About Me

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Sewing and cooking are two of my favorite things. In the past, I often found myself searching for pictures and details of projects I have done, without success. So I decided to start documenting my creations. Then my son suggested I add my recipes to the blog so that they are documented also.

Monday, July 22, 2013

It all started with an innocent comment........

Yes, a few weeks ago I made a comment to my hubby that if my sewingroom had hardwood floors, instead of carpeting, we would no longer have to pull threads out of the beater bar of the vacuum. It really is a pain to clean the carpeting after a day of sewing; pins are hidden in the pile and threads just stick like velcro. I really did not expect to get new flooring but the next week he asked if I wanted to go to Lumber Liquidators to look for flooring. Of course I dropped everything and off we went.  We agreed on a laminated wood flooring and the work began.

 
First everything in the room had to be removed so a new paint job could be done before the new flooring went in. Before the renovation, I kept all 6 of my machines (Elna 740, Pfaff QE4, Brother 8500D, Janome 300E, Janome CoverPro 900 and Brother Project Runway Serger) out on tables and the room was always cluttered. So I offhandedly mentioned that it would be nice to have shelves to hold 4 of them and as they say, ask and ye shall receive! Not only did my husband make sturdy shelves but I have bins beneath them to hold my fabric and a nice shelf on top to hold my batting.  It is all so nice and neat.
 
 
 
Every piece of furniture in the room has a story. Since I sew on the Pfaff QE4 and the Elna 740 all the time they are set out permanently. I have my Elna resting on my Mom's Singer cabinet that holds the 1950 Singer that I learned to sew on.  I quilted the cover on the bench. 
 
 
 
 
 The QE4 rests on my husband's grandfather's desk and allows a large surface for my articles that I am sewing. This has proven to be a comfortable layout.
 
 

 
 
To the right of the cutting table I have my ironing board and pegboard on the wall holding all my tools. It is so nice to be able to locate my tools when I need them.
 
 
 
 
In front of my machines on the far wall I have a green bookcase holding my sewing books, thread and fabrics. This bookcase is from my childhood home and it held the volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica's that I used to read and use for research long before the computer age.  I have a small TV ontop of the bookcase that I can easily see when I am sewing.
 
 
Sitting beside the bookcase is my parents chest of drawers from their original bedroom set.  About 35 years ago my husband and I arrived at my parents house and it was on the burn pile.  We rescued it and have used it ever since. 
 
My husband made me a project board and hung it on the wall beside my machines.  I made the valences and ironing board cover from cute ruler fabric I found it a local quilt shop. 
 

 
So I am in love with my new layout and have found that it is much easier to sew with less clutter.  In the last week or so I have managed to keep it clean by putting everything back on the pegboard when I am done with it.  But best of all, each evening I just run the dry duster across the floor and all the stray threads and pins are picked up in one fell swoop. I knew all I needed was a hardwood floor!