Friday, April 3, 2020

AWOL: Absent Without Leave

I've been AWOL.  I know.  Growing up as an Army brat, that was a term I heard often.  It wasn't a favorable assessment of one's location. 

With the change of season I was motivated to photograph and list my clothes and home goods into my Poshmark Closet.  What started as a quick few days of listing turned into 3 weeks of work.  The good news is everything is listed and now I can maintain my closet.  Getting the merchandise organized at my house and put into storage tubs was worth the effort.

Also about the same time I weeded through my personal closet to ferret out the large sizes.  Those went into the clothes pile for Poshmark too.  What was left were the small sizes I can now wear again!  So happy to say I've lost 25 pounds since Nov 2019.  I'm happily back wearing my size 10 clothes. 

With my Poshmark Closet under control I started looking at some unfinished sewing & quilting projects to finish. 



I saw recently on Instagram the 100 Day Project is starting April 7th.  It's an opportunity for craftspeople & artists to work on their own art projects for 100 days.  It's a flexible challenge and it's given me the idea to work through some UFOs during the next 3+ months.  Posting my progress to Instagram, Facebook and here will keep me accountable.  At this point I don't need to start any new projects.  Truth be told, I may need longer than 100 days to finish the UFOs; but, I can evaluate that when the challenge is over.  😎😎

Toward that end I pulled said projects out of hiding.  There were roughly 2 piles:   unadorned crazy quilt wall hangings I stitched before 2014 & very large pieces of raw edge yardage I've stitched the past few years.  I decided the crazy quilt wall hangings don't need immediate attention.  They've been waiting 6+ years.  What's another year or two?!


The raw edge yardage seemed like the most logical project to finish now.  I had to test my emotional connection to a few of the pieces.  I was surprised to see I really wasn't that attached to any of them.  At this point I'd rather have them as a salable product than a big piece of yardage. They are all going back on the longarm for their next stage of completion.

My favorite product/project are pillows.  I've developed a system for sewing them on the longarm that is more efficient than using the domestic sewing machine.  That will help me get the work finished and into my Poshmark Closet faster.



In preparation for Tuesday's start, I need to finish the current raw edge tshirt yardage on the longarm.  A good day's work and it could be done.  It will be the 1st group of pillows.  All the scraps from the raw edge will be funneled into small collage pieces I can stretch on reclaimed canvases and sell.


During the current quarantine it's just Studio Time as usual for me.  Finally my lifestyle is in Vogue!  To keep myself entertained and protect from sewing burnout, I've gotten back on track with some old knitting.  I'm going to finish a wool shawl/scarf & then address 2 knitted sweaters in pieces that need a little work to finish.  


I've been eyeing the raw edge collage work I abandoned when I started the spring listings in my Poshmark Closet.  They are sitting patiently waiting.  It's a bit of handwork that may pull me further into some hand embroidery I could use to finish those pieced crazy quilt wall hangings.   I'm just going to go with the flow and see how it all works out.  


Join the Conversation!
Has the current quarantine changed your work habits or project goals? 
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