What’s up with the piles around here? And why is it that they just seem to get moved around and never seem to go away? Am I the only person with this problem? But maybe I should show you a few pictures and you’ll better understand.
First there are piles of quilts……some finished, some not.
There are piles of books —- ooooo, that reminds me – that library book is due back! I better get it off the pile!
And more books. They’re everywhere! Just in case one might have time to read in any room in the house, I suppose. And the binoculars on top – to catch a glimpse of any rare, exotic bird that shows up at the back yard feeder. Or anything else outside the window.
Then there are fabric piles. Fabric and incomplete projects it appears. So that’s where that pinwheel quilt top is! I wondered where that one was. Sometimes a camera can really reveal things.
This appears to be a miscellaneous pile of all kinds of things. Books, a calendar (probably from 1990), papers, CDs, magazines. Looks like there could be some patterns in there too. Who can find anything when it all ends up in a pile?
There is fabric on shelves in piles……..
Some organized.
….and some not so organized. Actually that looks like a big mess!
There are even some piles of batting. Doesn’t every quilter have a pile of batting? Oh, probably not. But you’ll need it if you’re going to do a Cotton Theory quilt! I promise you need it. Looks like some miscellaneous stuff under that batting too. How does this happen?
So here’s the problem…… I’m in the middle of a quilting project. And I need to use the iron on my latest seams. So I go to the ironing board and here’s what I find……
Aaaaaackkkk! Is there an iron in there somewhere? Can I squeeze 6 inches of open space to press this little 5 inch square I just pieced? So you know what happens, right? I move the piles.
Ahhhhhhh….. Now some serious pressing can be done! But no sooner do I finish that than I need to do some cutting on the cutting table. And you guessed it! At least I think you probably guessed it. This is what the cuttting table now looks like.
Somehow cutting out strips of fabric is not going to work here. So the piles are moved again. And then I need to sew…..
OK, OK….. so you’re way ahead of me and you knew exactly what the sewing table was going to look like. But that’s because you have this problem too, don’t you? I’m not the only one, am I? Your sewing rooms look just like mine, don’t they? No, I don’t have any insecurity issues at all. Why do you ask?
There are also these piles……
And these……
But that’s another story for another day.
So I have declared today “Organize the Piles Day!” There just has to be some way to keep the stuff in its place and off the work surfaces. Do I need more shelves? More closets? An extra room on the house? Less fabric and books? (Horrors! Who said that?) An organizing guru? My friend, Judy? Help! It’s impossible to work in this mess. And I’m using that as my excuse for not getting enough projects completed around here. Something must be done!
So let me know if you have some great organizing tip for how to treat piles. Leave it in the comments for all to read. Maybe I should send a spare pile as a prize for the best tip? I suppose that would be one way to get rid of my piles, wouldn’t it? In the meantime, I’m off to make sure Boo didn’t get buried in a pile. “Here, Boo….. Where are you, Boo?”
Unpiling,
Barb
Just Sayin' Sew 
If I didn’t have piles, I wouldn’t have a life. I just hope you found Boo! 😉
You can see my sewing room piles on my blog. They have to be organize and put away by June 6 when new flooring is installed. Yikes!
It seems no sooner do I get it straightened and then a new project and it all jumps out again. The mail is the worst. What to throw away, what to keep.
Barb, I hope Boo is not under a pile somewhere in your house. Poor little guy!
Okay, from one pile person to another, I have learned to control my piles. Actually I am not really controlling them, but separating them from the rest of the house. I have completely (almost) overcome the piles of books which for years were on the floor next to my side of the bed. Now my piles (I like piles) are contained in my sewing room. And since it is a small room the piles are stacked higher than normal. There is something comforting about this to a pile person. Does that make me a pilot? You know, pile it here and pile it there. Well, anyway, I come from a long line of pile makers (my dad has perfected the art) and have learned that is not a bad thing unless you are married to an organized person. It seems most of us pile people are married to non-pile people so there is room for conflict within these households. After 32 years of marriage Curtis and I are pretty resigned to the fact that my piles stay contained in my sewing room. Curtis and the kids rarely venture into the pile room. Only really brave souls (who seem to feel they are immune to the “pile syndrome”) enter the pile room but they never stay for very long. Now I can function among large stacks of piles all day long and feel very cozy, but not all people share my love of large heaps of “stuff”. For those of us who love piles please embrace your “pilot self” and enjoy life, just keep your cell phone on you at all times so we can find you by way of GPS.
Piles…PLEASE don’t even mention the word. I just eliminated a few of those myself today, after much fussing at the folks around here…