My sewing room was getting outta hand!!
 

So last night I had the house to myself. I'm never alone and last night was the first time in weeks I've been able to come home and do whatever I wanted without having to cook, clean, fold laundry, do dishes, etc. I went straight to my sewing room and decided to clean off my cutting table.

I purchased two clear plastic locking project trays at Joanns and put my two WIPs projects so I wouldn't lose any pieces. Folded some remnants and put those away. Took the scraps and put them in their appropriate baggies.

Then I relocated the bookshelf and rearranged the books and magazines so they would be easier to access. Took all my needles and organized them, using my labelmaker and little plastic chewing gum containers I identified each needle size and put them in separate containers.

I bought another clear plastic case and labeled the separate sections to store each of the different presser feet for all of my machines and put them in the case so they wouldn't get lost.

Realizing I have about 4 too many pincushions on my sewing table I narrowed it down to two. The others will be donated to the quilt guild as door prizes.

Just having my attachments in one spot and all organized and all of my needles organized...really helps me feel more in control. Before that I had stuff scattered hither and yon.....Now everything is an arm's reach. Still need to do more scrap cutting so I can make use of my scraps for scrappy projects...but that will come next...probably at Thanksgiving vacation time.

AHHHH

Good for you! That is something I need to do and when I walk in it looks so messy I usually just walk back out. I can throw my hubby out of the house if you want to come over and do it again. LOL

I bet you will now be more creative. Everytime I start cleaning my sewing room I get discouraged and don't get too far. You can come clean my room!

Happy for you! When you get yours done, don't panic, you are more than welcome to do mine! LOL

Good job!! It is so much nicer to work in an organized room! I cleaned my sewing room up the other day -- have a nasty habit of putting items in and closing the door instead of taking the time to put things away to begin with. Today I was able to go in and start sewing without having to clear off an area!! Managed to put a quilt top together!!

We must be related. I absolutely love when my husband goes away for a few days whether it be related to his job or one of his camping trips to Canada during the summer. One of the best things is to eat when I'm hungry and not cause its time to eat now that he is home from work. Or how about not getting dressed for the day until 2 in the afternoon. Love it!
I am constantly finding ways to make my sewing room neater and more efficient. I can't understand how anyone can quilt in an unorganized room. Only problem is, I sometimes feel like if I would stop organizing all the time, I'd get more quilts done.

Coastie -- You hit the nail on the head as far as having alone time. That's when I 'recharge'. My husband is hard of hearing...wears hearing aids...but I swear they don't work because I usually have to repeat myself at least 3 times. It's hard work just to carry a conversation with him. And he's a talker and I'm not...probably because he's not a very good listener, so when I talk it's probably because I have something worth listening to. When I have to repeat myself over and over, I just give up, go to my sewing room and sew away. I asked for his help moving and rearranging some furniture in my sewing room and since it's not on his list of priorities, he forgot about it. So when I was home alone I decided to just do it myself. He's also not much of a team player and if I want to move something to a certain spot he will say, 'are you sure, don't you want to do this, or that, or that won't work.' It's just easier to do it myself. Anyway, last night he went to visit his daughter, so I had another evening alone! yeah! I got a nice hot shower, gave my dog a bath, had a grilled cheese, not a 3 course meal which he must have every night. Then I organized my thread stash best as I could and started sewing a new quilt. Got a lot done too and it felt so good. Also got the laundry washed, folded and put away. It's amazing how much I can get accomplished when he's not around!!! I feel so good when things are organized!

Oh, I so understand you! My husband was US Navy and out of 20 years, 16 were sea-going. (Probably to get away from me! HA!) One gets used to alone time in the evenings. Now, three years into retirement, I love it when he goes to choir practice on Wednesday nights and i can be alone and do what I want in my sewing room. I could go there when he's home...I just feel like I can't! Someone asked me why I wasn't in the choir. If they only knew!! Good for you for getting so much done!

You mentioned cutting your scraps to use in scrappy projects. I think that is a key to scrap control. You can have big bins of loose scraps of every shape and size or neatly organized scraps cut into usable sizes ready to go when you want to make a scrappy quilt. I like cutting mine into sizes of precuts. That way I can easily find patterns to use them in and I can supplement with purchased precuts if needed. I use the plastic containers from Sam's Club that grape tomatoes come in to store my 5" squares. (They are larger boxes than the ones grape tomatoes come in at the grocery store.) If you really want to organize, put all the darker squares in one box, light squares in another, or even sort by colors. 2 1/2" strips rolled up like jelly rolls fit in strawberry boxes from Sam's. And they all stack nicely on my shelves. So much neater than loose scraps. And sooooo fun when the mood strikes to get them out and immediately start sewing!

I was in the middle of re-organizing and got called away, so now my room really looks like a mess. Will see if I can get to it today. :(((

Sounds like it really worked out great for you , a little alone time and organized your room!!!

I know how good you must feel. It is always nice to know where things are without having to search for them..

Hooray for you. Will you be posting pictures of your sewing room?

ROFLOL,,,,,,,,I'm only a short distance in Arizona, can you come to my house after you are finished in Texas????

Sleep tight, now. You have done well.
peace

Today I was just telling my ddil how I missed my dh going away on long weekends with his buddies - they use to go to a state park and ride 4-wheelers. He hasn't been in over a year. I use to do as I pleased. I would clean like crazy the first day and then play the rest of the time. I guess that means that he enjoys my company so much that he doesn't want to go anywhere...lol. He still rides but just here on our property...no dare devil stuff anymore. Now I am the one that goes off on retreats with friends...my how things have changed...lol

Ahhhhhhhh, inspiration. I have cleaned and recleaned this sewing room while I am waiting to get my new room set up in the garage. My long arm is just waiting to be assembled and put to use. I can hardly wait, and have to because my SIL is my herohelper and I need to wait for him to be available. But everything is ready for it. Glad you got yours done and can enjoy the space

Coopah, my husband spent 21 years in the Coast Guard and I too spent a lot of time by myself with the kids. Funny thing now is that he gets up at 3:45 each morning for work gets home again at 5:30 pm and is in bed by 7:30 again. I have gotten used to that, so if he for some reason is up till 8 or so, I'm getting antsy to go down to my "domain". Terrible I know, but true. Hey, makes for a long marriage though, right? Stitch 124 sounds as if you could join us and we could write our own "free time tickets" for life. Love it!.

Oh and I am a craigslist junkie....I practically decorated my entire sewing room in craigslist furniture finds. Here's my latest...for my fabric cabinet.... DVD/CD bins....to organize my growing scrap collection as well as my FQ collection. The lady is selling 50 for $35.00! I don't think I'll need all 50, but I have friends, family and a quilt guild that sure could find a use for some of these.
http://images.craigslist.org/01010_8...VT_600x450.jpg

any day I can get to cleaning/organizing my quilt studio is a good day as I work so much more efficiently when things are in good order. Retirement, thankfully, affords me the time to enjoy this wonderful passion we share.

Come and organize me!

Awesome feeling, isn't it?????

Alone time is great. My Husband use to go to our cabin in the woods fairly often. Last few years not so much. He likes to be scheduled up. We have been married almost 52 yrs. and worked together 27 years. Alone time doesn't come very often anymore.
I just need to organize the drawers in my sewing room. I like organization but it sometimes eludes me. At least I know where everything is.

I know that wonderful feeling! I love it when DS and DH are camping with the Scouts. I sometimes have an entire weekend to myself. Having a clean sewing room is great! Your creativity will flow, once you know what you have and where to find it, you know what you need to complete projects.