Sewing Room at Critical Mass

An internet friend commented yesterday that she is inspired by my energy. Hah! Is what I say. All this flitting around comes at a cost, just so you know.

Exhibit A: The sewing room

We have definitely hit critical mass.

Yes, I've been beavering away (I just love that expression) on several projects, none of which are complete, surrounded by this insane mess.

This state of affairs started in December when I was making pillowcases, many pillowcases, for family and friends. As Christmas presents. That's Christmas. It's now May. Geez.

Since December the piles of fabric and, in the background, my clothing, have proliferated and I am getting twitchy.

The design wall was the last straw. This week it released its hold and looks like Charlie Sheen after a few drinks.  Good heavens.

Check out this detritus from the January AQS Show in Albuquerque, boxes of fabric, unfinished projects and, for the love of God, cans of tuna on the trunk near the window (I have a small pantry, what can I say?) That rail fence flannel quilt needs just two borders. The first two sides are done! Look over on the right bottom side of this pic. There on the ironing board are my pajama bottoms and some unfinished panels from my knitting class.

Here's how it should look.

So I guess I'd better get moving. Have a great weekend and I hope I've made all of you feel better after having read this confessional post.

The Sewing Room is Kind of Clean

Thanks to Trudy, my beloved mom-in-law, I cleaned up the sewing room. She didn't make me do it, but the sewing room is the guest room, too, and it was quite a disaster. There are no photos this time of the detritus and decay, but trust me, it was insane in there.

So I folded and stashed fabric in their color coded bins upstairs in the closet. Extra bins of fabric ended up in our upstairs bedroom and should have crime scene tape surrounding the mess up there, since I've heard several times so far that it's hazardous walking in the dark. A purging is in order. Yeparoo.

But the sewing room is useable. No, it isn't pristine like the quilters' studios I see in magazines, but it works and I am determined to deal with those little pockets of insanity still lurking in the corners.

Here's my sewing area, still with a bit of debris, but I can use it.

I recently purchased a couple hanging lamps because I sorely needed lighting and this guy does the trick nicely. I've had the peg board since we moved in and love it. I still need an inspiration board, though, because the yellow magnetic chick board on the wall just isn't large enough.

The cutting area is a terrible catch-all and I am determined to cut it out! Cut what out, you ask? I drop stuff on that table and then I can't use it for its original purpose of cutting.

Another new lamp, both from Lamps Plus, hangs over the cutting area. Before I bought this lighting I carried a floor lamp from place to place to get more light on the subject. The cabinet is repainted, but I haven't found the right hardware, yet.

The fabric on the table's end needs to be cleaned up because it is obscuring my neato cutting carryall, which I purchased many years ago at Road to California. Here it is:

It holds cutting tools, replacement blades and a marking pencil or two.

The ironing board is in a tight spot right by the door and used to be set up in the hallway. I noticed, though, that the plaster on the hallway wall is getting nicked by my erratic pressing habits and I don't want to destroy any more of it right now.

That framed quilt, called Stuffed Olive, is circa 1966 and created by my aunt Kay using reverse applique. The painting near the doorway is by my friend in Truth or Consequences, Sue Sorenson. It's hard to see, but it's tie-died cattle crossing the road. Do you like my new Oliso iron? I'm still getting used to it.

The futon which used to be in this room is gone and we drove up to Colorado Springs to pick up this sleeper sofa. I love doing handwork or reading, or watching shows, all snug in my sewing room. Did I say we have heating in this house? With a thermostat? That's something new for me.

Usually the wicker table is in front of the sofa, so I can set up the computer or ipad there. My design wall behind the sofa is not so convenient, but I plan to buy some of those slider saucer dealies to place under the legs. Then the sofa can move easily and the wall will be more accessible.

That piece of patchwork is part of a modern Amish quilt I've been thinking about. I'm about there, thinking-wise, but I have some Christmas sewing to do before I can do anything.

Well, hope you enjoyed the clean-ish sewing room tour. I will endeavor to keep it in useable shape.

Quilty Pleasures-Sewing Room Blues

The sun is thinking of peeking over the rimrock in the next half hour or so. In the distant mountains it's already there, and I'm drinking coffee in the sewing room, looking at a stack of miscellaneous fabric on the cutting table.

I should write a song called the Sewing Room Blues, about the mess, about all the fabric and so little time, about the many works in progress, the cat hair on the ironing board, the stacks of books on the floor and the dust bunnies scampering about underfoot.

I really need to deal with this. Yeah.

The fabric is stuff I pulled from the closet upstairs where I keep my stash along with some new purchases for projects that are just kind of dancing around at the periphery of my creative cortex. Is there a creative cortex? Hello, is it working?

The time spent in here lately has been used to finish the Los Muertos quilt which is now quilted. It needs a binding, so I must go "shopping" in the upstairs closet. The storekeeper should do a better job arranging her fabric, though. It's hard to find stuff!

I've also been spending time in here watching telly on the computer. I like Hulu's British comedy Rev. Usually British telly shows have their vicars working in bucolic country villages, but this one is set in the gritty inner city. So I get to see another side of England. Plus, it's funny and a bit raunchy, too.


Below is the fabric from the bottom of the stack, called Mod Garden by Michael Miller. I just had to have this because it would make an excellent focus fabric for something clean and modern.

So here's my question, folks: What should I make? Do you have any ideas? What fabrics to use with it? Any links to some cool photos? I think I need to abandon some works in progress to make a quilt with this fabric. I think it will help me get rid of the Quilting Blues!

Wish me luck tomorrow. I am going to be judging the quilts at a local county fair. It should be inspiring and motivating to be surrounded by a zillion quilts!

Sewing Room Progress Report

I promised to post a photo after I jettisoned and relocated the miscellaneous junk piled on the floor. The stuff in that pile had been squirreled away in the big shelving unit used to house my fabrics and quilting materials. This is how the floor looked before I started yesterday, like maybe I was auditioning for a spot on Hoarders.

Of course, there were breaks to watch The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation and Modern Family plus today we traveled to our big town for a visit to the Motor Vehicle Department which took half the day. It wasn't because of the Motor Vehicle Department, where the lady who helped me a couple weeks ago said, "Bridget, when you come back, just let me know you are here and you don't have to wait in line." Today the nice DVM lady called me up ahead of about 25 people and without making eye contact with the people waiting, I moved quickly to her window where we conducted our business efficiently and with little fuss. The time factor had to do with lunch and picking up groceries and driving back and forth. The minutes just keep on ticking.

Nonetheless, I was able to get that area cleared and you can even see the futon! And the rug! But now that I am looking at it, I think it all looks a little blah.

 One of my quilting heroes is Melody Johnson, an artist from Tennessee, who makes mostly fused art quilts, but also pieced and quilted-as-you-go quilts. Melody knits and sews for herself on top of it all. I think I need to make a bright quilt inspired by Melody to cover this drab futon cover. It will probably be something like this.

There will be some ongoing changes to the guest/sewing room that I will share as I do them. (As it is, the other half doesn't yet realize that tomorrow we will be moving some furniture around in here.) A couple pieces of furniture need new paint and there are zillions of quilting magazines and books to purge. I still have stuff laying about that needs a home. Look at the sewing machine cabinet:

Holy sheesh! And I really must sew this weekend, so goodbye to that chaos tomorrow morning.

I want to thank you readers who let me know I am not alone when it comes to messes. You gave me the push I needed to get going and without you that pile of junk would still be there, taunting me.

Shoveling Out The Sewing Room-Quilty (Non) Pleasures

First, an apology for not being here much. Two events have conspired against me: I hurt my hand, so typing is difficult with a splint and then my laptop wouldn't wake up. We had to schedule an Apple Store visit and drive 3 hours to get there. New Mexico has one Apple store.  Of course the laptop had to stay at the computer hospital for a few days and then it took a while to get back to pick it up. I must say the Apple store on a Saturday in Albuquerque is a trip in itself. There were more people in the store than in all of our little village. Since the village population is around 27, you can see where I might be a tad overwhelmed.

So the computer has brand new inner workings, but between computer, doctor, and occupational therapy, I have been missing. The hand is a tad better with the horrible therapeutic exercises I must do to get my finger tendon back in place, but today, the day when I was ready to get back on the blog schedule, the internet went out! It is snowing, so I will blame the snow.  I am using my phone for this post.

Last week we hauled my giant fabric storage shelf unit upstairs to the bedroom closet. We wanted to make the sewing and guest room roomier. Even after he hauled all the bins of fabric upstairs, props to Tom who didn't say much about all the fabric.

Two of the five storage sections on these shelves.

 But a giant pile of detritus and debris remains in the center of the room and I have been avoiding it.  Like the plague.

I have shared this shameful photo because there are some folk who think I am organized and know how to do everything. What can I say? Now you know the real me. I pretty much shoved everything onto those shelves and now I have to figure out where the hell it all goes. Last week I gave a bunch of supplies and clothing away, and this mess is what remains! Aargh!

Since it's snowing on and off today and not too warm outside, I have decided this is the day to face the flotsam and jetsam and to deal with it.  Tomorrow I will post pics of the cleaner, spiffier Quilt Cave.

Really. I promise.