My Messy Life

So - here it is ladies - MY creativity room (or at least one part of it). As you can see I need lots of visual and auditory stimulus, hence the TV, the bulletin board with way too many notes, and all the rest of the clutter. BUT - it's organized - sort of, cobbled together over the years! My sewing table is actually one half of my former dinning room table (a garbage salvaged piece of furniture) the other half extends off to the left under the TV tower. On top of the TV is a vintage porcelain lady pin cushion I purchased at a local auction.
Behind the sewing machine (one of 4) I have a vintage paper stand which now holds my freezer paper role 'cause I do a lot of applique and like the freezer paper method. The small wooden plaque on the wall above me is from Moscow, a souvenir from my father's last trip to Russia. You can just see my little Babuska doll on the small doll's table.
From a former bathroom I am re-using the toothbrush holders, and glass flower frogs, to hold some of my frequently used sewing utensils, like my seam ripper, tweezers, tube turner, and mini iron. I also use the soap dish to hold current bobbins and threads, and finally a cotton ball holder to house all my various sewing machine feet (hidden behind the sewing machine). Tucked beside the sewing machine is a former treadle sewing machine drawer which houses several varieties of pins, and a pamphlet box with my machine manuals. The drawer unit contains some of my ribbon collection, button collection and other odds and sods which we all collect!

Under the sewing table tucked beside the counter I keep two large wicker baskets. they were originally purchased for under the bed "out of season" storage, but quickly became fabric storage!!! One houses all my Batiks - which quickly overflowed into two more sea grass baskets under the ironing board. The other holds my "favourite" UFOs ....... To my right is a shelf tower which holds a couple of treadle sewing machine drawers filled with thread, plastic organizer boxes filled with misc much needed supplies, like buttons and bobbles and ribbons and lace, and fastners etc. Just before the window you can see one of my door knob hangers I made last holdiay season! I used a vintage glass door knob and decorative brass washer (is that the name for it?), drilled a hole thru a painted wooden plaque and Voila! I have one in my bedroom where I hold recently worn scarves or necklaces ... very handy object d'art!

Here's a front on shot of my cutting counter (cutting mat leaning up against it!) As you can see I have this month's fabric postcards arrayed on the white metal fan a friend gave me for this very purpose (shout out to C M-R and Thank You). The counter is also a salvaged kitchen unit my father dumpster dived for one day (he'll never admit that he dumpster dives ... but I got the bug from him), then repainted and resurfaced with a useful but ugly arborite top. It's just the perfect height and width for cutting fabric, and since it backs up onto the room's window - it's wonderful to stand at and rotary cut on a beautiful sunny day.

On the left is another cobbled together book shelf with way too many quilting books - but how can you get rid of any??? In front of the bookshelves is my wooden ironing board, currently draped with my 2008 "Blue Hawaii" challenge piece. Behind the ironing board is my design wall ... 2 pieces of styrofoam insulation with baby flannel stretched over top and held together and held on the wall with large alligator clips. The pressback chair is one of a pair I purchased while garage saleing one day - a real bargoon - $25.00 for the pair whoohoo!

So, that's my sewing room, messy as it is. It goes together with my messy life...
TTFN