Watson

Rob, I'm lucky because all of the land near our barn has been zoned agricultural and I live on the edge of the city, so it still only takes 15 minutes to get there. The urban sprawl right to the edge of the city is alarming. We can see apt buildings looming in the distance as we ride. But, they can't come any closer. Hooray! The number of boarding barns that were sucked up before the city put in the zoning laws was alarming. Finding a place for your horse means an hour drive now for most people. Luckily, I've been with this barn for 10 years so I'm pretty safe.

Today I am organizing a space in my basement because tomorrow I get my Grace-type frame and quilting machine! It is a B Line quilt frame (Made in Canada) and comes with a Husquvarna Viking Mega Quilter. I know this type of set up has limitations to it is a place to start in the world of long-arming and I figure this will show me whether I really want to take that plunge.
So, I've invaded my son's "man cave" and pushed all his furniture down to one end, swept and put up lights and now I wait. Tap, tap, tap. Maybe I'll cut some backings and batting so I have something ready to practice on. And review some Youtube videos so I have some idea how to load the thing.

Watson

oksewglad

We have another ice/snow day here..Watson we are on the same page. I'm getting a new to me long arm either this week or next. I'm moving things around as well from a spare bedroom. But had to find a home for the things I've moved which means I have to shift things around elsewhere. I know the previous owner so am confident in the machine and she will deliver and help set it up and run me through the running of it. It's a basic machine (Baby Lock) so not alot of bells and whistles which is fine by me. I can free motion or use pantographs. The price is right, too.

Teen

Rob....thanks for sharing. That sounds cool but bummer they are so far away. I was raised on an Apaloosa horse farm and know, from experience (ugh!) how much work horses can be if cared for properly. Sounds like you fulfill your commitment to these animals. Kudo's!! My girlfriend in Idaho is so excited for us to move there. She has over 27 horses, including mini's that she shows. She thinks I'll be coming over frequently to muck...not happening, tho I will help on occasion. I've done my time thank you very much!!

Watson & OK...so cool you'll be LA soon. That's on my purchase list when I move, after I purchase all new fabulous furniture for my sewing studio...and the house, of course....and lots of things!! lol!

i went through another trunk and plastic container that I housed my grad school stuff in. Got rid of a lot of stuff and boxed up the rest. I have to re-license in Idaho and probably take their exams so I kept stuff just in case. Then I sewed some. All good!

rryder

Sounds like everyone is doing really well! Today I sold my old first generation iPad to a company that specializes in buying cd, dvd, electronics, video games etc. It's out of the house Yay! and the Martha Stewart punches that I put on eBay sold today so I packed those up and will ship them out tomorrow AM! Think I'll play in my quilting studio for a while now as a reward! I'm liking this way of decluttering, it's not that hard to find one thing each day and come up with a way to get rid of it--much less daunting than trying to declutter an entire room at a time.

Rob

Teen

Good for you, Rob! I recommend everyone move to a new house every 5 years. Lol! 30+ years in the same house is overwhelming to sort. Today, I went through our extensive DVD collection, placed most in yard sale, and for those we are keeping, packed those babies up in nifty DVD storage totes. Also, found a VCR that has never been used and placed that in YS pile. This week, we are going through RV, though that's pretty organized but we need to declutter and organize for our month long trip next month. Onward we go...

rryder

I know what you mean, Teen. We’ve been in this house for 25 years and thethought of trying to pack up everything for a move is daunting!

yesterday I found more dvds and started another box to sell to the on-line folks. Today was a barn day and we just got back whipped from the cold wind, I may find some more things to put in that box this evening after a bit of a rest. It’s getting pretty exciting to be able to see some surfaces in my office/sewing studio/guest bedroom.

Something that may be of use to others here: I read through several organizing and decluttering blogs recently and one of them kept saying that the first thing you should do when decluttering a space is to Take Out The Trash. At first I thought “what trash?” Then I looked around and realized that in fact a lot of the visual clutter in my studio spaces Is trash or recyclables like catalogs, magazines, broken stuff that may or may not be fixable,etc. So I’ve been “taking out the trash” every day when I look for one thing to donate or sell.

Rob

petthefabric

Going to Q Guild tonight. Think I'll donate magazines.

oksewglad

Good thought, Rob...Why handle it more than once!

retiredteacher09

Rob: I agree with 'taking out the trash'. I have been going through junk mail, receipts, etc, the past few days and it sure feels good to get rid of it. It amazes me how things pile up even if I am home. Part of my problem was that I had overnight visitors a couple of times recently and I needed to 'clean up' a few areas and I am now going through the things that piled up in another room from my cleaning. I would rather SEW.

Teen

We went through the RV today....completely emptied it, which I discovered was mostly camping/fishing supplies in addition to our emergency supplies (you know....MRE's and buckets of rice recommended that has 25 year shelf-life?). Anywhoo, I cleaned it for our trip and stored only what we want to take for a month, threw out stuff. The rest was boxed, labeled, and is ready to be moved. Then, I boxed and labeled photo albums (which are many) and, tomorrow, will be donating a box of hardback books to my community library. I'm waiting on bubble wrap I Ordered and will start packing glassware. Feel very accomplished.