It's those little bags and folders of "selected items" that are the stumbling blocks, isn't it? They bring up memories and doubts and oh-so-many decisions:
Keep or bin?
(a) why didn't I bin this before?
(b) can it go in the bin now?
(c) why not?
(d) ok, I'll keep it for a little while longer
Where to put it?
(a) with similar items, obviously
(b) I have some of those, where are they now?
(c) ok, start a new folder - and label it
(d) um, what to call it....
(e) ... and where to keep it till those other items turn up ...
Yesterday I tried to deal with a little folder of papers, and a bag of WIPs.
First out of the folder was a leaflet of Carol Waller's designs - I did a course with her at West Dean, quite a while ago. Take a photo, bin the paper, enjoy recalling the experience. My dye-printed fabric from that weekend is ... somewhere ... and I'll deal with it when its turn comes ...
2010 and 2011 is the date on these receipts from cafe tills - "art school" days, perhaps from exhibitions seen with classmates, or a Sunday-morning cultural visit with Tony. The paper-dolls are probably left over from a book I made when in the throes of a health scare, which went off to some themed collection. More memories - and I can't, quite yet, throw these away ...
The blue blob is intense scribbling with biro - how it distorts the paper! It was brought on by seeing a
huge sheet of biro'd paper, by Jan Fabre, and it went into the bin -
Mark-making on linen with various types of thread - from my "overheard conversations" project (unfinished) ... something I'd like to continue (the other bits will turn up one day, and these are pinned to the
design wall ... which will get cleared off, one day ...
"Pictures cut from magazines" - as with postcards-bought-at-museums, and magazines themselves (though less so, recently), I like to hold these in my hands, and to have a heap of them to riffle through. Knowing "it's all online" is NOT enough!
Bonus - the back of those images hold surprises ...
Now for the bag of WIPs - unfinished quilt tops, quite small sizes.
Unfortunately this one had some marking (food? rust?) and a torn place at one edge - looks lovely wet, with the sun shining through though -
These three might end up as Linus quilts?
And these two date back to last century, in fact to the late 70s -
i love the line stitched backgrounds of vessels/ vases and cups
ReplyDeleteYour dedication to clearing out stuff ought to be inspiring me. I have a whole room of such things - in fact so much that, when I think about it, the whole thing seems insurmountable - and needing so much time and effort - that I just ignore it.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to making great progress on organizing and decluttering. I did a bit myself this weekend, but have a lot more to do. There is a tv show called Hoarders over here in the states, and after watching a few episodes it makes you want to clean, clean, clean! The decision making is the hardest as you don't want to throw away something you might use, but how much can a person keep? This is a hard question to answer sometimes.
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