I need an intervention or a good organizer

The current state of my sewing room.  In pictures.

There's about 4 projects going on at the same time over here.  Even have a list posted to my table.

My stash that sits behind me when I'm cutting or what I stare at when I'm sewing.  Oh the horror.  It's no wonder I can't find anything.  To be fair, it wasn't THIS bad to begin with.  I started to get my fabrics separated by color families.  I had done it once before but fell out of practice.  I picked that task up again but then I started cutting strings for my string blocks and well, this is what I have now.

Just another view.

More projects in the works.  I need to get back to them.  There are some quilt blocks hiding in that pile.

More stash.  On these shelves are my favorite fabrics.  Easy to find.

My ironing station and the place where things go that need to be fixed.  Like a pocket in a pair of jeans, a button on a pillow and a ripped stuffed toy.  Just so you know, all three of those things have been sitting there for about a year.

I have been in the sewing groove and have been ignoring the state of my sewing room.  I think it's high time to take a big pause and get to organizing myself.  Anybody want to come do it for me?!  :)

I have a plan.  I'm just waiting for a free weekend to implement it.  I'm going to clear the entire room out (not the furniture) and put it all back nice and organized like.  I'm just afraid it's going to take me much longer than a weekend to get it done.  

:)

Enjoy your day!

Jen 

AHHHHHH.

My sewing machine is home.  My new chair was delivered.  My new sewing area was picked up and I got a chance to use it today.  Oh it feels so good.  My table doesn't shake, rattle and roll when I sew.  It's a smooooooth ride.  I'm waiting on one piece.  My custom cut machine insert so that my machine is flush with the table top.  That is to come by the end of the month. 

So?  Wanna see?

view from my doorway

Hello friend.  Happy to have you home again and playing nice.

My little pressing station

My notions table.  It will probably just hold the TV remote

what I'm working on... Swoon blocks and my postage stamp quit.

Just another view

There you have it.  My new "toy".  Of course my husband said to me that either Amelia is going to be an only child or she will have to share her bedroom because there was NO WAY he was moving that thing out of my sewing room.  HA.  Men.

Did you see the white rocker hanging around?  That is the one and only antique that I own.  I do not remember the exact circumstances as to why I asked my aunt for it but it's been with me since I was like 16.  It was my cousin's but it was living in my aunt's attic and maybe I felt I needed to rescue it??  I have no idea.  My cousin took her 1 year pictures in that rocking chair and she's going to be 42 this year.  The only thing my aunt asked of me when she gave me that chair was to not paint it.  Just leave it as is.  I cleaned it up with some soap and water when I first got it to get the grime and dust off it but that's it.  When my cousin had her little boy (who is now 14), I told her that I'm sorry but the rocker is mine and you're not getting back.  I've taken very good care of it.  Amelia has sat in it a time or two but I took it back.  I don't know why.  I have a strong connection to that little rocking chair.  Right now it's hold some fabrics for me.

Punk stayed home from school today because she was complaining of a belly ache when she awoke this morning and then she finally let it all go.  She's feeling better so I'm going to take this time to head back upstairs and finish my 4th Swoon block.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

Oh I can't hold it in any longer!

I wanted to show you one of those pretty "After" shots.  You know the kind.  Everything that's all in its place and organized.  Ummm, unless you want to wait a week to hear about my secret.

Here I go.

Just keeping it real, Folks.  Just keeping it real.

So???  Did you figure out what I got yet??!  Here's the room while I was waiting, for comparison purposes; just in case you don't see it.

One of these days I will organize myself on these shelves

Do you see it now?!  Yes!!  Buried under all my sewing room "treasures" is a Koala Sewing cabinet!  OOOOOOO YAHHHHHHH.  I bought the QuiltMate Pro IV with the outback extension table.  Delivered yesterday and I am SO EXCITED to get creative again.  But at the moment, I am putting the room back together.  I have stuff in the hallway, stuff in Amelia's bedroom and everything else in my bedroom.  I'm having heart palpitations with all the stuff all over.  Tonight, Chris is going to attach the mini pressing and notion tables and I will be organizing myself.  In a couple of weeks, I'll be getting a few more shelves for the cabinet.  I wasn't sure if I would need them and now that I see the table and figuring where things are going to go, they will come in handy.

I can't get sewing yet after I'm all organized and put away though.  I took this opportunity to bring my machine in for its cleaning and to get my self threader fixed.  And I'm waiting for a new chair.  While I have a perfectly good chair, it's not tall enough and I knew that.  Just didn't feel like spending the money until the table got here.  The whole unit is 35" tall so that I'm not hunched over when I'm cutting.  But that means my sewing machine is at 35" tall and I don't stand when I sew.

I promise to show you better pictures when everything is in its place.  I just couldn't wait to show you any longer!

Oh!  And Amelia lost another tooth last night.  2 Tooth Fairy visits in less than a week.  Of course, I wasn't prepared!  Thankfully Chris was home and he hooked her up with $2.00.

I'm sorry for the weird looking pictures.  If Amelia smiles, her bottom lip covers her teeth and you can't see her new Jack-O-Lantern smile.  :)

Enjoy your day!
Jen

My Newest Project

My newest project is that I've moved into my very own sewing room!  Before I was sewing in a wee corner of the office but I was busting out of it.  Not enough room for my fabric.  It was occupying any open space I could find so it was time to move.

I moved into Amelia's old bedroom.  She is now in our old master bedroom and bathroom.  When I was pregnant, I NEEDED a new bedroom (when I nest during pregnancy, I nest BIG.  LOL).  So we put an addition on the house, above our garage.  The addition wasn't ready until Amelia was over a year old.  It's our new master suite and I love it.

I digress.  Since Amelia was moved into her new bedroom, I moved upstairs.  And I love that too.  Now, it's not fancy by any means or even that organized yet but I thought I would show you.  I would LOVE to have all kinds of shelving and storage behind doors and all that.  Make it all pretty but I have to think into the future.  If I get pregnant again, this again, would have to be the nursery and then I'm back in my wee corner of the office. So I couldn't go crazy with furniture.

I am however, getting a bigger cutting table and it needs a paint job which I will do in the Spring.

See Amelia's window valance is still up.

Ignore the mess and chaos on the shelves please!

One more view.

So.  That's my newest project.  I'm happy that I'm able to spread out and have my own space.  It's very refreshing.

I hope you enjoyed seeing it!

Enjoy your day!
Jen  :)

The bat saga continues!

After coming home last night and unloading my car (I bought a chair for my new sewing area), Amelia kept saying to me "Mama. There's a bat up there!". I located my husband who was doing something in the basement and asked him if he told Amelia about our indoor visitor from the night before. He did not. Amelia, again, says to me - now with more urgency... Mama! There's a BAT up there! So I walk to where she's standing and asked her to show me. Sure enough, on the stairs, under Buddy the cat's paw... is another bat. I asked her if she touched it. She told me she didn't but we washed hands anyway and my husband scooped it up and threw it in the outdoor wood boiler we have. It was pretty much dead (or so he tells me).

Again, we put Amelia to bed and I start on my evening chores... ironing some clothes foro myself and Amelia for the next day and pressing some muslin that I need to use this evening. I hear my husband say... SH*T! Not again! There's yet ANOTHER bat in the house. Thankfully he caught it.

He's working tonight. I told him that if I see another bat, I'm calling him to come home and deal with it. I'm not touching it! He also has strict orders to remove the A/C unit from the house. I'm sure that's where the bats are living. I will buy another air conditioner next summer.

I'm tired of hosting "Animal Kingdom" in my house already!

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)

There's a Bat in Bunk 5?

Anyone remember that book? I read it in like 5th grade. Anyway, we had a pretty exciting evening last night. There was a BAT in the house. I was reading one of my many magazines and my husband was watching TV. Something caught my eye and I said to my husband "I think there's a BIRD in the house!" Buddy the cat, takes off in pursuit of his prey (good kitty!) and my husband goes upstairs to check it out and close doors. I stay downstairs. I'm not getting involved. LOL. My husband tells me that Buddy can jump about 4 feet off the ground.

He comes back down to find the broom and tells me it's not a bird. I say, please don't tell me it's a bat. He said "Okay, I won't tell you." LOL. I've been seeing lots of bats lately flying around outside. Long story short, the bat was flying around and my husband finally caught him and threw him outside. The only thing we can think of was that my husband took out our two window A/C units last night. The bat was either IN one of the units or attached and once it warmed up, because it's been cold over here the last couple of nights, the bat wanted out.

I would have taken pictures but I was hiding in the bathroom behind a closed door. LOL!

In other news... I FINALLY have a dedicated sewing area! My husband and I cleaned the office and created an area for me. We went out Saturday afternoon and he purchased a couple of tables and shelving for my stuff. I still want to get some sort of rolling cart to store under one of the tables to hold stuff and a chair. But my sewing machine is all set up, my cutting mat is all set up on its own table and now I can sew whenever I want! I no longer need to take 20 minutes to get myself organized on the dining table in order to do an hour's worth of sewing. So happy! It's not as pretty as what I've seen that other people have but I just love it. I will take pictures of my modest sewing area and post them soon.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)