33 sewing room tour.

I made sure to take some pictures of my sewing room while it was all cleaned up last weekend!  Would you like to look around?

Here's the view when you walk in the door.  The table in the center of the room is used as both my cutting table and sewing table.  I also baste my quilts on it.  My husband built it for me as my wedding gift when we got married!  It's big enough that I usually don't have to take my sewing machine off unless I'm cutting a lot of yardage.  I wish the top was a bit bigger so the cutting mat fit completely, but this works for now.  We might replace the top with something larger down the road.

(Because some people are asking, I turn my chair around from the computer desk to sew, the chair lifts up to the perfect height!  I do sew a little higher than you would at a normal table, but I find that it's easier on my back since I'm not hunched over.)

Behind the table on the long wall is my new pegboard!  I asked my husband if he could frame out a piece of standard pegboard in pretty trim to dress it up a bit.  This is the newest addition to the room, he just installed it a little over a week ago.  I hang my rulers, scissors, cutting mats, and washi tape on it, among other things.  All the things that I use a ton that aren't very easy to store elsewhere.  As you can see I still have lots of room to spare here.

I've hung a few mini quilts along this wall as well, my improv mini from Sewing Summit last year and the awesome typewriter mini from Jen.  Of course my fabric stash sits along the bottom of this wall as well!  Batting and home dec fabrics are stored in the corners, mainly because I don't have anywhere else to put them.

If you turn back towards the left, you'll see my embroidery hoop art!  Lots of my favorite fabrics are framed here.  A long dresser I thrifted last year sits along this wall and holds all of my shipping supplies, along with paper and paint.  Eventually I'll switch it out for a similar dresser that's white, but it's still half painted in my basement and I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon.

Turning back towards the door, you can see my design wall and ironing board setup.  My husband built the design wall too, it's just some plywood framed out with a reclaimed wood frame and wrapped with a layer of batting.  The ottomans in front of the design wall hold all of my work supplies and folders, and offer a place to sit in case anyone wants to visit me (which doesn't happen often in here!).  The door near the ironing board leads to a small walk in closet with more craft supplies.

Here's where you can find me most of the time during weekdays.  Parked in front of my desk and computer screen!  The board on top holds my to do lists, business cards, sketches and such.

This is where I'd actually prefer to be on weekdays... sorting through my fabric stash!  Yardage of all of my prints are stored on this side.

Solids and fat quarters are stored in the top of this side.  Linens, flannels, and home dec prints are in the bottom left and center stacks, with multicolored quilting cottons on the right (I have such a hard time with that stack!).

The middle shelves under the bench hold some WIPS and precuts, along with my AMH stash!  Thread, bobbins, and some other special fabric stacks live in small shelves on top here.

Notions, markers, and other things I use a ton are all organized in milk glass containers on the top of my shelves.

My scrap bin, binding, zippers, and more thread live on the other side.

On top of the bench I've got my spool pillow, ruffle quilt, and an amazing crewel pillow I thrifted recently.  You can also see my washi tape and twine collection more clearly in this picture!

The sides of my cutting table provide a ton of storage too!  This side holds my stationary, camera supplies, paint swatches, notebooks and patterns.

 The other side holds my vintage sheets, thrifted fabrics, and work stuff.

The top of my dresser provides even more storage, with bins for selvages and WIPs, and a basket full of pouches holding different handwork projects.

My AMH flannels and voiles and some finished items sit on this cube next to my dresser.  The bins below hold my ribbon and even more craft supplies.  My little tv is also over here, but I rarely watch it!  I much prefer music to watching tv while sewing.

This little antique wooden cabinet holds all of my needles, pins, and small rulers.  I covered some old boxes with washi tape, those sit on top!  The little trophy is from my sister, she thinks I'm a winner!  It makes me laugh so I keep it here. :)

I think that about wraps up the tour!  I kind of feel like a hoarder after writing this post :)  I have a ton of fabric and crafting supplies, but it's all pretty organized!  This room will likely evolve over time just like any other room, but for now I'm calling it finished.  Hope you enjoyed the peek into my sewing room!

5 typewriter ipad case.

I hope you all had a nice weekend!  I spent most of my weekend quilting my triangle quilt and sewing up this iPad case for my partner in a swap.

My partner seems to love Melody's typewriters (seriously, who doesn't?!) so I had to add one to the outside of this case!  I was inspired by Amber's awesome cases, of course.

I used some faux suede fabric for the top panel, a Lecien Color Basics print for the outside and inner pocket lining, and some Modern Whimsy Circles for the lining.  The green matches perfectly with the heart on the typewriter print!

I used Faith's tutorial for the case with a few slight modifications.  I highly recommend the tutorial!  I would recommend adding an extra 1/4" or so to the measurements if you plan to use batting or thicker interfacing (I used canvas as my interfacing here) and you happen to have a 1st generation iPad.  Mine fits rather snugly inside.

I really hope my partner likes this case!  I've got some extra goodies to put together and then I'll ship this off to her.

6 fabric dyeing.

This past weekend I had a wonderful time with Jeni, Faith, and Lee!  Lots of sewing, eating, and chatting with friends.  Jeni and I also spent some time on Saturday dyeing a big batch of fabric.  We dyed 8 yards between the two of us!

Jeni brought all of her dyeing equipment with her, included her awesome pink gas mask!  We set up in the garage and used Magenta, Lemon Yellow, Aquamarine, Teal, Deep Purple, and Jet Black dyes, along with two of our own custom mixes to make a dark coral/red orange and a reddish purple (which ended up being not much different from the Deep Purple).

I dyed some Seed Catalogue in White and Frosted Dot from Lakehouse Dry Goods, along with some white Kona.  I'm really happy with how the dots turned out, and the Seed Catalogue print is always great.  The Kona had a lot more irregularity, but I kind of like the texture that it resulted in!

Jeni dyed some really cool prints from P&B Textiles, along with some Seed Catalogue.  The numbers and the rectangle print both looked amazing!

Fabric dyeing is kind of a lot of work, but the end result was definitely worth it!  Now I'm on the lookout for some more white on white prints to use next time!  Thanks Jeni for sharing your dyeing skills and knowledge with me :)

7 sewing room sneak peek.

There's been a lot of organizing and such going on in my sewing room this week!  Not enough time today for me to photograph the whole thing, so here's a little sneak peek until I get a chance to take some more pictures.

I'm off to spend the weekend with Jeni, Faith, and Lee!  They should be arriving shortly.  Hope you all have a great weekend!!

12 getting through the alphabet.

With all the driving we've been doing lately, I've been making some progress on my Daisychain ABCs sampler from Posie Gets Cozy.  This project sat untouched in it's little pouch for quite a long time, but I've been enjoying working on it on long car rides!

I skipped the G and parts of some of the other letters because I cannot find my skein of black wool for the life of me.  I just need to buy another but I've been procrastinating.

The D and E were really fun and easy, I like the simplistic look of them.

I got carried away on the F and filled in the entire bottom section rather than just the right half, but I'm fine with the way it looks so it's staying.

 The H and I are some of my favorites.  The J was not so fun with all those curvy stem stitches!

Now I'm onto the K...

Also, a little off topic, but I'm loving this advice from Emily Henderson on styling your mantel.  Watch and learn :)

8 Blogger Bundles!

So yesterday you heard all about my visit to Pink Castle Fabrics.  Today I'm sharing the blogger bundles I put together while I was there!

The first one is called Fabric Fiesta, and it's sitting on my cutting table just begging to be turned into a picnic quilt!  Maybe with some natural linen mixed in?

I took a few of the Maya prints by Leah Duncan and pulled in some basics to coordinate.  I love that dotty stripe print so much!

Next is Holly's Road Trip, which is a pretty perfect name don't you think?  The naming was all Brenda!

This one happened by accident while we were cutting the fabrics I had picked out to bring home.  The bolts were stacked up next to each other and I just couldn't resist.

The beginnings of a bundle for sure.  More wonky stars perhaps?  If only I had more time to sew!


Making these was so much fun, thanks Brenda for the opportunity!  Head over to Pink Castle Fabrics to pick up one for yourself if you're interested!

5 a visit to pink castle fabrics.

I spent the weekend in Novi, MI attending the wedding of two of my very good friends.  Do you know what happens to be within driving distance of Novi?  Brenda and her awesome online fabric shop, Pink Castle Fabrics!

I somehow forgot my camera this weekend (thankfully a friend delivered it before the wedding) so all I have is this Instagram picture of about half of her shelves.

Seriously, she has so many awesome bolts of fabric in there!  I wanted to buy them all!  Thankfully I exhibited at least a little self control and came home with a slightly smaller stack.

I had actually purchased the bottom four fabrics last week, since I was afraid one of the prints (Seed Catalog) would be sold out by the time I got there (and it did!).

I bought a few basics, Kona Ash and White, a pinkish purple Lecien stripe, Heath in Gray and Black, a great purple called Modern Monet Floral,  Verona Dot in Rouge and Teal, and this pretty key print by Sandi Henderson (I'm going to frame some of it and hang it in the wall in our back entry).

I also couldn't resist the Meteor Shower prints from Tula Pink's Birds and the Bees, and the purple Swallow Skies print is such a wonderful color!

Last but not least, a couple white on white prints.  I have some friends coming to visit this weekend and we're planning on doing a little fabric dyeing!  This Seed Catalog print from Annie's Farm Stand has been known to have really great results.

 I also picked up a small polka dot, since you all know I can't resist a good dot print!

I had so much fun hanging out with Brenda, Emily, and Anna!  It was a quick trip but definitely worth the drive to meet these wonderful ladies and see Pink Castle Fabrics in person.  I also made a couple blogger bundles when I was there, but I'll post more about those soon :)

p.s. I've chosen a winner for the Timeless Treasures giveaway.  Congrats to Kim.

12 girl's night.

Yesterday my niece spent the night and we had a little crafty girl time!  She has three brothers and has spent the last few weeks with them and her two boy cousins, so the girl time was much needed.  We had pizza for dinner, she swam for a bit, and then came inside to color her little heart out!  I had made the outer portion of this bag before she arrived and it was just waiting to become her masterpiece.  We took out the washable markers and she got right to work.

The fabric is from the Color Me collection by StudioE Fabrics.  I had received it in a swap awhile back, and I'm really glad I hadn't used it yet, it's perfect for this project!

We used Crayola washable markers, with the hope that they will come out in the wash if she wants to start over.

 She had a lot of fun decorating her bag!

I made up the pattern of the bag as I went...it's just a fat quarter of the coloring fabric basted to quilt batting and muslin with some FMQ doodles, then sewn together with gussets and a black accent piece sewn along the top edge.  When she went to bed, I quickly sewed the rest together... added a lining, strap, and button (and a magnetic snap inside to close it).

Then I decided to practice some FMQ writing, and added her name and some hearts to the strap for fun.

She was so excited to see if finished this morning and to show it off at her dance camp today!  It was a wonderful way to spend time with my only niece.

 

Looking forward to another girl's night the next time she's in town :)

p.s.  Tammie is giving away two copies of my Colorblock Quilt today in her Sew Full of Summer series!  Click here to enter.

199 timeless treasures & giveaway.

Today I want to welcome a new sponsor to my blog, Timeless Treasures Fabrics!

Timeless Treasures is a fabric manufacturer that's responsible for great fabrics like Washi by Rashida Coleman Hale,

Photo from Timeless Treasures

the always popular and super versatile Sketch prints, 

Sketch bundle photo from Pink Castle Fabrics

and that cute Keep Calm print I keep seeing lately!

Photo from Timeless Treasures

They also offer some of the best text prints!  Several of their recent collections feature at least one text print, and there are a ton of really good ones.

Clockwise from top left:  Ironing a Shirt from Sewing & Knitting Novelties,  Handwriting from Library, How to Make a Pillowcase from Sewing & Knitting Novelties, and Love Words from Romantic Rose

Now for the giveaway!  Timeless Treasures is offering up this fat quarter bundle of City Girl by Monica Lee. 

It includes some great blenders (I'm in love with the gray pindot!), a great text print in two colorways, and some adorable girly prints that are perfect for fussy cutting.  I think these would make such a cute makeup or  laundry bag!  Here's a tutorial for adorable drawstring bags and a free pattern for a wonky chevron quilt made out of this fabric.

To enter the giveaway, comment on this post and tell me what you'd make with this collection if you win!  Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you.  As always, followers get an extra entry by leaving an additional comment.  I'll pick a winner on Monday morning.  This giveaway is open to everyone.  Good luck!

Thank you to Timeless Treasures Fabrics for sponsoring this giveaway and supporting my blog!

Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to our winner, Kim!