A new sewing space!

I am really very lucky and have had my own room for sewing since I started sewing, save a few temporary months while my sister stayed with us. But, it's always been make-shift, with a cheap hand-me-down particle board desk to sew on and a folding chair. For a long time, we had an extra bed in there, and we also stuck a treadmill we got from my grandpa in there.

Once it was time to move my youngest daughter into a big girl bed, I was excited. We were planning on them still sharing a room and that meant that the spare bed that had been in my sewing room would be leaving. Yay!

This is my messy closet. It's still pretty messy, but a little less so, as I was able to move some things onto the Expedit shelving unit.

I also got a new Bernina, as I've mentioned, and the particle board desk just wasn't cutting it anymore, and I needed a better surface for cutting. A regular desk or table is just too low for me.

So I spent months scheming. I spent a lot of time on the Ikea website. And I finally made some choices.

I ended up changing my mind and returning a couple of things, but once I had decided, it was pretty easy to implement.

Yep, I still use a folding chair, but that's temporary...I'm hoping from a hand-me-down office chair from a neighbor who has ordered a new one.

I bought two Bjorkudden tables. I initially planned to buy just one for my sewing machine, but the top was really an ideal size for a cutting table as well, and bed risers lifted it to the perfect height so we returned the not-quite-ideal desk and bought a second table. I'm so pleased to have a dedicated cutting space at the right height so I can cut more when I need to.

I love using a table for my sewing machine instead of a desk because I'm not limited to where on the surface I can put the machine. If I want to slide it all the way to the right so I can rest the bulk of a quilt to the left of the machine, I can.

In moving the bed into the girls' room, we also lost the necessary space for their Expedit bookshelf, so I inherited it and put it in the corner. It's perfect for storing my boxes of scraps, patterns, and a few other notions, and I have a box full of specialty rulers right on top. I was hoping to claim a bookshelf or something, and it worked out perfectly.

I was finally able to sort my scraps into (hopefully) more usable storage. They went from two very crammed drawers to 8 storage containers (7 are Ikea SAMLA bins). I divided them this way:

• Warm colors, small pieces (pieces that would be approximately one piece for piecing)
• Warm colors, larger pieces
• Cool colors, small pieces (pieces that would be approximately one piece for piecing)
• Cool colors, larger pieces
• Neutrals
• Larger cuts (smaller than fat quarters, larger than the largish divided color bins)
• Precuts (cut by me: 5", 3-1/2", 2" and mini charm packs)
• Whites (which is in a smaller, shoebox sized plastic bin)

We'll see how I get along with this division. So far, so good, and I've been pulling from it for smaller projects. Yay!

(Also: I don't buy fabric by the bolt, but I did get a couple of empty bolts from a local shop to store larger cuts on. So nice!!)

I also made myself a design board! I used sound board like Angela Pingel, but duct taped the batting down instead of stapling it. I love it, and my girls love it too.

So far, I'm really happy with my space. I think it's going to enable me to sew more efficiently because I have things better organized and can use the space more effectively. And the cutting table is really going to make a huge, huge difference. I know it's not super pretty yet, but I have a bunch of mini quilts in the works or on my wishlist, so that will help. :-)

Huge thanks goes out to my awesome husband for helping with the tables and design wall, and for letting me take over an entire bedroom!