My sewing room is a disaster. Â A real disaster. Â I’ve known this but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it as I wasn’t very mobile. Â When I was recovering from my foot surgery it was really hard to move around, get into cabinets, and dig into baskets. Â I had told you that what had kept me sewing over the recovery period was projects that were close to me. Â I was so thankful to have all those projects cut out and ready for me to start on. Â I didn’t finish many and that’s okay. Â At least I was able to sew and that kept me sane through the process.
So want to see the mess I’m dealing with…
First off, I’ve spilled out into the hallway. Â UGH. Â If I got a box in the mail Hubby would be great and carry it up the to the sewing room for me..but then that’s where it sat. Â I have a lot of organizing to do.
Stuff is piled everywhere. Â In my defense part of the mess on the floor is the string project I am currently working on but ah…I need help.
Remember the 301 that I recently bought. Â Well here it is……sitting in the case. Â That’s now where I want it. Â I want it out, set up and able to sew.
More things that need to be sorted. Â There are bits and pieces for finished projects all over. Â Really..I need to stop and get this tidied up.
At this point I can’t use the cutting table either.
Sad – but true: Â All sewing is stopping and this room is going to be found again. Â There comes a point when I draw the line and say no more. Â I reached that point. Â I actually reached that point a couple weeks ago but there was nothing I could do about it. Â Now there is because I am just enough more mobile to maneuver around the room and find a home for all this stuff that needs to be organized.
So if you’re looking for me…I am cleaning.
To see what others are working on, check out Patchwork Times.
I’m at the same point in my sewing room, too. But my mess is from not stopping to clean up after I finish a quilt and before starting another one. I spent my afternoon going through my notions drawers trying to find my pattern tape. Most of the time I was finding notions I couldn’t find in the past and went out to buy another! I did find the tape at the bottom of the second drawer I cleaned out. Good luck Jo!!
When you finish come clean mine. Think its called creative minds at work. If I clean it I can find it again.
take heart Jo.
My studio looks like that at the moment and will take me and hubby a good while to sort. (he sews in there too)
Seeing your room makes me feel so much better knowing I’m not the only one with space that looks like this. Anyway, much better an untidy space where it’s obvious things get made than a tidy space where nothing gets created in case you make a mess.
It strikes me funny that you are doing this because this is the project I started yesterday! I started with books! I have more books than brains so it is time to thin the library and pass them along to new homes. I’m not always good about cleaning up a project when I fishish, usually putting the scraps aside thinking I’ll cut those into strips later! Later never comes! Wishing us both luck on our cleaning projects. I’m sure I’ll be in this situation again but hopefully not for a while!
It’s so good to see a real room of a real quilter. – thanks
OOOOoooohhhh! Just think of all the goodies you are going to find in that helter-skelter cattawampus room! Such fun you will have putting treasures back in places where you will be able to find them again, such lists of found projects that you will make when you have time to do them, and a new machine to work with!
Ah, yes, we are all different. I have very little fabric compared to others, and I don’t like following patterns BUT I love organizing. (Doesn’t mean I always create stuff after it’s organized, though.)
It’s a bright, beautiful day here in Maryland!
Good Luck, Jo! I really need to do the same in my sewing room, but when I have a 1/2 hour or so of free time I always choose to sew instead.
My sewing room is a mess, and I don’t even have foot surgery as an excuse.
We are starting to remodel the kitchen, family room, and dining room or basically the whole downstairs. Which means my sewing space is going to be moving soon, which means it probably will have to be packed up. I am getting rid of my current cutting/ironing desk, so will be on the lookout for something new to use in its place. Since I had to empty that out on Friday my sewing area is a disaster too. My quilt guild is having a quilt show November 5 & 6th so at least all the work for that is done.
Good luck with the clean up.
My first thought was that it looks like a busy quilter lives there. My own little sewing room looks much the same most of the time. I love all of the beautiful quilts you have hung in the room. So much inspiration!
Lol, it looks like my sewing room when I get many projects going and don’t seem to finish any of them but then by some magic it all comes together and lots of quilt tops are ready for the longarmers. I usually end up taking a day to put everything back in place and get ready to start something totally new. I must tell you that I liked your idea of keeping projects in baskets as I cut them up and start to put the blocks together, I love using this method, so much so that I have purchased 4 more baskets (second hand) to use in my sewing room. Hope you show us pictures when you get it all cleaned up.
I will!!
My sewing room looks much the same. I only longarm in my room. Otherwise it is a storage space and I am back to sewing on the dining room table!! I started this morning to clean it by taking out one pile and putting the things where they belong. It will be a long process tho. :) But it is a creative mess!
Never fear, Jo….I am sure you will have it back in shape in no time! It’s something most quilters deal with, including me…that’s for sure!! My sewing space is not large, so mine gets out of hand quicker than yours did….I keep saying that I will straighten up more often, but I haven’t made it there yet!!
The one thing that does help is that my sewing space can be seen from our back door entry!
Keep on inspiring us, Jo!!
Thank you so much for being brave enough to show us the before picture and truly it doesn’t look that terrible more like needing a tiding up rather than a total clean up
It would be nice to see before and after pictures or better , if you have pictures of your sewing room in the beginning and now
I so enjoy reading your blog thank you for sharing
Gosh, looking at your sewing room I thought it was mine,except for the rug, then I knew. LOL
It’s ok, we work at our own pace, my thing is when my floor gets all these tiny pieces of fabric on it, I can’t stand that got to sweep it up. I love having my fabric surround me, it just makes me feel good.
You will get there, take your time you have been through a lot and now you have that handsome grandson. You will get there one step at a time.