My New Sewing Digs!

A girl has her priorities.

I’ve got a real mess in this new house…moving is such a drag….  boxes are piled EVERYWHERE!

The picture below is a view from my sewing room (which is the rear family room on the main floor) looking towards the front door.

Tell me… what could possibly be higher on the priority list than nesting into my new palatial estate?!?!?

Well.. the answer:  Nesting into the most special corner of my new Nirvana!   My sewing space!

So.. forget the kitchen, the bathrooms, the living & dining room… you say “bedrooms”???  Get real – those will probably be a disaster for months!    Oh hell… forget the office, too (my clients will get over it for the time being! lol) … I decided to settle into the sewing room space first.   What a fun indulgence!

First… get a  look at where I came from.  I had a small, modest, two bedroom condo.  It was like living with 50 pounds of potatoes stuffed into a 10 pound sack!  A tiny corner of the dining room was packed  with my sewing stuff:

I’m a lousy photographer!  I should have taken these pictures during the daytime – but I’m not competing for a spot in House Beautiful right now, anyway.  lol

So here’s some shots of the new place.  What you don’t see in this post is that the living room & dining room are open to each other with massive 20+ foot high ceilings.  There was just no way to take over part of that space and have it feel cozy.    So I “stole” the family room for my own personal space.

This is a nice size room… and I could *really* spread out if I only wanted to sew in there… but I also wanted to be able to relax in there.   So I decided to just take up about 2/3 of the space with sewing stuff as well as turn the wet bar room into a stash room.

I’m by no means “moved in”… gosh…. it needs window treatments!!!   But for now, I’ve got it functional.  Here’s how it all looks… coming into it from the foyer:

The dogs are loving it all.. my old girl pretty much hangs out by the fireplace in this room all day… (I can’t wait to see the gas bill… but she’s worth it!)  … and Bella (our littlest nutjob) is in the other bed:

I got to resurrect a micro fiber recliner and loveseat that’s been in storage for the last year (since closing my office in the strip mall) … they were purchased in one of my better Craigslist transactions – I got some outrageously nice office furniture for about $10 per piece from a business that was closing down – and they just wanted these two pieces *gone* .. so I got them for nothing. The joke was that it cost me more to move the furniture than what it took to buy it. I got 15 pieces of lower high-end (is there such a thing? lol) office furniture for $150. By the time I tipped the movers, it cost me $250 to move it. Gosh, I love Craigslist!

Next: Lucy’s on the sofa.  You can see the sliding glass doors to the backyard patio area and to the right,  the eat-in kitchen area (with another table & chairs from Craigslist) and a bit of the kitchen.

So while we’re talkin’ about Craigslist… earlier this summer, when I starting sewing again (and I had ZERO stash – I had been away from the hobby for about 10 years) … I found someone selling 20 quilting books on Craigslist for $20. I took a drive on a beautiful Sunday to go get the books. When I got there, the nice gal was also ditching 11 big bags of quilting cottons for $5 a bag. So I bought all of them!  Seriously, there had to have been $2,000 worth of fabrics there – and I only paid $60!

When we were moving last week, I was in a rush to be able to re-use the plastic tubs the fabric was is, so I just dumped it on the floor.  When I’ve been taking little breaks, I’ve been re-folding all of it and discovering more selvages to cut (another post for another day!) … So most of the fabric you see in the next two pics were part of the Great Craigslist Stash Acquisition of 2012 ….

(Since writing this, that pile just wasn’t going down – lol – so I finally had to make a plan to grab 2-3 chunks of fabric every time I went into my little stash room and re-fold them and put them on the shelf.   I figure by 2014 they should all be put away! lol)

Oh, while we’re still talkin’ about my Craigslist deals… this cute console/buffet was bought for $75!  I originally used it for my coffee service in the office – but at least for now, it’s another gem for storage and a perfect sized piece to host my ElnaPress…

Next, here’s a few pics of my “stash room” (who needs a wet bar, anyway?!?!) This little 6×8′ room is just behind where I have planted my sewing machine tables.   Instead of wine in the racks, there’s stabilizer! lol

And I until I get around to figuring out the ultimate thread storage system for machine embroidery threads… most of my colors are in these drawers:

And across from these cabinets is one of those office units I bought for $10.   Inside, so far, is more of the fabric from the Great Craigslist Stash Acquisition of 2012:

And on the floor (how inconsiderate of me!) are two of the sewing machines that don’t get used as much – my old Elna Girl (SU 62) from 1975 and the New Elna Lotus that I bought earlier this summer for my granddaughter’s 7th birthday:

I’ve got to figure out something better for these fusible battings and interfacing fabrics… they’re in a tall canvas organizer container I got from Walmart.

And while we’re still in my stash room, here’s the threads that haven’t been put away yet from the Mardi Gras Acorn Bag…

Pretty, aren’t they?!?!?!?

So coming out of my stash room, I’ve got a nice “L” made with a 4 FOOT ADJUSTABLE HEIGHT TABLE FROM SAM’S CLUB – about $38 (perfect size to hold my Babylock Ellisimo Gold embroidery machine) with the ARROW GIDGET 2 SEWING TABLE from AMAZON that works very well for the newer wide throat machines like my Janome Horizon MC7700QCP.  What you can’t see in this pic is how the Gidget 2 has a “drop down” so the machine can be set up to be a flat bed for Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) or working on larger, heavy projects.

Since taking the above picture a few hours ago, I sent my friend off to buy a flat screen TV – so as I write this, he’s draggin’ that old TV you see on top of the fireplace outta here!   (YAY!)

And then directly behind the Gidget 2 Sewing Table, I added a FIVE FOOT FOLDING TABLE from SAM’S CLUB – about $39. This is my cutting area as well as doubles as a great support for the quilt when doing Free Motion Quilting (FMQ). …

And this is another little garage sale find from about 5 years ago.. I think I paid $5 for this table. It’s dorky as all get-out.. doesn’t it look like a throw back from when country was big in the 80′s?!?!? lol… but for now, it works well by not taking up too much space but still holds my rulers outta the way:

And then… here’s what the whole sewing side of the room looks like coming in from the back patio area:

And last… for now, anyway… are two more shelving units that will hold DVDs and more fabric & sewing notions… as well as the dog’s kennel…

I just have to add.. that about 2 weeks ago, I played around with graph paper and little cut-outs of Koala brand sewing furniture … just to play. If I were to ever get the furniture of my dreams, it would probably take moving into another house with even bigger space! (How sick is that?!!?) Seriously… I wanted this space to be a comfy place to hang out – for me, and for my granddaughter and whoever else might land for some relaxing time. With the setup like this just off of the kitchen, I could even put 3 more friends up with sewing machines on the kitchen table and we’d all be able to have a sewing play date together!

So for now, I’m super pleased with these tables that were all bought “on the cheap”.

I’m lovin’ this new space… now I just wish those boxes would unpack themselves so I could sew more!

Toodles for now…

Sally aka: RipStitcher