Look if you dare!

I might as well tell you that I am declaring 2011 to be "The Year of the Quilting Studio".  That's right, bye-bye sewing room and hello studio.  It's not getting any bigger, I am just going to treat it differently.  But first,  I need to show you what happened when I lost my mind the other day.  I have known for months that I needed to reorganize, I just didn't know I was going to start this week.  So first I'll show you some pictures of the 'in progress' clean up/redo.  Here's a corner, a vignette, a pile of birds that have been waiting forEVER to be made into a mobile.                                           

Oh dear, this just gives me palpitations.  See that pile of stuff in the back?  There's a sewing machine under that.  And in the foreground is a portable table (I got it for dyeing fabric last summer) piled high with stuff.  All along I had planned to empty the room and slowly bring things back in.  Instead, I just kept moving things back and forth from surface to surface.  Ridiculous!                     

Here's my ironing surface.  It's a big board on rolling Ikea storage carts.  I just love that I can move this around the room.  Very very handy. I used to have a table top on more of these rolling carts for my cutting table.  But those carts are very 'visually cluttered' so I took the table top off.  Oh gosh, I'm jumping ahead of myself, I'll get to that later.                                                                   

Ugh, What to do with this corner?  The TV was on this antique sewing table but during this overhaul, I have moved it several times. 

Aaagh!!  More palpitations.  Keep in mind that my 'studio' is also a laundry room.  Wanna hear something funny?  When I was a teenager, this was my bedroom.  And I used to rearrange it every couple of months, just for fun.  This washer and dryer are in what used to be my closet.

I can't explain why I felt the need for a close up of the pile of laundry on the sewing machine.

Look what I found during the clean up.  Inspiration, ha ha.  Would you believe that the author, Lois Hallock, insists that you should MEASURE your stash!  No kidding! 

She even includes a form for you to fill out, including your UFO's etc.   OMG!!  Sorry Lois but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.  Guess I'm just a free spirit, har har.                      

All right, it's time for the 'after' pictures.  BUT,  I'm not done!! Ok?  This is still very much a work in progress.  This is my cutting surface.  It's the table top that I took off the rolling carts,  I put it onto some shelves.  It's way too long and I plan to have my handy contractor brother cut it down.  I want to have the cutting surface be an island in the room.  It's higher than recommended but I think I can work with it.  I like how the old sewing table looks as a little side table.  That big basket has my white and neutral fabrics in it.

TV corner!!  Yup,  I may be a TV junky.  I refuse to feel guilty though, because I watch while I'm sewing, blogging, and doing laundry.  I'm not just vegging out, you know!  And check out Mark Harmon on the screen.  He's aging well isn't he?  There's nothing like an NCIS marathon while puttering around.

Be still my heart!  I can see clean floor.  A combo sewing/laundry room sure gets dusty.  My secret weapon is scraps of batting.  Perfect for dusting corners and baseboards.  See that sewing machine?  That's what was under cover earlier.                                                                                                       

The current view from the doorway.  The hardest thing so far has been deciding where to put the sewing machines.  I keep the Bernina on my Sew-ezi table.  It looks like it's in the middle of nowhere right now, but sadly it's important to face the TV.  Go ahead and laugh, I am baring all tonight as the decade winds down.                                                                         

It is now 10:30pm on New Year's eve and I am alone, in my sock monkey pajamas, sipping sangria, and happy as a clam.  My husband, the musician, is out playing the trumpet in Washington, DC.  He's happy because there is nothing more pitiful than a musician without a job on New Year's eve.  And both my kids are in their 20's so you know they aren't home.  I'm pretty sure I have them convinced that all cars on the road are driven by drunks tonight and they should stay away from all other cars.  Let me wish you all a Happy New Year. I was on call today and, yes, I got called at 6am to go in for a few hours.  I work  tomorrow so I will  be up at 5am. That means it's time to get in bed with a good book. 

Good night and see ya next year!