Cutting, Cutting, Cutting

As I considered how I could stay strong and focused with my fabric art, what I have learned in the last several years is that I need order or otherwise, I become like a whiney kid again. I hear the adults in my childhood telling me to clean up my toys and I don't know where to start. Living in the slightest chaos brings on my mood swings these days. For me, it is the attachment of seeing all this fabric and all these colors. I need to learn what is there and what isn't. I need to take time to organize.

One of the bins was overflowing with bags of fabrics sorted by color. When I first sorted by color, it was visually a good thing. However, the scraps and leftovers were just stuffed into the extra large baggies. Clear. 

At least I could see what was in them.

I thought that maybe I could just fold them to get a neater look. That works for the larger pieces. And if there was really a lot of time, I could even colorize them light to dark. However, there are a lot of baggies to go through and standing to cut for hours on end is hard on the back.

What I did cut were ends of rectangles or the smaller pieces. Because bags are colorized, these cut sizes (I like 10", 8", 6" 5", 4", 3" and 2.5") will have like colors as well. They also go into bins, however these are of like sizes.

I am ready to baste the last 10" random-squares quilt in the next week or two. I think the next one will be made from the 8" size. I do like how quilts using this random-squares technique give me another opportunity to try something new with machine quilting. Funny thing, for as much as I cut new squares, folded and minimized the bulk in all the bags I had in that bin, there is still a lot there. At least it closes.

It felt like with the work I did, yet again, I was slowly re-sorting my own identity apart from the identity that is about production. This is a vital step for me as much as having a finished quilt can be. I have what it takes to do what it takes.