Purge Out

Sometimes there comes a time when you just have to "cut your losses" so to speak. I have reached that point where no token cleaning of my sewing room will work. And really, I'm o.k. with that. (For me it takes time to reach that point)

Spring cleaning doesn't have to happen in just the Spring. Fall works too. I don't know about you, but once I decide to get rid of something it usually leaves the premises rather quickly, never to enter my home again. No remorse, no guilt...even when the kiddos complain.

Round 1
Here are a few things that have left the building....

• New patterns bought in previous times when I thought I might actually make that item.
• Patterns that I have used to make something but now no longer fit my kids or me.
• Fabric--most to be donated to the thrift store.
• Half-finished projects that hold no motivation to be completed and/or if completed wouldn't fit who they were intended for anyway. (a few can be refashioned into something else useful--but not too many) I'm all for removing the guilt altogether.
• Fleece that I don't want to look at anymore and it takes up way too much space on my shelves. I did quickly make 1 tied fleece blanket while watching Letters to Juliet one afternoon that I will give away somehow--even though the kids thought we should keep it along with our I don't know how many other blankets. Uh,...no!
• Bags of knit collars given to me in years past. (I still have one 10 gal. bin completely full of ribbing for t-shirts)
• Costumes that are too small for my girls (why they were in my sewing room and not the costume bin I'm not sure.)
• 20+ baby quilts that have been accumulating during the summer that will be donated to a local hospital next week.
• 35+ knitted stocking caps that I will either try to sell at a craft show at the end of Oct. or donate them somewhere.
• Jean/denim scraps that I don't want to see anymore. Just kept the big stuff.

All's good when even my kids notice and tell me I've done a good job picking up my room. It feels so good to purge.
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Then yesterday, right before this was ready to post, I went into Round 2 of the purge. I was sewing and realized my carpet was wet from some serious rain we've received this week. And so I ripped out the wet, already slightly moldy, piece of carpet. (We just had a piece that we were covering cement basement floor) And then we also had to remove a storage cabinet that was moldy inside and rotting out the bottom. Obviously not from just this week's rain. Lovely!

After moving ALL my stuff out of the room I got rid of even more stuff that I didn't want to put back in. And lucky for us, next weekend is the city's free drop-off at the recycling center. See ya stuff! Now it looks like I'll be searching for a throw rug to put in my room, or maybe I'll take this opportunity to lay down peel and stick flooring....hmmm....maybe this wasn't such a bad thing to have happen.