Kitchen timer as creative tool.

On the advice of my friend Daisy via an article shared on facebook I have been using the timer on my phone to tackle tasks in 30 minute slots. Oh my word! What a revelation.
I have achieved.......stuff.
More importantly I have lost the sense of overwhelm that was threatening me daily and producing a very unhealthy, unproductive inertia.



This is Hairy Herbert the younger sitting in the sun in front of a pile of the aforementioned clutter.
The foreign clutter.
Not our own clutter



And another pile of it.



This is H.H. The Y. trying to wait patiently while I type this blog. Doing well actually because it is approaching walk time. No timer set for that. For that we just stroll and breathe and chill and some of us chase rabbits down holes.



This is my coffee table the surface of which has gone unseen and by association undusted for weeks.
Hmmm....could be months.
For purists this may not qualify as de- cluttered. But for me it now sports only the essentials. And please ignore the sofa behind which has yet to feel the benefits of 30 minutes attention and carries work in progress. Evening work, T.V. watching work of knitting and crochet.



This is a similarly, newly released work top in the kitchen supporting said phone.



Oh yes and my newly washed bones. Don't ask.



Spray painted sardine tins ready for the off.



Sorted watercolours similarly ready for the off.



And a house I am building from paper and card.



All of these things achieved in 30 minute slots. Even the laughing gnome brooch. Ok. So that was more than one slot.



And these too. Crocheted and sewn one half hour at a time.



I am blissed to the max with the results of a very productive few days.
Not now drowning in clutter but calmly swimming with land in sight.
With love and wishes for bliss to you all xxx

Clutter

Another suitcase in another hall. Well no not quite.
A suitcase of carefully saved and ironed wrapping paper. Not the work of my own hand though it could well have been. I am not a natural thrower outer. In fact this new year I made a commitment to de-clutter.



Every nook, surface cupboard and drawer in this house and in my studio is full to capacity and then some.
And clutter drains energy. We know that.
People write books about it.
I have read some.
Clutter derails any attempts at organisation and absorbs much time that could be spent doing good things domestically and creatively. So IT HAS TO GO!


How achingly typical that in the wake of this commitment and the few stumbling steps I have taken on the path to minimalism ( joke) and serenity I am now drowning in someone else's clutter. Namely said suitcase and the further contents of an elderly relative's house. Not that I mind in theory. It is a job that needs to be done for someone we care about and for whom we are the frontline advance party in her transition from independent, feisty, old-bird to care home dwelling, feisty, old-bird. But it is testing my fledgling status as a woman of tidiness and order.


Quite why then, in the midst of chaos, I decided to lay out my stash of beads and in the manner of a recovering addict face and share the full glorious riot of it is beyond reason.


Except I suppose using said stash is a decluttering of a scrumptious and enjoyable kind. The kind of decluttering that I can get lost in for hours. Even
more gratifying is that these have been well received by friends on Facebook. So, these may well become part of my new stock on Etsy and will definitely be available to buy in my studio/ shop.


Win win I'd say.




And some of that carefully sorted wrapping paper is waiting in the wings to reappear in collage.

Choices, priorities and casualties of time.

This week I dusted off and revived a technique that my father taught me,when I was probably about 9, for making choices. Obviously indecision has been a lifelong affliction.
Over the millennia since then I have used this method whenever my head starts spinning with too many things to choose from. It is so simple.




You list all the 'things' numbered from 1 to however many. Out of the overwhelm I began my list like this:
1 make brooches
2 paint furniture
3 knit
4 collage........
This time my list was over 20 items long!
Next you write down the numbers like this 1/2 1/3 1/4 (1/ however many you've got).
Then 2/3 2/4 (again 2/ however many you've got)
Then 3/4 and so on till the end.
In my case the last row was 20/21.
If you haven't lost the will to live at this point you go on to choose between thing1&2,
thing 1&3,
thing 1&4
and so on till the end. Circling each number chosen and totting up your total 1's 2's etc.
It can be quite revealing. I was surprised to find that I really wanted to be exploring the ideas in this book.




I am sure there are flaws in this method. And simpler ways of making up your mind. But, I always find it helps me to settle to one idea while happily letting go of all the rest for a time.
I think they call that focus!




Anyhoo. This method works for me and today I have happily played with something new.

Still sitting with it. Working on, working through. Happily playing.



And today I had company. My little monster making friend came and shared some creative time with me this morning. She is a joy to work alongside.
Each of us can be quietly busy doing what we do quite comfortably. No need to talk but the talking that we do is as comfortable as the silence.


She collaged into a book and made a bracelet.


I collaged and splodged paint. Did cutting and sticking and drawing. Wrote text.


A great time was had.
I often find it hard to walk away.


But people and dogs need feeding. Also there is preparation to be done for tomorrow's visitors. Aunty and her friend, both 90, are coming to Sunday lunch. Aunty has virtually no memory but a great curiosity and sense of humour so it will be fun.
Her face is often radiant with joy at the small things.
Wise old bird, Aunty. I draw near and learn much.

Technology tantrum.

Don't you hate it when 'computer says no!' ?
Try as I might I cannot get the !!**!?**! machine to upload today's photographs.
Not a caring sharing iPad this.
Yours frustrated and grumpy.



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