On "Mise en Place"

Mise en place is French for "putting in place." Professional chefs use it to gather, measure, and organize their ingredients and tools before starting to cook so everything is at the ready.

We are in the process of buying a new house and thus packing and moving. It is a stressful time. I don’t have the regular schedule I am accustomed to, so there are a few adjustments I have to make. I am fine doing that, but they are adjustments nonetheless.

I know my schedule between now and end of September will be stop-start. I have trips I am scheduled to take out of town, family visits, packing-moving-unpacking to do, and other more common interruptions that happen anyway. So this summer is busy and I don;t know when I will have opportunity to quilt regularly.

So, I am using mise en place today for my quilting work, getting several projects ready: cut and at least partially pieced before all these events start occurring. I figure this way, once I'm settled into my new studio, I can get back into the swing of things quicker and easier because I will have a stack of projects ready to be finished. Staying organized will help me to make time to sew without spending the time trying to figure out what to do next. Once I finish these prepared projects - which, admittedly are very simple just to keep the sewing going - I will be back to my regular schedule and can tackle some of the more complex projects I have designed but that need closer and more consistent attention.