Sewing Room, Office, and Craft Room - SOC room?

My Sewing, Office, Craft room is just about finished!  I am very happy with it.  Here is the main wall:

Here is the sort-of-before post.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have seen my "sewing/craft room" board.  I have implemented several ideas I collected there.  However, I must say that this spot is MY spot and most of the things in it represent something sentimental in my own life.  I doubt anyone else would love it as much as I do.

 I'm okay with that. 

I have my sewing on the left and office and computer on the right.  These things can easily be moved if the work space was needed for something else like scrapbooking or for doing other crafts.

Here are the details, from left to right:

The floral pink piece of art was painted by my Grandmother, Dee Dee.  More about her later. She was very creative and talented.  It seemed only appropriate to have something of hers in here.  A photo of her is also on the desk.

The wall decor under SewCute (purchased at Joann's) is made of 6 art canvases purchased at Michael's, and I just wrapped and pinned some of my favorite fabrics on them. The peg boards below were also purchased at Michael's (a box of 3, on sale!).  I don't really know what to do with them yet-you know, since I have all those fabulous DRAWERS now!  I will definitely hang more thread on the spool holder.  I also hung a little ribbon with mini clothes pins to hold photos of those for whom I've made quilts!  Fun!  I hope that the number of photos grows and grows.

The things on this shelf just make me smile. (Oops, I see a photo falling sideways!). Almost every item has meaning to me.  I won't bore you about each and every item, but will give a few highlights. The top shelf has a hand-sketched Christmas card from the 50s made by Dee Dee.  The little wooden doll was given to me by my dear mother, and it says, "You Are my Sunshine".  She used to sign every card and letter to me with that phrase. Sigh...

The wooden vase is hand -carved and purchased in the Dominican Republic when I was there as an LDS missionary.  The little framed cross- stitch piece is of the Seoul, South Korea LDS temple, made for me when we lived there in the early 90s by a lovely sister missionary.  I have a few wonderful Willow Tree statues given to me by people I love.  My children's senior pictures are here, and a sign from B that says, "If at first you don't succeed, do it like your mother told you".  I wonder how his new wife would feel about that?  Hahaa...    I cross-stitched the I Heart U sign for hubby many years ago.  I stole it back.

I of course included Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's statement, printed from a printable on Pinterest, about creativity from a talk in October 2008, 


"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul".

Bless this young woman who created this beautiful way to depict that important statement.  I look forward to lots of creating going on in this room.

Can you see the little teeny high-heeled pump on the bottom left shelf?

 That was my mother's.  It's a pin cushion.  I have always loved it.  It still has a few of her pins in it.  She always wore high heels - how appropriate.

Here's the wall on the right.  Nothing too exciting for you, but it speaks volumes to my heart and spirit.

The desks are from Ikea and were super easy to set up.  Hubby put the drawers (all those WONDERFUL drawers!) together for me.  Love.

Ok, on to more spots in the room:

This is the main piece that was inspired from Pinterest and from this blogger.  She designs fabric - how cool is THAT??  Wow.  Anyway, we did ours slightly differently.  I had wanted a longer cutting table than she had. We took two of the Expidit Ikea bookshelves and laid them on their side, and then bought one smaller one for the end unit.  At first we were going to have a big piece of wood-something cut to make a longer board than the one she has in her photo that would have covered the entire top area of these bookcases.  But, after I put my big white cutting mat on this, I liked it as it was.  We didn't push the two long bookcases up flush to each other, but there is a slight gap in between to make the mat fit better.  It is not secured - we will see if I regret that later.  If I do, we will try something different.

The end book shelf is empty for now - I am looking for hanging-folder baskets to fit right in there.  I have lots of files to go in them!  I am having trouble finding them.... sigh.  The basket on top has things in it that I love - little photo albums, Shel Sliverstein books (the best EVER!!), my Wicked program - just things to pick up, browse through, and feel a little joy.  It's my JOY basket, I suppose.

These shelves in a little cubby next to a closet are nothing fancy, and I want to replace a few of the boxes.

The white box on the bottom sits on a two-drawer file cabinet. Pretty boring, but necessary.

Can you tell I have a label maker?  YES, I do.  I love it.

The master-bedroom part of this makeover is not finished yet. You'll have to wait for that. Dang.

While I worked to prepare this room, I found myself thinking of my grandmother (Mom's mom), Ida Mae, who we grew up calling Dee Dee.  Dee Dee walked to the beat of a different drummer during her time.  She was very creative and loved beautiful things, floral things, shiny things.

I also thought a lot about my own dear mother, who patiently began teaching me to sew when I was ten.  Bless her dear heart.  What a gift they both gave me to desire to create, and to have some skills to do so. I think they would both be pleased with this space, and would have loved to sit in it and create with me.

I guess I'll have to WAIT a little while to find out....

Babble About Baby Quilts: the Great-Nieces

Two great-nieces were born within 5 months of each other!   More "hugs" had to be created for them as well.

Here is Abby's, born in May of last year:

The pattern was a free one at Moda Bake Shop called, "Sugar Baby".  Abby's momma didn't want pink.  So, this quilt is mostly yellow, green and red.  I added the huge ric-rac because it seemed unfinished.  I do hope that the ric rac doesn't take away from its cuteness if it folds up funny after washing.  Still, it seemed unfinished to me.... maybe it's the fabric I chose for the sashing.  At least that is what my teacher and dear friend Carrie said.  I do love the binding.  Happy colors!

Yes, I learned to make the back a LOT simpler!  Girly on the back, too - I love it.  And, here is sweet Abby getting hugged in it:

Isn't she beautiful?!!

Abby had a cousin born on Sept 9 - the day before B and B's wedding!  I didn't start Ayla's quilt until a few weeks after all the hustle and bustle.  Her mom wanted it very girlie and PINK.  So, pink it was!  I got the pattern out of a book.  I also learned to photograph it better since I knew I wanted to blog about my quilts.  Yes, she CAN be taught!

I'm blessed to have a friend with a long-arm who is willing to teach me how to use it, and willing to help me!

I love the pattern of the quilted swirly flowers.  

This quilt makes me so HAPPY!  I almost didn't give it up!

But, I did.  Isn't she cute!

I loved making these quilts. It brought me great joy to send some love and warmth to these precious babies. I adore their mothers with all my heart  - as I do all my nieces and nephews, and their spouses, AND the ones on hubby's side as well.  We are blessed.   I hope to make lots of quilts!

I started my 6th one which is a Christmas quilt that will be late....

They will just have to WAIT a little while!

Babble about Baby Quilts - for the great-nephew

Within the past year, I had 1 great-nephew and 2 great-nieces join our family, sent straight from Heaven!  Oh, how I wish I lived near them!  Since I don't, I had to make some "hugs" for them.  Here is the first one I made, which was for baby Ridge and delivered last May (Here's his momma's blog) :

I chose a coin stack pattern for an "I Spy" type quilt.  I found the pattern at Moda Bake Shop. It is very busy and very boyish.  I forgot to get some good photos before I delivered it (ok, well, that's because I was still stitching the binding up until a day or so before I presented it.  I was on a long vacation and took it along with me to finish!).  The photos here don't show how bright it really is.

Being a new quilter (this was my third), I forgot the importance of making the quilt back a very simple one.  Well, this one was REALLY cool.... but became a little lopsided when it was put on the long-arm, which was my fault.  Another lesson learned the hard way.  I LOVE the black background fabric - it's my favorite one.

All wrapped up together!

Big brother stole it!  I guess I need to make him one, too!

 I wish I had been a quilter when each of my little great-nieces and great-nephews were born.  I have several  that I have sent little things to, but I would love to make them a fun scrappy quilt, too.  I just might do that.

They'll just have to WAIT a little while.....

Twenty about the Twenty Year Old

Today, L turned 20. We are passed the teen years. That makes me feel a bit old, and yet, pretty dang excited!  I've thought a lot today about my/our journey with her, and thought I would list some of them.

My top 20 thoughts today about her, and for her, are these:

1.  What would I do without your laugh?  It is infectious.
2.  You were the most beautiful baby girl - all eyelashes and eyebrows.
3.  You have had to endure way more than most people have to endure in a lifetime.  Some day we'll understand why. It has made us all stronger and more compassionate.  Wow - well, maybe that's why?
4.  I am grateful that we have found things to bond over - various TV shows, Disneyworld, politics, chocolate, singing in the car, kitties, sewing, and rolling our eyes at Dad.
5. I am confident that you will get over your current health problems (for curious readers, see this post, page down to December)  and will be able to move on in your life.
6.  Heavenly Father loves you and DOES watch over you.  He waits for you to reach back to Him.
7.  You have become amazingly skilled at calming yourself down during frustrating conversations and situations.  Few 20 year-olds can do that. I can't even always do that.
8.  I don't get the Anime thing - sorry.  Don't hate me.
9.  Your grandmother, Mayma, would be so very thrilled that you love to sew and to create costumes.  Can we throw in a church skirt or something?  Please?
10.  Your father loves you more than you will ever realize. Please use that power for good.
11.  Your memory for details truly amazes me.
12.  I am so very happy that you embrace being different than most.  It is endearing.  It is admirable.  I still don't get the anime thing, though.
13.  You have the coolest room in the house for your bedroom. You're welcome.
14.  Real life, while much more difficult that the role-play activities that you love, is harder, but better most of the time and worth the hard work to "get it".
15.  My top birthday celebrations for you during your life were Disneyworld, the dress up party when you were 4, and today.  Why today, you ask?  Because you're here and I love you.
16. Routine is your friend.

17.  Don't ever forget Princess Bride, and the Muppets, and Even Stevens, and Hook, and The Bee Movie. And there are more - but I'm forgetting.
18.  Wear your Aspergirl Cape with pride and use it to right the wrongs towards Aspies everywhere.
19.  Miracles brought you to us.  Miracles have kept you with us.  Miracles will take you along your life's path if you let them.
20.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  It has blessed our family many times.  You are one of those blessings. I love you so very, very much.
Mom

Fix that Blog

I'm trying to update things here, and wanted to do an easy new header (dear Erin, thanks for the last one - I decided to change it up).  I found this website with a little tutorial using Piknik - who knew?  I did not.

Thanks, Thrifty Mrs!

We're Getting There....

My last post was to give a little hint about us working on some redecorating!  We have a master bedroom attached to what would have been a fourth bedroom, but the previous home owners had it attached to the master as a "sitting room".  While the thought of having a lovely, relaxing library-type room attached to our bedroom with comfy, overstuffed chairs and sofas sounds lovely, that is never what we've done with it.  Since we moved here 16 years ago, it has been a computer room, sewing room, scrapbook room, and general work room - and a BIG catch-all.  It has never functioned well with any of those activities simultaneously.  It became time to improve that situation, especially since I have become much more interested in sewing again, as has my daughter.

Also, the last time we painted our master bedroom and bought new linens was..... well, I think in the late 90's.  It was a lovely 90's shade of sage green, with fabrics of gold, green, and rosy-mauvy-something.  Of COURSE it was time for a re-do there as well!

So, "Before":

I have no idea why the bottom of this picture looks so weird... but here is the messy, dated room - and my kitty, Charlotte.

Hubby called this "a shrine".  Well, minus the plastic soap dishes (???) I do like this spot.
You can see to the left where the sitting room is.  

Lovely, green.  Ew.  So tired of it. Why, oh why, did I paint those doors and trim dark green??

And, here are some "during" pictures (the "after" photos are NOT ready because the rooms are NOT ready! Patience...
Ok, so the "during" photos are only of the "sitting room" in the process of becoming a wonderful office/sewing/crafting room.  I don't know what to call it yet!

The right table is the computer desk, and the left one will be my sewing table!

This wonderful structure is on its way to becoming storage below and a cutting board area on top -
kitty Georgie is on guard, of course.

Yes, a bit of a mess, but look at all those DRAWERS!  I don't even know what to do with them - I have never in my life had enough drawers.  EVER.  NEVER.

Sweet, dear hubby, putting together all the furniture!

 The walls are now my very favorite color - blue.  Well, they are actually more gray than blue, but I love them.
I wish I had more time to get it all together, but it is taking a long time.  I am very picky, and it takes me a long time to find accessories, fabrics, etc. when I re-decorate.  That is one of the reasons I don't do it very often.  I understand why my mother's and grandmother's homes didn't change much - it takes too dang much work!

I am so excited, though, to have these new spaces to create and to relax.

You'll just have to WAIT a little while to see how they turn out!

Changes, they are a comin'.....

OH, Ikea - there are times when I love and adore you!  <3

What am I doing with these big fun boxes, you ask?

You'll just have to WAIT a little while.....  but, for a little hint, check this out....