My Craft Room

{a picture heavy post}

I always love looking at the places where other people create.  I hope that doesn't mean I am nosy.  It really means that I am looking for ideas and inspiration.  :o)

I thought that it would be fun to take you on a tour of my craft room.  In the interest of keeping it real, I did not clean or put away anything before taking these pictures.  (The scribbles on the table and school notes on the wall make me itch to clean it.)  Yes, I am a bit of a neat freak.  I like to say that I am anti-clutter.  My sister-in-law calls me a minimalist.  My niece says I am OCD. 

I usually tidy up along the way while working on a project.  The messes my little helpers make only last a day.  Maybe two.  The only time it gets messy is when it becomes a dumping ground when I am too busy to sew.  (It usually means I am too busy to clean it up, too.) 

I have some crazy ingrained habits that anyone who sews with me quickly learns.  I have to have the garbage can close to the cutting table to immediately use.  I have to have my thread catcher right by my sewing machine for snipped threads.  (My 10 year old niece thinks it is hilarious, but she humors me when we sew together.) 

With that said, welcome to my craft room.  This is the view from the door the week I started my blog in November 2013. 



I should probably mention that my craft room is located in the basement.  It is the second largest bedroom in the house and has two large closets.  My husband is so good to me. 

I have a funny story about it.  When we first finished the basement, I was working with the cub scouts in my ward.  They wanted to see what the basement looked like, because we met in my home for our meetings.  I took them on a tour of the basement (remember these are eight year old boys).  I opened the door and said, "And this is my sewing room."  One of the boys said, "Sewing room!  My mom has a sewing drawer!"  I can still hear exactly how he said it in my mind.  Although back then (2005), this is what my sewing room looked like. 

Back to November 2013...  To the right of the door is my Horn sewing cabinet.  You can see a small scrap project next to my Janome 6500 waiting to be sewn into a doll quilt. Behind my machine is an extra table I sometimes use when machine quilting. (My cabinet does have an extension on the back, but when it is up I have a large hole in the corner.) 



On the large wall I have hung a queen size flannel sheet with thumb tacks.  My thanks go to Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts for this awesome idea. 

 

Continuing around the room, I have this Ikea table in the corner.  It is adjustable height, but won't go as tall as my cutting table.  :-(   I keep my cedar chest and garbage can under the table.  My large Cricut is under the bright doll blanket.  

 

 

I keep my computer under the doll bed when it is not in use.  It protects it from my little helpers. 

 



 

My sweet hubby installed these cabinets for me above the Ikea table. (You can barely see my birthday calendar hanging nearby.)   

 

 

The cabinets house pictures, cards, scrapbooking stuff, and my quilt books. 

 

 

Next to the Ikea table, I have my large cutting table.  My amazing hubby built the drawers himself.  Under the table I store a chest of scrapbook stuff, and some of my quilts.  I usually iron next to my cutting table.  But the scorched ironing board moves around the room as needed. 

 

 

Here is a straight shot of the quilt rack my wonderful hubby made for me.  (He is pretty handy.)  This is my Blushing Zebra quilt on display.  I call it Blushing Zebra, because the whole time I was working on it the phrase, "What is black and white and red all over" kept coming to my mind.  (Thank you, Boys Life.) Well since it is pink and not red.  It couldn't be a sunburned zebra.  Hence, it is a Blushing Zebra.  Cheesy, I know. 

 

 

Remember it is curiosity, not nosiness, that has you questioning what is in my closets. 

 

 

Okay, here is the messy part of my room.  I have scrapbook stuff, my embroidery unit, serger and some infrequently used clothing in this section.  (Including my old Boy Scouts of America leader uniform.)  The sides of my cutting table will collapse when I need better access. 

 

 

The next section of my closet has my scrapbook paper, cardstock, and other scrapbooking necessities.  My friend thinks I have a paper addiction.  When I scrapbook, I rotate my cutting table ninety degrees and use it.  Then my supplies are all right where I need them. 

 

 

The next section has my iron and ironing board (when not in use), quilting supplies, threads, batting scraps, and my other sewing machine (a Pfaff 7550). 

 

 

The last section has my fabric and scraps stash.  :D  I keep the scraps in those white boxes.  Yes, that is an Ikea Expedit hiding in my closet.  I LOVE it!  You can also see a batting roll peeking from the side.  (My larger roll is stored under the stairs.) 

 

 

So, after taking all of these pictures I decided to demonstrate how much I love my design wall.  I put the scraps from my Elk in the Pines quilts up.  The stripes will be the binding. 

 

 

But to be really accurate, I usually do my piecing with my machine facing the window.  Then, I can easily reach what is on the design wall while I sew. 

 

 

Then this becomes the view from the doorway.  Panda uses that black chair for his crafts while I sew.  (Making my room more child friendly gives me more time to sew near my children.)  I set up my other machine there when one of my nieces come to sew with me. 

 



 

Once again--in the interest of keeping it real--this is my awesome view from the sewing machine.  Please notice that I have a batting scrap taped over the part where the window slides.  It keeps my projects clean. 

 

 

Cheetah asked me, "Are you REALLY going to put THAT picture on the blog?" 

 

I said, "Of course!"  He thinks I am a little crazy at times.  Someday we may put a more interesting lining in this window.  And someday I will make a cute black and white valence. 

 

When I am not going to be sewing for awhile, I close and lock my cabinet.  Someday I may paint it white...

 

 

I seriously love this cabinet.  I move it around all the time.  For example, if I am going to machine quilt a large quilt, I set it up like this.  It really supports the weight of the quilt. 

 

 

This is why I have my Ikea table set to this height.  It matches the height of my cabinet.  I actually tape down the blue cutting mat, because it covers up this hole. 

 

 

When I have my craft room set up like this, Panda claims this little spot for his creations.  It is actually a table meant for my serger.  He and Monkey also like to play under all the tables. 

 



 

A tour of my craft room would not be complete without showing you my light.  I love it!  It shines light in all directions and helps me feel like I am not creating in the dark.  The fan will only turn on if I pull one of the chords on the light itself.  That keeps the little ones from turning it on and making my stuff fly around!  

 



 

 I hope you enjoyed this tour of my craft room. I really enjoy playing in here.

 

To see my updates to the craft room, click here.  

XX,

Jasmine