Monthly Musing ~ Just call me Marie

This was supposed to be my month of calm organisation after the hectic chaos of December and January but February went and ruined that by only having 28 days, and then only informing me of this on day 27!

So my last two blog posts for the month were written in rather a hurry and this monthly musing to wrap up February has snuck in to March.  Fail.

Marie Kondo is the topic of the moment in my circles of friends and I'm sure she's crept up in your conversations too.  Everyone is high on organisation and finding joy in your possessions.  I’ve started to watch her Netflix series but haven’t gained too much from it so far, most of the tips given just seem like common sense that you should possess anyway, however, I'm certain there is a lot more to her method than what is portrayed on the show.  Perhaps I should start reading her books instead...

I had a list of things that I wanted to tidy up and organise during February.  I made my way through most of it but the abrupt end to the month saw me fall short of my goals. 

My Achievements:

• Sort out my personal stash of lingerie findings (and I found some random items in that box too) ~ I wrote about what I plan to do with all the small leftover pieces here in this blog post.

• De-clutter my cork board.  This was filled with fabric samples and planned sewing projects that were at least two years old and it hadn’t been updated since.  (And if you look really close you can see where a snail started to feast on it.)  I cleared everything off and moved my computer to sit underneath it. The cork board now holds work memos and information and is getting much more use. 

• Pattern stash clear-out.  I have lots of gorgeous, mostly vintage patterns for baby and children’s clothing.  My mom and I had a great time sewing these for my daughter when she was little.  My daughter is now 8 years old, has outgrown these patterns and is also not so keen me choosing her wardrobe anymore!  So I’ve listed them on a de-stash site so others may sew them up and love them like I did. 

• Mending. This poor teddy has sat around legless for months!  It took all of two minutes to re-attach his leg.  He brings my daughter a lot of joy so he's definitely a keeper!

With all that done my studio is feeling refreshed and a lot more inspiring to work in.  Isn’t it funny how items/tasks can sit around for a long time (years in the case of the cork board) unnoticed until the day you actually ‘notice’ them and realise how redundant they are or how little effort it would actually take to complete. 

There are still a few more organisational things I’d like to conquer:

• I’d like to sort out my personal stash of fabric.  I find this really hard because although I know I have pieces in there that don’t bring me joy and are unlikely to join my everyday wardrobe, I get concerned about handing them on and then finding a use for them.  We are a big ‘dressing up party’ type of family and so a lot of less loved fabric finds it’s self being transformed into costume.  Anyone else feel me on this?  The moment I give that purple quilting cotton away will be immediately followed by the moment that my daughter desperately needs a Raven cloak.

• Removal of odds and ends.  I have a few large boards that were once a desk and I need to get these moved out into the attic storage - it’s a two person job so I need to nab hubby when he’s not busy to led me a hand.
• Sort out this basket of doom. 

Once those things are done then I may have the confidence to film a studio tour. Would that be of interest?  My studio isn’t a fabulously colour or style co-ordinated space and I’ll have to try and keep my creative mess under control but I enjoy seeing other people’s spaces so maybe I will....

Has anyone else caught the organisational bug?  Are you a creatively messy soul like me?  Also, when was the last time you dressed up?