Does your workspace ever look like this?

Yesterday I revisited the drawer in which all the fabric I printed at college is stored, sorting it as it came out into the light of day -

That doesn't look particularly sorted, does it? That's because most of the sorting is taking place in other parts of the room - on the workbench, for instance -

and on the ironing board (that tablecloth on the chair will come in handy at the craft fair) -

At this point I was so overwhelmed by "everything, everywhere" that I took some photos and went into the other room to escape. But it's at the point where everything is most muddled up that it can start to get so much better - you're ready to do something drastic, and often doing something drastic is exactly what's needed. In this case, it was a simple matter of quickly writing down the ideas and putting everything away tidily.

What seems to happen is that you see these forgotten fabrics and get ideas for projects that ALL seem to need to be worked on at once, starting now - hence the befuddlement, the loss of sense of purpose. Yet you have only one pair of hands and there are only so many hours in the day... It seems to help to say to yourself, "I'll work on this right now, and do those later." Which sounds self-evident - but it can take years to come to that point!

Here are some of the fabrics I'd forgotten about - they quickly got put back in the drawer for another time -

During the turmoil of sorting, another idea for the "All in a Day's Work" CQ challenge quilt (due 1st Dec...) emerged - a sketchy version is laid out at the far end of the workbench in the photo above, which doesn't give much away does it! Lots more fabric for the little needle-books appeared, too, but the search for the perfect fabric for their "pages" goes on - or rather, I'm trying not to delve too deeply in search of it, because what will happen is a repetition of the turmoil of today.

This week, my goal of six sewing kits is still far away - but a red-and-yellow one is laid out in preliminary compostition stage on the ironing board -

and most of those fabrics will be used to make one or two others in a similar colourway. It's grouping the fabrics that is the big job for each of these little objects.

The deconstructed drawer is wonderfully tidy; the workbench (and floor) is clear. I can think again, and am motivated - empowered, even! - to keep sewing.