Stuffed, Stacked and Staged

y fabric came! That beautiful, hard to find, discontinued, very precious 2 yards of Amy Butler Gothic Rose in blue came yesterday in the mail. So my color plans for the living room in the new house can stay on track. Phew!
It's pretty unusual for me to be ordering any fabric these days. I really do have a closet full already. (Opportunity for new organization ideas in the new house abound when it comes to having a tidy craft space. In other words, I never accomplished it in our current home and there's still not a whole room for my crafting in the new house, so I'll have to be very deliberate in planning to organize.) My husband banned me from buying any new fabric until I finish some of the projects I have left behind for the next, more exciting pattern or project. You know how it works, I bet. My goal for the day is packing up all the mountains of fabric strewn all over the guest room. Some of it made it from the bed to the couch so I could pack while baby napped. (She's also stuffed into the guest room.)

There it is, a part of it anyway. It's like looking at the different layers of earth over time to see the history behind that piece of land. Hidden in the fabric strata are an unfinished laptop case I was trying to make with no pattern, a baby dress made from a man's shirt that ended up being too small, some bloomers that somehow make my toddler look completely deformed...and more.
As we continue to get things out to pack them, I think I'm hitting that stage of just wanting to throw it all away instead of bothering to sort and pack. You don't even realize how much crap you gather until you have to pare down or pack. It's no wonder I can't keep things organized or clean! I wouldn't have ever called myself a hoarder or pack rat, but I'm beginning to wonder... This is the kind of craziness we end up with, a pile of cloth diaper inserts on the antique piece that holds my grandma's fine glassware.

Ok, on to a couple of completed items. I depersonalized some more. This time, in our bedroom. There are a series of very dear pictures that chronicle the time from engagement to honeymoon hung prominently between the doors to the hallway and the bathroom. I did not want to patch and paint that many nail holes, so something else needed to be created. I used our duvet cover as inspiration and here is the result.

Another almost completed project is staging the dining room table. I decided against leaving full place settings out all the time, as we would always be moving them to eat. I saw an inspirational picture somewhere of a staged home with a stack of dishes in the middle of the table and some fresh-cut flowers. I like it. Simple and easy, but still elegant and inviting. I didn't want to use our china... too formal. I didn't want to use our regular dishes... gray and white doesn't fit the dining room color scheme. Big Lots had the answer and I got $18 of understated elegance.

Well, I've squandered some precious time with this post and now the baby's awake. Maybe I can manage to get a couple more boxes packed while they're eating lunch.