Pins and Needles

Well, friends,  it had to happen - my nine-day  Dear Jane sewing streak ended over the weekend. It felt so good to finish a nice stack of blocks. But these streaks never last for me and I knew I needed to move on to something else. Something that involved being able to find things I kept losing. Yes, I needed to do some - here's that dreaded word - ORGANIZING.

“The way to find a needle in a haystack is to sit down.” 

  ― Beryl Markham

We took the tree down and put all the Christmas decorations away and rearranged boxes. While I was at it I decided to get rid of some old things in the basement. After doing that, the organizing bug bit me and I moved into my sewing space. I started small and the first thing I did was organize my pins. This may not sound like much organizing to you but I swear I've always got pins and needles all over the house and it drives me nuts because I can never find the ones I need. They're in this room, that room, in assorted pincushions, boxes, drawers, under the desk, behind and under the sewing machine, etc., etc, etc. Ugh. Not one bit organized. And yes, it affects how I work on a project if I need to use different pins. I have a hard time sewing if everything is too unorganized and when I cannot find anything I get cranky and then give up and don't want to do anything. 

For months, I hadn't been putting things back where they belonged. I was going to do it in the fall but fall got away from me and before I knew it it was Christmas and I still was not organized one tiny bit. I really felt I needed to clean up before I could go on to make more projects. 

What was driving me crazy was the fact that no matter where I looked, I could NOT find my special pretty Clover clear as the sea, blue glass-head pins I love to use when I piece. Yes, the kind that's so fine you can actually sew over them (Shhh).  They're especially wonderful for making small blocks with tiny pieces  like my Dear Janes. I was desperate and ready to go out and buy more. They're not cheap though, and I know I used to have about a hundred of them. But instead of going out I decided to take the time yesterday and just go "shopping" in the house. Ever do that? Once I got started I did good and went through more drawers, pincushions and things and sorted all my scattered needles as well. That's as far as I got though. 

I organized some of my pins in this Fons & Porter pin box with 4 compartments I've had for years and the needles went into a little blue candy tin for now. Someday soon I'll organize those too. You have to start somewhere. 

Ladies, I'm a pinner and I can't tell you how much I love these superfine pins (made by Clover). Along with using a 70/10 needle in my machine and 50 wt Aurifil cotton thread, they make piecing small blocks that much easier. 

For fun - here's a tutorial I found for a cute needle case pattern. It's perfect for sorting some of the needles I use most often. Maybe if I make one like this I'll actually keep track of them a little better. "Put it back where it belongs" should be my motto for 2015.