Hello, my friends! I apologize for the not-so-pretty photo, which was taken in the dim lighting of my basement a few months ago. This is the crazy fabric/yarn stash situation that’s been assaulting my conscience for years. Bear in mind that this is only about half of what I actually own. The yarn sitch isn’t awful; it’s just that one bin in the top row. But the fabrics!!!!!

Luckily, I have a solution.

It’s to pretend that my stash is as soothing and contained as it is in this photo. Denial can be a beautiful thing. No, that’s not it.

The solution is more involved. My dear, dear friends — I’m working on another sewing book. Actually, I’m working on two sewing books!!!!! One is due out in 2020 and the other one will be released 2021. As is the case with books, I can’t say a whole lot about them at this time since I’m smack dab in the middle of it all, but they will perhaps help with the stash problemo.

I’m calling the process my “destashival”, which is an amalgamation of destash and festival. A celebration of destashing! Thank goodness I have an exorbitant amount of supplies at the ready for these upcoming books.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been steadily purging all of my belongings to get closer to something that resembles minimalism, but these fabric-stuffed bins have been throwing a wrench in my whole scheme (not to mention art supplies, and books, and skincare, and teas — but we’ll discuss those later). For the next several months, I’m going to jubilantly sew samples for my books and tackle the many, many other sewing patterns I’ve been holding off on (I just posted on Instagram the dolman sleeve top that’s near completion).

Now, with my destashival in full swing, I’ll be able to show you an empty wall in…I don’t know…a year? D’you think I can do it?

I realize that this announcement is somewhat lacking in fanfare but my insides are full of fanfare and sparklers and massive fireworks. I feel so outrageously, profoundly lucky that I get to do this. Could I have predicted that I would be working on my fifth and sixth book in 2018? Nope. Nuh-uh. No way. One always hopes that opportunities are ever-flowing, of course, but there are no guarantees. It boils down to you and this little blog in many ways. Thank you for visiting even when my posts are sporadic, thank you for buying my books or checking them out from the library, thank you for encouraging me through the Furoku membership (where I talk about all the behind-the-scenes stuff), thank you for all your comments here and on Instagram, and thank you for all the virtual good vibes. I am rendered speechless by the immensity of my gratitude.

Alright, back to book-making shenanigans. Have an awesome weekend, all! I hope this autumn season is treating you well and that you’re gearing up for a spectacular Thanksgiving!

P.S. I’ll be at Queen Anne Book Company next Saturday, November 24th around 1pm as part of Indies First! It’ll be fun!