Piddle, Twiddle, and Resolve

In mid January, the weekend before leaving for Road2CA, my husband and I went to see a local production of the musical 1776 about the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Early on in the first act John Adams sings the song Piddle Twiddle and Resolve whose chorus goes

             

Although I am not in Philadelphia and all the adjectives in the last line of the chorus do not apply to me, the "piddle, twiddle, and resolve" portion perfectly describes me in my sewing room right now.
My thoughts are as jumbled as my sewing room. After a visit to Road2CA earlier this month, I returned with a suitcase holding a fair number of patterns and tools – eleven patterns and six tools to be exact – and a backpack full of fabrics. I blogged about my purchases (in my previous post) and began to put them away.

Finding a place to fit the fabric was not a problem, well not a major one anyway, since I had recently bought some closet shoe organizers that were just the right width to hold my one-yard length fabrics folded by wrapping around a 6” wide ruler.

Each of the ten compartments holds ten 1-yd pieces comfortably with enough room to grab and remove one fabric length without yanking. The shelves on the right, marked simply with blue masking tape labels, hold longer fabric lengths. About one shelf's worth of one yard pieces remain to be relocated to an additional shoe caddy. I think this will go quite a ways toward freeing up space for other odd-shaped items such as kits, mail order item yet to be sorted, tote bags for guild meetings, etc.

 
This display of fabric and ease of access increases enjoyment, the first half of my goal for 2018, posted 4/4/18, to maximize enjoyment and minimize guilt.

But as I cram my newly purchased patterns into their woefully inadequate storage places among other previously purchased patterns in their unopened plastic ziplock sleeves, I realize they too could use an organizational uplift. Notice I said places, plural, meaning there is more than one semi-random location for my patterns. I have plastic shoe boxes without lids perched on shelves holding those patterns the size of an 8½" x 11" sheet folded in half. Quilt, home decor, and garment patterns are jumbled together.

And for the larger patterns, set on the countertop, I have vertical document file holders where the larger size patterns are tucked in upright, intermixed with patterns printed from the internet, other quilting related ads and flyers, and random miscellanea not necessarily relevant at all to quilting. Also doesn't every organizational system require a pink pig monitor perched on top? (I do not know why he is there.)

Being able to peruse my patterns and be re-inspired would certainly increase my enjoyment. So I ask myself, "Why do I not consolidate and sort them into one adequately sized container? But then I answer myself, "Because I have no counter space to do the sorting." I really should clean off those counter tops. Note to self: the word "should" is a guilt enhancer and should will be stricken from my vocabulary. Clutter free counter tops would minimize guilt, the second half of my 2018 goal. Where do I put the other "stuff"? This is where the "piddle and twiddle" comes in as I page slowly and thoughtfully through these patterns... and then shove them right back where I found them.

My guild is having a silent action, so I distract myself by pulling out fabric that has already been put away neatly in my fat quarter and half-yard drawers so I can convince myself to give some of it away. This of course does nothing to reduce the counter top clutter. It is merely more piddling and twiddling. But I do like looking at my fabric. My upper drawers are fat quarter drawers and my lower ones half-yard drawers. I have a drawer dedicated to flannel half-yards for my burp cloths.

I have a drawer dedicated to panels that I find too hard to resist. These are all my Stacy Iest Hsu dolls and stuffed toys, cloth books, and other juvenile panels. There are also enough novelty inspirations to make enough placemats to deck out the tables at a military mess hall. Perhaps I can pull from these panels for the silent auction and extract enjoyment knowing they will go to a good home.

So far here is my collection to move out. I did not take detailed pictures. I do not want to be held accountable should I chicken out and retrieve some items from these boxes. I should note that none of this came from the countertop.

So I continue to pile and re-pile, piddle and twiddle, the items on the countertops. The obvious solution would be to donate these items to the guild silent auction. But most of this is scraps too small to donate, leftovers from complete projects, or recent purchases I still want to keep. Midway down is a pile of kits, too big to fit in any drawer, but needing a home none the less. A place for everything and everything in its place is my mantra. I need to add some "resolve" to find some places and resolve this mess.

Remember that tidy fabric stack on the right side of my closet a few photos back? The left side of the closet is not nearly so admirable. That sack of polyester stuffing falls out every time I nudge open the  door. I know one big tub holds batting pieces and two hold T-shirts that I resolve some day to make into quilts for my daughter and my younger son.  That resolve is wavering since the T-shirt quilt I did make for the older son has been left home indefinitely, no nostalgia for it in his adult life, now married with wife and children. I suspect that my daughter and younger son have also moved beyond those memories. Sometimes I think it is the mom, not the T-shirt wearer, who hangs on the longest. I am leaning toward abandoning the concept of making two other T-shirt quilts, thus reducing guilt. The other bins? I do not have the foggiest idea what is in them. I am guessing scraps or fabric I no longer love. I resolve to investigate them for silent auction fodder so I can repurpose them as potential space for counter top items I do want to keep.

I once worked with a man who had this sign on his office door. "Everyone brings happiness to this room – some by entering it and some by leaving it." Everybody has there own messes so no one needs to see mine. I hope this post will make others who read it feel less guilty, somewhat empathetic, or perhaps even a bit superior. Notice that although not necessarily constructive, some piddling and twiddling can be fun. Piddling and twiddling will maximize enjoyment. Writing this post is piddling and twiddling. Linking up to Let's Bee Social #214 is also piddling and twiddling of a sort. Resolve will help minimize guilt! I resolve to repurpose my spaces. I resolve to support the auction. I am continuing to focus on my 2018 goal to maximize enjoyment and minimize guilt. 

"Piddle, twiddle, and resolve, not one damn thing do we solve," goes the song. But at the end of the musical, problems were solved. Even Abigail Adams got her pins! If the Continental Congress could do it by piddling and twiddling, so can I.