From A - Mixed Bag Monday

I had a thing for mood rings as a kid. The novelty of wearing something that changed colours AND conveyed my emotional state of mind to others was irresistible. As I entered my teen years this turned into an obsession with the Fortune Telling Miracle Fish. Naturally, I had to adapt as an adult. Now I have a craft-based emotional barometer where a quick glance around the house will tell you everything you need to know about how it's all going.

• A tidy home with only one project on the coffee table means that there is either company coming in the next 10 minutes or I've managed to find a whole lot of zen.
• A project in the bedroom and living room is indicative of a normal and sustainable level of chaos.
• A few projects strewn about on the couch, dining room table and next to the bed with a stack of yarn or fabric on the floor in the spare bedroom means usually means contact with a stressful patch over the last week or so.
• Barely started projects on every surface with stacks of yarn and fabric "cued up" in the spare bedroom are a bad sign...a really bad sign.

Two guesses on where things are this week.

We have bits of fabric that I've been cutting for my On a Whim Quilt on the TV stand.

The couch is home to my rigid heddle loom and some weaving on a gradient shawl that I started more than 3 years ago.

My school bag is home to the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's Halloween Sampler that I fell hard for a few weeks back.

The dining room table has a half-finished version of Noodlehead's Open Wide pouch, complete with rainbow zipper.

Oh and that's not even mentioning the partly-finished satchel in my craft cupboard, the TWO lap duvets that are pressed and ready to be basted hanging over a dining room chair, the nursing cover on the coffee table that's been cut out and is waiting to be sewn, the two charm packs that are stacked on my nightstand waiting to become a baby quilt and the multiple piles of yarn in the spare bedroom divided into projects...plural.

Time to reset me thinks. Any other craft barometers out there?

From A - Stash Down

There hasn't been much sewing happening in these parts lately. On Friday, the moving truck finally arrived with our furniture and belongings...all 7,500 pounds of them. The good news is that I finally have a chair to sit in and I'm no longer eating my morning cereal out of a former styrofoam ramen noodle bowl. The bad news is that I'm living in a cardboard obstacle course.

I did manage to get most of the stash unpacked last weekend (you've gotta have priorities) and was shocked to discover how much it has grown since I packed it up last April to stage the condo.

The difficult combination of expanding stash, 20% reduction in living space and 50% reduction in storage space means that it's time to get the stash under control or the Christmas Tree might have to live in our living room year-round. This means that for the next few months, I'm going to shop the stash before buying supplies for a new project. So far, so good. I was able to pull this stack to make Camille Roskelley's On A Whim Quilt which has been on my "to make" list for years now.

It looks like the stash will even be obliging enough to provide backing and binding fabric when the time comes. I'm so excited to finally use some of these treasures! How do you show your stash who's boss?