Category Archives: declutter

De-cluttering is good for the soul.

I’m getting to be more and more minimalist as I de-clutter stuff around the house. There is so much STUFF and it weighs me down. I have de-cluttered a few times already since 2013 when I moved into this house, but there is always more.

I have put many crafts aside that bored me, but then I end up holding on to the materials. No More.  🙂  I gave my neighbor a bunch of mosaic paraphernalia.

I came across some cool things my mom did.  She passed away in 2013, and I will never get rid of these things.  [Long post warning.]

I get a lot of my creative ability from her.  She always had a great eye for color and form.  She’s of that generation (and growing up on a farm) that knew how to shear sheep, make roving, spin yarn, and then either knit or crochet something useful.  She even made linen from flax, and knew how to weave.  They wove their towels (which lasted forever), their tablecloths, their rugs from old clothes that we used to sit and cut into long strips and ball up when I was a kid.  The destruction was fun.  She even taught me how to weave, but I had no patience weaving that thin linen thread into towels.

My grandmother even wove sheets, and they had a seam down the middle (the loom wasn’t wide enough.)  They had a loom always set up in a big part of the upstairs bedroom at my grandmother’s.  Mom never had a loom in the places where we lived, but she always wove rugs when we spent the summers with my grandparents.  She always had some of those brightly colored rag rugs on her floors, and I thought if I peer closely, I  might recognize the rag from one of my childhood dresses.  She was the ultimate recycler.

I have a lot of the things she embroidered in the “old days,” things that are truly vintage now.
In her youth, she was pretty much self-sufficient making her clothing, and later those of my dad, but with modernization, she stopped those habits, though her hands were always busy.  During the 2nd World War the women used to knit hundreds of mittens and socks for the soldiers.  That was before my time.

I asked her if she remembered some of my fave sweaters she made for me, but she didn’t.  I had a really comfy gray and blue patterned sweater that I wore ALL the time; I still remember it clearly.

She loved to sew clothes, make fabric collages, embroider, needlepoint, cross stitch, knit; she even dabbled in porcelain painting, but my dad complained about the fumes.  She could knit and crochet anything.  We used to get excited about some new pattern; I would start it and she would finish it because I always got bored somewhere in the middle.

I have the patience now, however.  I don’t know how that happened–with age maybe.  I have been more of a dabbler than making something “useful,” though.   In one of the pictures below I made a fabric collage from a picture in a book about Medieval life.  I now marvel at how large the horse is compared to the women, but I didn’t think of that at the time.  I could never finish it since I couldn’t decide whether to frame it or make it into a pillow.  It now lives with my mom’s things in a plastic bin.

Towel rack “curtain.” To hide the towels.

This is a really old piece, possibly embroidered by Mom in her youth, or Grandmother might have made it.  I don’t remember.  But look at the needle work!  These cloths were hung on decorative rods to hide the everyday towels used in the kitchen.

detail

 

Crocheted tablecloth. Very fine thread.
I have two tablecloths like this.  Mom crocheted those from a very fine cotton yarn, then patiently crocheted the flowers/snowflakes together.  It’s fine like a glorious spiderweb!
tablecloth

This is a newer tablecloth; possibly one of the last ones she embroidered before her hands gave out.  She sent it to me.  My brother who is an artist always wanted the same pieces, so she often made two of the same pattern.  You would think a man wouldn’t care, but he does.

This is a tray tablecloth that is meant for a birthday cake placed in the middle of the wreath.  The word “Gratulerar” is Swedish for Happy Birthday (sort of, more like “Congratulation” if you want to be picky.)  A gift for one of my birthdays.  I use some of these things, but I worry about getting them dirty.

My foray into Medieval art.  I loved combining daring fabric patterns into a cohesive look. A knight going off to war.  Even the birds wore armor in my picture.  The fabric was mostly machine stitched even though I’m not very good on the sewing machine.

I don’t have any plans to take up embroidery or other sewing again, but I admire great craftsmanship.

xo

Maria

P.S. I have some paintings available in my etsy shop, HERE.

Life is fleeting.

I had a reminder yesterday that life is fleeting. We tend to forget and think we are eternal. I believe we are, but this particular 3D existence can end at ANY time.

I lost a friend to sudden death yesterday and my own ignorance slapped me in the face.  She was in her prime, happy and healthy, and bam! Gone.

It is shocking. Sometimes it takes a shock to shake me out of everyday complacency.  It got me thinking and re-evaluating what is important.

  • Appreciate life every day, or every moment if possible.
  • Don’t hold on to grudges or petty grievances.
  • Forgive those who have wronged you. Not speaking to people or having to be right only prolongs suffering (usually for the one holding the grudge.) FORGIVE and move on! It doesn’t mean you have to be friends with those who hurt you.
  • Pray every day even if you don’t believe in a higher power.
  • Do what you love or life is wasted.
  • Don’t stay at a job you hate.
  • Find beauty around you and appreciate it.
  • Love yourself and be at peace with the whole of who you are, warts and all.
  • Finish things once started.
  • Allow yourself to be the best you can be.
  • You CAN’T take your junk with you. De-clutter and donate. Don’t leave a mess for others.
  • Honor nature and as you do, you honor yourself since every molecule of you is part of nature. Spend some time in nature every day and breathe.
  • Laugh and pet animals as often as possible. Dance with children.
  • Don’t put off until tomorrow. Do that thing now.
  • Listen to others, truly listen.
  • Make art.
  • Grow things.
  • Go with the flow. Change is good, and change is the only constant. Don’t fight it.
  • Excuses begone!
  • Take charge of your happiness and don’t play the BLAME GAME with others. You will always lose when you do that.
  • Be responsible for your shit and be truthful to yourself about your shortcomings. When you are, they seem to disappear.
  • Last but not least: Listen to your intuition. If you don’t know how, find out how to do it.

A friendly reminder to myself… if it fits, apply some of these. Forgiveness is maybe the biggest one.

I made an art journal page about transition.  It was a sad day yesterday and I had weird dreams. Today, the sun is shining again (as if nothing ever happened.) In a sense, that is eternity.

DSCN2159
Life is fleeting.

xo

Maria

P.S. If you haven’t signed up for my free newsletter you can do so at the top right hand corner of this page.  Lots of good stuff!

Simplify!

Hell yeah, simplify today.

clutter
simplfy clutter.

I have been spending a lot of time decluttering my life. Not just all the junk around the house but also my digital junk.  It feels good!

So much stuff drags us down and we don’t even know it.  You know what a “drag” it is to enter a cluttered area, like a stuffed garage.

Some people are unable to part with their stuff, but I’m not one of them, thank God.  I decluttered my closet, my papers, my books, my knicknacks, my email inbox that had about 1000 emails. It came down to about 10 that I still haven’t read and probably never will.

I decluttered my FB friends’ list and groups. I am the member of way too many groups there, and I don’t know how that happened.

I just deleted all of my numerous message threads on my phone, and that felt good. Clean slate is a good feeling. I even decluttered my studio, which is harder than anything else.  Now I can actually find my tools (for now anyway.)  There is a sense of serenity about order.

serenity
I love serenity.

I love to simplify my life.  I get a sense of space and serenity.  It makes it easier to think.  I like to see the expanse of my floors, and I like to move around freely without bumping into things.

There is something healing about getting rid of broken things and replacing them, or not.  Everything has to be loved or have a purpose. If I don’t get that from stuff it won’t come into my house. Not anymore.

Books are hard to get rid of, but if I haven’t read them for years and don’t plan on reading them any time soon, out they go.

People who are a drag get decluttered too.  There is no reason to hold on to friendships that don’t lift you up in some way.

Most important: I have been decluttering my belief systems and that is not an easy task, but I feel lighter, so I crave lighter surroundings. It makes sense.

This is not my brain anymore:

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brain clutter

A great way to declutter the brain is through meditation! A great practice to do every day.

What have you decluttered lately?

xo

Maria

P.S. Check out my etsy shop for some cool, affordable art. HERE.