Sunday 28 September 2014

Under All The Mess

I dug deep this weekend. Deep into the shameful state of my sewing space. I have always been clear about not being a great housekeeper, but I have my limits and when your sewing mojo is lower than low it is hard to try and motivate yourself to do it anyway when you can barely find a spare inch of space to get on with it.

So I went to Ikea on Friday, to get some things to finish of Helen's bedroom, but to sneak in a few things for me too.


I bought the bookcase and the blue and white storage boxes. The bookcase was only £15. It will sit in that doorway quite nicely. While it may seem a strange place to put a bookcase you would have to see this house to understand. The architect who designed it never gave much thought to actually living in it. The sitting room is on the other side of that door. In the sitting room every wall has something major in the middle of it - doors, fireplace or large window. The placement of furniture is hugely curtailed by this. I finely gave up trying to work around it and placed the sofa right across the doorway on the other side of these shelves. This door, therefore, is not used.

To the left of the new shelves is my sewing desk, that himself made me. It is 'L' shaped and big. I love it. So I cleared most of the stuff off it to turn it back into a useful space. At the far end of the desk is my fabric storage. 95% of the fabric I own is stuffed into these drawers in a good semblance of order. It is a system that works very well for me. I know where to look for stuff. I can pull out a drawer, or two, get the fabric I want, cut it and put it back without any bother at all.


Which would bring into question why I have that big pile of fabric and scraps sitting at the end of my desk waiting to be sorted back into its appropriate drawers. In my defence, some of it has never made it to a drawer before, and...     well, actually there is no other defence. It needs putting away, full stop. On my cutting mat is an assortment of HSTs that are left over trimmings from various projects. I want to square those off and use them. Squaring them off and sorting them according to size would be a good step in the right direction.

On the right hand side of my desk is my new desk tidy which I love. Two deep pockets for pens, Sharpies on the left and everything else on the right. A shallow bit for spare needles, spare rotary blades, needle threaders, etc. Two small drawers in which I currently have epp papers and stuff. It is so nice to have somewhere to pop these little items rather than digging around a mess of a desk and wondering where the hell I left something the last time I used it.


The shelves are still being filled. On the floor below the bottom shelf are magazines and my freezer paper. Above the Go! Baby and spare - of which I am having a wee dilemma. One of those cutters does not work well, eats up cutting mats for breakfast. Before I moved them into my sewing space I knew which was which and never got around to binning the duff one. Now I have them mixed up and am not sure which is which. All I can think is to buy two new cutting mats and see which one is the cutting mat killer, getting rid of it right away. Meanwhile, they will both just sit there.

Beside them are my embroidery pouches with projects within. The wicker basket has all my Oakshott in it. And the bag on the end has my lavender. The shelf above has my colour cards - Kona, Aurifil and DMC. A box full of scraps and an epp project on the go.

Next up are the new storage boxes filled, with sewing books and note pads below them. Thread on the left, perle in the middle (with my embroidery floss box below it), and zips on the right. The shelf above holds bits and bobs. An old giant spool wound with ribbons, a tin with my basting pins in it, washi tape, quilting feet, a fabric basket with selveges in it, buttons, etc.

The top shelf is still almost empty, other than the fab clasp purse Nicky made me which is full of ribbons and such.

I am feeling vaguely on the way to being organised. It is not a normal feeling for me. Maybe I can do some sewing. After all, if I have accomplished so much in the tidy up I can ignore that pile of fabric that needs sorting a little longer, can't I?

Susan

23 comments:

  1. Looks like you getting very organized! I find that a good clean up always inspires me to start sewing again. Don't you love IKEA! They have such wonderful things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful! I love seeing how people organise stuff (being weirdly unable to keep on top of my own mess!) That desk tidy looks fabulous. We also have a "useless" door, between our kitchen & dining room (we can access both via hall or living room) - it now has fridge/freezer on one side and the computer desk on the other! Rx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Isn't it lovely to get some space for your stuff and get it organised. I feel a big reorganisation of my space coming on, I think I could get better use of it. Enjoy :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I need to do some organizing, you have done such a great job. I see room for those fabric piles on your new shelf, then you could get to sewing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. looking very well organised, in my opinion. But then you should see my mess ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I do love a good sort out! I've just placed an Ikea order for a couple of bookcases so I can move some books out of my sewing room and put my stash into boxes (rather than cramming it into a drawer) and can't wait to get started! I love your desk tidy...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks great, Susan! I'm sure you will be inspired to start sewings after all this organizing! x Teje

    ReplyDelete
  8. My you've been busy! Looks great! Jxo

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's looking great Susan! I need to make a shelf trip to Ikea too - they are the best sometimes! And love your new desk tidy - it's gorgeous. Hope the tidying goes well, you're sure to uncover your mojo soon xxx

    ReplyDelete
  10. WOW! Im impressed that not only did you manage to BUY storage , you're actually using it already!

    If it's any consolation I find that when I can actually find stuff my creativity busts out and cannot be denied . Good Luck with finding yours post clean up .

    ReplyDelete
  11. From one housekeeper challenged to another - impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ooooh I love having a snoop in other quilters spaces.
    Thankyou Thankyou! Nice white and blue boxes . . .prob just not big enough for me :( and my stash.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Looking good. My fabric has always been organised and I have a little drawer unit organised with thread and sundries. My problem is I usually dump stuff in front of it so I can't get to the little drawers to open it! Need more space or less stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  14. There is something about September that gets me sorting and cleaning too.. More like a new year than January! Ikea is great for fast storage solutions.. We've just been and changed things around here.. Feels great!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yep organisation is a big help when finding your quilting mojo, ask me how I know!
    It looks like you managed a whole lot of organising so now I'm expecting some fabulous projects to emerge.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fabulous job! Now could you just pop up here next? My sewing things are perfectly tidy, the rest of the flat though...

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love having a nosey at other peoples craft rooms/storage - it gives me ideas which I almost never put into practice!!! It all looks lovely. Ikea really have cornered the market in storage haven't they, I've a trip planned in my near future too fingers crossed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Must be the time of year for tidying/re-organising. Mine could take days! Love the desk tidy, it's that I ikea too?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Blummin auto correct! Is that Ikea too?

    ReplyDelete
  20. I dislike organizing but once I do it I feel so accomplished and rejuvenated. Go you.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Well done! Having just moved and now sharing my sewing space with the kids play and tv space, I'm finding there's not as much space as I used to have. I could use more shelves and containers, but there's just not enough floor space to put them.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I read them all and I love them all. I do my utmost to reply to comments as often as possible. If you comment and never receive a reply from me there is the possibility that you are a no-reply commenter.