reduce. reuse. recycle.

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I got my craft room 'workspace' for Christmas.  Count Studley sacrificed a couple of days of his break last week to put it all together and get it in.  He was very patient with my particular-ness.  Especially when my opinion changed occasionally (ok, frequently) during the whole process.  I've just waited for So. Long. and I wanted to make sure we did it right the first time! I am so excited about it and love it to pieces already.  I didn't ever imagine that my little corner of the basement that didn't even have walls could ever be such a heavenly place for me.  It will be a couple of weeks before I have it all finished up, but I'm so excited to post pictures!  We had to wait on the flooring, we've had a few silly things come up like mini vans and surgeries and new wheelchairs and trips to Australia... 

In order to install it, I had to clean out the 'organized piles' of tools and supplies and projects in my craft room.  It's been fun to take a minute here and there to sort through and organize things the way that I want them to be.   In the process, I recognized, though, that I really have collected a lot of supplies and have a lot of 'finishing' of projects to do.  I thought it would be fun to challenge myself this year to finishing up all of the projects that I have started that I am interested in, and getting rid of the rest.

This is my condensed pile of projects.  Yes, that is actually a large laundry basket. Mostly sewing and quilting, but some other goodies buried down inside as well.  I will post pictures each month of my pile reduction to hold myself accountable. If the items in this basket need purchased supplies to finish, I am allowing myself that.  Beyond that, I am going to allow myself one project a month that I don't already have supplies for, everything else that I create has to come from my 'in-stock' selection. 

On another note, I've decided that I'm in for the long haul with this blog.  It's becoming a good friend and is helping to fill a very large void that not working outside my home (while my kids are at school) had created in my life.  It's keeping me productive and accountable and it's brought a lot of joy and excitement back into my brain these last few months.  So I've decided that once I have 20 followers (thank you to those who are following already!) I will do a monthly drawing from those followers and send one lucky friend one of the completed projects I've created that month.  Not really a give-away, more like gratitude, for supporting me as I keep myself motivated...

So as soon as I have 20 followers, the first drawing will be for a pair of these slippers.  I made a few pair for Christmas gifts. (and I had to make a pair for me first, you know, to make sure they were any good...) The pattern came from here.  I used all different combinations of fabrics for them, and they all turned out cute and unique. I changed up the pattern's process of putting them together a little bit to make it work better for me, and they ended up being pretty simple and fun to create.

So there you have it.  I'm grateful to each of you for helping me to find and create inspiration in my life! 

Happy Crafting!