Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Messy or neat?

I admit this room is a disaster....too much work and too little cleaning up as I move from project to project.
Would you look at that pile of strings on the floor?? They've been there since I started my green centered HeartStrings blocks and then grew as I worked on my pieced letters.
This mess is from tonight - I got two bindings made and sewn on but decided I needed to do a pieced binding on this quilt so I grabbed a bunch of leftover binding bits.
and as I got ready to sew them together, turned away for a minute and Chesty thought they'd make a nice pillow. Don't worry....every quilt I make gets washed so there will be no pet cooties.
So, my question to you is if you took photos of your sewing room right this minute, would it be messy or neat?


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54 comments:

swooze said...

Waaaaaaaaay messy!!

Paula said...

Oh, my sewing room is clean.... because I haven't been down to the storage building yet to retrieve all the junk I hauled out of there for Thanksgiving!!! LOL

Bonnie said...

Definitely messy. How can anyone do any sewing without making a mess? I dream of a neat room, but then a neat room would mean I wasn't doing anything.

Anonymous said...

This knitter and quilter has things put back away in storage bins and baskets after each work session. Well, ok maybe there a few "unfiled" things out on the sewing table. I try to control my clutter and if a bin/basket/box gets too full then I stash bust and make scrap quilts.

Carolyn in NC

Unknown said...

Let's put it this way, mine makes yours look NEAT! And as for quilts, my spotted guy not only lays on them, but must be UNDER them too!

Sara said...

Messy, messy, messy!

Piles everywhere, e3ven on the cutting area, so I have to cut on a TV table instead.

Is there a system that will make it neatER? Maybe if I start doing only the things I really want to do. . .then I won't stop and start something else?

Let me know if something works for anyone!

Barb said...

Oh my, I do take comfort from seeing that I am not alone with my *messy* sewingroom...how does one create and stay neat is my question LOL? Just today my granddaughter was sewing on a quilt and as she was sewing things were being pushed from the table with the size of her project...quilters are just most creative when things are not in perfect order I guess! Thanks for helping me to feel normal with my sewingroom! BY THE WAY ~ I LOVE YOUR BLOG!

Diane said...

Right now? It would be neat, but only because I have been organizing getting ready for a retreat. But I plan on getting it nice and messy just as soon as I return! LOL

Deborah Levy said...

neat...I don't have enough room to be messy and still be able to work in there.

carol said...

Very messy. I'm trying to clear everything out into the guest room and re-organize. This could be a lifetime project.

Kim West said...

messy!!! very messy!!

Anonymous said...

one word ! messy!!! with capital letters.

Sue H said...

Organized messy. I have way too many things out in piles, every surface is covered with "stuff", but I know where to find things. I wish I could stay neat, but I don't seem to work that way.

Silverthimble said...

You can't be creative without making a little mess! LOL

marilyn said...

I have one word for you. Entropy. It controls the universe and there is no use fighting against it. Everything seeks the lowest form of order and you can either spend all of your time fighting against it and losing, or you can give in, let things find their own resting places and be free to be creative! I call mine organized chaos. I know exactly where everything is, sometimes. Just don't come over without letting me know a week in advance, unless you don't mind stepping over the piles of fabric on the floor ;)

Gari in AL said...

the funny thing is that my plan for today was to clean up but got busy making two exchange blocks instead. Of course that meant that I just pushed the "mess" around on the cutting table and then took out fabric from the stash, which didn't get put back, yet. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow.

Marianne said...

Sort of half and half. It needs a good vacuuming and just a little tidying up. You asked at a neat moment!

Amy said...

mine is a mess, where I sew is clean but alot of thing shave not made their way back into their "home"..bad thing is when I go in to clean it is going to take a whole day..and that won't be until after Christmas.have a good one

Anonymous said...

I can't work when MCM is too neat ~~

Pam@
www.pamgwillim.com
mycreativemind@pamgwillim.com

Patti said...

How about a little of both? Mostly clean, except for a pile of damp prewashed fabric needing to be pressed and put away, and two more piles on the floor waiting to be prewashed. I have to admit, though, that once the mess reaches a certain point I can't work any longer - I have to stop to clean it up or it bugs me too much.

Sherri said...

Definitely messy. But thanks sooo much for the pictures of your room...I feel much better now!

Lori in South Dakota said...

Definitely MESSY!! Every few months I refold and organize fabric, throw out the piles of computer pages, and find sew rippers. Now if I could just find my favorite rotary cutter........

Missy said...

I dream of the sewing room I could make a mess in ;)

Cathi said...

Messy!! Very very very messy -- and it's only a corner of the living room!! I can't imagine the mess I could create with a sewing room! :-)

QuiltinLibraryLady said...

Someday I should post some pictures I have of my sewing room to my blog. I took them a few years back for a "messiest sewing room" contest at Quilt Nebraska, didn't get them back in time (remember getting film developed?) and should use them for SOMETHING. I was still sewing for craft shows then and moved from project to project with all due speed and never cleaned up until the end of the craft show season in Nov.

Anonymous said...

Neat, but only so I can keep everything safe from my 2 year old boy :-) When it was in the sleepout and not the house it was very messy.

Unknown said...

deffenitly messy ;)
And that is very worse. Becoause it is althoug my living- and sleepingroom.

Sheila said...

Unfortunately, it's not only my sewing room. Let's just say that's why the door is closed if you visit! I know where everything is, but it's a mess.

Joyce said...

MESSY! In my opinion, a net sewing room indicates a lack of activity. I'd rather be sewing than cleaning.

Tanya said...

MESSY! YUCK! It takes two hours to make it hardly enterable and it stays that way for a week! TERRIBLE!

Char said...

I wish I was as productive as you. But one of my hangups, I can only work on one project at a time and I clean up at the end of each project. Maybe that is why I can't be as productive as you. The question is not whether the room is neat or messy; it is what makes you comfortable. And with Chesty by your side, I'd say you are very comfortable which is what matters. Keep up your excellent work!

Anonymous said...

It's one of my favorite terms (which applies to MANY places in my house) - "organized chaos". I'm sure you know just where everything is (and that's what's important, right?). Isn't it funny how dogs can always find and "nest" in the softest place in a room? Mine does this too. Your photo of Chesty made me smile. He's a cutie!
Kasey

Anonymous said...

If the Board of Health had jurisdiction over sewing rooms I would be on their Top 10 most messy! It gets to the point that I can't find anything, can't function and get so STRESSED going in there that I stay away ... then I stop and spend time organizing, getting rid of things and have moments when I can be creative and want to just stay in there forever. My problem is I have WAY, WAY, WAY too much fabric and projects planned that never get started or finished. I also need to stop purchasing plastic bins to store this fabric in because it just adds to the addiction. Talk about a "Catch 22"!!! LOVE YOUR BLOG ... you keep it very REAL, Mary ;-)

Pat at Bell Creek Quilts said...

One word...messy!

Yvonne said...

Messy all the way!

Mama Spark said...

Neat right now as it is my living room and all is put away for Christmas! but *usually* it is messy!

Bonnie said...

Try as I might....it usually looks likes yours. I can't always keep it neat. But it is soooo fun, isn't it?

Granny said...

I have a path . . does that make it neat? I had to clean a path so the heater guy could get to the unit on Monday and the patch hasn't "grown over" yet. My sewing area is always messy! And, for the most part, it doesn't bother me.

Nancy said...

I would die of embarrassment if anyone saw my sewing room. Even the area around my knitting chair in the family room is a disaster.

I have come to the conclusion that creativity is messy and that people who insist on neatness are not creative. Enough said!

tami said...

I am in the middle of Santa's workshop in my sewing room. Believe me I have to move things every time I want to press or cut. The piles just go back and forth and continue to grow. I would probably get a lot more done if I wasn't always moving things to make space, but I just can't seem to keep it neat.

MaryLu said...

I'm with Paula. I had to stash it all back in the guest room closet. (Or rather Fibber McGee's closet,) so I haven't had a chance to get all the projects back out again. My fingers are itching to be creative!!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

This should be a poll!
80% messy. I did clean it up a bit yesterday... but it only takes a minute to mess it back up!

Judy said...

totally messy!!

Clare said...

Messy, incredibly messy, and it stays like that until I get to the screaming, can't find a :/%$£!! thing stage. Huge tidy up and within 48 hours its back where it was.

Oh what the heck - just leave it!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Those pictures made me feel so good. I don't like my room perfectly neat because I like a little clutter. However I always have more than a LITTLE clutter. I would just like the cutting table uncovered most of the time. I can deal with walking around bins of things on the floor.

Unknown said...

Mine is very, very messy. Yours is definitely organized compared to mine. Love your quilts.

Anonymous said...

hmmm - neat-ish

i've a few papers on my cutting table and stacked cmas quilts on the ironing board, and my scanner/printer is under some fabric / papers but i could just move the papers and i'm set to work :) so neat-ish

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

My sewing room is very neat, because all my stuff is in my bedroom. Don't ask about the bedroom!

Jackie Russell said...

Definitely in the messy group here.

a.simple.life said...

It doesn't seem possible for me to sew and not be messy. The only time my sewing area is clean is when I know well in advance that someone might be seeing it other than my family. Then I admire it while it lasts!

Gretchen said...

Mine is in disarray, which is like saying San Francisco was in disarray after the 1906 Earthquake.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

Neat - but spread out! The ironing board is now in the kitchen because we don't heat the laundry room, sewing machine is in living room because I don't heat my sewing area in the winter, cutting area is upstairs in my office - so a bit mixed up with my office, but a good height. But even if I did have everything all in one place, I would only need one of your double cabinets to hold everything - so not that much to put away. Oh, but I do have a 5 year old son who just loves to throw my scraps around and play with his scissors in them!
Cheers!
Evelyn

Stephanie D said...

Right now, 6 months ago, next week--it all looks the same: messy.

This is the super-messy season as my sewing room has gone from Halloween Central to Christmas Central--and will need to be half emptied out before dear brother and his wife come for Christmas, because that's the only place I can set up the queen-sized air mattress for them to sleep on.

Then messy temporarily moves to the screened in back porch, as daughter will be home also and she'll be in the guest room with the double bed.

No rest for the wicked.

Kristin said...

Messier than messy can be!