My Creative Space: Sewing Room

I am slowly getting there with the sewing room. I was chuffed when the letters went up on the wall and even more pleased when I noticed that my Flowerpress Hottie fitted on the wall next to the window.

My larger space was way overdue for a sort and chuck, things that I had been hoarding for decades. Consolidating things into a fixed space has been a good exercise for me. The space still looks like a bomb has hit it, but it is slowly coming together.

I ended up purchasing some Ikea wardrobe organisers to put my fat quarters into in black, however I still have to properly colour sort and press my collection. I still have to get some blinds to put in the room and a few other things up on the wall next to the window. The coloured noticeboard that was in the old room is shorter than the shelf above it. That is going to annoy the crap out of me, so I will be making a new one!

On Tuesday, with Nicholas strapped to my back in the ergo, I tackled my costume box and chucked half of it. Most went to the op shop, but some hats gloves and skirts went off to childcare. I have kept a few costumes for either sentimental or rarity reasons.

I guess to sum it all up, if it is not functional or beautiful, I'll be finding a new home for it. For more creative spaces, head over to Our Creative Spaces.

In other news, our old cat Anastasia has spent the week at the Vet. She is 16 years old, has kidney disease and a tooth abscess. So things are a bit tense here at the moment. She has had a good life, but I am not ready to loose her yet.

My Creative Space: Slow and steady wins the race

Moving the sewing room is happening slowly (perhaps too slowly). I've been down with a cold this week so energy levels are unpredictable.

An impromptu trip to Ikea last night resulted in some more storage containers for my *stuff*. Did you know that Ikea sell pretty good pinking shears in their textiles department for just $10?

De-cluttering has been fun, but has lead to arguments with my daughter. I've been dropping off my excess fabric scraps, ribbons and bits and pieces to her Kinder to use in craft, but little miss doesn't really want to share! I have explained to her that there is plenty of fabric for her to play with at home .. plenty!

This week I have finished putting my scraps into tubs (see on the bookcase!) and have acquired some pre-loved wardrobe organisation containers for my fat quarters. I am still not convinced that this is the way to go with the fats, but it is a workable solution at the moment.

We have another Billy to put up on the wall above the computer desk and pin boards to take down and re-locate. The old sewing room is starting to look a bit forlorn with empty bookcases and 60 litre tubs full of material ready to go into "storage".

I've got some more presents to make this week, so there should be lots to post about next week! Check out Our Creative Spaces for more ...

New Craft Space

My sewing or craft room is on the move. From the lovely spacious front room into the study which is half the size.

My current room is a patchwork of bookcases and storage units grabbed from other rooms in all sorts of colours. But every crafter longs for a nice organised space for their addiction. Materials nicely on display or stacked in tubs.

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White isn't necessarily my furniture 'colour of choice' for my living area, but white bookcases look better when filled with coloured fabrics and can make a smaller space look larger.

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I found this gorgeous idea of customising the fronts of these draws in this Ikea desk, BUT at the $1290AUD price tag for the unit, I might have to give it a miss!

I'm currently playing with ideas on how to store my fat quarters that are currently organised by colour and stacked vertically on bookcase shelves. Nice in theory, but I have found that when I pulled out a fat quarter it would disturb the neatly organised pile and then I would have to stack and sort the quarters once more. So I am looking for a more practical solution where I can remove colour collections and then I can put them back on the bookcase.

via Ikea

So I have been looking for CD or DVD Storage boxes as a way of storing my fat quarters. I can imagine that the rainbow of colours would look good in white boxes such as the ones above from Ikea. Alternatively, these plastic boxes from Officeworks might do the trick. The decision will probably come down to cost.

How do you store your fat quarters?

My creative space ...

I've been struggling with trying to get my creative space cleaned up for this Saturday. I have a few quilting friends coming over for a day of frivolity, sewing and Colin Firth. I might have to enlist my hubby tonight for one last "push" so that I can get that floor cleaned and the cutting desk cleared.

One thing that I have move past, is wanting for everything to be perfectly organised the first time. So I told myself, so long as the material is folded and stacked, it is good enough. The next "round" of tidying will be in similar colour collections and similar sizes. The fat quarters seem to be under control, but the yardage needs a good going over and serious organisational thought.

The days are ticking by and I am 20 days outbound from my due date and boy does it feel like it. I had all these dreams for what I wanted to sew when I stopped work, but I seem to be quite sore on the front of my belly (placenta at the back this time), which means that sitting at the sewing machine is not as enjoyable as it was last time I was 8 months pregnant.

For more creative spaces, click onto Kootoyoo to see who else is playing this week.

Tidy the Sewing Room

I've got 25 days to go on my gestational adventure and although I have a pile of sewing to do, the deal is that I don't do it until I have my sewing room tidy.

So I have been busy folding, sorting, ironing and labeling things in my sewing room to make it more functional again. Not so easy when you are 8+ months pregnant. I'm doing it a bit at a time, a CD at a time. Then I sit down rest, and get back up again for another CD worth of cleaning.

via Martha

I'm never going to have a Martha Stewart craft room with co-ordinated bookcases in white and avocado. The bookcases I use are reclaimed from another room when it was decorated. I've sorted my fabric into fat quarters, metres and if the fabric is too large, it is in a plastic tub under my sewing desk. There is method to my madness I am sure.

Once finished I have a few things I'd like to make before the baby is due. Added to the list today are some of the lovely items in this months Australian Homespun, as blogged by Bloom.