and if you have you also know that the pinked edges create lots of lint. I get so fussy when I see it and IF I remember to clean them up at the end of a session I won't be aggravated when I return to work. 🙈🙉🙊
   
2. Return: Return all tools to their home. I use an old dishwasher cutlery basket to store scissors and cutters and the cutting area. It has worked so well for several years particularly if I remember to put the tools back where they belong. I also have little work boxes beside each machine that hold the tools that I use most while working on that machine. Again, put the stuff back!👮
   
   
3. Cover: Cover the machines at the end of the day. I have been good and not so good at this. Remember the incident with the crazy cable guy? The covers saved my day on that one.💚
   
   
4. Unplug: I unplug everything at the end of the day. I use surge protectors on each machine and we have whole house surge protection. (Installed by a certified electrician  a few years ago. An investment but well worth my peace of mind.) Our machines are an investment and the computers don't like power surges! In addition, I have a little lamp that stays on if I don't remember to unplug the machines. If I turn out the over head lights and that little lamp is on, I know I have forgotten something.   💣
5. Staging: When possible I like to set up the project for the next session. That way, when I have a bit of time I can pop in and start working right away. I have my projects in separate boxes so that everything is in one place but not always ready to sew. My plan is to be more cognizant of that.  😏

Realistically, I should be able to do all this in about 10-15 minutes. So there is my list of 5 Things To Do Before I Leave The Studio. I can hear you chuckling, you know, that is sort of rude 👩


A really cute Christmas Pillow pattern here.....from Moda
The post and the pattern, here.

The Rhythm of the Falling Rain, The Cascades