Tuesday, July 08, 2014

July post-ish.

(I never get tired of putting out the little stitchies from years past for July.)


 Hope everyone in the US had a nice holiday weekend. The weather here was dreadful for the 4th -just as expected with a hurricane/tropical storm passing by the coast. Torrential rain, hail, wind, thunderstorms, etc. Only off/on though so it could have been worse. And the power kept threatening to go out but it hung in there so I guess all the tree trimming the electric co. has done in recent years is actually helping. 

I had work to do anyway and he actually worked Friday/Saturday so I didn't mind the bad weather really. It all came together for a glorious, perfect summer Sunday so it's all good. 

Plus I had this to keep me company. What's that, you say? Oh, just my latest fugue-state, fever-dream, rabbit hole I fell into. It happens. You know, that thing you do where one thing leads to another leads to another, and you're covered in flop sweat and determination until you reach the very, very end of it? That thing.

I finished a Plum Street freebie and decided it was a good time to start putting threads away. 
I tend to pile up 'used' project floss in one zipper bag until there is enough to really make it worth it to sort it and start putting it back where it belongs (i.e. 4 cases of DMC, 3 giant rings of hand-dyes, etc) but I had a full bag now so off to be sorted they went. 

Then it seemed only natural to put away the 'newish stash' that was also around. Where it was quickly apparent that I shouldn't ever ever in a million years of evers be doing free patterns because I have enough PAID patterns to last me a few lifetimes.

After I stopped feeling a little ill from the OMGSOMUCHSTUFF feelings, I immediately started doing a (PAID FOR) pattern I had kitted up (SOME TIME A LONG TIME AGO) and....riiiiiight off the bat I ran into the issue that I was missing a stinking floss color. Well, that's not right. Why would I purchase all of the other colors but not this one? I must have misplaced it. 

So I started searching for it. The search didn't last all that long as I don't generally have a lot of projects in progress hanging around. (In fact, I only had 3 projects in progress and one of those probably doesn't count because I had already 'robbed' it of all it's floss ages ago and the linen has just two teeny, tiny candy corns completed. Things that can be ripped within 5 minutes like they never happened don't count as a work in progress, right?) But that didn't make sense. WHERE WOULD THAT ONE STINKING COLOR BE? 

So I dug in places it wouldn't be, just to be extra-specially certain it wasn't there. This searching took longer because it was nonsensical searching. Maybe it's under the sugar container! Could the bookcase have eaten it?!? Would looking downstairs behind the wood stove be totally crazy or just mostly crazy?!?!? 

(Nonsensical searching is the worst kind of searching because all possibilities exist at the same time and, therefore, must be searched or you are always going to have DOUBTS. Also, time is a circle. *twitch*)

And then I thought........maybe it's in my floss boxes but not in the right place. I have all my hand-dyes separated by company AND in alphabetical order.....but alphabetizing things, as we know, can be a teensy bit fuzzy whenever humans are involved. AHA! PROGRESS! There were some Weeks Dye Works in with Crescent Colours and oh ho ho, I'm on to something now. It is hiding in plain sight! To sort that out I would have to consult the Master List. 

Wait? Do you have a Master List? MS Word documents listing all of your floss by company that you can consult so you can easily determine what you have on hand? Well, I do. And the more I checked that the more it was apparent how TOTALLY FREAKING JACKED my data entry skills have been the last few years. The mistakes. They were plentiful. So I had to start ticking things off one by one, through hundreds of floss colors, and redoing the alphabetizing for each company and rearranging floss bags and.........

Here's where things get a little crazy. 

I used to use Bag It bags for my hand-dyes but they stopped making them at some point, so I ran out and started having to use Floss-Away bags instead. 

 

This would not be an issue but Bag Its hang from the bottom when hanging on a ring and Floss-Away bags hang from the top and this has always really, super duper bothered me because they ALL have to go ONE WAY or the OTHER. Mixing them is just...........it's wrong. I was just COVERED in the wrongness of it as I was flipping through my rings, trying to correct my Master List. So..........


250+ Floss-Away bags later ( that I, mysteriously, just HAPPENED to have on hand) I changed over every single Bag It bag to a fresh/shiny/new Floss-Away bag. While consulting the Master List, of course, so everything is just perfect now. Perfect, I say! BUT BOY HOWDY DID IT TAKE A LONG TIME TO GET THERE. Three days and multiple, multiple hours. (And honestly? Most of my Crescent colors were already on Floss-Away bags. These piles are just from Weeks and Sampler threads. FLOSS HOARDER. *ahem*)

I never did find that stupid, hated, fever-inducing Endive floss color either. I have to concede, at this point, that I never had it and, also, that I am ridiculous. Whoops! My bad. (It's on order.) Oh well. The weather was really bad and my stuff is, like, HYPER organized now so I guess it's all good. :)


18 comments:

Robin in Virginia said...

I really like your patriotic stitches! Good for you on organizing your threads. They looks fabulous!

Robin in Virginia

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I am like, over the top impressed.

A friend gave me her floss stash. I organized about half of it before I went a little nuts. The rest got donated to the Goodwill.

Congrats on tackling a huge job and doing it well!

Jackie's Stitches said...

Hey....we can all jump in the rabbit hole without really fully realizing it. The day will come when you'll have a moment of complete realization that all this was a good thing!

I agree with you - anything that can ripped out in a few minutes isn't a WIP.

Julie said...

Now that is what I call organisation.... I can get lost looking for something and no its not wrong to think it might be anywhere at all (even under the bed!) .......

Maggie said...

Glad i'm not the only one who starts something and ends up doing something completely different! You can get lost in stash sorting, I did for around a week, and I still have things to sort! I'm impressed at how organised you are :-)

Lovely patriotic stitches too xx

Vickie said...

Holy Toledo! You are organized! I hope the rest of your week is nice and happy. :)

Maggee said...

So Endive is on order and now your threads are neatly organized in Floss Away Bags. Good job! I did my DMC in bags (not sure of the name) and then someone gave me some Floss Away ones... they are a little smaller. Didn't work for me...I have a spreadsheet of charts, WIPs, SALs, and kitted but not started ( I think!). Nothing for threads. They are in boxes--in bags--good enough! Hugs!

Margaret said...

I loved reading your post! lol! Isn't it funny how one thing can lead to another until you are obsessed about the other thing, which eventually helps you to figure out the first thing? lol! Been there, done that! But boy, do I need to organize my floss and linen. I'm somewhat organized in stash, but not floss and linen. Sigh. Not happening or I know I will start a cycle like yours. :D

geeky Heather said...

LOL...something about some of the holes on the bottom and some on the top reminded me of Steve Martin standing in the grocery store in Father of the Bride "equalizing" the hot dog buns! =D

I can never conduct those everywhere searches in one day. I look everywhere it's supposed to be and then I get so baffled I just wander around muttering to myself. The next day I come up with twelve more places to look and USUALLY find what I'm looking for. But our place is really small.

Glad you're all sorted now. All the patriotic pieces are lovely, but that start is super fab!!

valerie said...

OMG...hysterical. This will be me once I tackle my closet organization which is office/storage/craft room all in one and it is an obscene mess. I can't even bring myself to kit up a project it's so bad, I can't find anything!You are awesome and you'll be kitting a ton of other projects in no time now. ;-)

Beth said...

Okay you have a new convert! I too have an alphabetized mater list of all my flosses by company. And I too store them using metal rings. And I too just ordered Endive. And I too get it that weird Sisyphus Project Thing where you go in circles and NOTHING really happens. So now I NEED Floss-Away-Bags and that is all there is too it because them my floss will NOT get caught on the metal edges of my Container Store Company shelving. Oh and I MUST organize my fabric by count I think unless you have a different / better idea. And your patriotic stitches are wonderful and no, though I've stitched oodles, I've not stitched any that you have - so trying NOT to buy more patterns - though I have - at an LNS - from from an internet shop - from a shop in England - and on eBay - all in the last few days. Geez!

Southpaw Stitcher said...

Your Independence Day pillows are wonderful! Love them! I have the same problem with Bag It vs. Floss-a-Way. Kudos for getting all that floss organized!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Sounds like you're as anal as I am when it comes to organizing stash! I do the same thing I collect floss until my basket is full then spend hours putting it away, same with new stash.

I also can't stand when everything isn't the same way!

Carol said...

Ha ha! You sound just like me, Melanie... I start off to do a simple chore like put a paper on my husband's desk and end up lost for hours in his den rearranging his book shelves!! I LOVE to organize--I guess that's why I'm a librarian :) Anyway, the results of your labors are wonderful!!! Great idea on storing your floss.

And I think I enjoy SEEING your patriotic finishes each year as much as you enjoy putting them out :) Why I haven't stitched one of those cute patriotic hearts yet is beyond me. Oh well--maybe next year!

Honeybee said...

*nods head sagely*

Penny said...

I can relate to much of your post! :) I will probably never be as organized as you, though. I think I inherited the disorganized gene from my mother. Love your patriotic finishes!

Anne said...

Hilarious post Melanie! I share your love of being organized however, I'm not nearly there yet since my overdyes are on rings and in boxes. It's inspiring me to do the same. A Master list seems practical too. One shouldn't take hours to look for one floss in multiple places. I was about to offer you a skein of Endive but I see you ordered some! Hugs!

Anne said...

Oh and your bowl of smalls is lovely too....