Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Be Mine

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with love and joy. And, maybe, some chocolates.
Happy Valentines Day!!!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Lets talk about organization. I can hear the moans. I am not, by any means, an organized person and envy those of you who are. My Gramma B, Aunt Barb, German Mother In Law and cousin Ruthie now those are some organized women. Not only does everything have it's place, but it's always in the same place. Over and over and over again. How on earth did they do that and raise a family? I did not inherit that gene. It is work for me. Hard work, and I have the comfort of knowing I am not alone in this. Over the years I've gotten much better at putting things back in their place. My hubby I'm sure, will tell a different tale. It has gotten easier. Especially the last year when I became a full time domestic goddess engineer (sounds impressive doesn't it?). So in honor of you who are like me, I give you some helpful hints for making your sewing room a more organized place to hide from the unorganized closets, cupboards and drawers in your homes.

This is the closet. It is an easy DIY project. The shelves are adjustable and will hold alot of weight/fabric. I then raided Walmart and started with a dozen shoebox size Sterilite containers. Very inexpensive and they hold a nice amount of yardage. And did I mention how well they stack? The labels are decorative wine labels, but am sure there are plenty of places online to score some great print your own style of labels.

And then there are the buttons. I love buttons. And I have many. Including Gramma B's jar that she had in her sewing room. Years ago it was great fun to make my own clothes. But that was before I discovered my love of everything quilted. I found this turntable spice rack at a garage sale for $1. The blue-striped lid is a spice label from Martha Stewart. I've also seen them at thrift shops. Works like a charm too.

Here's a nifty idea for your scissors. A pipe holder. And it turns. This has been one of my favorite finds.

Another easy DIY is the bulletin board. Get a drop ceiling tile from Lowes/Home Depot. Cover it with your favorite fabric and hang on the wall.I'm pinning and unpinning stuff from here all the time. Don't mind the mess, I haven't figured out how to organize a bulletin board yet. Maybe next year.

And last but not least, a bit of wall bling to hold all the little charms, grommets, beads, flowers, and hardware that you love to add to your art quilts, mixed media, or scrapping. The silver mesh baskets are silverware organizers from the dollar store. And the little jars I found at the Restore. Now before all those like jars came to my house I used 4 different varieties of spice jars. They looked just as nice but I wanted something with a larger opening.

So there you have it. A bit of organization from a wannabe organizational guru. If you have any tips for me that you use I would love to hear about them. Us messy girls gotta stick together.



Monday, February 6, 2012

Styling Laundry

The sun is shining and the birds are singing here in our little part of the world. Which brings to mind laundry hanging out on the line. This was how I was raised. As soon as the weather got nice out, temps above 50 and sunny, out came the laundry. Now Gramma B was a bit more into the outdoor hanging of the laundry then my fair weather mom. There were times when I would head to Gramma B's in the middle of January and if the sun was out so were some dish towels, dust clothes and maybe a couple of pairs of Grampas socks. She would tell me she didn't want to waste the sun. I am my mothers daughter in this case and much prefer the warmer weather.

So yesterday was one of those sunny nice days that made me realize those clothesline days were getting closer and closer. And where were my clothes pins? This is what I found...a sad old bucket of nasty looking pins.

Ohhhh....I need to fix this. So I spent awhile searching for freebie patterns, finding a site entirely dedicated to them. But none of them were what I was looking for. And I really wanted to use this old wooden hanger I found at the local thrift shop.

So what's a girl to do? Well out came the paper, pencil and ruler and I went to town. This was the final creation. Am very happy with the way it turned out and am looking forward to making my clothesline look extra pretty this year. If you would like to make one like it go to the tab at the top for a quick tutorial...this is my first but I think I nailed it.