Done Enough!

This is the kitchen table. Do you notice what's on it? NOTHING! I have dealt with all the fabric and stuff that was on it. I must admit a lot of it was just stuffed on the bookshelves, but I'll get to them later.

I have to tell you, this was a long process. I started on the 9th, and 10 days later I'm done with the fabric portion. I still have lots of organizing and deciding to do, but I need to get some sewing done so I feel like I actually accomplished something. I guess it's my reward.

This is what the room looks like now.

The fabric closet. I actually have put a few more things in the lowest cubes, but only a few.

Just to the right of the fabric closet.  The pictures move around the room to the right.

Still unorganized, but I can do that relatively easily (I hope.)

My view when I sit at the sewing machine.

The Bailey's quilter. I butted it up against my cutting table so I have room for the quilt, and room behind to sit.

The design wall, and the small brown table thing is my treadle machine. 

And the fabric closet, with the new curtains closed.

Progress: I think

How can there still be this much stuff left to go through? It's mostly fabric but other miscellaneous stuff that was in the top part of the closet was also piled on the table

 I've put this much fabric away! Is it multiplying? I guess I've done a few other things today. I did do the laundry and put it away. I went through my clothes (closet and drawers) and discarded and organized and donated. I donated a chair, donated a cupboard that was in my room, went through all the patterns I had and discarded what I didn't love any more. Shopped for hardware then bolted the bookcases together.

OK, I did more that I realized. I feel a bit better now.


The bookcases have most of the stuff on them that is going to go, at least from the shelves I took down, the cupboard I donated and the stuff that didn't belong in the fabric closet. The problem is, there is no order, not even a little, not yet. I'm trying not to look at it when I walk in the room, because it is feeling a bit overwhelming. I have to decide where everything is going to go, and then put it there.

More of the cutting table is visible as well. I've put some things away, and gotten rid of some things.






There is also more space to walk around in the living room. The chair that got donated had a whole pile of sewing stuff on it that got dealt with before I donated it.

OK, whew. I feel MUCH better. Thanks for listening!

Rolling some Fabric

No, even though I live in Colorado I am not smoking the fabric!

My previous method of storing fabric was to fold it around 9 inch plastic board, then stack it in the small cubes I have. They just fit in the space, so it was a pretty good fit. The big problem was that taking pieces out from the bottom of the stack, then trying to get pieces back in to a stack resulted in a mess, and after a while I would just stuff pieces in.

I decided that I needed to tidy that mess up. The cubes I have are about 14 x 14 x 10. Previously they were put together so they were taller rather than wider. I took them apart and put them back together so they are now wider rather than taller and I'm folding my fabric around acid-free comic book boards.

The mini bolts that result are easier to move around. The go in and come out of the cubes much more easily. The only change I'm going to make is to put a pin in each fabric to hold the end in.

While doing my searching for fabric organization methods I found a free PDF for wraps for remnants. I am using it for larger than scraps, but smaller than mini-bolts. I'm going to put these in a basket or a tote; somehow make them relatively easy to access. If you're interested you can find them here.

Design Wall--Working Again

I'm finally quilting some of the tops I have. In one spot, I've counted 17, oops (and that's not all of them). I already have a bunch of fleece to finish them off. This one will be a charity quilt when it's done.

The pictures below show the "after" of cleaning up my sewing room. I have some "before" pictures but they're on the other computer and I can't get to it right now. Believe me, you'll be impressed when you see them. It was so awful I wasn't sewing at all. My husband was gone for about 2 weeks, so I took the opportunity to move all of the totes out of the room and go through them. Get rid of stuff, move other stuff into more accessible places and make the room easier to work in. One thing I did was move the computer desk out. Now when I'm sewing and my mind wanders I have to walk down the hall about 30 feet to get to it. At least I'm getting some walking in :^)

The quilt on the design wall below is one I've been waiting to put borders on for a while. I got them done, now I think it's going to be the next top I quilt. By the way, it is NOT one of the 17 tops I have.

If you would like to see more design walls, check out Judy's blog.

This corner isn't changed much. I cleaned up some the piles, but now I've added new ones!

Much cleaner. I've turned the table, and the sewing machines that were catching all the extra junk are now holding up my ironing station.

The two sewing machines are under this pressing station. I made it 3 x 5 feet, so plenty big. I piled some stuff on it that will be going away next week. The green "fabric" in the center front is a duvet from Ikea, loved the fabric, and when I figured the price per  yard, it was only about $2...a deal.

The closet used to have plastic containers in the bottom part. I stuffed junk in there and never thought of it again. This way, I'll at least be able to see it. I know it doesn't look too organized, but it it is.

Clean Up Time

 I'm in need of another cleaning spree and reorganization in the sewing room. My husband is not here for the moment, and I decided now is the time to take everything out and try again. It's not a huge room...just about 10x12, so I have to choose wisely when I set things up. I moved everything around a couple of months ago, and it's just not working. I'm ending up with piles everywhere (not so unusual) but the no place to put lots of stuff.

I'm hoping it will work this time, and I won't end up with stuff EVERYWHERE.

Here I go!

Good Grief!

I had no idea it had been so long since I posted. I don't usually work during the summer, but this summer I am, so I am all messed up. The school year ended at the end of May, I worked an extra week, then started on the bathroom (it's done but for the molding around the window and the door.) Then we went to visit a friend in Utah for a week, then more work on the bathroom. Then I worked a week, then more work on the bathroom...are you seeing a pattern here? The bathroom was supposed to take about 1 week--hah!

Then 5th of July we had some people up for the day (we have a symphony with the 1812 overture, cannon and fireworks) so we had to finish the bathroom and clean the house (everything that had been in the bathroom was all over the house) and then last week work, this week work, then off 2 weeks (yippee!) then back to work for the new school year.Whew!

Not much sewing going on, but I got the bug to clean out the fabric closet, and you know where that leads. If you take all the bits and pieces (supposedly fat quarters) and move them out  of the closet, they have ot have somewhere to go. If you move some stuff out of bins so you can put the fabric in there (by color--I've never done that before) you have to find a place for that stuff. Once you have a place for that stuff, you've moved some other stuff around and....it just keeps on.

I have to share the fruits of my labor. Husbands just don't appreciate as much, at least mine doesn't. I didn't remember to take pictures before I started, but you can imagine. Above is the closet. I decided to try to organize by color--then I have some specific use fabrics. I make Joe bright shirts, so buy fabric when we go to Hawaii or when I see stuff I think he'll especially like. I didn't know I had so much. I also love stack n whack quilts, and didn't know I had so much of that either. No more purchases till there's room in the cubby. The hand dyes are for a baby blocks quilt for Joe; some I've bought, some I dyed.

Here is a picture of the "fat quarters". Really they're less than yard pieces. Can you tell I like blues and greens? It's kind of fun to see it all this way.

Then, just so you don't think EVERYTHING is done, check out the cutting table. I still have a way to go.

Still Making Progress

I'm almost there. Here are some current pics so you can see what I am up to. This is the current state of affairs, so not beautiful--just real.

Here is a more recent shot of the closet. You can see I unearthed some more fabric, I think that's all now. I've looked through all the bins and I think that's it. (Oh, wait, I packed up lots of fabric before I went to Germany in 2003--I wonder what's in those boxes. We still haven't brought them out of storage--hmmm, that must mean more to come.)

This is where I am going to put 2 floating shelves for books and other stuff. The ironing board will have to have a home, but I don't know where yet--there's no room in the closet.

Here is the cutting table with bins below. Those mostly contain project fabrics, notions, strips, and some other miscellaneous bits and pieces. The striped wall behind the cutting table will have my design wall on it. I think I'm going to string a cable from wooden wall to wooden wall and then put rings with clips to hold the design wall and quilts when I want to take pictures. I can step out the door to get far enough away to take pics of bigger quilts.

Here is the wall with my computer and the pictures I just frames. Those are the old windows from this room. As you can see, there is still a need for straightening, but almost there, almost time to sew again.

Can we call it done?

Well, this my friends is a floor. And that up there, that is a ceiling... and lights! I couldn't be prouder if I had done it myself--wait, I did do it myself--with a bit of help from my honey!

I can begin moving stuff in and I hope by next weekend I will be sewing again. There is still finish work to be done. The blue around the window isn't a decorative touch, it's painters tape to keep the cold out. Luckily it isn't very cold yet. But still, YIPPEE!!!

Oh and on a bit of a sewing note (sort of) the machine on the left is from my Grandpa, an old Kenmore; and the one on the right is the treadle I bought this summer. I don't know where they'll go permanently yet, but they're in the sewing room.

...

Started the Ceiling

Well, we finally started on the ceiling tiles. There was much rending of garments and gnashing of teeth before we got the first tile up, but now we're OK. That's pretty much how we work when we're starting something neither of us has done before. We think VERY differently so trying to communicate unknows can sometimes be loud, but once we get going--we're good. I like the look of the tile. There are a few blips already, but you know what, I'm not a perfectionist, so we will continue and "call it good". If you want to see the design on the ceiling you might be able to with a click on the picture. Maybe we'll be done tomorrow--oh, except for the molding, well, and the floor!

Sewing room work

Well, I've finished papering one wall in the sewing room. Just one more to go. Because I am papering on unfinished drywall, I had to seal it so that if/when we decide to take the paper off it won't pull the paper from the drywall. The first picture is of the sealed drywall, see how shiny it is. The second is of the wallpaper. It's not very exciting in this picture, or really in person. It just has some texture that will be painted over. I am going to Washington state for a conference next week, so won't be saying much.

Have a great week.