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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Sewing Room = Organized... Mostly

Well the sewing room has been organized and adjusted and I believe is now the way I'd like it.  There are of course always a few things to tweak and adjust, but this is working for me.  Love that it's done.  :)

My fabric yardage stash.  I'm working on whittling this down.  Sorted by color.

Finished quilt tops & table toppers.  Waiting to be quilted.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Okay, so no pics of the scrappy log cabins yet, but here are some pics of the owl I'm currently working on.  This little darling will be for sale in my etsy shop soon.  I am hoping to get more of these completed over the next few weeks and will post pics as they come along. 
Tonite I will be sewing on the back and stuffing her with a silk/bamboo polyfil I found at the craft store.  Really nice and soft.  Isn't she cute? I just love these owls!
Here's a smaller version of an owl I made for Jake's Fathers Day present.  The boys each have their own owls and Jake has been asking when he got his own and I finally finished it in time for Fathers Day.  I hope to have more of these owls in various different sizes and colors available for sale soon on etsy.  They are just so much fun to make and much faster than a quilt!

So... I've been working on organizing my sewing space for the past few days.  The boys have both been really sick this week and I've been needing something to do that I can drop right away and go to them when they need me.  Organizing my sewing space seemed the right thing - and was definately needed!

Here are some pics of the dirty and disorganized room and some pics of the organization process as it comes along. 

A small pile of scrap fabric, bolts with no home, and extra batting.  A few patterns and bindings for some almost done quilts.  Really just stuff I don't have a home for yet.  
The new sewing machine table (my old dining room table) which fits nicely in this small space and is more sturdy than the fold-out table I was using in here.  I got tired of my sewing machine bouncing nearly clean off the table every time I sewed a seam.  Right now there are a lot of things piled around it.  In order to organize, I find you have to create a bigger mess first.  Seems a little odd, but it does appear to be working, so I won't knock it too much yet. 








My armoire - which is filled with fabric, thread and patterns on the top.  The two drawers on the bottom hold my finished projects for the shop as well as a few extra projects that will possibly end up as either gifts or eventually make it to the shop.


















This is the bookcase I picked up at Target for $30! I really thought that was a great deal for a 5 shelf bookcase.  It matches my new sewing table almost perfectly too!

Top shelf is for current books of inspiration and projects currently underway.  This works great for me because I don't have to hunt through all my books and patterns now to find the pattern/inspiration page for things I'm working on.

Second shelf holds my rulers/templates/smaller cutting mats and some fabric for the owls I'm working on currently as well as a selection of "crafting movies" (movies I watch often while working at nite).

Third shelf holds iron, scissors and my scrap basket.

Then I have some extra room for my frequently used solid fabric stash and the storage container holds frequently used smaller items that I keep misplacing.  Buttons, extra rotary blades, safety pins, basting pins and tools, sewing needles and pins and random other things.  Bottom shelf was left big for bolts of fabric I use a lot of (my Kona cotton solids and interfacing and a few solid flannels).  Apparently that didn't show up in the picture, but it's there, I promise!



And here's a pic of the closet full of fabric, finally organized for the most part.  I decided to sort by color.  How do you all sort your fabric? I had a really hard time deciding on this but figured color would work best.  I haven't had a chance yet to see if this does indeed work best, as I haven't really had much of a chance to sew recently (other than the scrap basket).  I'll let you know how it works out.  In the meantime, I'd love to hear your ideas/thoughts/plans for sewing room organization.

I picked up a small kitchen island cart on rolling wheels at a garage sale this weekend for $12 and it is working perfectly to keep my precuts organized.  I'll have some pics to show of that later.

The hangers hold projects waiting to be quilted and bound.  That is probably about 2/3 of the projects that should be hanging there.  I know there are more, but they are hiding in the big pile of stuff I moved out of the sewing room so I could start this messy process called organization. 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Jams, Syrups and Jellys, oh my!

Well, I have been a busy little bee lately, let me tell you! I have managed to make 7 jars of Strawberry Rhubarb syrup, 7 jars of Strawberry Rhubarb jam and 8 jars of Raspberry jam.  Phew! I also made 2 Strawberry Lemon Buttermilk cakes and 2 Lemon Raspberry Buttermilk cakes the other day.  The intent was to make some more of them and freeze some for later, but after sampling one cake and nearly finishing it myself in one evening, I decided to quickly give the rest away!  I will say though, the Lemon Strawberry cake with the Strawberry Rhubarb syrup and whipped cream... oh just kill me now! Soooo good.

I'll try to post the recipe on here sometime this week for you all.  I absolutely love this cake!  It is just divine!

So after all the berry picking and squishing and jamming etc, I have finally  gotten back my creative inspiration.  I have been working on making scrappy modern log cabin blocks the last few days as time allows.  I really love this block.  It's so easy to make using up scraps of fabric or strips of yardage and it makes me think of all the other quilters before me that have been making Log Cabin Blocks for generations.  Well it's time to make sure all the jam sealed.  I'll post some pics of my Scrappy Log Cabins later.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Sandals & Strawberries Galore!

After a morning of searching Target for some sandals for Aiden (we found some!) I decided to stop by the Spooner Farms strawberry stand here in Olympia for some fresh strawberries.  I tried to capture the deep, vivid red of these perfectly ripe beauties, but sometimes technology just can't cut it.  Even after trying to doctor the pictures in iphoto, it still doesn't represent these berries accurately.  Oh well, they sure are good though!

The boys sat outside in the gorgeous sunshine eating some while I put groceries away and nibbled on my own little bowl of strawberries.  I'm thinking I'll have to do something with these soon since I don't want them to go to waste and I purchased several pounds of them.  I can see some Strawberry Buttermilk Cake in the near future.   Of course there will be Strawberry jam also, and strawberries and whipped cream for dessert.  I also have a Strawberry Bread recipe that I promised the boys I would try.  Anyone have any good strawberry recipes to share? I'd love to try them out!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Okay,  I know I've been absent lately.  And I've felt bad about it.  Really I have.  I've just been in a rut, you know? Has anyone else felt this way recently? My creative energies have been sucked out.  We have been spending a lot of time outdoors lately since the weather is much nicer now.  My best friend (who I've missed terribly!) just moved down to WA (finally!) about a month ago so we have been busy catching up and letting all the kids play. 

So... since I really don't have much new to share on the creative front, here's a bit of random stuff we've been up to lately, in no particular order.


... snuggled with my boys fresh from the bath (the best!)
... found a terrific new recipe for Raspberry Buttermilk Cake (will share soon)
... watched a deer run through the back yard
... got to see newly hatched baby birds in my mom's backyard with the boys (thanks mom!)
... my little brother is getting married!!! Super exciting!
... read stories with the boys
... read more stories with the boys
... paid some bills
... picked at my nails and then decided to trim them
... watched Jake and the boys get their hair(s) cut
... contemplated why we can it "hair" when it's really "hairs"
... came to the realization that the english language makes no sense whatsoever
... repeated the word "hairs" over and over in my head for awhile, concluding that I liked it much better than "hair"
... had the best birthday ever! (Mostly because my hubby got home on my b-day and then made me his famous Chocolate Black Russian cake that he only makes (from scratch!) once a year for my birthday)
... looked through some old quilt patterns and still found myself uninspired
... received a bouquet from the boys of dandelions, chickweed, some leaves from my cabbage plant, long blades of grass and clover
... said good-bye to husband for a month
... said hello to best friend recently relocated from Alaska
... had two friends both give birth to girls about a few weeks apart
... spent too much on groceries
... switched from coffee back to tea
... drank so much water my belly ached and I could hear water slosh around when I jumped
... peeked in at my boys sleeping peacefully and knew without a doubt that I was the luckiest lady on earth (for not waking them up)


Well friends, I'm off to my cozy bed.  Hopefully my creative energy and inspiration will return soon.  I would love to start making something - or finish something - again soon.  Leave me a comment with any interesting crafty stuff you've been working on recently.  I'd love to hear what everyone is up to, and maybe it will help rekindle my creative fires.

Happy Crafting!