cande

How envious I am of you who have sewing rooms!!

Last year, our Red Hats group toured a Hutterite colony and one of our guides took us into her personal home. The curtains and drapes were gorgeous, braided/crocheted rugs and quilts were just lovely but the thing that impressed me most was her sewing room. It was the largest room in her house and one entire wall was huge cupboards for storing material. Her sewing table was about 8' long and she had a serger and a deep-throat sewing machine; she told us that each girls gets one of each when she gets married. She also had a large table with leaves that folded down almost to the floor on 3 sides with storage underneath. I was GREEN!! lol

eparys

Two days ago, I went into the sewing room to get something and that wonderful space has turned into a nightmare. I could not find a thing, there were scraps and pins on the floor and the bed in the corned has turned into a dumping ground. I therefore have already started.

But one thing always leads to another, I wanted to fold the large scraps and put them away. That led to refolding the FQs that had been drug out and putting them back in their boxes. The big yardage was folded next - but that led me to reorganize the folded stash. Today - that blasted bed and then the cutting table.

It will be neat before I start another project (I hope :roll: )

PineyRiverQuilter

I sure like the idea of cleaning up after each project, and now need to stick to it. I did start cutting up the "scraps" in predetermined sizes and storing like sizes together. Last year I found an easy baby quilt pattern and so my scraps were cut up into "kits" for that quilt. Now I have a selection to just grab and sew when I need a new gift. I plan on doing more of those this year. Over Christmas my son & DIL asked if I had any baby quilts on hand they could give one to a friend. I brought out 5 to chose from, and GAVE it to them (they offered to buy it). It brought me joy to share and they promise to send me a picture of baby on her quilt for my Quilt Journal. Just another way of sharing the love and keeping my space a little cleaner.

oldswimmer

I am joining you all on this journey. I may not have my room finished yet, but I do have boxes of stash and quilting tools. I can certainly work on those! All of this great advice and motivation will help me with my new room in the end. Thanks for the "comraderie" Best of success to everyone!

watterstide

ok, i have been sorting through and cleaning out the book shelf! First i had to get to it.. :hunf:

First i got a box..to put scraps in for Bev,
then i got another box for items to sell,trade or gift
Then i went to the basement..and found these..cool huh?!
i decided to put small projects in them..with all the items that go with it..
I am keeping a pad of paper and pen near me, to jot things down that i want/need. Like as soon as i run out of these cool zipper bags, i will head to the dollar store to get the cheap ziplocks in different sizes..snack,sandwich,and gallon size

how is everyone doing? anyone working on your stash or area?
Football game will be on soon..i have a tv in the there, so i won't miss it!

watterstide

Guess what i found...My fabric label Panel..been missing for a while! Yippee! In a baggie they go! With a bright orange post it on the front, so i can find them easY! lol

weezie

Tips (maybe???):

1. I have a small plastic file box, which exactly fits on the bottom shelf of my 14" x 34" shelf unit. The file box is only about 11" high and the space between the shelves is about 16", so I'm not scraping my knuckles (I'm a klutz) when I get the box off the shelf. The full box is heavy and shelf unit is inexpensive and somewhat flimsy, so the box serves as ballast on the bottom shelf. It is full of acrylic templates that are small enough to fit into a file folder (which is most of my templates). Each file folder tab identifies the template(s) that are in it (also, any instructions that pertain to that template are in that folder).

2. I have another shelf unit in that room; it is much sturdier, same width, but 2' deep. Fortunately for me, it exactly fits in the corner and butts up against the window frame. It goes almost to the ceiling, but has enough space on the top shelf for 2 huge RubberMaid storage boxes. This large shelf unit lends itself well to storing very large plastic boxes. I keep several there filled with stuff I rarely need, such as pillow forms, fake fur for plush toys, etc., and my box of smallish scraps for applique. On another shelf I keep my magazines in large 3-ring binders (using plastic magazine inserts); I occasionally mark pages of interest in the magazines with either little post-it tabs or a small plastic paper clip. I acquired some shoe storage units (pressed wood) from my daughter and these are on my 3-ring binder shelf, used as dividers between the binders. Once the binder is full of magazines, it weighs a lot, so using the pressed wood dividers, I don't have the binders sitting on top of each other, thus making it easy to just grab a binder without having to dig and shuffle. I also have a 3-ring binder with print-outs ... oodles of patterns collected over the years from various sources with each page in a 3-hole plastic protector. (Unfortunately, all my bazillion catalog pictures that I've been accumulating for years are just dropped into zippered food storage bags ... no organization whatsoever there.)

On the wall between those 2 shelf units just fits a vinyl tablecloth with fuzzy back for auditioning blocks, etc.

3. The closet in that former bedroom has the doors removed and an old solid wood chest of drawers is in there. I can't even remember what's stored in that chest, but the main thing is that whatever is in there is out my way and out of sight; there is room on top of the chest for another large storage box or more, if push came to shove. On the top shelf of the closet is a collection of quilt battings of various sizes. Across the door of the closet are 2 spring-action shower curtain rods. On those rods is where I hang long strips of fabric, such as sashing, borders, and the 2" I cut off of every piece of fabric, if I have a big enough piece of fabric and can spare the 2"; I am trying to get together a large collection of 2" strips for a future scrap quilt. I have all these cut strips covered with a large piece of light-weight plastic (dry cleaner bag).

You only get 3 tips from me today. Aren't you glad???

watterstide

ya know what, i went to flicker thinking we could add photos, all of us..but i can't figure it out either..i have picasa

"watterstide" is the sign in name
"sewingroom" is the password

to add pictures:
Go to "you" (under flickr)
then "upload photos and videos"

step 1
Choose photos(get your picture up)

when you have all your photos in there..
click on UpLoad Photos

when you see the "finished" add description next..
once that screen comes up..on the top right, there will be a box, that says"add to a set" or in smaller print..it says "Create a new set"..
if you see your name on the drop down list..add your photos there..IF YOU DO NOT SEE YOUR Name.."creat a new set"
with just your screen.board name"
Clear as mud?!
..to see if other can get thier own pictures in..If not i will do it later..when i am done doing a little organizing..


Thanks for the tips weezie...later in the week, i am going to copy and paste the tips to a word document,print them out..and when i am quiet, i will sit and read them..
I appreciate all the postings..wether you are in the grove with us already, or have your areas all cleaned up..it really helps..your all a Cheering section!

julie

I decided my sewing room needed reorganized when I couldn't find any of my "sharps" needles to do some minor clothing repairs. After I finish reading the board today, I'm headed to the room. Just hope I don't get distracted by all the fabric! Pretty, so pretty!

mamaw

I store my purchased patterns in a round basket and the ones I print are in 3 ring binders.