Ikea Treasures

Yesterday was my trip to Virginia to spend the day with Lisa and Elsie. We went to Ikea and here are some of the treasures that I got there. Snipits Jars! They have them in different sizes. I got large ones for small pieces of fabrics (I have a red, white & blue project brewing). I got this idea from RoseMary Swartwood, who uses fishbowls sorted by color for her small scraps.

I bought some of the smaller jars and put my Jo Morton Presentia threads in them. I already have a vintage Ball Canning jar for my buttons, but these would be perfect button jars too.

I got these little guys that I plan to put beads and such in. They were just too cute to leave in the store! I plan to mount a large shelf on one wall and put all my jars there.

We had a great time on our shopping trip! Ikea is a facinating place to explore for anyone who loves to organize. And as Elsie is modeling, you can use Ikea products as home decor, or a hat :) It doesn't get better than that!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Carving Out Time to Stitch

How do you carve out time to stitch in your busy day? I like to carry handwork along with me when I have to be out and about. This little blue stitchery is the one I currently have in my car. I used to do a lot of waiting at dance classes, and football practices and would do a lot of stitching there. Now it is more likely to be doctor's offices or using up time when I arrive early for an appointment after running errands. I like to keep some kind of work, and a book in my car at all times. Although when the weather turns hot, I won't keep anything with blue marker in my car as the heat will permanently set the markings.

This is my little handwork case (aka a pencil box from Walmart's back to school section). I have had it for several years and it's perfect for throwing in my bag when I'm heading out the door. It houses my applique threads rolled onto bobbins for portability, needle threader, marking pens/pencils, needles, scissors...

I keep it stocked with supplies that just stay in this case, and I usually have at least one Dear Jane block in progress in here, and some applique.

The key is preparing the pieces ahead of time to have something in the wings ready to work on when the moment presents itself. These little pieces are usually my "extra" projects that I'm doing just for fun, so there is no deadline to get it done. It's more about the process than the project.

Today, I am running down to Virginia to spend the day with Lisa and Elsie. I will have a full day shopping at Ikea with them and going out to lunch, but my little handwork case will get thrown in the car as Northern VA is notorious for traffic jams that don't budge. You just never know, I may get some stitching time today after all ~ at least I'll be ready!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Just a Little Old Dresser

Looks can be deceiving. This little old dresser was a hand me down to me. It was an unfinished pine piece that my brothers shared when they were little boys. I had gotten it from my mom when I had my first child, stained it and used it for baby clothes. Over the years it did duty in the nurserys of all three of my kids. I guess for those reasons, I love this little thing and just couldn't part with it when my kids all got bigger and needed larger furnature. So I found other uses for it.

It works great for fat quarters and smaller cuts of fabric. The drawers are great when pulling colors for new projects.

The top drawer is a little more shallow and works great for threads and such.

And I even use the outside of it to hang rulers. It keeps them out of the way, but handy. So I've really gotten my "money's worth" out of this little dresser. Let me know how you organize in your sewing room, and how you repurpose things, I'm always looking for ideas!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Reuse & Recycle

As part of my continuing organizing quest this year, I have decided to repurpose some things. Here is our daughters' Barbie dollhouse that my husband built now being used as a bookcase. My girls haven't used it for a while, so I have been housing stuffed animals and some favorite children's books in it, but now I've filled the main floor and one bedroom with quilt books and patterns. The dollhouse is located in the window seat sitting area in the hallway outside of my sewing room, so it's a great place to put the books. Before I had all of the quilting books in my sewing room closet, but now they are much easier to get to and see what I have, and the room cubicals make it easy to separate by category like Applique books, Miniatures books...I should be able to use the dollhouse as my bookcase for a few years until my granddaughter Elsie gets a little bigger and Barbies move back in. :)

And for some show and tell, here is my block three finished from my Mimi Dietrich class. I'm starting block four now (we had class yesterday), but last night I prepared three backgrounds to make three different blocks with this next technique. I don't know if I'll get them all done this month, but I got sparked when a lady from Mimi's prior class brought her finished Baltimore Applique top in to show us. It was gorgeous, and now I'm planning out my actual quilt and not just thinking blocks! I'll show you my progress later this month.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

New and Improved Sewing Room

Well, here it is, what I've been doing all week...Drum Roll Please...Here is my sewing room mostly put back together! I love this new floor with my yellow color! (For those of you that have seen my sewing room before ~ yes, it is still yellow, I didn't change the color because I still love it!).
This is my window seat. I love to read and doodle here, and this window looks out the front of our house, so I can see all of the "comings and goings" :)

And this is my "new" closet ~ totally worth the cost of admission right here! I'm still loading fabric, but am getting there. I like that I can keep a cubby for ongoing projects, and there is room on either side of the shelf unit where I can stand up the ironing board and store other items. The shelf unit consists of two Closetmaid Cubicals stacked up. I bought one more that is going in our spare bedroom's walk in closet to hold "future projects" and quilt tops to be quilted (I'm working on that closet next).
This is my little antique ribbon bin that I got at a yard sale. I just love it and I store batting in it. I upolstered a board for the top with fabric that matches the window seat cushion, but I'm going to make a nicer stained wood top for it eventually.

And this is the view from the other window (this is what I see from my chair when I'm sewing). We put the gazebo in last summer in place where the children's play set used to be and it is now my favorite doodle and punchneedle spot ~ at least when it was warmer. We're going to be putting electric out to it, so I think it might become a great sewing spot next spring!

Wow, that was a long tour for such a tiny room! Next I'm going to work on the hallway/sitting area outside of this room. That is where I have my cutting table and other what nots. I have one more child to move out before I get a "sewing wing" instead of a sewing room! :)

And for a little blog hopping: Check out the Tisket a Tasket link on my sidebar for the February block from Bunny Hill Designs, she put it up this morning, and it's cute, cute! And if you like freebies Brenda is holding a free drawing over on her Quilting Cowgirl blog in celebration of her birthday (see the Feb. 2nd post, all you have to do is leave a comment).

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn