Shiny Objects: Part Two

I imagine every home has a black pitt - maybe more than one - that place where things get shoved and piled until you can barely move around anymore. We have a few. Along with pending employment, having the carpet cleaners come today was exactly the push I needed to do a thorough clean of the basement.

The under stairs storage was so full we could barely get past the door and now, it's been whittled down and sorted. Those blue tubs are of things for grandchildren. It's rare for me to keep things we aren't using and there they are - three large tubs for non-existent children. I find that rather fascinating and yet I know these are toys that children would enjoy... or I hope they will in this computer world. Will children still play with Lego and blocks and Barbies years from now? Will I have kept all of this for nothing because they'll read e-books instead of printed ones? Time will tell.

In the furnace room was this tub of bubble wrapped parts. It's a Handi-Quilter that I bought second hand off one of my students about ten or so years ago and have never even unwrapped. My intention when I bought it was one thing and my life went in a completely different direction. Yesterday, I called a woman in our church who I know quilts and asked her if she wants it. She'll let me know today. If she doesn't, there's another woman I'll phone. Hopefully one of the two of them will take it otherwise...

... I may donate it along with this pile of quilts to - hopefully - the local quilt shop or quilt guild to be raffled or auctioned for charity. These are some of my earlier traditional work as well as pieces from my books. Longer than I've been moving the Handi-Quilter, I've been carting these from house to house and it's time for them to move along.  The space they freed up in the linen closet was FABULOUS. I can actually see the shelves and everything is neatly arranged.

There are two more closets to clean before I'm done downstairs but already Howard took a car load of stuff to charity and I have another pile ready to go. We could have had a garage sale. I don't do that. I think of giving to charity as one way of supporting others in my community. If I'm not using it, let someone else have it. More than the money, cleaning does something for me. Not the every day dust and vacuum kind but the deep down, getting rid of stuff, kind. Clutter always makes me feel trapped. Opening things up, giving things away, creates flow. It energizes me, my studio, my creativity.

I've thought a lot about being creative in the past few weeks and especially about the direction I want my creativity to move toward. In September 2009, I wrote a posting called Shiny Objects. In it I talked about sewing for fun and how important it was to me to be able to explore ideas. Collecting the bits and pieces for jewelry, having the galleries ready and willing to take it, suddenly put a lot of pressure on me that I didn't like. It shifted the focus from personal learning and exploration to making money, and that's not a place I want to go again. IF - and that's a big if - I were to create pieces for galleries, it would have to be because I was so involved in learning that I'd produced an excess of pieces and NOT because I'd gone into mass production. We'll see. That's not likely to happen because...

... I'm like a crow. I see those shiny objects and I want them. I read a blog about lingerie and I want to sew another bra. Then I read one about Japanese pattern books and I want to try that. Or one about sewing a coat and I think about needing a coat and all my coat patterns and the pile of coat fabric and maybe I should sew a coat. I'm pulled here and there and I'm okay with that. Following shiny objects works for me right now although, it'd be nice to follow the shiny objects already in my studio - VBG.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - less stuff, more flow, the ability to give