I'm So Organized, It's Scary!

Don't know if I have shown any photos of my third floor studio areas since all the painting and organizing.  There are two finished attic rooms, each with two closets, that I have taken over for my sewing, fabric, and painting.  Most of the time they are not exactly places to show off, featuring lots of works in progress- on the tables, floors, spilling out the door and down the steps. 

No more!

This wall has a tiny door to more storage space under the eaves.  I have my boxes of half yard or more fabric, and some other fabric-related containers here.  That's my cool Sony Ipod dock on top.

 

 

On the wall next to that one is my Janome sewing table, pegboards of notions, more containers, and the ironing board to the left.

 

 

I re-organized the plastic drawers next to the sewing table, and even made labels from some of my painted papers.

 

 

The first closet has more plastic drawers with my fabric scraps sorted by color, miscellaneous other supplies, and my bolts of batting that used to be stored on the rod under my Gammill.  Since my Gammill is on loan to another quilter until we move, I had to find a place for the batting.

 

 

Let's move to the other room, which mostly contains paints, papers, and supplies for journaling and mixed media.  I think when last seen, this large work table was covered with projects and my "stuff."  Not now...and the walls are painted a soft beige called "String of Pearls."

 

See that painting of hollyhocks?  I did not want to put a nail in my freshly-painted walls, so I used those Command strips to hang the framed picture on the wall.  A few days later it fell down, breaking the frame, and tearing the paint off the walls where the adhesive ripped it.  Not what they are cracked up to be!

 

 

I have a triple dresser on the next wall.  I have some quirky labels identifying the contents of the drawers.  Mysterious contents such as "Collage Fodder."

 

The painting on that wall is still hanging, but I see it needs straightening!  That old wooden chair used to be in my husband's grandparents' kitchen.  We used a set of those for our kitchen chairs when we were first married...and for the next thirteen years!  I think it is soon destined to be a potted plant container.

 

 

I have had this wooden bookcase in this room for years.  It usually had so many books and supplies in it, on it, and around it, that you could not even stand in front of it.  Now it is cleared out and neatly organized, with room for more.  I donated a lot of my books to the public library, the Capital Quilters Guild silent auction, and Goodwill.

 

 

 

I still like to peek in this closet and see my colorful bins of art supplies.

 

 

Now, do I want to start using some of this stuff and risk making a mess again?  LOL- I have hardly done anything since the summer.  I do have a few more pages in my Moleskine journal done, so I will have to take some pictures soon.

 

I continue to be captivated by the afternoon light this time of year.  Now that the leaves are changing here in the Raleigh area, it is almost too beautiful in the golden afternoon.

 

 

 

 

My gardens are still hanging on, and I hope the flowers will last a few more weeks.  Here are some flowers near our garden pond in front.

 

And the knock-out roses are still pretty.  They were a great investment, and very little care compared to regular tea roses which must be sprayed constantly for black mold here in the south.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Little Give-Away

Sorry about the no-posting for the last week.  Ever since we got the Pod, I have spent my days organizing and packing "stuff" to put in it!  Our son Dave came over Wednesday night and helped carry some of the heavier bookshelves and furniture downstairs.   The Pod is only about one-fourth full.

Here is a little give-away:  I discovered a pattern for a "Japanese Lanterns" quilt, along with twelve squares of Oriental fabric, as I was organizing my sewing room.

 

I think I won this prize back in the nineties, not long after Al Gore invented the Internet!  All you would need to add is some black fabric for the sashings, white for the corner triangles, and a border fabric.

The directions are simple, only one page total. 

Since we will be building a log cabin, this style of fabric just will not work for our rustic environment.  If you would like to have the pattern and fabric squares, just leave a comment after this post.  I will choose a random winner Wednesday night.

I actually removed all the boxes and totes and piles of projects from both closets in my former sewing room.  Then I painted the inside and doors of the closets a gleaming white, so I could start putting some neatly organized containers back in.  I have found that the plastic containers that dishwasher detergent pods come in make good storage units that fit on the narrow shelf at the top of each closet.

The two rooms on the third floor are finished attic rooms, so there is the sloping roofline to deal with.  Most of the things neatly contained on the shelf were formerly spread across my workdesk, cutting table, or on the floor before the clean-up.

I have invested in lots of 15-quart, 34-quart, and 66-quart storage bins for the UFO's and fabric collections.  I like the Hefty brand, with snap-on handles that allow the lid to close tightly.  I think that my fabrics will be safe in the Pod in these containers. 

I am storing the books that go with each project in the container.  That way, if I pull the neatly labeled box, everything I need will be there, ready to get to work.

I finished with the bookcase yesterday.  Man, I have a lot of books.   The former HGTV program Simply Quilts cost me a lot of money!  Every time I saw a guest demonstrate a project I liked from her book, I ordered it.  If I had time, I would try to sell them on e-Bay, but it is easier to box up the ones I don't need and donate them to our local library or the Goodwill Industries.  I have kept all the books on art quilts and embellishment, and a few favorite quiltmaking books like the ones by McClun and Nownes.   I do have a new granddaughter arriving in December who will be needing a baby quilt! 

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win the Japanese fabrics and pattern!

Sewing Space Organization

There are lots of great deals in the stores these days. Here is purchase I am quite proud of: a flexible, clamp-on Ott light for my Gammill. It was on the Clearance shelf at Michael's Craft Store in North Raleigh. I was able to use my 40% off coupon with it, for a grand total of $12.00 for this great light. The only other light in the room is an overhead fan with light fixture, and a floor model Ott light that just did not work out with the Gammill, since I was always knocking it over.

I am continuing to try to organize my sewing space on the third floor. I have just about finished with organization of my "stash." There are two narrow closets in the sewing room. Here is the first one, which holds my fat quarters, hand-dyed fabric in the tall drawers, and pre-cut squares and strips in the shoe-boxes.Bonnie Hunter came to our guild this year and explained how she "tames" her scraps by cutting into strips and squares of 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3.5", etc. I already had a lot of these cut up. I'm not sure I will keep them in these fabric shoe-boxes, because they are collapsible.

Here is the other closet. This one is directly behind the embellisher machine table, so I can just wheel my chair backward and reach for some yummy stuff. Like this basket of hand-dyed cheesecloth, part of my postcard challenge prize from Vicki Welsh.

The two tallest plastic drawers are my scraps, sorted by color.

The two shorter drawers are for ribbons, trims, and other embellishments. I used one of my old organization tools from my elementary school experience: label everything, and include a sample of what's inside on the label.

My larger pieces of fabric (half-yard or more) are sorted by color in these plastic bins on another 9-cubby shelf unit against the wall.

This wall is only about five feet high because of the sloping ceiling of this finished attic space. Looks like I need to use up or get rid of some of these pieces so the tops will actually fit on the plastic tubs. But, it is looking a lot better than the old system. I used to keep the fat quarters in the wooden triple dresser, and the plastic tubs on top. That was not working out too well, was it? Along with my little stereo and talking books and CD collection?

I did not plan to ever show off the wreck that was my old sewing room, but I guess as I get it cleaned out, I will show the old versus new. Can you see why it is taking me so long to shovel out this room?

To try to keep things off the floor, I am using pegboards on the walls. This one, for rulers and rotary cutters, fits on the narrow space between the two closets.


This one is on the wall next to my sewing table. Yesterday I bought some more thread racks at Joann's, so I would not have any plastic drawers and boxes of thread lying around. I have not put those up yet. I have already discovered that I do not like having rotary cutters and scissors stationed directly above my head when I am sewing- those will have to move! I like the little wire baskets that attach to the pegboard. A good place to put sewing machine oil, fray-check, etc.

I still have only one design wall mounted, but will try to get DSH (Dear Sweet Husband) to help me hang the other one this weekend. I have unearthed the basket and boxes of fabric and UFO's that I brought home from our friend Spike's house after his wife passed away two years ago. Pam made these very precise blocks with perfectly mitered frames, and I intend to finish the quilt for Spike. I found an assortment of squares left over from some of her other projects, and auditioned them next to her blocks, which are already sewn together. I don't know why she used so much pink in a quilt for a manly man, but I thought I would try adding more blue-greens and tans for an outer border. I'm not sure about that... but I definitely do not want to make any more of those mitered log cabin blocks. It will have some kind of scrappy border. There are yards of what looks like sashing strips in a lime green...don't think I will be using that for this project. I wish there was a pattern or hint of where she was going with some of her UFO's. Memo to self: store UFO's with a copy of the pattern or book, along with the fabrics selected for that project.

We might have a little snow here this weekend, although there is a much greater chance in the mountains. I'm glad we had our family gathering last weekend, because many of the folks had to travel from Boone and other points west. We are planning to go to try out Dave and Emily's new hot tub on Saturday. Sitting outdoors in a hot tub, watching it snow...sounds delightful!

Sewing Space Organization

It is getting to be that time of year again when you can't post pictures of your latest projects...because they are destined to become holiday surprises! I am making something for the gift exchanges for both my local bee, The Whacky Ladies, and my larger group, the CyberBee.

But, while Charlie is at deer camp, I finally decided to bite the bullet and organize my sewing room- a long overdue project. In fact, I blogged about moving out my son's stuff and painting his bedroom back in February, 2008. Then, in July, 2008, I made the flannel-covered design walls. Since then, the design walls have just been propped up, and I never got around to putting this room together. I put my embellisher in there and enjoyed surrounding myself with projects on the design walls.

Then, I got a new sewing table, but it never got out of the box until this weekend.

Finally, it got to the point where I had to do something. I am having to step over boxes and bags, my cutting table and ironing boards are loaded with fabric, and I can't find things I know I have in there SOMEWHERE. So, this weekend I started trying to organize. It is slow and painful. I am not very good at hanging things on the wall with screws. I'd rather stop and work on a project than de-clutter. Wouldn't you?

My space is a finished attic that has two small rooms and a landing. I have decided to put my sewing machine and embellisher in the newly painted room, along with an ironing board, cutting table, and most of my fabric.

The other room will have all my drawing and painting supplies, the long table I formerly used for sewing, a large wooden bookcase with all my quilting/art books, most of my UFO's (UnFinished Objects), PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks), WIPs (Works in Progress), etc. and a workstation desk with slanted top for drawing/designing ( which I bought with a half-price coupon from Michael's about two years ago and is still in the box).


Both of the two rooms have two narrow closets with hinged doors. Since it is an attic space, there are knee-walls and sloping ceilings, which limits the space quite a bit.

I bought a 4-drawer file cabinet for $5 at a roadside flea market, de-rusted and painted it...and finally put it together a couple days ago. This will house my patterns and all those articles I print off from the computer and snip out of magazines. It will live on the landing between the two rooms, along with my small refrigerator and some wire bookshelves for my copies of Quilting Arts magazines.

So far, I have:

• set up the sewing table and put my machine in it, and plugged everything in
• put up a pegboard next to the table and organized my threads and sewing tools
• Set up the ironing board behind the sewing machine and plugged in the iron
• sorted out my embellishments like rick-rack, fibers, ribbons, and yarns, and put them in labeled drawers
• moved my color-sorted clear plastic containers of half-yard and larger pieces into the new room in a 9-hole cubby
• Mounted one of the design walls- will wait for DH to help with the second
• Replaced the bulb in my Ott light and replaced the overhead bulbs in both rooms with brighter, white light bulbs. Ah, much better!
• Moved the stack of wrapping paper and gift boxes off the landing (okay, now it is on the stairs leading to the third floor and needs to be dealt with)

Today's goal: finish one customer quilt, mount and begin the next customer quilt (another "flower power" quilt), and clear off the cutting table and move it to the new room.

Better GOMA (Get Off My A_ _) and get busy!