Wednesday 13 April 2011

We have achieved. Mightily.

Spring having sprung and all that, I thought it was time for a sort out.  First I sorted through all my WIPs and UFOs and even chucked some stuff. 
Very liberating.  

Then I tackled the problem of the exploding sheers


(Don't tell anyone, but I just put them in a different drawer.  They still explode, but slightly less so).

And I created order here


And I tidied the bottom bit, where things tended to get stuffed in with the embellisher, and even managed to find a place for my paint brushes and jam jars so they don't have to live in the kitchen next to the bread bin.  Here it all is, pre-tidying:


And after many hours which became days, we now have this:


My “studio” is very clever - it's actually a cupboard, made to fit exactly between the living room door, the dining room table and the dog crate cage prison - but I have to be very tidy for it to work.  Ah.  Therein lies the problem.  I'm not sure it's humanly possible to be creative AND tidy.  And despite my perpetual doubts and worries, I think I must be creative as I'm definitely not tidy.  What's more, it's hereditary. 

Here is a glimpse of the Girl's desk, as at first thing this morning:



and THIS is my absolute favourite and best bit


You just have to love all the strings and paperclips and party hooters and tinsel and beads and pebbles and small plastic creatures, all held together in a delicate entangled web of delight.  You have to love it, because questioning its existence and listening to the answer creates a sort of crushing fizzing pain behind the temples only soothed by large G&Ts and lie-downs on sofas.

But feeling brave, and spurred on by my own desk drawer emptying triumphs, I thought it would be a good idea to have a go at sorting through this


and


and


And Lo.  After many gruelling hours of negotiation and three black bin bags, we found this


We love the Girl and all her creativity, and wouldn't have her any other way. 
We love her even more now because as well as being very stoical about the desk tidying, she has learnt to make this:





9 comments:

  1. I seem to have to have a tidying session every other day just to find my desk. I have solved the exploding sheers by rolling them into tight rolls and then putting a rubber band on them - however they do seem to be able to wriggle out of the bands without any help.

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  2. Fabulous, all of it! Glad to see there's still creative character on the wall there ;) I've been thinking about photographing my middlests wak=ll for a while now, even tho he's still away in NZ. You inspire me to do it (if there's any light tomorrow)I'm sure he wouldn't mind being on my blog bearing in mind some of the pics that get onto facebook!

    Love the notebook, botanically correct? pah! you go ahead & free up your lovely creations (in the knowledge that you know what they should really look like)! To first know how to draw the perfect elipse & all that - I've forgotten the rest of the quote.... ;)

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  3. I'm always battling between tidiness and creativity - trouble is my creativity tends to wander from its allocated space and makes a bid for domination over all things near (and far!). I always find it amazing what I find when I have a big tidy up, but then often can't find it again due to tidying it away!

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  4. I like the idea of the rubber bands...I'll have to try it. And yes, a big tidy up only means I have to get it all out again just to sew anything. And tidying does mean losing things that get put away in a clever place - but during this sort out I did find my dried honesty seeds, which I had lost for about 3 years!

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  5. I think I relate better to your daughter's Aladdin's cave.
    The tidy cupboard looks great but if it was mine I'd open it and everything would fall out.

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  6. Would you like to come and tackle my workroom... can't see any surface at the moment. It's a case of moving things aside (which usually fall on the floor) everytime I need to do anything. And I think there are currently six unpacked bags. I'm a hopeless case.

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  7. But what nobody could see from the photos in this post is my husband's office with the cupboard containing, ahem, "paper" (and elastic and zips and old paper patterns) and the two chests of 30 drawers containing everything else, and then there's the drying rack and the teaching boxes, and the box of dyes and old saucepans on top of the filing cabinet...luckily husband only needs a desk, PC, telephone and chair, and that's all there's room for after all my stuff!

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  8. I'm having a huge 'ongoing' clear out - only problem is it seems to breed everytime I turn my back :)
    Thanks for your advice about my yoghurt maker I'm thinking it will be one of those buys that would usually be regalated to the back of the cupboard but in my new clear it all out mindset I may give it away instead LOL

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  9. I have had the same trouble with sheers exploding everywhere. I found the solution to the problem is to fold them up neatly into smallish squares and then roll them up and secure with an elastic band. They take up a lot less room and stay tidy!

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