A Little Embarrassing

A few weeks ago I got the word from the management company I rent from that there's a city ordinance requiring the flappers in toilets in rental properties to be replaced after a certain amount of time and our buildings had reached that magic number. So I was required to set up a time for the maintenance man to come by and do it to my three toilets, a quick repair, but one that made me realize I had some extra cleaning and picking up to do before he arrived. If you live alone, you understand how easy it is to let some housework slide and boy had I let it slide lately, what with the issues with my back. Plus two of the bathrooms are on the second floor with the stairs and landing having served as a dumping ground for things that needed to go upstairs or into the studio but not right away. Yeah, I even procrastinate on that and now I needed to make that stuff disappear to where it was intended. What's more, one of the upstairs bathrooms I don't really use as a bathroom since it is off the master bedroom which I use as a studio. I've delegated it for my paints and stamping supplies and boy, did I have stuff stacked all over the floor and on the toilet seat and tank where he needed to get in to work. While I've had years to hone my storage system for my quilting things, I've failed to get a handle on organizing these newer mixed media supplies. Thus, picking up and putting things out of sight in there was not unlike the archeological digs I encounter whenever I clear my work table. Oh...THAT'S where that went to. Hmm - forgot I saved those things. Oh yeah, here's something I set aside to be stenciled. And when I opened the cupboard under the sink to put away the organizer that holds among other things my paint brushes, I was dumbfounded to see a very large bottle of matte medium! I have no recollection of buying it, obviously, since I recently related to you how I gave in and bought some to try with my collage since everyone raves about it. Yeah, a little embarrassing!

Also a little embarrassing is the way I continue to drag my feet over finishing the fat quarter quilt. To be honest, I'm letting that piping intimidate me unnecessarily - not like the first time I've ever done it. But at least like the binding, it is pieced and pressed in half, ready to go. But the real foot dragging has been because of the terrible cigarette smoke smell that arose from the quilt after I dampened it in preparation for trimming. It had to go out into the garage to air for quite a bit before I could bring it back in and square it up. I'm still a little stumped about the smell, although I know it was picked up in that quilt shop where I taught the class so many years ago. The shop was next door to a bar, and even though the owner had air filters going, anything that stayed in that shop long soon picked up the smell. I know I washed all the fabrics before construction and no doubt used a little steam from the iron now and then when pressing that should have alerted me to any lingering smell. All I can figure is that it must have absorbed some of the odor while hanging in the shop, but not such that one would smell it until dampened. What a shock. Once I get the binding on, you can bet I'll be doing a deep soaking with vinegar and thorough washing before this goes on my bed.