Quarantining and KonMari-ing

 

The perfect match.

 

 

~ Quarantine Collection, Fedora and Florals, Han Cao ~ 

 

 

 

Yes, I was feeling swallowed up by all my things after being sheltered-in-place for the last 5 (or was it 6?) months now.  

~ "Paisajes" series, Cecilia Paredes, multi-media artist ~

Especially by my hand-made clothes and that unrelenting fabric stash.  Oh, my.

 ~ Phyllis Galembo, Fine Art Photographer ~

 

 

 So, after reading Marie Kondo's Spark Joy and starting with her first step of tidying,

I pulled out all my clothes in one place...

  

~ Song Dong, installation artist ~

No, I didn't make an art installation out of it (darn!), it was more like a mountain overflowing the bed.  I did, however, manage it somewhat by excavating one sub-category of clothes at a time.  That would be "tops."  I did want to be able to sleep on the bed every night after all.  And I have a lot of clothes. 

No, I don't have any pictures of the process.  I was too involved in it.  You're supposed to gather all the clothes from wherever they might be in the house.  (Excluding those of my spouse.  He has the bare minimum anyway.)  

 

I did include my mother's stuff that had been left untouched in the so-called guest room since she passed away 6 years ago.  And the enclosed back porch off my sewing room which contained all the clothes I was going to recycled.  aiyiyi.  You can't imagine.

 

 I actually ended up trying on everything to see if I liked it, if it fit, if I would wear it, and most importantly if it "sparked joy."  If it did, it went into another pile in the adjoining room for saved "tops."  The discarded items went into a black garbage bag for Goodwill.  My husband put them in the car right away so I wouldn't be tempted to go through them again.  They went to Goodwill at regular intervals.

I kept track of how many bags went out and how many piles stayed in.  Tops: 4 out, 4 in.  Of the 4 to keep: 2 summer, 1 winter & 1 to mend.  The whole process for tops took 2 days.

 

Stay tuned for the next update.

p.s.  I started tidying on Wednesday, July 8, 2020!

 

Animals and Angels

~ artwork by Emile Morel ~

...were just pouring out of me in the jewelery-making scene.  But that's it for awhile.  I've cleared off the table in my studio and am ready for a sewing bout again.  Meanwhile all the jewels-to-be are now organized to the max which delights me to no end.

Without further ado, here's my latest playthings (after the break)...

Swap-o-Rama

Style Agent 909 suggested we all link up and do an on-line swap this Saturday, September 22.  So here I am with what I have to offer:

 Black suede heels, says size 8, feels like size 7

These shoes are in excellent condition inside and out, top and bottom.  They're too small for me now and too high.

Shoe Be Do Be Do...

what were the chances...I'd be re-do-ing shoes...before the night was through?...ah, yes.  I have had a serious case of shoe lust lately.

shoes designed and created by Lloraine Neithardt

So to keep myself in line, I've dived into the depths of my closet to reclaim some lost soles.  Surely no one needs sooo many pairs of black and/or brown shoes!  Where are all the beautiful colors I crave?!

Just check out these gems after the break, my dears...

Keep those doggies movin'

ahhha...

artwork by Nick Scalfittura.

Another day well spent.  After a morning of my task and nap routine, I was able to sustain the task aspect for the rest of the afternoon.  Accomplished much more than expected - even though there's much more still to do.  Man-o-man.  Note to self:  just keep at it, rather than dwelling on what to do or how to do it, etc., etc. and

Just Move It!

I'm doing it, moving it.  With much help from my true love, of course, who got me started this morning.  yea.  

painting by Eric Budovitch.

All the driftwood has been boxed and taken to the garage (it's a long story).  The enclosed porch has been swept, all the shelving cleaned - still some empty boxes to get rid of though.

Moved all the not fitting jeans back there from the dressing room.  Next to go are all the T-shirts I don't wear.  Put all the shoes away for now and started sorting out the wearables from the non's so they can make the trip to the porch too.  Woo-hoo!  Soon I'll only have the items I like to wear and that fit me - all in one place.  Imagine that!  The possibilities for outfitting are too exciting...

Well, gotta go and get back to it!

To Be and To Have

Okay, I declare the studio and art supply room are done and done.  The studio is really cleaned and completely re-organized to my satisfaction and the supply room is good enough to move on.  That took 2 weeks to do with intervening naps when overwhelmingness over came me.

artwork by Alli Arnold.

That leaves the enclosed back porch (if I really need more space) and the dressing room as the next target areas.   I just can't bring myself to deal with that disaster area - aka my dressing room - right now.  awwkk!  It is filled with all the clothes unearthed from ___________ (fill in the blank).

It was about this time last year when I started Project Minima and decided to do something about my accumulation of things, especially clothes.  What I had decided to do was remake whatever didn't fit, I didn't like, or wear. So now I have all this unwearable stuff that has become my fabric stash, so to speak.

Some Heavy Lifting Involved

painting by Eric Budovitch.

Moved some shelving units around today, from the supply room to the studio.  Inch by inch, but I did it, yea!  And started putting some of the sewing stuff on shelves.  Not sure what goes where yet, but I'm starting to get excited about possibilities.  And it doesn't seem too crowded yet.   Still lots to do.

Taking Care of Business...Everyday

I found myself casually dropping in and out of the studio today doing bit by little bit - with no trauma, dread, or hesitation...at all!!!!

installation by J. Morgan Puett.

Now I have all the art supplies in the supply room and only the sewing stuff in the studio.  The floor is cleared of obstacles and new light bulbs are in the fixtures.  One by one, it all adds up.


And there's still plenty more a-waiting my attention.

Break On Through...

Yea!  With a little help from the dearest one, that is.  Thank goodness he was off today to give me shots of encouragement as needed.  Spent much more than 15 minutes this morning digging in and doing the things that must be done.

painting by Ray Caesar.

It's all still a mess, but it's more of a controlled mess now - at least in one of the rooms.  Everything is off the floor in the studio and only sewing stuff is in there now - no art supplies (sorta).  Most of the art materials are in the supply room and need to be organized, but there's still lots of sewing stuff in there too, so

An Attempt At Sorting It

okay, okay, I put in my 15 minutes today.  30 minutes actually until I became over-whelmed.  Still.  Maybe I'll go back in and do more...

artwork by Simon Evans.

My true love had said "just pick up the garbage" so I armed myself with a trash bag and went in.  I immediately got side-tracked with sorting my scrap fabric by color!  That was fun. Then I emptied one of many tote bags full of

This is My Studio in Chaos

painting by Joaquin Mateo.

May Day, May Day.  This is the state of my studio, dressing room, supply area... I have decided this last month of my year long commitment called Project Minima shall be ___________!  I'm at a loss for words.

Cleaning, organizing, sorting it out, re-organizing, re-structuring, re-thinking, re-planning, making it work, etc., etc., etc.  I can't continue to ignore

The State of Project Minima

Sculpture by Kiki Smith

It's been just about 4 months since I started Project Minima as a concentrated effort to reduce my consumption in the clothes industry to zero.  So far, so good.  I haven't even wanted to buy anything apparel-wise.  Once I switched consciousness and started to see my existing wardrobe of ill-fitting, unwanted stuff as potential supplies for reconstructing clothing I liked, I was off to the races! 

I started off slowly, spending a few minutes (15 or so) a day to gather, collect and sort

Enough Already!

Indian Miniature, Faqirullah Khan, artist
Freer & Sackler Galleries

I dove into the depths of my closet this morning to retrieve some baskets of unidentified objects.  Spent a little too long at it - have to learn to stop sooner, than later.  omg!  Emptied 2 laundry baskets full of pants, mostly jeans, of every size and style imaginable.  How embarrassing if nothing else.  There's still one more basket to go and then the closet will be completed excavated (except for the shoes which I will deal with at a much later date).

So at this moment, I can barely get into my dressing room for all the stacks of clothes sorted in different places.  I even brought up a rolling clothes rack that now holds all the t-shirts I've found.  Seems I have many, many white and black ones with a smaller variety of colors.  Looks like the same color scenario holds true for all the rest of the clothes I have.

More and More

~ Painting by Lori Field ~

Yesterday I made several forays into the dressing room/closet to gather clothes together.  Sorting like things with like - just like in the thrift stores.  All tops together by color, etc.  Moving winter stuff into the back and summer into the forefront.  Not trying anything on, just sorting by season, type, and color.  Absolutely shocking how much of everything I have and in every color too!

Evolution of the Concept

"Emergence of the Ganga on the Earth," Hindu Painting.

Had the thought, after looking at some of the "sites of inspiration" listed, that perhaps my framework might be to use only what I already have in reforming my wardrobe.  Originally I was thinking to ultimately have everything working/going together with everything else, as well as being minimal.

Now perhaps, it's more me, more reasonable to start from where I'm at - that is use what I have to get to where I want to be.  The same plan would be involved, but I would not buy anything for this year of the project, not even fabric to make something.  It would be about using

Prequel

Buddha with mudra of greeting, prayer & respect

Just the facts please.

I want to do this, I want to have a plan of sorts and a commitment, therefore a blog is born during my birthday month of June.

Say 15 minutes a day of working toward it, or once a week.  We'll see how it goes.  I don't want to get overwhelmed, nor jump the gun and do something too radical that I'll later regret.

Goal is recognizing my style(?): or