A sewing nook makeover

Earlier this year, I took a little break from sewing. I needed a step away to focus on other things. I've only maybe half-stepped back into making sewing a priority, mainly out of obligation to the other things in my life. The kids and my job and keeping the house from being condemned are all pretty much non-negotiable duties.

But another thing holding me back? The mess that is my sewing nook. How can you feel creative and inspired and excited about spending time on your favorite hobby when the place you do it looks like...(prepare yourself!).... this?

Please, don't call Hoarders. Or Child Protective Services. This is really the only corner that is in total mayhem in my house. I'm not a neat-freak in any sense, but this the place that for some reason gets really out of control and messy. Which leads to total sewing shutdown.

My sewing nook is in a small, L-shaped, ugly corner of my basement. It's lit by a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, and it shares real estate with the water shut-off thingy. The only electrical outlet is located in the base of the light-bulb, so my extension cord for my sewing machine, table light and iron hangs in the middle of the space. The third picture down shows the opening in the back left of the corner that goes into my laundry room. I had a bookcase shoved into the opening to close it off and hold all my fabric. It's a hard shape to make cute. But I was also not using the space well. I wasn't making a point to keep things neat. I needed way more organization. The smaller the space, the more important being really organized becomes.




So on Saturday, everything came out of the space. Things were sorted, fabrics were refolded, stuff that didn't belong there was sent to the get-outta-here pile. And then everything went back in.

In progress....

It has to get worse before it gets better, right?

After a few hours of working on it throughout the day, I finally had it reassembled and looking better.

I like to see some of my fabric, so for now, I'm storing a bunch of it here on this bookcase. Along with some notions like fusible fleece and interfacing, and on the bottom shelf, a small box of works-in-progress.

 Here's looking into the nook. I have had the striped rug for about 10 years, since I lived in an apartment. Haven't found a use for it in my house until now! I also bought the painting almost 10 years ago at a coffee shop. It too hasn't had a home in my house for some time. I like how they brighten the corner up!

The table itself is from the 1950s. My mother-in-law wanted to get rid of it a few years ago, and I love it dearly. The chair is from my childhood, so my vintage factor is not bad here, eh?

I'd like to get my threads mounted on the wall. Other than that, I'm happy!

 We bought a new storage unit for inside the laundry room, and it's doing wonders not just for that room, but for creating a nice barrier here. Eventually, when we add more storage options to that room, I might use some of the shelf space there for fabric.

 As part of my cleaning process, I threw away my old sewing cover, which was ugly, stained, misshapen and even cut apart down the middle. Time to make a new one!

 Organized these shelves by getting rid of most everything but the sewing books. I might add some baskets here eventually.

Right now, a lot of my fabric is hiding until the table. It's not ideal, as I worry I'll forget about things if they're so hidden away. And I also won't be as motivated to climb under there to put things away. But it'll do for now.

What do you think? Better?

It's still not a Pinterest-worthy crafting space, that's for sure. And it's not done. But I'm feeling way better about it. Before, just looking over into that corner got my blood boiling. Now, I'm actually drawn in and feeling inspired to go sit and sew.

Does your craft space need some TLC? Go in there and spend 30 minutes tidying up -- it feels so good! 

This and that

I have nothing sewing-related to show you, unfortunately. So how about everything else in my camera? Maybe see what else I've been up to recently?

Cute baby in a bath. You are welcome. 

My Dad and his grandkids. I love this picture.

Mom2Mom season is back! I will be going out tomorrow, and a couple of weeks back, I rounded up this loot at a sale. I think I spent $14 for all of this.

When my friends Martin and Michelle moved to Germany, they didn't want to take this cute Ikea shelving unit. So I bought it from them for a very reasonable price. I honestly don't know how I lived without it. Not only does it fit perfectly in my dining room, but it is holding all sorts of things that before were crowded up my drawers and cabinets. 

Napkins, bibs (in the basket), cookbooks, huge salad bowls -- everything has a place now!

I found this cute orange Pyrex at an antique store. 

The other side. I love having my KitchenAid on display. Let's be honest, that baby is a work of art. It deserves a spot in a display case.

Moving on, I bought this cute pre-ruffled black and white fabric and can't figure out what to do with it. Pillow? Cute baby dress? Ruffly scarf? Ideas, please!

Do you need anything around your place fixed? I'll send him right over. 

Have a nice weekend! I have the very best intentions of actually sewing. Hopefully will have something to show you soon.

My "before" bedroom tour

I mentioned last week that we're embarking on a bedroom redecoration project. You can't head down that path without a round-up of "before" pictures. So here we go. Let's take a look.

Won't you come on up? These stairs are part of our bedroom, which comprises the entire second floor of our home. We're Bungalowers.

The carpet is light, which I like. But that's the only thing I like about it. The walls are such a weird non-color I don't know what they are. Sometimes they look absolutely neutral. Othertimes, blue. Still others, violet. What do you think they are?

Once you come up the stairs, you're on this end of the long room. The room right now is split into two areas -- the bedroom and an office area, which I used when I was working at home. I'm no longer working at home, so honestly, this area is not getting much use at all. I've thought about making it my sewing nook, but worry that my fabric and projects will overtake the bedroom and ruin any trace of "restful" vibe we have going on (which isn't much, it's usually a mess).

Here's the bedroom side. The dark furniture was picked for this room, because we thought it would go well with the dark wood trim. Even the ceiling fan is dark wood. I've thought about replacing it with an awesome pendant, but it does get scorching hot up here in the summer, and we do use it.  The duvet cover is silver, if you can't tell. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. I do hate those black pillows. And what I really love is totally missing: color and pattern. There's just really nothing about this that's "me." Again, I don't hate it. I do think all the neutral is sort of soothing. But nothing about this inspires me.

Between the two spaces there is this bench-cubby thing. We don't really use this for sitting, but I do have sweaters shoved inside the bench. That chipped paint has been like that for years. I do like how the cubby is painting a bold color, and I'm thinking I'll most likely do the same with whatever paint palette we pick.

Here's the view from the bedroom area into the other side of the room. That wicker chair is just there filling the roll of  "comfy" chair. I envision an actual comfy chair there, an upholstered one in a great pattern maybe?

Can you see a sewing nook here? Keep in mind that right now, it's in my basement, which has its pros and cons. Pros = it's an area we spend a lot of time as a family, so I can sometimes sew without totally ignoring everyone. Cons = it's a basement and very cramped and of course there is almost no natural light.

Our closets are doorless. We use curtains to hide the mess inside. (Well, I did until my tension rod broke at least a year ago. Why I haven't bought a new one? I can't tell you). This is where I really want to have an awesome, colorful textile on display. With neutral walls, and perhaps one or two accents pulled from the fabric and used in accent walls in the room, I think the fabric could really make the room. Now... what fabric? That's gotta be the first decision, and I need to make it soon!

Thanks for visiting my room. Please close the door behind you, I'm going to go right ahead and take a nap now.  Bye! 

Bedroom redecorating planning begins!

Happy weekend, everyone!

We were sick yesterday. JJ and I. He threw up every meal, including one all over me. Lovely! And I left my workout class mid-way through it because I felt nauseous, and then spent the rest of the day laying around in bed or on the couch. I hate wasting a Satruday like that. (How come the 24-hour flu always has to fit on a day off, amIright?)

One thing on my to-do list: get my bedroom in order so I can take photos of it and send them to our painter. I'm fairly certain we will be redecorating the bedroom next month, and we're getting ready now. I've been furiously pinning fabrics I like for curtains, paint colors, inspiring bedroom photos, cute bedding options, etc. But it's getting close to decision-making time. I thought I'd share a few of the things I am weighing and I'd love to hear your feedback. Oh and I'll upload some "before" pictures of the room this week, so you can see what we're working with.

We have two closets that are door-less and use a curtain to hide all the stuff shoved within them. I'm approaching the whole redecorating process by trying to start with an inspiring fabric for new closet curtains, which I'll make. I figure I'll find that fabric and then base my paint and even flooring on it, as well as new accessories. So finding just the right fabric is No. 1 on the priority list! Here are some of the favorites I've collected so far.

We have dark wood trim in the room that I'm a little confused about. Paint it white? Leave it? I'm not sure. But I do think this fabric would pick up the richness of it well. We want to have three colors on the walls -- a neautral, a pop of color on one accent wall, and potentially a light-color on the ceiling.

Sherwin-Williams has a great tool called "Chip It!" that allows you to put a picture into it and find a bunch of matching paint colors. Amazing, right? So you can see some of the paint options for each fabric.

 I am leaning toward a blue-green-yellow color scheme. I love decorating with blue and figure, eh, why not, even if I already have two other blue rooms in my house. That's the kind of thing that ties a house together, right? This is an Anna Maria Horner print, and I'm really loving all of her fabrics right now. They're so playful and bright.

 Here are some paint options for that one!

 The third option I'm looking at. I really love the richness of this print. I think with a white wall it would really pop. And I could see a really dark accent wall playing nicely with this.

What do you like of these options? I'd love to hear! And I'll post some "before" bedroom pictures hopefully in the next couple of days.

My new green door

Thanks to all who voted for me in the Stitched in Color Celebrate Color contest! I did not win, but I can't begrudge the two winners. They were both really fabulous, and if I wasn't totally all about winning fabric for myself, I probably would have voted for one of them as well. So congrats!

Also, a few people have emailed me asking how to make the rosettes. I followed this tutorial. You basically cut a circle out of felt -- the bigger the circle, the bigger your finished flower will be. Then cut the circle into a spiral. Roll the spiral up from one end and glue it at the end. That's it! If you cut the circle with scallops or points (like a sun) you wind up with some different types of petals and variations in your look. It's fun to experiment, and see what you end up with. I hot glued my rosettes to pieces of scrap felt, and then hot glued those right to the wreath form. That's it! Here's my original post.

By the way, the wreath is looking lovely these days on my new green door. Yup, I listened to you! I wanted to paint the door orange or yellow... But you said, no Krista, no. Green. Green is it. I think you were right.

Here she is!

The color is Saguaro by Sherwin-Williams. It took one goat of grey primer and three coats of paint to get a nice, even color. I did the first two coats last weekend, including one Sunday, a day I had 50 people over for a party. Ha ha ha! I am so smart.

Here's the before pic, and then the after.

I love it. Especially with the pumpkins and mums! Thanks for pointing me to green, friends!

Felt flower fall wreath

First off all, thanks for those who commented in the sewing confessional! It's so nice to know that you're also ignoring your tension and totally forgetting about what needle you're using. And not caring about which needle size is right to use anyway! That's another one I am very bad at. I just use the same needles for everything.
Glad to know I'm not alone!

I had some fun with my sewing machine, wrong needles and all, last weekend. I'll show you my project shortly! But first:

Another project completed inspired by something found on Pinterest!

I'm loving Pinterest. You? I really don't want to just pin pin pin and never make the things I pin. So I'm trying to be diligent about that. This weekend, I carved out some time to turn some of the inspiration from my wreath pin board into a new fall wreath for my door.

The board had lots of good inspiration, but I honed in on this one.

Isn't it pretty? I thought those rosettes were orange, but the blogger says they're mustard. I had orange in my head though, and went to the store for orange felt. The only orange felt I saw had a distinct I'm-about-to-go-hunting vibe though. So I skipped it and went with mustard (probably the same mustard?), two shades of brown and a mossy green.

Then I made many rosettes, some small. Some big. At least half were yellow because I thought that would pop best. I still really wish I'd found some way to get some orange in there. But oh well. I like the results as they are!

Not too "country," is it? At one point I had some fake berries stuck in it, but my friend pointed out it looked a little less Martha and a little more country that way. I think she was right.

What's on your door for the fall?

PS. I just might enter this into the Stitched in Color Celebrate Color contest. Go check it out here!

Painting my front door.... yellow?

First off...

Say whaaaaaa? Seven months old? Meeeeee?!

Isn't that the cute?

I thought so. Had to share. I can't believe I got him holding his own sign AND looking my way.

OK, onto other things. I've been a busy little social bee for the last week. We had a huge event here in town called Arts, Beats and Eats. We had friends in from out of town. Family, too. I had a girl's night out with my dear friend who is deserting me following her dreams and moving to China. And we have a wedding coming on Friday night! My brother-in-law is getting hitched! All this is to say: in my sewing nook, the only noise you'll hear these days is crickets. And spiders. Do spiders make noise? Anyway, I have nothing to show you and that's a bummer!

But I do need your opinions. I've been thinking about painting my front door. It's white. I want to jazz it up. My first thought was orange. I pinned a bunch of orange doors, and I love them. The problem is, my house is about half orange brick. So there is a clashing issue, as well as a that's-just-too-much-orange issue.

So then I thought yellow? Maybe? Then I just told my husband to grab whatever paint chips inspired him the last time he was at Home Depot.

Take a look and tell me what you think.
 

I think it would need to be dark. Like, the bottom of any of those chips. And I'm leaning toward yellow. (Or blue, but my husband has vetoed blue.) Although if it wasn't for the brick, I'd truly still want orange. 

What do you like?