Empty Nest and New Sewing Room

       Well my youngest are soon to be 25, and other than keeping a couple spare bedrooms for when grandchildren visit, I now have a room that I claimed as mine. I had grown out of my old sewing room/closet. This room is so much larger. It is about 10x11 feet. I have everything moved in. I still want to add more shelves  in the closet, and maybe a small peg board or some hooks on the wall above the cutting table.

 This is the  first real pincushion I have ever made for myself. I have another one that is embroidered that I havent finished to my liking yet.

 The bottom is the little 4" clay pot saucers. They can be found in walmart for less than a $1

I thought this little quote about small things was perfect for my little mini dresdan plate.

Dresdan plates are so fun to make. I made a large 20" one and put on a baby quilt once.

I would have loved to put together one of those big cutting table made from book shelves underneath, but I think it would have been way too big for this room.Plus hubby has been busy and not in the building mood,lol. So I opted for this quickie one. It is a 3 foot metal rack from Home Depot, and I added the castor wheels to the bottom. I believe the shelf was under $50. We found the counter top from Lowes. It had been ordered with the rounded edges and then wasnt taken. We got it for around $65. It is  4 ft long. With the wheels I can move it out from the wall, or any where else I want it.

I also had to make me a new sewing machine cover. I held a piece of paper up to the end of the machine and drew around it. Dont forget to add seam allowances . 

I am still not real settled on the colors, so it may change later. The base is drop cloth from home depot with quilted on stiff interfacing for body.

I am trying to get my fabric scraps organized. For right now, I am storing the little $1 bins under my counter. That may change when I get more shelves inside the closet. I am organizing them by color. That works well for me.

I moved my 2 old bookshelves in here on one wall. I like the little mini bolts of fabric.  My soon to be 25 yr old son built me my thread rack about 5 yrs ago.

And here is my new room. So much bigger than the little 6x8 I had. The counters were made by my husband many yrs ago by building a wood shelf and glueing on the counter top stuff. Man, has that stuff gotten expensive now. We just moved the shelves to my new room.

Organizing Your Lace

   Sometime back, I promised some posts on getting my sewing room moved to a now empty room. Kids moving on, don't ya  know. My youngest are almost 25. Well I didn't get started on it as planned and didnt get the larger room I wanted since my summer visiting granddaughter claimed the large room as hers,lol. And we all know how kids get spoiled at grandma's house,lol. So the room I took over is about a 9'x11'.  Surpr
isingly it has worked out fine. A huge improvement over my 7x7 space I had. Anyway, I will post more on the moving in and how I am finally getting my stuff organized on my next post.
    Today, however, I am posting about one of my recent crafting sessions in this quest to get organized. I have been using the plastic shoe boxes that is sold at Walmart for under a dollar to label and organize different supplies. These have been working out great.
    I have been working n making cards or bobbins to wrap my lace and other trims around to store in my plastic shoe box instead of the jumbled mess they are in right now. I have seen several people posting how they cover their cardboard cut-outs with decorative paper. However, I am usually not into paper crafts, but did have about 10 large sample books of wallpaper that I got from Lowes many yrs ago that were discontinued. Got em free..
    The wallpaper is unglued and a little heavier than decorative paper so I didnt have to worry about the glue buckling the paper.Everything slipped smoothly into place. I did ,however, have to do a test print of my paper template about 10 times to get a perfect fit in my shoe box. I am going to offer my template for printing below. So here comes the tutorial so you can make your own.

    Here is how one of the cards turned out. One quick note tho, after making 6, I decided I wanted them taller and a little wider for a better fit in the shoe box. I love the shabby chic/vintage look.

This is one of wallpaper sample book I am using for these. Plus a picture of my paper template and the cardboard piece I cut out.

I layed the cardboard over my selected piece of wallpaper. Cut it out leaving flaps at the bottom and the sides. The top is slightly rounded so I didnt cover that edge. You can certainly cut this straight across and cover it too if you like but I thought the little peek of cardboard showing at the edge.I snipped in at flap sides as indicated in pic, leaving paper intact.

Turn your board over and repeat covering the other side without flaps. Glue paper on cardboard bobbin and cut it out to fit perfectly. Then using ink or like me, use brown craft paint. Told you I wasnt into paper crafts,lol. Using a rag rub on some ink/paint along the edges to antique it. Then allow to dry thoroughly before using.

And here is a pic of the 6 I made. Now to go make a bunch more in the RIGHT size,lol. 

HERE is the link for the template.

PS: I was able to cover these boards completely, even on the curved top edge, simply by cutting out small elongated triangles along the curved edge. Then when you fold this edge over in lays nice and flat. However , I think I still like the look of the corrugated edge of the cardboard showing.

Hide Those Pipes!

    For the past few weeks, I have been cleaning and re-organizing my cabinets. I am going to get pictures of these soon. Anyway, the last one I worked on was under the kitchen sink. Admittedly it has been awhile. Actually, a LONG while. This cabinet seems to be a catch-all.
    As my bath towels are worn out, I cut them up into rags for cleaning. I have been throwing quite a few of these in this cabinet. I really need to divide them up and place some in the bathrooms, but thats another day. There was multiple cleaning supplies, etc.
    I also store my bag of onions under there as well. Guess what i found while cleaning? Yep, a bag shoved to the back with 3-4 rotted, watery onions in it. They had leaked out of the back into the cabinet in one corner as well. Now  I realize my choice of shelf liner was a mistake. I had used that open, waffle weave type plastic liner. This allowed that leaky mess to run onto the wood cabinet floor, staining it.

TIP # 1: USE a waterproof shelf liner! You never know when pipes or something else is going to leak.

Ok, grit your teeth, and be ready to run, here is my cabinet BEFORE:

I warned you,lol. Admittedly, it could be worse. Now I get to another thing bugging me. Those ugly pipes! They have been there since the kitchen was remodeled about 10 yrs ago. While under there, I did clean them, but I still hated the way they look. Ugggg! There has to be some way to hide them.
     Then it dawned on me, what about a wrap? Yea thats it! I measured how big around my pipes were in the large areas, then measured how long the side "Y" leg was from just under the sink to the center connection before it goes to the bottom leg. I added roughly 6" to length, and about 2" to width. I cut a rectangle, and hemmed the long edges. I then  made a small cuff in the bottom and top to hold a small piece of 1/4" elastic. Threaded the elastic thru and stitched the ends to hold in place. I then sewed on velcro pieces along the long edge, placing one on each end over the elastic. Make two of these.
       Now make same measurements to the lower leg of the "Y". Make another piece in the same manner. Now cut a rectangle about 8" wide x 12" long. Hem all edges.
      Now slip one section around the left leg, and velcro in place, slip the right leg piece over and velcro in place. Lay the small rectangle you made last over the join to cover where the two upper pieces meet. Pull it down on front and back and slip the ends under the lower wrap to hold in place.
     There you go.... pipes are pretty, and the piece can easily be pulled off quick if there is a leak.

I know your probably thinking, "that lady has too much time on her hands", lol.  Well,.....they do look better, right?

    Now for the organization part. On the left door, I wanted a small rack to hold dish soap etc. I did not want to screw through my beautiful solid oak , custom made cabinets. I read somewhere on the web that someone used command strips to hold it on the door. So I gave it a try. Its been about 4 days, and it's still hanging. 

     I bought 2 green baskets from the Dollar Tree to use under here, but unfortunately it only fit on the left side. The right side, i am having hubby make me a narrow bin type thing to hold potatoes and onions in it on the right.  On the left I would love one of those side mounted drawers that pull out, but gotta wait till hubby gets "round to it",lol.

    The box on the left is a temporary holder for my rags. Here is a closeup of the wrap:

I know ... a little "cutesy", but its clean  :)

That's what happens when I am home alone a little too much!

    

Sewing Room Re-do and Organization/ Mini Fabric Bolts

     Stay tuned to this post for updates for organization ideas for the sewing/craft room. I am in the process of re-organizing my sewing room and taking over a now empty bedroom. You know......the old empty nest thing.
      I have to admit....ashamedly so, that my sewing room looks like Hurricane Sandy made a brief stop. I have been into other things, and have neglected my little sewing "closet".  In my last post I told you it is a little room about 6'x10'. Just a small spare room I "throw" my stuff in. A lot of unfinished projects, and left over mess from finished ones. It has gotten so bad, that the last two baby quilts I have been working on, I took over the dining room table. I lugged my big ol sewing/embroidery machine into the dining room, and scattered fabric pieces everywhere,lol. Well after reading some recent blog post about how others are organizing their fabrics, I finally decided to tackle this room.
     I have HAD my fabrics folded neatly into piles and placed onto my shelving unit. But everytime I get into a project and start pulling fabrics, these piles get rummaged around everywhere, like  the shelves in Walmart on Black Friday. Just without the bodies laying in the aisles, at least none that I have found, and I think everyone is accounted for. Although in this mess, one could never be sure.
     Last night, i came upon several posts where sewers are using mini fabric bolts for their fabrics.  At first i wasnt so sure it would be necessary. Why wouldnt nice neat piles like I see in other blogs work for me? Well duhhh.... It doesnt!  Disorganized, messy, rushed.......my middle names,lol. The bolt method would be perfect. Nice neat little bundles that will stay wrapped unless I am too lazy to even get that done. No.... I think i can.. I  think i can.
      OK, here it is.....my little sewing closet.( my new walk in closet in my bedroom is bigger than this). Now hold onto your wallets.....I wasnt hit by a hurricane......no donations needed here. And believe me, everywhere else my home is pretty tidy........most times. Except for when I get into something......like my kitchen while canning:

No Hurley, that was not a lie:

Anyway, back to the mini fabric bolts. Some were using comic book backing boards. These run about $12 without shipping for 100. Most were using boards that were 7.5 x 10. Some were cutting cardboard, others were using the foam core board. At first i was going to order the backing boards, but I was too impatient to get started. We were going shopping this morning, so I stopped at our local Deals. Its kind of a cross between Big lots and the Dollar Store. They had the foam core board there. Sheets 20"x 30" for only a dollar.  For now i bought 6 sheets. I marked these off and was able to get 8 boards per sheet. So thats  48 boards. 

I cut them out with my large cutting mat and a rotary cutter with an old blade. here is my nice stack of boards:

For an average width piece of fabric, I leave it folded in half as it comes on the bolt, and then lay it out on my table. I lay my 8 " wide big ruler on it, and then fold up the selvage edge over the ruler, and then the folded edge down over this. Folding it into neat thirds. Slip the ruler out, then line up a board over this, and start rolling. Secure the edge with a pin or two. and Wala!......

Oh i almost forgot....(well kinda) here is my sewing disaster as it is now:

And this show doesnt have my Husqvarna designer 1 in there, as its on the dining room table ready to quilt a baby quilt.

And here is the start of my nice neat bookcase, in my new sewing room with a small part of my fabrics neatly folded on their mini bolts:

Now isnt that purty!
Stay tuned and check out Pinterest for more organization and sewing room ideas. Meanwhile, I gotta get more boards and tackle the rest of my mounds of fabric.