Mini Ironing Board

When my mother gave me this mini ironing board this weekend I don't think she figured it would appear as the star of a blog post. It's perfect for doing patchwork projects -- a small piece of particle board with short legs to use on a table top. Just needs a replacement cover and some batting since it's a bit stinky from living in the basement.

I wasn't able to finish last week's Dear Jane blocks. It was a rough week and a busy weekend. Both blocks are started so hopefully it won't take much to get caught up again.

It's Monday already?

New Sewing Room

THE BEFORE PHOTOS:

I did it! I moved my sewing room from our spare bedroom to the sun room this past Saturday.

There is much less floor space in the sun room and it's difficult to place furniture because of all the windows. But being downstairs and right off of the living room does encourage more sewing. It's easy to 'drop by' the sun room.

I had an old kitchen table as a desk before. Lots of table top space, yes, but it took up too much floor space. So I moved my current sewing table and grabbed it's twin from my husband's office (he has inherited the old kitchen table). I have my old drafting table from art school set up as a cutting table. And I was able to fit a small book case underneath it...it just made it too.



I originally forgot that I had to include an ironing board in there as well. But it also just made it in. There is enough room for me to turn around in here and not much more.

I was able to get all of my notions into that little wooden box on the floor. And some of my fabric is on the book case but most of it is still upstairs. A problem for another day.

I forgot to take a picture of the other side of the room but it is the same as it was. I did throw a blanket over that old green chair though.

Now I just need to make some pretty things for my one blank wall.

Moving the Sewing Room

The sun room was a sitting room for a while after we moved in but we never sat in it. So I converted it to my office and I'm still not in there a lot. Now I'm planning on converting it to my sewing room/office. I just need to figure out furniture and storage, pack things up and move everything.

The sun is REALLY BRIGHT in here and so it gets pretty hot in the summer. I made those bottom-half cafe curtains a few years ago. They have enough coverage for some privacy but not enough to tame the summer sun. Some panels that just stick to the top of the windows with velcro hidden above the window trim might do the trick.

I'm pretty sure that if my sewing room was moved to the sun room I would get more sewing in during the week as well. It's easy to slip into this room and still be engaged with what is going on in the house since it is on the first floor. My current sewing room is upstairs at the end of the hall...miles away from the hub of the house.

Casey enjoying the sun room.

I would love to get the move done this quickly but we'll have to see how the weekend goes. There's a lot of figurin' to be done before hand. I'll try to get some good before and after photos for you all.

Inspiration Wire

These 'inspiration wires' I've been seeing around blogland and on Flickr are right up my alley. Simple, useful and pretty. I've seen kits for sale but that just seems silly. Just takes two nails or tacks, a length of wire, cord or ribbon, and some clothes pins. All of which can be found in most basements.

Instructions: Hammer one nail or tack into the wall. Tie the ribbon or cord to the nail (or wind some wire around the nail). Stretch out the ribbon, cord or wire to where you want the second hole to be then hammer in the second nail or tack. Tie the other end of the ribbon to the nail. Easy.

To start off my inspiration wire (or 'ribbon' in this case), I printed out pictures of my pretty kitties and some of my favorite Flickr pictures.

See the full sized pictures (from left to right):

• Black cross stitch
• Framed cross stitch: Not from Flickr...unfortunately I can't remember where I found this sampler.
• Log cabin wall hanging
• "The Moon in Autumn" quilt from TOKYO International Great Quilt Festival 2008
• Izzy
• Pincushion
• Pillow
• Casey
• Pincushion
• Rauiri
  

Sewing Machine Cover

Thanks everyone for your nice comments on my last post. I feel better about the quilt layout now.

Sorry about the photos in this post. The dark blue fabric just wasn't very photogenic.


I have wanted to make a sewing machine cover for a while. I don't like the hard plastic one that snaps onto the machine. It's very old and the handle is falling apart so I prefer to keep it in a closet.


I used left over fabric from other projects. The dark blue, light-weight canvas is from some valances I made for my old apartment (they were very modern/nautical looking with simple white sheers underneath). And the blue floral print is left over from cafe curtains I have in my office (very girly-girly).

In our current house I have both an office in a sun room and a sewing area in a spare bedroom. When we move, these spaces will be consolidated. I'm looking forward to that...having everything together. So I went with the blue fabrics since I knew that the sewing machine was going to be living in the same room as the cafe curtains at some point.

I just might be posting a tutorial on how I put this baby together. Stay tuned.

Crafty Space, Part 2

The Domestic Diva has an impressive collection of posts about sewing room organization. You're going to need some time to read through it all! Lots of great info, tips and ideas.

Here are her different topics:
• Getting Started
• Part I - Fabric
• Part II - Thread
• Part III - Needles and Stabilizers
• Part IV - Laces, Trims and Ribbons
• Part V - Sewing Library: Patterns, Embroidery Designs, Magazines and Books
• Part VI - Notion Commotion

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Photo: A corner of my craft room. From left to right, very old thread (too old to use)in a jar, safety pins, and very small button collection [note to self: find more buttons.]
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Crafty Space

I love poking around on Flicker. Some of my latest searches have been: : "cross stitch", "denyse schmidt", and "craft spaces". (I'm pretty boring if you can't tell.) The latter search is because I have been dreaming of what my new work space will look like once we buy our new house. In order to SELL our current home, I have had to keep my half of the spare bedroom pretty neat:

See image with notes here.

(I cleared off my 'inspiration board' right before the photo. Need to fill that up again!)

I use the dresser on the left for patterns, notions and fabric. WIPs are in another dresser on the right (not in photo).


I kinda like it this way though. All tidy. I get so annoyed when I have to move things a thousand times just to get a project done or it's my psychosis where I can't relax if things are out of sorts (more likely).

Does clutter induce creativity as is discussed in this New York Times article? Could I be more creative if I just let it all hang out? (I think my brain may be cluttered enough.)

And, boy oh boy, do I have big plans for that new work space! Fabric will be out of the drawers and onto shelves. Hopefully I won't go into fits if it isn't all lined up.