Alternate title: We can’t all be minimalists.

I’ve been Swedish death cleaning for awhile now. I pace myself, doing a little here, a little there. I figure that if my things trickled in bit by bit, I can trickle things out the same way. No big dramatic purges = no stress for me. I will continue on until I’ve dug into every last nook and cranny around here. But I’ll be leaving my junk drawer alone.

Using the OMG challenge over on Elm Street quilts . . .

I’ve been adding the cluttered closet bins to my fabric-related UFO’s for each month. So for July, I revisited my college year in Europe as I processed the stuff in that old bin.

To be honest, my heart wasn’t in it. At all. I was considering just chucking it, but thought I should do a search on “scrapbook” first for the sake of due diligence. Maybe there were new clever hacks out there to give me some momentum.

I’m glad I did. Up popped a sweet young youtuber sharing her antique store find. It was someone’s scrapbook from 1950, with the ticket stubs and napkins and playbills taped to its pages. This sweetheart pored over each one, thrilled to share the ephemera with us. She delighted in the reality of it all, she of the smartphone age.

It wasn’t new or clever, yet she gave it great value. Maybe someone would value mine, maybe. That worked. Motivation acquired, I made a run into town and found two acid free scrapbooks at the thrift store. I came home, picked up the first little pile out of the bin and started glue sticking.

Totally unlike me, I didn’t take time to arrange things in chronological order. No writing clever captions, no artistic embellishing. I simply picked things up and glued them down. I got it done.

And the reason for this is the subject of my post. I attribute my success to the humble junk drawer. Because, in that drawer, I already had acid free glue sticks and paper supplies on hand. Otherwise, I know I would’ve abandoned this project if met with the slightest obstacle. I’d push it back into the closet for another day; a day that would never come. I would grow too old and my kids would eventually have to throw it away, which brings me back around to the aforementioned Swedish Death Cleaning.

I had scrapbooked big time back in the Creative Memories days. I have two closet shelves of completed scrapbooks lined up, all in a row, one for each year, beginning with our marriage to the year my youngest turned eighteen. That happened nearly a decade ago, but I’ve kept my supplies stored away in the junk drawer. Because you never know.

Now, if you dropped in on us, you would think we are minimalists. We don’t have clutter, and I’ve heard friends use the word “spartan” when commenting on our home. Even so, I tuck things away “just in case”. When my husband needs something to tie here, or secure there, I can produce an old shoestring or strip of Velcro at the snap of a finger. Unlike my childhood home, my junk drawers are safe in my sewing room closet, not the communal kitchen. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the junk needed items. And therefore I wouldn’t have completed this month’s challenge. See what I mean?

This reminds me of a wonderful post-college season in my life when I rented an old house with four other girls. One of them proudly declared herself a minimalist. She was keeping herself lean and mean to focus on her dreams during grad school. But guess who she came to when she needed a piece of ribbon, some tape, maybe a little gift bag? Who did she ask to replace a popped button, or borrow the right colored marker from for this that or the other? See what I mean? An ideal to aspire to, yes, yet we cannot all be minimalists if we want to get things done.

Also done – the pillow.

It didn’t take much time at all. Why had I let it languish for so long? Thank you to Patty and Anne Marie for hosting this challenge. Click This link to see what everyone else finished in July.

And give no warning to her flight.

When I considered which UFO I would pick to finish up for the Challenge, I thought of Dave Ramsey’s debt snowball. Assuming one has multiple accounts, his strategy is to start with the smallest balance, no matter the terms, and throw all the cash you can at it to get it gone. Then, you attack the next smallest, and then the next, and so on until you are debt free.

Rather than attacking them one by one, I like to juggle my snowballs when it comes to projects waiting to be finished. If left to my own devices, I’d keep all of them bouncing around in the air, midway between start and finish. This is why I enjoy this challenge so much: it makes me get things done. In my case, rather than moving from smallest to biggest, I’m snowballing the projects that have been underfoot and in my life for too long.

In the “decluttering the closet” challenge, this next bin will be under attack. This one is filled with ephemera from the seventies. You heard that right, the 1970’s.

I spent a school year abroad, and saved everything along the way across Europe: train and museum tickets, postcards, receipts, I don’t even know what all. So I’ll relive some memories, maybe make a scrapbook, and get this bin gone.

In the fabric department, I will finish this pillow that is taking up too much space in the closet.

I thought I was done with the top, but then I found a nice, but larger goose feather pillow form. So I need to sew on a few more courthouse steps. It’ll be so nice to reclaim the shelf space, and the couch is waiting for it.

I’m edging ever closer to the finish line. I’m now up to block number 99 of 100. This is another addition to the original 96 blocks provided in the book, so the choice is mine to make. How does one choose a patchwork block to summate the entire Bible?

The answer is obvious: one cannot.

When I thought about how one goes about synthesizing the Bible at all, the Third Article of Luther’s Small Catechism popped into my head. Yes, it really did pop right up. My brain is not strong in the memorization department, but this explanation to the Apostle’s Creed has remained in there since my eighth grade year. It was assigned to me by my pastor for our final examination. There were more than thirty kids in our confirmation class, and yet who did he choose to give the longest section to? Shy, insecure, nervous little yours truly. I had to recite it, from memory, in front of the entire church congregation the Sunday before our Confirmation. You can imagine how dreadful this experience was to endure. Maybe that’s why I’ve remembered it all these years. And what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? And actually, since then, these words have truly helped:

“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.

This is most certainly true.”

There it is. The Holy Spirit enlightens us, full stop. So if we trust in Him, He will help us to navigate the scriptures in the way that He, the author intended.

When Jesus was having those final conversations with his disciples, He said (John 16:7) “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you . . .(verse 13) when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth . . .”

So in the end, the choice for block 99 was simple: Guiding Star block. I found the pattern on The Quilter’s Cache website by Marcia Hohn.

. . .she’ll change her tune.

(From “April, Come She Will” by Simon and Garfunkel.)

It took more than half the month, but the cold, dreary weather finally changed. The sun finally burned through the gloom. The plants that have been waiting in suspended animation have responded to this change by, (oh dear, here comes another song, “June is bustin’ out all over.”)

Never mind. I changed my tune halfway through June as well. I met my One Monthly Goal, but not in the way I had planned.

The plan was to remove photos from four old “magnetic” baby albums and mount them into new ones. (What exactly is the “magnetic” feature?) Actually, those precious photos were fused tight with the sticky pages. I had underestimated the struggle that was to come. Those irreplaceable photos were getting torn and bent no matter how carefully I worked, My sore fingers finally called it quits after removing the contents of one album.

I’ve decided to let my kids have the fun project of pulling their own photos out and remaking their own albums if they wish. My guess is they will stay where they are in those magnetic albums. They’re a part of the era, they add to the look. They are now considered “vintage”, therefore value is added. Besides, isn’t the acid damage already done after thirty odd years? How much more can these photos degrade?

So, moving forward with Plan B, I gathered up all the photos, yearbooks, artwork, and papers for each child from various places and bins tucked away throughout the house. Isn’t bin clean up and rearrangement very satisfying? Everything of theirs is now sorted into four new bins labeled and ready to go home with them someday.

So the big bulky bin is gone from underfoot, which was the primary goal. But I filled it with fabric stash and put it back into that closet. Who can resist an empty bin? Oh well. Two steps forward . . .

And I met my other goal too. I quilted, bound, and mailed off my “Get Well Soon” mug rug to my dear friend. I’m glad to say she is on the mend. Thank you Patty and Anne-Marie for hosting this challenge. It helps me get those procrastination-worthy projects done. Click Here to see what others have finished in June.

. . . Will tell

. . . Flies

. . . Is money

. . . Is on our side

I’m not sure about that last one. I just had a birthday, which tips me into the shady side of my sixth decade of life. I’ve arrived here much quicker than I ever thought. It still surprises me to catch a glimpse of graying hair and crepey skin when I pass a mirror. I sure don’t feel this old on the inside.

But here I am, like it or not. And here I am, very close to the finish of this very long Bible Sampler quilt project. Here’s block number 98, Hourglass:

I chose this block because of its reference to time. It’s time to get this quilt done.

I’ve been thinking about the passage of time lately, probably because of that aforementioned birthday. The measurement of time passing has interesting versions. The hourglass uses falling sand: time slips away until it is all gone. I use my wall calendar, time is spent scheduled into boxes of days on monthly pages. The Mayans use a circle: time rotates along with the seasons, the planet, the universe. The God of the Bible drops out of the time/space continuum entirely. I picture His version of time as an orb: no beginning, no ending. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. The Holy Trinity was there at the Genesis, and also there at the Apocalypse. At the same time.

There’s something I’m curious about. When we die, what version of our earthly selves will enter eternity? Those who died as children, will they grow into maturity in Heaven? Will we perceive the passage of time there? If I live to be 100 (which I’d rather not do, thank you very much), will I be my grayed and wrinkled self for infinity and beyond?

What do you think? Well, my calendar informs me that I have an obligation to fulfill in about an hour. Time to go!

. . . is reliably following a long month of May Gray here in my southwest corner of the continent. I love the weather we’re having. The last day of May ended without one single minute of sunshine yesterday. The chilly wet air perfectly matched the Anne Bronte novel I listened to as I worked in my gardens. Aren’t all the Bronte sisters books set in gray mist? Or rather, make that “grey” mist.

New month ahead, new goal for Elm Street Quilts. Here’s the Link. My plan is to finish this teacup trivet and get it delivered to my dear friend.

I used my mom’s fabric stash to make a bunch of these teacups for her friends and family. Here’s a couple I’ve kept for myself. The fabric is SO my mom. And you can tell that I use them, tea stains being the clue.

My dear friend knew she had one coming to her, but for some reason it has languished. She is just now home from a hospital stay, so the time is right to send her a little something.

And it is little. It won’t take much effort to finish the machine quilting and binding. The challenge will be to actually get it in the mail. That’s where I tend to drop the ball. I know that, as in the previous five months, my posting the goal here will be my ticket to success. This monthly accountability somehow works for me where other motivational devices do not.

For example, I have wanted to get a brisk walk in every day, and maybe a visit to the gym once or twice a week. Some people say that putting a star on the calendar for each successful day is the trick. Nope. I’m in an online walking group doing a Continental Challenge. Nope. I have the Fitbit app and the Fitness app. Nope and nope.

Not so with this challenge. In the first four months of this year, my focus was on the basket under my sewing room desk. That is now emptied and removed, much to my satisfaction. So I’ve turned my attention to the closet. Every other space in my house is organized and clutter free. Friends describe us as minimalists. But here in my own space, I practice the “cram and jam” style of closet utilization. Having avoided it for too long, I took a good hard look inside that cluttered cavern, stuffed with bins and bags full of procrastination and indecision. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if my under-the-desk success carried over to my closet? Maybe, just maybe, I could have a clean, spacious, organized space by the end of the year? That’s why I’m adding another challenge to my month of June here. And I’m jumping in on the very first day because I’m going to need all thirty. Each month I’ll grab a bin and deal with its contents. I’ve already pulled out the most offensive one and tripped over it awhile to get the motivating hackles of annoyance up.

I know it’s not fabric, but here’s my goal: Attack this bin and take no prisoners. I will peel out the baby photos from those old magnetic albums and transfer them to these archival safe new ones I bought a few years ago. Four kids = four albums. Let’s do this.

Happy June!

It’s time to share out our finishes.

Click this LINK to see how everyone did in the month of May.

My self-imposed challenge was to take these (donated to me) flannel scraps and create ONE baby quilt to “donate it forward” to Birthchoice.

I was able to make THREE.

Besides Elm Street Quilts, a big motivator was a Baby Shower invitation that appeared in our church bulletin. A neighboring church was holding the event for Birthchoice. Perfect! Attending a fun party and saving me a trip out to deliver the quilt myself? Win Win. So I got busy and used up all the pieces I brought home, filling in with more of my own. Win Win.

I started by laying out those different sized blocks that had already been pieced. Their sizes made no sense, and I couldn’t trim them down to get uniformity. If I did, the overall size would shrink way too small, and I was going for at least a 40 by 40 inch quilt square.

I eventually figured it out.

Next, I made a rag quilt, my first. I didn’t have to figure out a layout this time, just finish what someone else had started:

Last, my friend saw what I was doing and wanted to get in on the action. She gave me this panel and I quilted it up, using the last of the donated flannel for the back:

My favorite thing about this third one is the binding. At first I couldn’t find anything that matched those pastel colors. Then I remembered seeing them on some old marimekko scraps I had:

Aren’t they cute? The colors were “off”, so although I tried, I couldn’t seem to find ways to use them up. Even so, I never could part with them. The longer I hold on to something, the harder it becomes to let it go. I don’t think time adds value, but now I’m very glad I didn’t purge them with the rest of my spring cleans. As a scrappy binding, they were the only thing I had that worked.

All finished and freshly washed in plenty of time for the shower:

In one month, this:

Turned into these:

Win win.

The WordPress prompt for today: When do you feel most productive?

This just happened. For context: Right after getting out of bed, and before attempting anything else, I start my day with one cup of coffee. I pop in a Keurig, then stand and wait for it in the dim morning light. So yes, I was right there, standing patiently in my kitchen while it poured out onto my counter. Next time I’ll make sure I place my mug right side up. I don’t know when I feel most productive, but I can safely say when I do not.

So how’s your morning going so far? Happy May! John Milton would appear to be a morning person:

Now that I’ve taken a few sips of my second attempt at a coffee, I’m ready to set my May goal.

The basket under my desk – done and gone!

Under last month’s quilt top, I discovered that the rest of the basket contents were folds of yardage big enough to use as quilt backs. I had forgotten all about them. They had been moved out of their closet when our daughter moved in for a few months. So back they went into the reclaimed closet on hangers and the basket returned to the bathroom to hold towels.

What now? What other piles of possibilities have been ignored even though underfoot? My next move will be to that closet, which is overflowing with just such annoyances. I’ll chip away at it month by month, and hopefully get the same result. Sorry, I’m not brave enough to take a “before” picture for you. It’s that ridiculous.

First up: This paper bag, ripping at its seat. How annoying is that. It was brought home awhile ago, filled with donated flannel pieces for donation baby quilts.

It’s time to move forward and sort this bag out.

My goal will be to figure out how best to use these pieces and assemble them into quilts.

And because baby quilts are so small, my challenge will be to design, piece, sandwich, quilt, and bind one quilt project in this lovely month of May.

When I was teaching full time, with a commute that really bit into my day, I felt like my life was running on a wing and a prayer. Laundry piled up until the weekends. Utensils and socks were thrown unsorted into their drawers. Meanwhile, my best energy went into my classroom. It was clean, bright and orderly, and I never left for home until I had everything set up for the next morning.

I started my teaching career in third grade. Eventually I taught all the primary grades. All of them were my favorite. But I learned the best way to run a classroom in kindergarten. The room was divided into centers, and the children smoothly rotated through them like well behaved performers in a three ring circus. I had an idea. During the summer months, I sorted my home: my gardens, kitchen, laundry room, and bedrooms into centers to maintain some semblance of order. It worked for me.

Then I retired. The lockdown year of the pandemic that quickly followed my retirement date gave me the needed discipline to stay in and focus on my neglected home. I fine tuned each of my centers. I cleaned up and cleaned out. I relished simple tasks, like gathering together the scattered garden tools, oiling them, and putting them away in the tool center. I’m telling you, these little things take time, and time isn’t what I had before retirement. I hear people say they’re busier now in retirement than when they were working. Not me.

What’s it like to be retired? Retirement is waking up to a gentle internal body clock instead of an annoying alarm. It’s like being a kid again, with the prospect of a whole summer day ahead to play in. I have headspace to wonder and time to explore whatever I find interesting. Every day feels like a Saturday. Retirement is freedom. I hope I never take this for granted.

Best of all, the deadlines are gone. The only deadlines in my life are the ones I self-impose. The choices are mine, and there are no consequences to suffer for any failure to meet one. I don’t make resolutions. The farthest I’ve gotten with fitness goals is thinking about them. I have projects waiting for me around the house, but I don’t stress out about them.

Which is interesting to me, because I have had success in achieving my OMG every month I’ve participated in this challenge.

https://www.elmstreetquilts.com/2023/04/Apr23OMGFinish.html

April was my sixteenth month, and this is my sixteenth finish:

The top was completed years ago and waiting for the right finish. When inspiration finally struck, the rest was easy.

I enjoyed learning how to do this, and I tied another quilt this month with a friend.

Here’s the first of four blocks I have added to the original 96 of the Bible Sampler quilt. Why am I adding more blocks? It’s because I’m doing a different layout. My quilt will be 10 blocks across by 10 blocks down for a total of 100 blocks.

The Bible has been read cover to cover, so for these last four blocks, I’m stepping back to look at the Bible as a whole.

“Stepping back and looking at the whole” has been a theme here lately. I’ve been tying my Farmer’s Wife Sampler this month for the OMG. I’ve seen my rookie errors and sloppy piecing up close and personal as I’ve tied each block. Ugh. Discouragement. But when I step away, the parts are lost to the whole. I like it again. It’s going to be okay. I have to remember to step back and take the long view in other areas of my life as well.

Stepping back and reviewing the Bible as a whole, I thought of how it is called a sword: “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12).

The sword pierces and reveals our sin. Yikes, what then? How do we deal with that?

At the Maundy Thursday service during Holy Week, our pastor reminded us that the Garden of Gethsemane meant “place of crushing”. Literally, the olive presses were situated there to process the olives into oil. Why did Jesus choose to spend the last night of his life at that place? For him, a sleepless, soul-crushing night of agony and struggle? It is there that he ultimately chose to crush his own will in submission to that of Almighty God.

Here’s where the anvil comes in. Besides a sword, the Bible is like an anvil too. It is solid and unchangeable. We cannot take a hammer to it, bending its words of truth to suit us. Instead, we are what must bow to the hammer, allowing the anvil to crush us.

So that’s what we do. Once we’ve been pierced by the sword of the spirit, we must face the anvil. Being a follower of Christ requires complete surrender of our own will to God’s. How do we do that? Read the Bible. Pray. All of the answers as to how we are meant to live are found in the pages of God’s word. The truth is all in there. Out there, an overwhelming amount of teaching is available about Christianity. None compare to the straight up reading of the Holy Bible. Stick with the source, and it will do its work.

“And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2.)

I don’t know how He does it, transforming our minds, I just know He does when we fill our heads with the words of the Bible.