Trying to do one thing at a time.

Ready for attention

The cold weather caused some problems with the boiler, which meant that the cupboard needed clearing to get proper access.

While my son was removing bags and boxes he would - in hope of being "helpful" - say things like "you haven't looked at this bagful of old envelopes since it went into the cupboard ten years ago, you obviously don't need it, just chuck the whole thing out without even looking at it."

Which is true at one level, but it's not the big picture. These shambolic items are my "creative resources"!

Now the shambolic bagfuls of this'n'that are all over the floor of the studio. But this isn't a chaotic disaster, oh no - it's An Opportunity. What if ... what if the things that went back into the cupboard were only the things that I might actually use in my lifetime? And, what if someone else could find what they were looking for?

Which raises the big questions - what creative projects do I want to continue with? Can the other materials find new homes and have a chance to be "useful" to someone else?

While these swirl around in my subconscious, the glimmerings of a strategy are emerging. To find the way forward, look backward ... where are all the things I've already made, the quilts and the pots and the books and the things that have been forgotten but still linger physically? These need to surface and be seen, to be evaluated and sorted, and the survivors wrapped and labelled and kept carefully.

What you glimpsed in the photo is a selection of quilts from the past 20 years - some are already in bags, and the plan is to spend a couple of hours making bags for the others. (A tutorial is on my website.)

With those safely (and nicely) out of the way, phase 2 is to search out ALL the ceramics and put them in one place - "Japanese tidying".

There is surely a sensible sequence for this.

I look forward to being able to swing a cat in the studio!