The Dreaded Cleanup

I'm a scatter-brain. And my sewing room reflects this fact.

Or at least it did till yesterday.

My beloved Cousin C came to see me, and, more to the point, came to help me clean up my sewing room.

I needed the help.

I had tried on my own to organize my fabrics - I did, in fact, have them separated into solids, prints, batiks and specialty fabrics. But a couple of weeks ago I watched a webinar where the speaker said she further broke her stash down into color sets. (Blue/purples, blue/greens, yellow, reds, etc.) So my Cousin sent me off to the dollar store to obtain smaller trays than the storage boxes I had been using.

We put things away, we sorted fabric, and sorted fabric, and threw things out, and sorted more fabric. Old UFOs came out to haunt me, every time I thought we'd seen the last of the half-heartedly begun projects, another bag would peek out at us from the corner where it had lain forgotten for a year or two...It was getting embarrassing.

She made me deal with every single thing in that room, no matter how much I begged for mercy. And wouldn't let me just toss stuff into any old container. I did try, a few times, but she'd heave an exasperated sigh at me and make me pick it up again and put it where it really should go.

A moment's thought. That's what it takes. A single, focused moment of actual grey matter processing time. That's what it takes to actually put things away.

I'm now casting my mind back to earlier this year, when Daughter's Fiancé J helped me clean my sewing room too. He had less time, having only an afternoon, and less experience getting me to do what I was told than Cousin C, who has known me all her life! I do not wish to belittle the help I received from J. But this was a much bigger deal. C was not going home till the job was completed to her satisfaction. And she doesn't fall for ploys, or pouting, or crying...And she definitely does not have my scattered-brain tendencies! She can see what needs to be done.

And I am so grateful! Now I have a tidy sewing room where I know where everything is, and I'm looking forward to this weekend to be able to get in there and...

...mess it up a bit?

And then put stuff away!