Friday, January 04, 2008

Decluttering Streak

I've decided to work systematically around the house and declutter as ruthlessly as possible. I started with the BILLYs, and I already have a nice, big, overflowing box of books to take to the used book stores when we go back to Madison this Summer or Fall for my sister's wedding. Oh yeah. Did I mention that my sister is getting married? For the first time ever? Cool, huh?

Anyway, I'm thinking that taking and posting pictures of the stuff I'm decluttering might be kinda motivational. For me, at least.

I'm also thinking about sewing or quilting or braiding a rug to go in front of the kitchen sink. Trillian likes to sleep there, and I think my feet and knees would welcome the softness, too. Being the instant gratification junkie that I am, I'd prefer to sew it. I'm not sure if that's actually "done" but I think I could pull something off. Especially if it was pseudo-quilted. I'm not so sure about the braiding thing, as it involves ripping lots and lots of fabric into 2" strips and sewing them end-to-end and then braiding them, and then sewing the braided strip into a big coil type of thing. The edges are gonna be all fray-y. And as much as I enjoy The Fray, what if I hate the rug? Then I'll have ripped a ton of my fabric up for no good reason. Then again, it might help with the fabric decluttering. Especially if I ripped up prints that I no longer love. I'm sure you can see my dilemma here. No? Frayed knot, then. :-/

CLICK VIDEO HERE (The Fray won't let me embed them, dirty (and possibly pleasant) as that sounds. Oh, and don't look now, but is the piano player sporting a Hairrow? Look what I started! ^_^)

16 comments:

tshsmom said...

You can also crochet fabric strips with a large wooden hook. That eliminates having to sew the braided pieces.
My Grandma used to rip worn out plastic bags into strips and crochet them into rugs. They were actually quite nice looking and rugged.

C said...

Ooooh! That's tempting to try! I wasn't reloishing the thought of sewing the braid into a coil. :-P "Rugged" - is that a pun? ^_^

Claire said...

My sister is also getting married this year - to a real rocket scientist! woo hoo.
I think those rag rugs were made back in the day to make use of left over fabric from stuff like feed bags. They were supreme recyclers then.

Unknown said...

a friend of mine took up knitting coz she said it reigns in her sex drive.

is it true, at all?

tshsmom said...

LOL, an unintentional pun, but it works! ;P

C said...

Claire - Wow! That's cool! Congrats to your sis. :) Yeah, I think it was definitely a penny-pinching meneuver. That's one reason I wanted to try it, but another is that most of the ones I've looked at can't be washed. Blech.

Treespotter - Oh no! That's tragic! I bet if she knitted up a bunch of penis cozies it would be different. I don't have the patience to knit long enough to find out. ^_^

Tshsmom - ^_^ You're so good you can work your MATerial in without even noticing. ^_^

Michael C said...

Frayed knot? You've got me in stitches!!!!!!

C said...

Muahahahaha!!! Glad to see you following the thread. ^_^

Michael C said...

Well, I do love spinning a good yarn every now and then.
;-)

C said...

Oho!! I see that punning is woven into the fabric of your very being! ^_^

Anonymous said...

ooooooh these puns of threads that stories weave...

I lurv decluttering; I love the mimimal look and it really is much easier to keep clean and under control...

C said...

Ooooh, very nice! ^_^

I definitely need to get more minimalist. :-P

Radioactive Tori said...

I am loving all these puns!

I have a huge urge to declutter lately. I am not generally a "stuff" person but with 4 kids there is not much way around all the stuff. My plan is to work on getting rid of things that they won't miss and then try to limit what is brought into the house. My husband's parents buy so much stuff for the kids that it is difficult to contain it all.

Good luck with the rug. My grandpa has a giant loom and made me some rugs a few years ago. I love the product, but love the memories of them so much more. Sadly he is getting rid of his loom since he isn't able to work at it much any more.


I saw a pattern to knit a rug and am considering trying it for my daughter's room as a surprise for her.

Michael C said...

That one was very well done!!!! I didn't think i could beat it, so to get over my pain I went out and cut a rug. Oh man, that's bad. I'm such a knit-wit....

egan said...

I had no idea your son could sing and act so well. You're doing an excellent job homeschooling him.

C said...

Man! It ate my comment from yesterday! Hmph.

Tori - same here. My stuff is mostly books and journals, but with 4 kids, ayaiai!

That must have been so cool watching your grandpa use that huge loom. Did you kids ever get to see?

Is the knitted rug made from fabric strips?

Michael - I'm not going to needle you about your puns. You keep me in stitches. You are truly WARPed. ^_^

Egan - Who knew, eh? And he's grown a lot lately, too, I guess. ^_^