Lets Try This Again ..

Ok, even though i got moved into the house the end of May - and made a blog post saying how I was "back" .... yeah, well .... hopefully now I'm really back. 

It took a while for me to get the unpacking (most of it) done, and get things set up.  Lots of personal family issues going on as well, so that put the sewing room setup on hold.   

I finally got this table put together.  The instructions say you need 'at least two' people to do it.  Well, if you're determined enough (and creative enough) you can do it by yourself.  

Honestly, it's still a wreck (the sewing room) now that I finally have the cutting table put together, and I have an old desk to put the machine on, I can sew a little.  Fabrics and notions are still in storage buckets/bins stacked in the room but I need a little sewing therapy.   

Also, our church is having a festival/bazaar next month and I signed up months ago so I really need to make a few things so I won't have a totally empty booth/space.  

I did get in the sewing room and cut out a few things last night.  

I have made this recently. 

These are things I already had made before the move, previously listed in my Easy shop (which I closed during the move bc I was 'homeless' and could not ship anything. 

So, I hope to blog a little more often, and get re-involved in the sewing / quilting / blogging world!  I've missed it ... and all of you !

New Sewing Room (fka Living Room)

So Wednesday I bought a thrift store desk for just $5!  Sadly, it won't go through my interior doorway to get into the room I was making into a sewing room (I've been sewing on my kitchen table).   

So ..... today I went back to the thrift store and bought a little corner tv table I'd seen earlier in the week, so I could free up my new desk.   When I went in to see if they still had it, I discovered it had been marked down to just $1!

So I slid everything over to the edge of the desk ....

And was faced with this! 

After unplugging, untangling, and replugging every single wire I finally I ended up with this!

Then I commenced to folding the wads of material I had on my kitchen table and moving it to the desk, along with my cutting mat ...

I'm going to have to get BoyChild to make me some kind of collapsible leg for this ledge that pulls out. If you pull it out more than about 14" it begins to sag.  

The center two panels are actually just one deep drawer with a rack for hanging file folders.  I have some hanging folders so I am going to make this my pattern drawer! 

This top drawer is big enough for all my rulers (the 6 x 24 and the 12 x 12 both fit in here with ease!)

Pins, markers, scissors, and room for more.

18 x 24 cutting mat.

So then I stacked the fabric in the 'other room' and brought my sewing machine from the kitchen table. 

The top of the desk is 36" x 60" !!

So what if my living room is now my sewing room?  There's nobody living here but me and an occasional four-year old.  

And I have no idea why there is duct tape on the desk, it is very solid and in no need of reinforcements by duct tape!  

I'll still use my 'sewing room' to store and organize fabrics and supplies, but the actual sewing will take place in the living room.

Did I mention this desk was only $5 !!!

(Disclaimer:  Yes, those are poinsettias you see on my shelf.  I forgot to put them away last year when I put away everything else.  But hey, it's almost Christmas again, right?)

Sewing Space

Ellison Lane is have a "show us your sewing space" linky to go along with their spotlight series.

I recently cleaned out a (teeny tiny) spare bedroom in hopes of making that my sewing room.  And someday it will be.  I just haven't been able to find an affordable sturdy table for cutting and sewing yet.

I do have most of my stash stashed (haphazardly) in there so at least that is a little bit of progress.  Though I really need to sort through it and organize it now that I actually do have a little bit of stash.

In the meantime, my cutting / sewing area is my kitchen table.  It is really a great table (maybe I should move it into my sewing room and use a card table in the kitchen since we seldom eat at the table anyway!)

My basting area is my living room floor.  That's not really ideal since I have carpet, but I do have one of those foldout cardboard cutting board things that helps a little bit.  I don't have much floor space (I live in a pretty small home) so I don't know what I'll do if I ever want to do anything larger than twin size.

So ... here is my "sewing space" .....

My sewing / cutting / kitchen table

My basting area / living room floor 

(and this only a 46 x 62 -- not even a real twin size!)

My cutting / sewing table (when I get one) will go in the area where the baby mat is

These boxes will go to BoyChild's house as soon as I can get him to come and take them

Some stash - some thrift store pillows waiting for new covers

More stash 

And, there you have it!  :-)

Tuesday's Tales ...

A few things to share this week.  

I've committed to join a quilt-along with Polly (see button in my right sidebar).   The first thing is picking out and purchasing our fabrics.  There's still plenty of time for you to join, check out the first post here. 

These are the fabrics I have ordered from Sisters And Quilters.  I'll be stalking the mailman again! 

I completed a custom order today for a co-worker's granddaughter.  Said granddaughter picked out her fabrics and brought them to me.  

I also have another custom order to complete this week.  Another co-worker's daughter has moved into her first apartment and needs pillow covers.  Daughter bought fabric and brought it to me, I will be making envelope back type pillow covers.

These are the two fabrics she chose (the beige is the sofa).

And, today I got Gabbie's bed moved from the small bedroom, to the large bedroom (which is also her playroom) so now I can start setting up the small bedroom for a sewing room!  Yay!  

And ... when Baby Brother came to help move the bed, he says he has a dining table I can use as long as I need it (which of course will be forever unless he decides he wants it back!)  He says he hasn't used it for anything but a catch-all in years (if he eats at home he eats in the living room in front of the tv).

Hoping to get it set up soon (maybe this weekend if Baby Brother can deliver the table for me).   It will be wonderful to have a dedicated space that doesn't have to be picked up, moved, put out of reach of little hands. I can just close the door and leave everything ready to use.  

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday and Show And Tell Tuesday and WIP Wednesday and Needle And Thread Thursday.