SSF Post # 21 : Julia's Sewing Room

Feature Elements Week featuring: Blue-J Cottage (blogger) / ImSewCrafty (flickr)

I have been sewing for a while and never had a special space to sew in, mainly because our condo is too small to dedicate a whole room to it (unfortunately...)  Because of this I always took over the kitchen table....  As I slowly learned the Soon-To-Be-Mr didn't really like that idea.  So come January I decided my New Year's resolution would be to take time for myself everyday.  Of course some of the things I enjoy doing are sewing, crafting, quilting, etc...  So naturally those would be part of the resolution.  I started my blog: Blue-J Cottage and became fairly active on Flickr as ImSewCrafty and was realizing that I was taking over the table more and more.  I decided it was time for me to create a "Craft Corner".  Now I should tell you, it is truly just a corner.  And I feel cramped in there for sure, but I love it.  It is MY corner where I can escape to do my sewing projects, crafting projects etc.  Finally my personal sewing space!

So as you can see there is A LOT going on in this space.  I have the cubes on the wall that store some of my fabric.  A bulletin board on the far right wall (hardly seen in the picture).  Magazines, books, papers, notes, projects and ideas all organized on the right hand side stacked agains the wall, with a couple bolts of fabric stacked there as well, and my acrylic rulers.  Displayed is a picture that the Soon-To-Be-Mr took for me of the Dancing House in Prague (Perfect for me because I am a dancer/dance teacher), my newst mug rugs made and received for the Mug Rug 3 Swap on flickr, a picture of two of my cutest students, my newst fabric postcards from the Fabric Postcard Swap on flickr and my lovely handmade cat -Ginger- who is sporting her ribbon for winning third place at a local fabric shoppe's holiday Craft a Kitty contest!  Whew!  And there is still more....you may have noticed there are also several storage pieces on the table that I adore and wanted to feature.

I am guilty most of the time of being unorganized;  my closet is a disaster, my bathroom counter is crazy, and my bedroom can be a nightmare at times...  So storage is key to keeping me on track and undercontrol.  I am finding, though, with sewing that I am ALWAYS getting more things and needing to find new homes for them.  So on the table there are 3 Ball jars, 1 Hobnail dish, 1 Longaberger basket and a Large jar, all of which play a major role in the storage department.  

The Large jar contains all of my thread.  The Longaberger basket and the Hobnail dish hold various items: seam rippers, zippers, camera cord, snaps, and so on.  The 3 Ball jars hold buttons:  the large jar: buttons on the sleeve, the medium jar: random loose buttons, the small jar: special loose buttons.  Crazy I know that I have that meany but bought a lot of them at an Estate Sale that was the crafters/sewers dream!  I also have the cutest thimble flower pot turned utensils jar to hold all things Pens and Scissors.

Right next to my desk I keep my sewing box, which is my grandmothers old train case. I love it!  And it is truly the perfect size.  This is where I store everything else...

And one of the coolest thrift store finds ever is my chair.  An old sewing chair!  the seat lifts up and there is a box where I keep all of my scraps....well let's be honest some of my scraps.....  It may not be the most attractive chair ever, but it sure is the handiest.

Lastly my trusty cat  - Bailey -  sits outside the door watching for those who may distract from the creative process to come along (and of course run away from them, rather than scare them away...)

Well that's it for now.  I hope that you enjoyed taking a little peak into my craft corner.  I do love it there and love all the hidden details that a photo doesn't do justice...glad I had the chance to share them with you.  Thanks for stopping by!  Come back anytime! 

PS: Thank you to Shruti for allowing me the honor of guest blogging, what fun it was and how funny to realize all the craziness that is my craft corner!  Oh and Happy Birthday especially to her DS today!!