July Studio Organizing Task
Posted on July 22, 2025 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio Organizing ChallengeSo . . . it’s been a whole month since I popped on here! I seriously need to step back up!
The last challenge wasn’t even all that tough for me, but I can truthfully say it’s about all I had time for.
How did YOU do getting your notions organized?
Here’s the after shot of my notions drawer:
As suspected, it didn’t change a whole lot. I did do pretty good getting it organized when I first moved in here, but I can’t say the same for most of the other areas!
I wanted to post our next challenge earlier in the month, but here we are, with the month almost over, so I just gotta go with the “better late than never” plan.
What shall we do this time?
I looked back at the things we’ve done so far this year (you can do that, too, by clicking HERE), and there’s one thing we have not hit on so far. And what made me realize it needs to be done, was sitting down at my machine with only 15 minutes to do something, and having everything go wrong and not even getting to sew after all!
So here’s our task:
Clean up the area around your sewing machine
Which I’m expanding to include: Clean and oil your machine and do whatever maintenance it needs as well.
- Change your needle.
Wind some bobbins.
Clean and oil it.
Clear out the lint and threads from the area around it.
Declutter the space.
Dust/sweep/clear, whatever needs done to clean up the area around your machine, so that when you DO get time to sit down and use it, everything is ready to go. Maybe you won’t waste your 15 minutes like I did!
I clean my longarm after every quilt. I oil it every other bobbin. I always do whatever it needs immediately when it needs it. I guess I need to set a reminder to take better care of the regular sewing machine, too, huh? It shouldn’t be so hard, and I shouldn’t be such a procrastinator!
How about you? Do you put this task off? Or are you on it like a duck on a June bug?
I’m going in. I’m almost afraid to witness the size of the dust bunnies that are lurking under the table it’s on! But I know it will feel good to have it all spiffed up.
okay I just need to say it. 96 blocks. You don’t have to do anything… I just wanted to say so…
I’ve almost finished another top, purely from going to the quilty ladies groups! No sewing apart from there and so many 1.5 inch scraps used up! Other than that – nada. But the veg is looking good, things are getting organised outside and we have a duckling indoors, had to help it out of the shell. Rejected by his mum (along with the other eggs) and rejected by the foster mum – I’m now his mum. My husband takes him for “walkies” and visits to aunties seem to go well. Slow intros and he is NOT allowed near the sewing room! Damned cute though!
I just cleaned my machine in the last two weeks. My sewing area is cleaned up. Just a few steps ahead. I did get my wall hanging sewed and now need to hand quilt it. I also made two banners this summer. Other sewing has taken a back seat, but the gardens and yard are looking great. Just so much to get done and been working an extra day each week this summer. Hoping to get back to quilting this fall. I am working on finishing up some unfinished projects.
I do appreciate your posts.
Well again, you must be spying in on my sewing room😂. When I was disconnecting the Roku from my tv, to take with us for Sister’s quilt week in Oregon, I saw all the dust! All that dust that collects behind and under everything! And looking up there was a cobweb or two! Now, I’m pretty good at vacuuming the floor around my sewing machine and wiping off the immediate surfaces around the machine and the light but there is a whole other world in there that needs a deep, deep clean. I really think it means another deep declutter too. The cleaning needs to be easier to do and with so much everywhere it makes it a big job. I’m not really up for that so I’m gonna procrastinate for awhile 😂 I did decide to start washing the window and slider and clean the tracks. I did clean under the cutting table last Friday because I had to move it to find a screw I dropped while servicing a new to me Singer 301. The only way I can even imagine to clean this room is to do it in sections which truthfully doesn’t jive very well with my all or nothing personality.😂
Oh man! 15 min…. I was hoping for 15 min of play….
My friend’s daughter has a two minute rule for all activities; if a task, such as putting something away, takes less than two minutes DO IT! Keeps the dishes done, socks picked up, i apply it when I can. I must have loss track of time because the sewing room is a mess!
I’m pretty good at keeping the area tidy. I change the needle, de-lint at the same time. So I can feel virtuous for once
Not working in my sewing space. Working on cleaning my 98 yr old mom’s home – she can’t and the others there don’t! Trying to get rid of things so when she dies there is less of that to do. So slowing making progress!
I didn’t have a lot of notion organizing to do because I just did an overhaul of storage in my sewing area. I did gather and put away all the stray spools of thread and bobbins (for some reason they accumulate in random places) and braved installing a new blade in the rotary cutter that was involved in my sewing accident as it was way past due. This month I don’t have a lot to do on the challenge because I just did it in the overhaul, although a couple of machines can probably use fresh oil and a delinting. Probably will wait until I finish a couple more flannel baby quilts. I do, however, need to make a long revisit of the January Challenge One, putting away piles of fabric. I have been gifted a LOT of scraps, which I love, that need to be sorted and put away. So that will be my main focus again this month.