Sewing Room Nightmare

Why am I doing this to  myself — showing off the disgrace that my sewing room has become? Because I hope that it will motivate me to do something about it today. If it remains cool enough, I hope to get up there and put things back to order. I'm taking up a big bag to "release" a lot of stuff that has no business being there in the first place. My plan of attack is to place a large sheet over the top of my bed and use that to organize from...maybe. This could backfire if we have no place to sleep tonight. It could also backfire if I have no afters to share by this evening. 
Stay tuned.
Have a productive day!
ツ

Edited to Add: Oh my. Some of you know me too well or else this is an Everywoman story. The minute I got a surface cleared I started making something or mending something. Thus far, I've assembled a dozen magnets, made a potholder, mended a pillow, and ironed dinner napkins. I was up there until four this afternoon when it definitely became too warm even with AC. So now I'm going to take the evening off. Oh, that's right, the bed is loaded with stuff. My plan is going to work like a charm: grab all four corners of that sheet and chuck it into a corner. ☺

Sewing Room Time

It's been a rainy, cool day. I love to spend such days in the sewing room and since I had a few projects to finish...

For those who prefer the bigger picture. (I'd have to back out of the house to get the entire room in.) My sewing room is tiny. But it's mine and filled with all the things that make me happy. Many of you are in this room, believe it or not!

Before I forget, and since so many were wondering, my new iron is a Black and Decker. I purchased it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for around $60. I wanted a sweet yellow number, though I couldn't justify the $200 price tag. This works so well. I am very pleased. My last iron was a R*wenta and I was much less than pleased.

I started off with these scrap paper mason jar lids. Just cut a bunch of circles and pop them over the metal insert and screw on the top. For a simple thing, it makes such a sweet difference. (Not my idea...seen somewhere...on Pinterest maybe.)

Finished up a needlebook. I used *this* tutorial for some ideas.

Then I remembered *a little project* mentioned on my blog a long time ago. I modified it for my needs and soon it was done. A lot of fun, too. 

Little dresses in the packages and little dresses on the packages. John's off to celebrate birthdays tomorrow. He had another bumper crop year with two new great-granddaughters. 

Edited to Add: This little photo puts a ribbon on this story — John's greats! 

Hope that you enjoyed hanging out with me.

Wishing my Canadian friends a wonderful holiday weekend!

Time Well Spent in the Sewing Room

Though a thing of beauty was not created, I did learn something and that is the most important thing.

I have been floundering (floundering? flopping? flipping?) trying to figure out how to properly join binding. My face burns with shame that some of you have items from my sewing room where this joining has been improperly done. Please don't hate me! I'll do better next time.

~Lesson 16 Craftsy Block of the Month 2012~

It has certainly helped to have the iPad, which goes with me all over the house. It used to be that working on something in the sewing room that I had seen once was a real challenge because I don't learn well seeing it once. I need to see it over and over and over again before it gets knocked into my crowded brain. And those up and down trips on the stairs got annoying...very.

~2~

2. So here I have some green polka-dotted binding that I have made the easy way...no more binding tutes for me thank you very much.

~3~

3. Oh-oh. The connections are going to be way too close! Better try to slide the left one down a bit.

~4~

4. Here I am finding what Amy Gibson told me is the "critical point." After all the nasty joins I've done, I think critical point is a good term.

~5~

5. I used a straight join as all other connections are also straight. Diagonal joins are also an option, but who cares? Not I!

~6~

6. Okay, that's better...not great, but better. This post should not be considered a tutorial because many important things have been left out. I gave you all the important info in the caption on the first picture.

~7~

7. What is it? Hmmm...good question. It's a sample something or other. I've worked on piecing, machine quilting, and binding. 

~8. blanket backing instead of batting~

8. It's made on a washable blanket rather than a piece of batting. I was able to purchase this blanket for a mere $10 so it's much more economical than purchasing quality batting (especially when practicing). This idea comes from a quilter from way back, a family friend who has made hundreds of quilts over a lifetime. I have not included a fabric backing because this blanket fabric is grabby and so works well as an ironing pad.

Oh. There I go! It's become a mini ironing pad for use on my work table so I don't have to go back and forth to the ironing board. 

Gosh, just stick with me here. You never know what you're going to get. Tomorrow, I may show my experiments in food photography. This blog is nothing if not eclectic.

Have a wonderful weekend and, if I don't see you before then, a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The Last of the Sewing Room Saga

No one can develop fully in this world and find a full life without feeling understood by at least one person. ~ Paul Tournier

 This post concludes my ponderings on the sewing room. 

 ...and a low rumble of approval swept across the land

What have I learned? A lot. I have learned that I like colors because I like candy. (Not to be confused with "eye candy.") You think I jest? No. Oh no.  Serious time has been spent thinking about this connection. The more colors (and, presumably, the more candy) the happier I am.

I do not surround myself with "beauty" so much as I surround myself with the things that remind me of beautiful people.

Such as this puzzle assembled over a cold winter by my grandmother's friends who wanted me to have it to remember them by. I do. And it makes me smile every time I stand there to iron.

And here's the beginning of the craziest patchwork ever...polka dots and country cows and florals and checks all dance along together.

You are here.

She is here.

They are here.

 Pearl is here.

My daughter is here, my grandfather, too. All the family really.

My friends.

It's not perfect...

nor will I be making a skirt to hide it all. Wouldn't want to hide the candy after all.

(Wish I had hidden the Lysol wipes, though. ☺)

Pearl has a point!

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Day Two of Cleaning the sewing room and progress is being made. Right. Once in a blue moon, things come together in there. I've been able to determine why the room isn't working as well as I'd like and why it falls into such a state.  I need some things to help facilitate order and so my list is growing.

On Sunday evening, John invited me to a movie at church where we saw Seven Days in Utopia. If you find it on the IMDB, you'll see that the reviews are not the greatest; however, don't let that stop you from seeing it should you have the opportunity. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

It's about a golfer who is struggling with his game or it's about Every Man and his place on the stage called Life. Anyway, at one point the golfer is asked why he grips the club the way he does. The question wasn't meant as a criticism; it was meant to get the golfer to be clear and intentional and know why he does things in a certain way. This hit home with me. How often I float along without knowing why I am doing what I am doing!

So can you tell that I've been thinking about that very question in the mosaic above?

My gift at the end of a long afternoon...much better than flowers or chocolate!

***

Note Card Party link-up will be ready between 8 and 8:30 this evening. If you've never participated, I hope that this will be the day. See you later!

A White Hot Mess

It was a red hot mess...

~No Way In~

Perhaps a white hot one... Whatever it was, it was an embarrassment. You may think that you are the only one who ever has a mess. Nope. One of the drawbacks to an upstairs room that no one ever sees is that THIS can happen.

~A Tidy Southeast Corner...fabrics stored on a drying rack and a peek into the far room.~

As a result of watching Dawn at The Feathered Nest and Sandy at Quill Cottage show their tidy studios for Where Bloggers Create 2012, I felt inspired to get things straightened and sorted. I started by moving some furniture around, which always seems to get me motivated. I managed to get the fabrics sorted and my sewing table cleaned and that's where I ran into trouble.

I got sidetracked by the view...

And my little ideas...

If you have vintage pillowcases, you know that they do not fit standard pillows of today. I like to use them to make caddies as I've shown before. This one came in perfect for the end of my sewing table. Did you know that an old makeup brush works very well at cleaning little bits of fluff from your sewing machine? Yup.

I thought about the little things I'd like to share such as my mother's baby shoes hanging in the window along with her little coat upon the wall. I wrote in careful print on the bottom of her shoe...My Mother's Baby Shoes with her name, her date of birth, and her place of birth. I thought it would be good lest someone someday might wish to know. 

 ~a new placemat binding~

Then I began finding projects that had been tossed aside and it seemed that, now that I could get through the room, I ought to work on them. (I note that Dawn is working on projects in her newly cleaned studio as well. Thing is, she waited until it was clean first. I've sort of just taken off sideways.)

Oh dear! What's to become of my poor little sewing room? Stay tuned for further details.

***

Hope to see you tomorrow evening between 8 and 8:30 where you can sign up early for this month's Note Card Party, if you'd like. I am so looking forward to your posts this time out! Mine may feature ice cold drinks. Just sayin'...