When I made the quilted sewing machine cover included in Stitch Savvy, I went ahead and made a matching serger cover at the same time. I wanted to demonstrated how to adjust the design to fit a less rectangular machine, and I also knew that I would be keeping the samples for my very own self once the book was done (learned that writing Stitch by Stitch: always make the sample in your own size, so then you get to enjoy them later instead of trying to find homes for a bunch of orphans–so sad!).
For the past two years or so, it has looked like this, though:
See, I made the whole cover, and then just could never quite get around to adding the bias binding at the outside seams. Like a lot of projects. Stop looking at me like that–I am SO not the only one who has one or two or *ahem* more unfinished sewing projects lying around. The serger sat under its unfinished cover all this time, looking at me sadly day after day. Every once in a while, I even felt guilty.
In the space of 15 minutes the other day, I finally sat down and sewed on the bias binding. Which was a little like Harry and Sally finally getting together–only takes a sec to finally make the right decision, but it could take a decade to get to where the decision is easy to make. Oy.
The half-square triangles were made when I sewed the sewing machine cover, so they’re identical. The quilting was done at the same time, too, so the design matches perfectly. See what I mean? There was TOTALLY no reason for me not to have just finished this thing back when I made the other. I kinda feel like I remember that I ran out of the fabric that I used to make the bias tape for the first one–which would make sense, because I couldn’t find it when I got ready to work on this (at last).
See how happy they are together? Makes me feel like I’m one step closer to Total Organization. I did a deep clean of the studio over the weekend, and with little bitty projects like this completed, it gives me the sense that it’s all coming together.
I guess the lesson here is that all of us, in one way or another, put off doing things, taking care of projects, getting loose ends tied up, or otherwise cleaning up on our side of the street. In the long run, it’s doesn’t save us any time by avoiding those tasks–it wastes time we could have spent feeling content and satisfied. This wasn’t a sewing task so much as an organizational one–and now I feel vastly more motivated to not just finish up some unfinished tasks, but move methodically through my stash to take advantage of all the other great ideas that have been hibernating there for months and years.
Raise a glass to getting stuff done, y’all.
