Thursday, January 31, 2013

OH-EMMM-GEE!!!

Hoarders called me.  They said to clean up my act or they're coming over to my house with a camera crew!  lol  During the fall and winter months, I was busy sewing and crafting to do craft shows with my daughter.  That left me with various scraps, piles, etc.  Add to that the holidays, a few homemade gifts and more "etc." was left here, there and everywhere!  This is what "that" looks like!!!  And it actually got worse.  I pulled all the stuff out from underneath the two tables.  Yikes!
 
 
I know there is a glare from the window but I was hoping that would keep you from seeing just how bad things are were!!!
 
My sister was here for a visit for Road to California quilt show.  While here, she asked if we could go to Ikea for containers for her sewing room.  After we went to Road, we HAD to go!  lol 
 
I got some big gallon containers for $4.99 each.  They are clear so you can see what's inside and they lock/stack on top of each other nicely.  So much better than those solid ones I was using that you can't see what's inside!!  I "thought" I would be able to store them two high underneath my sewing tables but there is a bar in the way so single layer it is.  In these bins, I put UFO's in various stages.  Some are ready to go with batting, backing, etc.  Some are just blocks and need assembly, stashing, etc.  I put a paper sign in the front so I can easily see what is what without marking the bins permanently.

 
This is under the sewing table.  The big bins on the bottom, UFO projects, mostly in the block stage, in smaller containers.  In the first picture, these were stacked under the window.  This gives me a little storage in that dead area under the table that the second bin wouldn't fit in.  These were unmarked before so I also added little labels to these bins.

 
These sweater and shoe boxes are from Costco.  More clear bins to easily see what's inside!   

 
I even redid my pattern drawer!  I was constantly having to sort through all of them just to find what I needed.  I made some tall tabs with scrap cardboard and though it's not pretty, it's sorted.  Yay me! 
 
 
And here it is.  TA-DAAAA!!!  Pure loveliness...until I start a new project!  And yes, I know it's still cluttered but that's the way I roll people!  At least you can see what color the table is!  lol


 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sale-a-Bration 2013

I had a Stampin' Up! party yesterday with family and friends.  My daughter, Stephanie, the SU demonstrator came up with these adorable cards.  This first one is from a stamp bundle called Hearts a Flutter.  It has the little framelits to cut out all the shapes after stamping them so it makes it so precise.  I love the colors. 


And we had been wanting to do some masculine cards for the men in our lives.  This is from one of the free sets you can earn if you spend $50 during Sale-a-Bration.  The set has an old phone booth, a vintage bicycle and this carousel.  We loved the tone on tone with this card.

 
Now to go organize my sewing room.  I went to Road to California quilt show Thursday and Friday with my sister.  Boy, did we do some damage!!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

January 15th???

Sheesh, at the rate time is flying by, I won't have to worry about missing my husband when he leaves for Turkey.  It'll be a snap and he'll be back.....right?  Okay, probably not.  Here is what I've been doing since Christmas and my last long, long ago post!

Flash back to a couple of weekends ago...  I know everyone is WAY passed Christmas but I had this picture and decided to load it.  I got a little melancholy when I was packing away my ornaments.  I keep all the ones I made on the top on my ornament box so they are the first thing I see when I unpack that box.  It just makes me happy.  I have been making ornaments on and off since around 1970-something.  Some were painstakingly cut out of wood and were a labor of love.  There were years my sisters had to help me finish them at our Christmas party so they could take them home for their tree but they usually didn't mind.  The Christmas tree at the bottom is the one that started it all.  :o)

 
My friend Debbie's daughter is getting married so we played with my Cricut and cut out some things she can use on the tables for a vintage/classic theme.  The umbrellas will be glued to a stick for the centerpieces (flowers) and the other smaller cuts will be sprinkled on the table like big ol' chunky confetti.






The landlord where I work was cleaning out the phone room.  I was walking down the hall toward the ladies room and saw this spool in his hands.  I asked him if he was throwing it out and you should've seen the look on his face!  I wish I had my camera.  He said, "Uh, yes, why, do you want it?"  Again with the face, I said "YES!"  One of the girls across from me and Kelley at the craft shows this winter put little eye hooks around the top edge, wrapped the center with jute and displayed her jewelry.  I thought this would be vintage for Kelley to use for any of her stuff....after it gets cleaned up and "modified"!


I went to the sewing machine store and traded in my lemon sewing machine.  I guess I really shouldn't call the old machine a lemon.  It ran okay.  I just never liked the puckery seams.  Lesson learned on getting a machine for all the bells and whistles!!  I just can't seem to tear myself away from the Pfaff IDF (dual feed) that stitches fabric so beautifully!  And this one has a nice deep throat so maybe I can even get some quilting done!!!


I've been doing some cleaning and organizing in the sewing room.  I need to clean out underneath my sewing tables and add some bins to put some things away.  I hope to get that done by the weekend.  It's supposed to be lovely, finally in the 70's, so I think we'll be spending some time cleaning out the garage.  Now doesn't that sound like a blast!  lol