Where I Sew

Well there has been a cosmic convergence of events -first, I cleaned up my sewing area and second Pink Chalk Studio is hosting s "Where I Sew" online tour. Now my sewing area isn't perfect but at least my photos won't land me on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive". Although that could be a future possibility, I'll think about that tomorrow. (thanks Scarlett)

My sewing area is in the basement of my home and it as a lovely space. When we bought this house 18 years ago the space (or as the realtor referred to it "the finished lower level" )was completely done. The walls were were dry walled, there was Berber carpet on the floor and can lights were in place all around the perimeter of the space. I know I am blessed to have such a large space. This is my view when I come into my space.



That table that my sewing machines are set up on is a conference room table that is about 90" long and 45"wide. My Juki sits on one long side and my Janome sits on the shorter side. My husband purchased this table with the idea that it could be used for meetings - huh?? Through the years is has been used as the base for a giant Thomas the Tank Engine layout, a buffet table and mostly the receptacle for lots of stuff I bring in and can't decide where to put it. I haven't seen this much open space on this table for months! This is my view from my sewing chair across the room. The entire basement area is 30' X 30' - very spacious.



Now if I'm sitting in my chair at my Juki and look to my left I have my laptop and a view to the wall where I always display a large quilt. The bookcases on the side hold some of my fabric stash and books and assorted other stuff. Big Dude is sitting on my cutting table - oops! I just woke him up.



To the right of my sewing chair is the bulk of my stash. These bookcases are about 6 1/2 ft tall, 30 inches wide and 16 inches deep. I blame these bookcases for the size of my stash, honestly if they were smaller I wouldn't have been able to assemble this much fabric, right? (Shake your head up and down, up and down. - LOL) At the top you see part of my collection of tins. I love pretty tins and lots of knickknacks.



You know those photos that show rooms where everything is clean and sleek and there are minimal accents? -- yeah, my space is the antithesis of that. I love stuff! My philosophy is that you can have more stuff if you find a way to organize it or display it. It is justification enough for me!





This group of grid shelves my son helped me reconfigure last week. It includes my Moda precuts, some patterns and a current yarn projects. The clear bins have the quilt projects I'm working on now- my Farmer's Wife fabrics and the Hugs & Kisses Jaybird quilt and the Sugar Dish quilt. This way I can switch back and forth between projects and I hope this system will keep things a bit neater. (Hope springs eternal, doesn't it?)



This is my new clean design wall. My younger son helped me re-do this and it looks so good! It was the motivation I needed to kick start the rest of the cleaning up. (Check back on Monday to see where that block in the middle is going.)



And here is my cutting table. This is right behind my sewing chair, so I can swing around and cut and then sew. There is a lot of stuff toward the back of the table since I really can't reach across it (I have little short arms, dontcha know) and then the space is made even smaller when Big Dude surveys his kingdom from this perch. Oh well, he is good company.



I know I'm lucky to have all this space but I'm already entertaining thoughts as to what I'll do when I downsize. I think there will be a massive garage sale - LOL! So this is where I sew, my favorite spot in my home!

Happy stitching-
carol fun