Closet Cleaning

Ever since we moved into our house (which was August of 2010) I have had almost all of my sewing and craft and quilt things SHOVED into the hall linen closet. I was scared to open it. Things could fall out and hurt you. It was nearly impossible to find anything.
It was so bad, I was too embarrassed to take a before picture of the closet.
One day I decided to clean it all out. That meant emptying every single shelf. This was not a project I could tackle myself, so I had the help of two friends. After it was all emptied, I sorted through my stashes of fabric and other things. If I had fabric that did not have a specific project intended for it, it went into the get-rid-of pile. That get-rid-of pile turned into 6 bags of stuff.
I gave away my serger because I had no room to set it up and actually use it. It went to a good home, my friend Maria will use it. I was happy she was so excited to get it. She immediately took it in to get serviced, and has started using it. I have no regrets about giving it away. Well, I guess I have one regret: Maria moved across the country...
 Here is the mess at the end of day 1:
The stuff I kept was all organized into Ziplock bags. (Did you know that they have these really cool ones that are 2 gallon size, and hold most quilting projects? Glad makes one that is 2.5 gallons. They are awesome.) Each project was put in a bag with the pattern, and all the fabric and notions to complete it. Those went back into the closet.
 

 I made a list of all of those bags of projects. There were 25. So, that means about 1 project a month for the next 2 years, and if it's not done in 2 years... well, then it probably won't get done at all and will have the same fate as those random things in those 6 bags...
But look how organized my closet is now:I even had room to put things like sheets and towels in it- like a real linen closet! The best news is: I finished the project for March! I haven't posted it yet, because it is currently being shipped to my sister-n-law and I wanted her to see it in person before she sees it on the blog!

Brand New Furniture for the price of a can of Stain

note: Gonna call the 1st end table project #37...

So we have this pine furniture that we bought almost 12 years ago. We loved it. So much that we bought: a hutch, a TV Ar moire, 2 side bookcases for it, 2 end table, and a book case. All matching, in the same light colored pine. It's been completely functional, and we've loved it. Until we moved into this house, and it just wasn't working anymore.
It was better after we got rid of our old couches, but still wasn't working.
We even moved the hutch to the garage, and considered selling it on Craig's List. Then I saw on someone's blog that they had a front door to their house that looked just like our furniture, and they had stained it a dark espresso color. It looked awesome. I showed the pictures to my husband, and we decided that it would be worth trying. So, I decided to try it on one of the end tables. They were the smallest, cheapest, and most expendable, in case it didn't work...
And although my photos are terrible, it did work, and it looks awesome! So, I am now in the process of doing the other end table and the hutch, and we are planning on doing it to all of the furniture- so stayed tuned as I reveal the before and after photos on all of those.
I'm even considering doing the dining room table.
I am trying to figure out the best protective finish to put on them. I'm going to try Minwax finishing paste, that's what another furniture blogger recommended, but I know I'll need something more heavy duty for the table- something that will hold up to daily spills, water, etc. What do you recommend?

Find Your Sock Yarn- How to Tackle a Project

Today I was the guest writer over at Find Your Sock Yarn. Be sure to go over and check out my article about how I came to start this blog and take-on my unfinished project list! Then come back and leave me a comment about how you tackle your projects and to-do lists!

Projects in Process...

Last week at my quilters guild. I was given a very special, and well-deserved award:

Yep, I earned it. I officially had the most unfinished projects in my guild. That's right.
The Most Unfinished Projects- and that's among quilters who are notorious for unfinished projects. I had well over 40.

So, I decided just to give you a peek around my house at some of my works-in-progress.
Top Priority project is this wedding quilt for my brother-n-law (weddings in May, I need to get moving!):


Even my kitchen has projects in process. These are frosting flowers for a future cake:


This is an Easter Decoration I haven't even started yet:


Satin Hair Bows I'm making for my girls:



Poppies quilt hiding under my cutting table:

Desk I am re-finishing:

And, I've also decided to start posting every single little project that I finish! I want to see if I can finish over 40 projects this year!

As I was moving stuff around my garage, I stumbled upon an unfinished project that I had totally forgotten about. And in about 30 minutes, I had finished it!
So, here is completed project number 1. :

With these 2 flag decorations I am ready to go for the 4th of July (and it's still March! Woo-hoo!)