Today I’m back to announce the winners of The 2020 Final Countdown. I think this one was more fun for me than ever, even tho I gave us some hard tasks!

I love that some of you sent in pictures, and I’ve really enjoyed the great comments and wonderful suggestions. And it’s sooo wonderful to know that I’m not alone in my mess, and in my constant efforts to get things under control around here.

Here are a couple more before/afters:

Here’s a couple afters of that closet we saw in an earlier post — so lovely now!

And here are a couple afters of some fabric organizing efforts (not mine, by the way):

I hope to get lots more done here this year, and maybe I’ll make easier tasks for The Final Countdown at the end of this year!

So . . . about those prizes . . .

The prize for Task One goes to: Shirley G.

The prize for Task Two goes to: Nancy S.

The prize for Task Three goes to: Tonia

I want to thank each and every one of you for playing along, sending pictures, commenting, reading, and most of all, DOING the tasks! I know it wasn’t easy for some of us — ahem — I’m still working on mine.

Here’s the state of my Cutting Table as of this afternoon (and it took me the entire time to get it to this point):

This is what 8 projects, a stack of pillowcases to sew up, a box of cat, and a basket of scraps to deal with looks like. Plus my tool caddies . . . And this is pretty much how I expect it to look, since I’m actually working, but look at all the space I now have to work in! It feels good. Now, to keep it clean!

Those fabric bins and boxes on the floor beside my Cutting Table are gone, which makes me super happy. Oh, my, the dust bunnies! I still have some dust and lint to clean up.

And don’t be fooled. Just around the corner to the left is another stack of bins I need to do something about. But having unpacked and put away FOUR boxes of fabric, and dealing with the scraps I found, does make me feel much better, and leads me to believe there is hope for the rest of the mess. It was very difficult to not add more projects to the cutting table as I cleaned. VERY difficult!

I have big plans for finishing lots of projects this year. My main rules for right now, so as not to undo all the progress I made during The Final Countdown:

1. No more than 10 projects on the cutting table at one time (I’d eventually like this to be 5 or less, but I have to also be realistic for the first couple months!)
2. Process new scraps weekly, so they don’t get out of control. I have a basket on my cutting table to put them in, and I’ll empty the basket every weekend. Also . . .
3. Put stray fabric away weekly, so I don’t have piles laying around everywhere. (And only buy more when it’s absolutely necessary to finish something I’m working on, which I’ll be doing tomorrow, because I found my oldest UFO while I was cleaning, and it needs backing!)
4. Completely clean off the cutting table at least once a month, but it would be even better if I did it every weekend.
5. Finish at least 2 projects a month to help whittle down my UFO list.

So for me, that’s a pretty tall order, and we’ll see how it goes. Some of you posted the rules you use for yourselves — are you making any new ones this year?

I also made a new 2021 Project List:

This year’s list doesn’t have as much sewing on it as it does organizing and cleaning, but I decided that’s really what needs to happen in here this year, so there you have it. Partly some hard work, partly some fun stuff.

I’ve once again made this form a downloadable, if you want it. Click here to get it: 2021ProjectList.

I didn’t do so hot on last year’s list. It’s like I got off to a good start, then just stopped. That’s because my entire year never goes as I envision it will in January. Come March, there’s a whole ‘nother set of projects and goals and interruptions. Does this only happen to me?

I’m also planning to challenge myself with something I unearthed while cleaning. I’ll tell you all about that soon. Telling you about it may help keep me accountable, but then again, it may not. Who knows? You may have the same dilemma, and want to join me!

I’ll be back in a few days with information on this coming year’s Studio Organizing Challenges, if you want to continue doing some organizing along with me all year.

And check in tomorrow for the wrap up of The 350 Blocks Project!