New Space! part 2

My sewing space before was our family room.  That worked fine until the recent addition to my sewing arsenal.  My son and his friends have moved all the gaming equipment to the basement, so they spend most of their time down there.  My daughter moved out several years ago after graduating from college and getting a job.  So, it is just my husband and I rattling around up here most of the time.  We decided the best choice was to make the livingroom/diningroom my new sewing space.  So now I have two rooms.  One room for my new long arm and the other for my sewing machine and 'stuff.'  My son was a little concerned when the lights were added to the long arm frame and my husband commented, "Now you can sew all night!"  We all laughed but than he realized his bedroom is right above the room my longarm is in, and what if I really did sew all night!

Here are some photos of what was my dining room.  The first photo is my wall of cubicles.  The drawers and doors are labeled (we added those last year) because when I put something behind a closed door well, I'm like a toddler 'out of site, out of mind.'  It helps me remember what I have and where it should be.  You can see my folding table for cutting/ironing in front of the window.

If you swing to the right you can see my Bernina.  I still need a better table for this, but it works for now.  There is another storage shelf in the corner.  This one has a lot of recyclable materials on it.  At least I am hoping to recycle them.  Every year the Textile Center has an exhibit of art made from recycled materials.  That's one of the challenges I hope to enter next year.

Swing a little farther to the right.  Now you can see my old sewing cabinet with my almost 30 year old Kenmore tucked inside and my embellisher sitting on top.  Did I mention I have a lot of toys.  The embellisher was a Christmas gift.  I'm excited that I have room for it now.  I plan to use my Kenmore for some of my experimental sewing techniques.  I really like the work that Maggie Grey does and want to try some of her techniques.  Two of her books I have are Raising the Surface with Machine Embroidery & textile translations: mixed media.  One of my recycled items to make is a purse.  I've saved heavy brown packing paper for this.  I have the book Bags with paper and stitch Innovative Surface Techniques for Embellishing Bags by Isobel Hall.  One other book I want to experiment with is The Art of Stitching on Metal by Ann Parr.  I just got some very light weight metal to play with from Joggles.  I can't wait to try it looks like so much fun.

The shelves hold my paintsticks, paints, inks and pencils,  glues and foil, stamps and stencils, shibori tools, brushes and other tools.  The three boxes below hold ribbons, yarns, bits of wool, and anything else that I think might work for my embellisher.  The file cabinet has class print outs and other notes that I wanted to save for reference.

Swing one more turn to the right and you can see into the other room where my new long arm is still in the assembly stage.  You can also see my tv on a stand with wheels.  I can swing it to be watched in either room.  Notice my Quilt Show DVD's waiting to watched.

Last turn in the room shows you my corner with a few more cabinets and a light.

Here is one last shot of the room as a whole.  I'm sure there is still some tweaking to be done and once I start creating it will never look this neat again but I hope you enjoyed this look at my new sewing space.  Have a creative day. Janet

New space! part 1

Hi

I have been working on rearranging my sewing/quilting/craft whatever you want to call my creative space. I found a magnet that sort of explains me.  I like to do new things, try new things, explore new things, so here is my new motto:

I put most of my fabric on some open shelves that I already had (re-purposed from another room in the house).  I was worried about sun damage and the cats decided it made a cushy bed.

So now I re-purposed my Target boxes.  I did buy a couple more (they were on sale this week)  I like to be able to see all of my fabric so somewhere down the road I may buy some shelves with doors I can close.  This works OK for now.

I really like my organizational space.  I want to try to enter some challenges this year.  So I have a pocket to put information about challenges that interest me.  I also have a pocket for the many postcard exchanges I am involved in.  Somehow I just can't say no, at least very often.

The long list is things I need to complete.  Many are almost done, just need to be quilted.  A few are still ideas in my mind.  

Right below this is my new dog couch.  I had to take the old (people)couch out of the room to make room for my monstrously huge new machine, so Mocha Chip needed a new bed.

And here is a hint of why I needed the new bigger space! Have a creative Day! Janet

Sneak Peak!

Hi,

Still working on my space.  I have trouble with motivation when it comes to organizing and cleaning.  Lucky for me the Quilt on a Budget group is giving me incentive to finish.  Joan is having a contest for the messiest quilting/sewing space and a second contest for the neatest.  I'm pretty sure I could have won the messiest last week but I'm glad I now have a chance to try for the neatest.  Even if I don't win the prize, ( a copy of STUDIOS magazine) I will win because my space will be so organized.  There are lot's of ideas for working on your space on the QOB blog right now as well as a giveaway sponsored by Country Stencils.  You can use the stencils to paint on your quilt.  Be sure and check out the Quilt on a Budget blog.

Here is a photo of my cubbies that have been following me around our home for at least fifteen years.  They have multiplied a couple of times but I bought most of them on clearance at Target years ago.  This last year I had my husband add the little holders so I can label each drawer/door with what is inside.  Am I getting old?  I can't always remember where I put everything and this helps so it more often ends up back in the same spot when I am finished.  They aren't completely organized yet and I need to rework the open shelves but I like the arrangement.  

I put three over in the corner with a light on top.  You can never have too many lights in a sewing space.  This lamp is more than 30 years old but it works great.  I added the fabric and bow a long time ago.  Definitely time to jazz up the fabric or re-paint the base of the lamp.  (The photo is me can you tell?)

Here are my fabric shelves.  I need to make something to hang in front to protect them from the sun and the cats.  One of my cats has already decided the second shelf from the bottom on the left is the perfect spot to hide away.  The second shelf from the bottom on the right has projects that I have everything I need to finish.  The shelf above that is projects in process that I still need to get backing and or batting to complete.  So, those two shelves should be empty in no time right?

One of my shibori dyed fabrics was chosen as photo of the week in the Fiber Focus group.  Here is a photo of that fabric.  I guess it should be on my incomplete project shelf.  I still haven't decided how to finish it.  Waiting for inspiration. Have a creative day! Janet