New Year, New Quilt Room

I am a messy person, well let me qualify that, I'm not dirty, I just have too much stuff. I watch shows like Clean Sweep and dream of Peter coming to my house and organizing everything. But since that will never happen, I decided to "clean sweep" my own house. One the first rooms on my list was my sewing room. I haven't been able to really work in there for over a year. It has become the dumping ground for everything "Bethany" related (whether sewing related or not), and it just needed to be dealt with. So here are my before pictures. Actually, they are technically my half way through pictures, so there is a good deal more on the ground from my closet.

The first step was to get rid of all the things I didn't need, would never make, or fabric I would never sew with. Since I was pleased to find out that Goodwill would indeed take craft supplies, I didn't feel so bad about getting rid of good supplies, they just weren't me anymore. I have my craft room divided into two sections, the main one is for sewing, but I do have a corner dedicated to scrapbooking. The biggest change was to move out the dumping ground that was the bottom of my closet (sorry no before pictures of that) and put the scrapbooking paper and supply organizers in the closet. I need to purchase some more of the 2 quart plastic tubs for my fabric, but so far it is looking a good deal better. The fabric is organized either by color or theme.

It is not perfect, and I struggle with how to store all of the many mementos a small child creates to scrapbook with later. I recently bought some archival large flat boxes that I hope will help. After a visit to our trust hardware store down the street, I was also able to buy some shelving and baskets to help with the organizing of the area above the table. I had never really put up shelves or really anything on the wall because I always intended on painting, but it was either paint now or get on with the organizing, so I just got on with it.

I want to buy some desktop organizers, but a friend of mine mentioned that I should do a bit of scrapbooking and see what supplies I readily use and need at hand to discover what organization would be helpful.

The other section I needed to work on was my bookcase. This is an old bookcase I got off of Craigslist about 8 years ago for $10 and repainted green. Its not too pretty, but is functional and the right height. I went through and got rid of a lot of books, both crafty and non-crafty related. I moved some of my pictures from my cutting table to the bookcase (and yes they are of Matt Damon, it is an inside joke that my brother and I have and he buys them for me :) - and if Matt Damon is reading this, you are on my list and I am available to run away with you at any time) I worry that is is already too cluttered, so I've got my idea on another bookcase to add to the room. I also added another shelf with baskets where I can now keep my knitting and stationary.

Lastly, but definitely not least was my actual sewing and quilt area. I'd love a proper sewing table, but my old computer table has worked well for me the past 10 years. I have a large 6 ft churh table my mother-in-law gave me when she redid her sewing room. It is the perfect cutting area, and although I want to raise the height of the table (to save my back), having it the same level of my sewing table is very helpful when quilting large quilts and supports them. I organized the wired drawers to be full of my current projects, interfacing, and notions. I recently got a thread organizer, that is not pictured here. I also purchased the largest plastic tub I could find and am using the space under my cutting area to house batting and pillow forms.

All in all I'm really happy with how it has turned out, and I know I'm not done yet. I want to add more shelving, possibly incorporate another bookcase where my TV stand is now, and I still need a design wall, but overall it is a much more usable and functional room. I'm excited to sew again!