organization...

...is key to living in a small space. i use the same two colors, various shades derived from them, and lots of white. the white acts like a resting stop for your eyes. the second thing that i find helps small spaces is organization. i'm usually drawn to organizing multiples of things in the same scale container, be it a bookcase or jars. also by arranging them in the pattern of the visible spectrum, with whites, browns, and blacks at the end.
my bookcase was getting crazy, and as it's a rather large portion of one wall something had to be done. i have a massive collection of national geographic books that are a wealth of photos that i can't bare to get rid of even though i may look at them once every ten years. luckily they're mostly white spines, and the same size. the top left square is my illustration, painting, and bookmaking reference books. the top right square is my knitting, embroidery, pattern making, general crafting, herbs, and essential oil reference books. along the bottom are books covering everything else. originally they were organized based on content, but i grew tired of that as i continued to stuff new books in any available slot, and that soon lost its function. so here's the photo of my newly organized shelves.

am also into collecting fat quarters. quarter yards of fabric that are squared rather than long rectangles. so after awhile of being stored in a tubberware, where they were mostly forgotten about until i acquired new additions, i decided they needed to be displayed. this would serve multiple purposes; so that i would be consciously aware of them, as a reminder of my sewing machine saving goal, and also hoping that this would lend itself to inspiring me to use them. i repurposed a wine shelf insert that was being tossed, spray painted it white and stacked my fat quartz by color.

some would say this organizing is neurotic, but hey, it calms the mind and the space. or that whole virgo thing i discussed earlier.

time doing what?!

well december and january have been a little busy. i think so anyway. it feels like they were. i took some time to go to las vegas to visit my 96 year old aunt. while there, i watched a whole lot of price is right, wheel of fortune, and jeopardy; of the three i would fare best at price is right even though i don't purchase 98% of what they price.

with some of the time from the last month i've been knitting my second ever sweater which i hope to actually finish, unlike the first. i came across an awesome sweater from a danish company "lolly's laundry" while visiting blogs, fell in love with it, then found out i couldn't order it. so, i began to think that "hey , i'm pretty sure i know how this thing was put together", bought some malabrigo organic cotton yarn, a size 6 circular needle, and started knitting. the front panels, back panel, and collar are about finished, and then the sleeves and pockets shouldn't take long. another month perhaps, with time taken from here and there. i'll post photos when i'm done.

another time sponge has been this awesome game i got second hand for christmas. it's called "katamari damacy". pure eye-candy, absolute fun, hilarious, and definitely good for multiple replays. the games' main character, "the king of all cosmos", is eclectic, weird, kooky, metrosexual, and every conversation is primed for the loony bin; but i love him, it's hard not to. i've finished 85% of the game, mostly i just have two presents to wrap up, some items to collect, and i want a bigger taurus. luckily for me they made a sequel, "we love katamari".
i'm saving $ for my long-term-won't-have-to-buy-another-before-i-die sewing machine, a pfaff select 3.0. dual feed, multiple hemming feet, pleating, and it handles like a dream.