To answer a few questions

First of all, a thank you to you faithful reader for all of your kind words and compliments. They mean the world to me. I have received several comments and emails this week with questions about either the gowns our baby has worn or about my sewing room.

We'll tackle the the gown questions first

• Cynthia G asked about the gown featured here. She was wondering which issue of Creative Needle the gown was in. The handsewn gown was  a pattern provided by Jeannie Baumeister of The Old Fashioned Baby. I am not sure if it was featured in Creative Needle or not. The pattern was part of a class from SAGA convention in 2009.

• Betty asked what the fabric the handsewn gown was made with. It is made from Swiss Nelona. A 100% cotton fabric that is wonderful to work with.

Questions about my sewing room

• Rettabug asked what kind of iron I have. I have a Digital Velocity iron by Reliable Corp.

• Rettabug also asked what I meant by "carpy." I think she was hoping it was a typo. No, it was just a nicer way of saying what I really think. I'll let your imagination run away with you.

•  Cynthia G asked what are the dimensions of the sewing room? The room is  a tad over 12 x 14. Not really big by some standards but for me its the largest sewing room I have ever had.

• Sarah emailed to ask about my sewing machine table and the turntable I talked about. The turntable is part of the cabinet/tabletop. See the black knob in the left picture that is to the right of the machine? Pull that knob over to the left and it swings the back machine to the front and vice versa. No need for an additional table.

I was also asked to identify my stash. Here goes. Click on each picture to enlarge.

This is the right hand side of the closet. The bottom two shelves.

This is also the right hand of the closet but the upper two shelves.

This is two of the three shelves on the left. The very top shelf (not pictured) has two bins that contain some tulle ad organza plus a small basket with a few fat quarters and some small pieces of quilting cotton. That pima cotton bin is bulging. I will have to use more of it sooner.

My stash has diminished greatly but I am a okay with it. I love being able to see what I have without digging through it. I don't do well at stores like TJ Maxx or Big Lots because I am not a "digger." If it is not right where I can see it, I don't look too far. So now my stash doesn't have to be dug through either. There is only one piece of fabric that I don't really see having a use for. It is a piece of purple silk with silver embroidery. My girlfriend sent it to me from Africa. I kept it because I love her and it is a very unusual piece. Other than that, I can see using all of these fabrics before I am too feeble to know how. This has been very freeing for me.

Lest you feel too sorry for me, there is some fabric that isn't shown here.

It lives in two different dressers in the other bedrooms. The right hand one above is one of them. It is full of class kits and Wendy Schoen's Embroidery Club. Almost all of those have fabric with them. So there is additional fabric. I'll be fine.

My patterns are stored in the left hand dresser. Again in the other bedroom that was my former sewing room.

This shows two of the drawers with my patterns. I credit my daughter for this idea. I would have crammed them in the closet with my fabric. This is a much better solution. Again very little digging. They are sorted by designer.

If you look closely you will see dividers between the patterns. I found these great spring loaded drawer dividers at Target. They were a little pricier than I wanted to spend ($16 per box) but they work great!! I used to store my patterns in those pattern boxes commonly seen in fabric stores. This is much nicer. No longer am I pulling out box after box to dig through and then have to replace in the closet. I just shut the drawer.

I hope that answers your questions. Feel free to ask questions if I neglected something.

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Sewing Room Tour-LOTS of pictures

Welcome to my new sewing room. In no way is this room opulent or over the top. I just wanted a larger space that was less cluttered. Since the room I had been in will be a guest room, my craft/painting supplies remain in the previous closet. And the dressers in there hold patterns and kits. I will share that with you another day.

The wall color is "Stillness" by Valspar available at Lowes. As I posted before, I was going for calm and serenity. The laminate flooring is Vera Mahogany by Pergo, also available at Lowe's. I showed a couple of before pics here. The "Victoria Secret" stripes on the walls were a challenge to cover but they have been replaced by this seaglass aqua blue color. I really like it. So for a little tour. Remember you can click on the photos for a closer look.

This is what you see when you first enter the room. My machine table has a turntable in the center with my Bernina 1130 on one side and my hated Elna serger on the other. I can turn the table top to switch machines. The box on the corner is a jewelry box my father made for me. I don't have a lot of jewelry but I do have several pairs of scissors. So scissors are stored in there.
 

On the far side of my sewing table are mostly heirloom sewing and embroidery books.  Tucked on the left side of the center shelf is a basket of my treasured antique buttons I use on most of my baby things. I need a larger basket. The thought scares my husband.

This is a before shot. The curtain or "scarf" as you will, is the fabric I used for the new curtains. That is kind of misnomer. Window covering is a better term. No the word fabric is the misnomer. Spun plastic is a better description. Some kind of cheap polyester that I whacked into two pieces, hemmed and put back on the rod. I wanted something breezy and light. And free was even better.

This ancient cabinet is screw together furniture at its best. It was originally purchased as a pantry cabinet when we moved into base housing that had no pantry. Almost 20 years ago. It now houses my magazines. I had planned to paint this white before it went into the room but it came down to wait 6 weeks to paint it or finish the room. You see what choice was made.

Continuing around the room is a carpy "bookcase" and a TV that says "look at me!" Don't send a man to the store with the scant instructions of "Buy a small TV for my sewing room." I could host superbowl parties in here with this monstrosity! At least it is mounted on the wall and out of the way.

The bookcase for lack of a better term will be replaced soon, just haven't had time. It holds pictures of the kids, class notebooks, vintage hankies and some miscellaneous things. In the tins are my DMC 50 weight, rayon andmetallic machine threads. Sitting next to the shelf is a Longaberger sewing basket, a well loved American Girl doll and a vintage sewing basket.

Meet Gertrude. She came to live in my sewing room when DD #2 used to work in retail. Now she holds my convention name tag holder and some chatelaines my girlfriend and I made together. Next is an extra chair. I never seem to be alone in here so I might as well give them a place to sit. On the chair is a Jan Kerton teddy bear blanket.

As seen in the picture above with the stadium television is my cutting "table." It is made up of inexpensive storage cabinets from Lowe's. My DH and son screwed them together and placed a 4 x 8 piece of laminated MDF on top. It holds my large cutting mat. It is wonderful and also hazardous. I am dangerous around a horizontal surface. I can fill it faster than you can blink.

The cabinets hold an assortment of supplies. The cabinet on the far end holds what my daughter calls "construction notions."

The center front cabinet holds ribbons and lace. There is a dead space behind here where a large tote holds batting and poly fibrefill. The two small cabinets on either side of this one holds ironing supplies and the other serger threads and beads. In one of the drawers are my rotary cutters and pattern weights. The other drawer holds plastic baggies in assorted sizes.

The cabinet on the other end was dubbed "embroidery." It houses flosses, threads and hoops.

On top of the cutting table is my pleater to the far left, rulers and pincushions. To the right of that is my love me wall of prize ribbons. Most of these are from the State Fair. I didn't enter anything this year, way crazy summer and everything I would have entered was being worn. So I am ahead of the game for next year! That small stack in front of the pleater is christening gown fabrics, pattern etc.

There is a small wall space between the door and the closet. You have all seen what a clock looks like, but the ugly little monkey above it is very dear to me. It belonged to my best friend. It hung over every bedroom door she had save one until her death in 2004. He looks a little tired for his 53 years, but there he shall remain.

Next comes the closet. Many of you have heard me talk about or read about my paring down of my stash. I am amazed at how small it is compared to what it used to be. I was able to keep the floor of the closet fairly clear and leave the hanging rods in place.

This is the right side of the closet. My fabrics are sorted according to type. We'll visit the kinds of fabrics in another post. Ignore the broom handle. The bins that store my fabric were purchased on sale several years ago at The Container Store. I never realized, or don't remember knowing until now that there are two different sizes of them.

This is the left side of the closet. Hanging on the rod are class garments that haven't been grown into yet, or items from my children. In the center are a couple of christening gowns awaiting return to their owners.

The bins on the center shelf hold works in progress. I decided to mount the thread racks on the closet wall to keep the room itself less cluttered. I haven't mounted the button bins yet.

In keeping with truth in reporting; in the first pictures you might have spied my ironing board slid in next to the pantry cabinet. There is a space for it but to be honest, it will rarely live there. Here is where it will live. I sew with my ironing board right next to me at a 90 degree angle to my chair. It sure saves time.

Another item I purchased was 3 additional trash cans for this room. Target had them for $2.50, so I bought three. I am a trashy person in my sewing room evidently and the can was constantly overflowing. Perhaps having more trash cans will help that.

I am loving having the flooring in here as opposed to carpet. I can slide all over that room in my chair and a quick "swiffer" clears the floor of debris. I would like to say that my space will always look like this, but you would hear my family screaming if I did. They know better. For now it is clean and tidy.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour. More to come. Keep stitching faithful readers.

Sweet Reminder

First posted by criPSy duck

What a sweet reminder of days past. I stumbled across this christening coat on Flickr while I was taking a break from "moving". It looks like a rayon fabric, probably smocked with silk floss. It was NOT made by me, but it is delightful. It reminds me why I have been working so hard to move this sewing room.

I need to get back to the grind. Can you say the word purge? In the past eighteen months I have reduced my fabric stash by half. I have either given it away, thrown it away or shock of shocks, sewn it up. I have shared before my new credo;

If I don't love it; I don't keep it, buy it or use it.

So all of that fabric, patterns, supplies that make you cock your head and say "What was I thinking?" are gone! Of course it doesn't hurt to have a tyrannical, former stock room organizing, retail store manager of a daughter help you. She is ruthless! If I waiver on something, she is ready to go for the jugular.

But I do want this....

to turn into this. Almost there! I promise to take pictures and take you in a tour when it is done.

Of course could this be why it is taking so long? Baby just learned how to start cooing. We had to all gather round immediately and listen to the sounds of future wisdom revealed. What a delight that was. And modern technology allows Baby Mommy to record it on her phone to send to Daddy.

Whatcha doing Mimi?

The upside to the tyrant daughter is she brings this little nugget with her every time. I say a fair trade off.

Reminder : Don't forget to visit the Sew Beautiful post here to leave a comment and be entered in the giveaway. It's awesome and I hope you are all learning new things or refreshing old skills on the Sew Beautiful Blog Tour.

A work in progress

No I have not forgotten you, faithful reader. I have been up to my neck in turning a former teenage refuge into my new sewing room. Here is just a tiny taste of what I hope is finished SOON. Above is the room as my youngest child left it. Tone on tone dark pink walls. Painted furniture that I painted years ago. And this picture does not do the nastiness of this carpet justice. It makes you wonder just how many colors of nail polish there are. And how many mortgage payments could have been made with the amount of it in the carpet. How do you sling hot lime green nail polish UNDER the bed? Far into the corner? Inquiring minds wonder.

This is when the project FEELS like it is moments from being done. Energy is high and you are anxious to see the end result.

So close yet so far away. Here is a peek. Laminate floors, new baseboards and the walls a cool, calm, seaglass blue. In the corner is Gertrude waiting for the room to be complete. I will take more pictures after it is all put together.

I need this room done, NOW! I have sewing to do. My sewing machines are sitting in the floor right now. I have to get back to it. Later, faithful reader.

Sewing spaces

First posted at Trends and Traditions

First of all, thank you, to everyone for the blogoversary wishes. You make me blush. I truly appreciate your kind words. You're the best!

Now onto the post at hand. Does this  picture not make you just drool? I don't know how I got to this blog but I had an immediate split personality when I landed there. First, pure delight at the beauty of it. Second, pure green eyed envy at the fact it wasn't mine. I will freely admit that I don't have much room to grumble. I am fortunate enough to live in a 3 bedroom house with a sewing room versus the 4 bedroom house we bought. That was not always true. For years my sewing room was the end of the dining room, the corner of the bedroom, a corner of the family room or a portion of the basement. Now I have a dedicated sewing room.

I realize that I am fortunate. I would have to admit that I am also very selfish with it. When we first moved into this house 10 years ago, I squished all three girls into one bedroom so I could have a sewing room. In my defense, that was about 12 weeks before oldest child was leaving home again. And I did take the smallest bedroom available at the time. I mean, geez louise! 

 Fabulous movable cutting table at Trends and Traditions

I will admit that every time a child has left a larger room unoccupied I am quick to take over. Sadly, I didn't move quickly enough when youngest child flew the coop. While I was still pondering moving my sewing room, she came back! I won't make that mistake this next time. She is moving out again at the end of the month. I am getting set to make my move. I am gathering ideas. (It has been speculated that if my husband were to leave this earthly home, I would have my sewing room moved in next to my mahagony poster bed before the flowers died. Why would they say that about me?)

First posted at Kevin and Amanda

I have always said that I must not have passed "classification" in first grade. I am the chick who always ends up with several drawers for "miscellaneous" because I don't know what to do with one of something, or three apparently non-related items. This room is so stinkin' organized. Scrapbookers I think are inherently well organized. I my defense, it is much easier to organize flat paper than folded fabric, but still.

  First posted at Kevin and Amanda

Check out this ribbon drawer! It looks like a rainbow.

 First posted at Modkid

And why has Ikea not come to my town? Is a population of over 1.5 million not enough? Surely you can trap enough people inside your store when there are 1.5 million to choose from. My son is sure that part of their retail success is based on the fact that once you are in the store, you are trapped. For. Hours. That is his story. I have never been to Ikea, so I know not of what he speaks.

 Posted at a scrapbook of me

For sure I am NOT sharing my sewing room with a washer and dryer! Gives me nightmares to think about it. In the first 25 years I was married I WORE out 4 washers from all the stinkin' laundry. I am sure not sharing my personal paradise with a damn washing machine. The warmth of the dryer in the winter would be a nice touch.

 First posted at RemodelingCenter.com

  

This could be dangerous. In spades. Put a kitchen in there and I may never come out. Ever. As long as those grocery delivery services still run.

What is most important in a sewing room for you?

Thank you faithful readers

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a nice day. Received a birthday kiss in the dark before my husband left for a week, heard from many family and friends. Got lots of cards, flowers and my son took his momma out for dinner. Can't ask for much more than that. I hope you were able to take a stitch or two. I admit I did not.

And if you need a reason to smile, go here to see a wonderful timewaster of cuteness. The puppycam is back. Don't forget to turn your computer sound back down when you walk away though, because when you are home alone and the puppies start squeeking, it will scare you to death! Ask me how I know.

First posted by Crafty Intentions

Just a tidbit of inspiration. Doesn't this look like a fun place to sew?

What is strange in this picture?

You can see the top of the cutting table! It feels great, so great that I am anxious to get in there and get to work on something. Anything. Along the back of the table on the left is my Wee Care basket, which right now is woefully under supplied. I keep cut out, constructed, waiting to be smocked Wee Care gowns in it at all times. In the center is a pillow I made from a class project from SAGA convention a couple of years ago. On the right is a pile of UFOs that I don't want to get buried somewhere. Now lest any of you run screaming from the room under the mistaken impression that these are all of the UFOs I have, please rest easy that this is a TINY pile of a FEW of them. I have a double cabinet and a couple of containers in the double closet full of UFOs as well. These are just the ones I want to get to soon. I had to go buy a new seam ripper from all of my trails of last week. How sad is that?

I had to chuckle at myself today when I was vacuuming. To vacuum is a 3 step process. You have to first sweep the carpet. Yes I said sweep. So many tiny bits of seam clippings, piping ends, tracing paper scraps, interfacing scraps etc etc to pile and scoop up first. Then I used the nozzle to get as many loose threads as I could before I used the vacuum so that I don't wrap quite as many around the brushes in the vacuum cleaner.

Why go through all of this you ask? I have a child who when she comes home thinks it is her responsibility to clean house. Her mother doesn't do a good enough job I guess and I am not going to sway her opinion. But she has this nasty habit of getting grumpy while she does it. One of the things that makes her really cranky is threads wrapped around the brushes of the vacuum. Is this the same child who tried to vacuum up a petrified peanut butter and jelly sandwich found under the bed? Who didn't wash her uniform skirt her entire senior year of high school on a dare? Who thought that the only way to clean a bathroom was to throw away a year's worth of empty shampoo bottles she has stashed in the vanity instead of throwing away? Could this be the same child?

So just to please her when she comes home, I go through this lengthy process to vacuum the sewing room. Perhaps she'll notice. Now I am off to mend a stole for my husband, a tie for my son and finish off two Wee Care items I stitched in the car yesterday on the to and from the fairgrounds.