Do you ever sit down at the end of a day wondering what the heck you did all day?  Well, yesterday was one of those kind of days.  I spent waaay too much time taking pictures of things I love and editing them on PicMonkey (a new photo editing site I stumbled across the other day). Neither of those things were on my list of "things to do" but it was fun and fun is good :)

In order to take some decent pictures though, I had to do some rearranging of some of my "stuff".  Don'tcha just love your "stuff"?  I love my "stuff".  I know it's not good to love "stuff" but it kinda just makes me happy and I thought I'd share some of my favorite quilty "stuff" with you today...

Matching pennant banners that my daughter and I made a while ago.

(During one of her mini sewing lessons.  I say "mini" because she only lasts about 5 minutes before she's bored.  Believe me, I'm treasuring the moments...)

Selvages.  For a someday project...

 This sewing bird clamp was a gift given to me by a non-quilty friend.  It was probably the most sweetest, thoughtful gift anyone has ever given to me.  Completely out of the blue.  And perfectly lovely.

My somewhat new Ikea cabinets.
Organizing always feels good...

I like quilts and I like stacks of quilts.

A small collection of old wooden spools...

A sturdy, level place for cutting...

Thank you Martha Stewart and Home Depot :)

So these are some of the things I'm especially grateful for right now.

What about you?  What are some of your favorite quilty treasures?

~ Amber

 

Sew Inspiring Rooms {Pretty By Hand}

Welcome to

A few months ago I fell in love with all the gorgeousness going on over at the blog, Pretty By Hand.  It was new to me and I instantly became a follower.  So a month or so ago I asked Kristyne (the author of all that gorgeousness) if she would be a guest for my Sew Inspiring Rooms series.  I just knew that if she was creating all that gorgeousness that she was sure to have a beautiful space to go along with it.  And of course, I was right.  And lucky for us, she is super sweet and agreed to my request.  Kristyne, thank you for being willing to share your creative space with us!  Now over to you...

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Well hello there!  May I just start off by saying how absolutely thrilled I am that Amber asked me to be a guest here on her lovely blog!?!  This is my first guest blogging gig so I hope I don't embarrass myself (tee hee). 

It was a very timely invitation from Amber asking me to share my sewing room/workpsace with you because I was just finishing up a little makeover.  I'm not exactly the tidiest of souls but lucky for me my room was already looking like I was expecting the Queen.  I tend to have several projects on the go simultaneously ... all at different stages of completion so there are usually lots of "piles" and messes and just general untidiness everywhere you turn.

But I don't think Amber asked me here to expose myself as a closet clutterbug!  LOL!  So let me show you around my sewing room as it never looks in real life but how I WISH it would stay looking like forever. 

I spend a lot of time right here, like right this very minute as I'm tying these words ...

at my desk.

And BTW, in the interest of full disclosure, while it's true I drink several cups of tea in a day, I NEVER bother to use "the good china" ... I always serve myself with an old, chippy, faded Disney mug.  But my real life mug didn't work for this makeover photo shoot.  And besides, if you really were here I would DEFINITELY serve you tea with the good china!

This desk, chairs and lamp all came from a very talented friend of mine who refurbishes furniture and other pretty things.

I also got this beautiful chandelier a few years ago from her.  I think it just might be my favorite thing in here!

And yes, this mirror too.

I'm also really fortunate to have a nice window to let in tons of natural light.

I dressed it up with a lace panel for privacy but to let in as much light as possible.

Here's where I get all my sewing done.  This table was a wedding gift made by my uncle and used to be our kitchen table until we moved and our new kitchen was too small for it. ;)

I feel particularly smug when I need a ruler and can actually find it hanging here on a nail I PERSONALLY installed. ;)  (I'm not usually very good with guy tools ... just needles and thread.)

And those garbage cans from Ikea hold a lot of ... stuff!

I recently recovered both my ironing and sleeve board in coordinating fabrics.

And of course, what would a sewing room be without a beautiful and inspiring fabric stash?

So that's it.  It's a small room.  But it functions really well for me and I love working in it.

Thank you so much Amber for giving me a chance to share my space with your lovely readers.  I hope you all enjoyed a peak into my "Sew Inspired Room".

♥ ♥ ♥

I don't know about the rest of you, but I will definitely be running out to buy some fabric in these beautiful soft, girly colors because man, that color pallet is just so lovely.  What a heavenly space, Kristyne!  Thank you for sharing!

Please leave Kristyne some comment love below, telling how great she did at her first guest posting gig and how Sew Inspiring her space is :) 

And P.S.  If you want to see other "Sew Inspiring Rooms"  click HERE.

Sew Inspiring Rooms {Jibberish Designs}

 

Welcome to

I'd like to welcome Irelle Beatie here today.  She has a wonderful sewing studio that I know you'll find Sew Inspiring!

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I recently found a great blog written by Amber at A Little Bit Biased. She has so many great things on her blog and also does a weekly series called Sew Inspiring Rooms. One of her posts asked for other bloggers to contact her about doing a guest post for that series so - here I am. My name is Irelle Beatie and I blog at Jibberish Designs. I am new to blogging but a long time quilter. I have a FABULOUS sewing space that I want to share with you.

I know I'm spoiled. I have a great, LARGE quilt studio to enjoy while I pursue my quilting passion. I'm going to give you a tour of what it looks like now. But before the tour begins, let's look at where it came from. First "BEFORE" picture taken in 2003 when I bought my condo. It was a child's room complete with border, yellow walls and animals.

I rented this room to a roommate for 4 years and then turned it into my home office. I work from home as an insurance underwriter so having a separate room for a home office seemed like a good idea. Here it is in a wide angle shot.

 

I quilted years ago when my children were small but just picked it up again 2 years ago. At first I only bought fabric for projects and didn't have a stash. Fast forward a year and my stash was taking all the available space in my office SO....... I moved my office to the living room and now I have this great sewing

space! So let's take a tour.

  

I have an L-shaped sewing table formed by a 6 foot portable table purchased at OSH and my Janome 6600 table. I utilize the walls on my right and behind me for thread storage, a ruler holder and idea boards. I like to have the table pretty free of clutter so I'm a big fan of vertical storage.

 

The magnetic strip on the left holds these great little tins that are perfect for pins, safety pins, needles and buttons - an Ikea find in their kitchen department. Next to that is my thread holder for my Aurifil thread. I bought a larger magnetic board from Ikea that has two magnetic pencil holders for marking tools and space to put quilt inspiration photos above my secondary thread holder. Above that is my ruler storage and a bulletin board for notes and more inspiration.

 

I use the space behind my chair to hang buckets for scraps and a basket for my many pairs of reading glasses as I'm always leaving them someplace and with extra pairs within reach, I don't have to get up and look for them. I also have a metal basket for scissors and the black organizer in the middle holds supplies that go with me to quilt retreats and classes but is easily accessible when I'm home. The shelf above is not very effective right now but holds baskets and other accessories.

My stash is a bit overwhelming but oh so fun! I LOVE FABRIC!! My theory is that stamp collectors don't use their stamps and coin collectors don't spend their coins so I am a Fabric COLLECTOR. I do use it but I also just like to look at it. It makes me happy! I have various sizes and shapes of shelving units that work well for fat quarters - baskets or DVD shelves; large pieces of yardage - shelves and bins and 1/2 yard and one yard cuts that work nicely in stacks on my shelves. This wall holds MOST of my stash. The two shelving units on the left are from Ikea :) After I did a post about this space on my blog, one of the comments suggested that I try using the mini bolts to store my fabric. You can see that I have started the transition in the photo on the right. I think this might work for me!

Now to one of the favorite parts of my room. When I first did a post on my sewing space, this is what my big board sewing station looked like.

I decided that the space under the Big Board was wasted by using an ironing board SO I went to Ikea and looked for something that would work to put my big board on but provide more storage for my never ending stash. I found a fabulous pine buffet table in the dining room section for about $80 and it works perfectly! Shelves for more storage and just the right height for my Big Board. So this is what it looks like now.

 

I found this great cubby cabinet on Pottery Barn that I thought would be great Fat Quarter Storage and it looks so cute above my ironing station. It has most of my newest fat quarter collections and a couple of jelly rolls.

 

The opposite wall from my sewing station is my cutting station and my disappearing design wall over the closet. Since I have such a large room, I have the luxury of a cutting station. I inherited the cutting table when my local quilt shop closed and the owner needed a place for the table. I was happy to

 accommodate her request :)

I have the cutting table below my bookshelf of quilting books and binders that store patterns. I have each pattern in a plastic sleeve in the binder and separate binders for quilt patterns, bags and purses and home dec.

My design wall pulls down over the closet door and I must admit it is down more than it is up. When it is not in use, it rolls up under the shelf which is nice. But I use it so frequently that it is almost always down with a project on it. Current project is a commission wedding quilt with message blocks

 surrounded by purple and gold.

 

The final wall in the room is the large window, TV and computer station. This built-in was my original sewing space when the room was still an office but now is just used for my computer and accumulating clutter. You see it on a clean day.

 

So now you've seen the whole room. The size of the room is about 12 x 15 so it is a great space. I spend alot of time in this room designing patterns and making quilts and banners and purses and bags. Many happy hours are spent here in the evenings after work. BUT - I'm moving! My new sewing space will be 14 x 17 but I lose the built-in and have openings and closets in odd places so it will be interesting to see how the new space comes together. I have a couple of more months to enjoy this space before I pack it all up, reorganize and put it in the new space. There have been some great ideas on the posts on this blog including last week from Bitty Bits and Pieces. I hope you've enjoyed my tour and that you have found some inspiration for your own sewing space. Thanks for the opportunity to share my space.  

***

Thank you Irelle for sharing your fabulous space with us!  Oh ~ you are so organized!  And, I love your design wall.  You're one lucky quilting diva.  Thanks again!

Please leave Irelle some comment love below.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Sew Inspiring Rooms {Bitty Bits and Pieces}

Welcome to

I'm so excited to have my friend Kim Walus here today

(from the blog, Bitty Bits and Pieces). 

Gosh, I can't even remember how we first met.  It may have been through a local quilt guild???  She is a fellow Moda Bakeshop chef, pattern designer and has even been published in the book, Fresh Fabric Treats.  She is an amazing person and a great mentor of mine.  Kim gives 110% to whatever she does and her recent sewing studio makeover reflects that!  Thank you for sharing your Sew Inspiring Room.  Now, over to you Kim!

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SEWING ROOMS like QUILTS are always a work in PROGRESS.

I still have lots of things that got pushed to the storage room to go through later, things that need organizing, things I need to get rid of or donate. I still have curtains to make and my sewing chair needs to be recovered. I also need to paint my clock RED and find a rug for my floor. But for now, I am very very happy and pleased with the results as you will see from the pictures I've taken.

I want to thank Amber for letting me share the sewing room spotlight this week on her wonder blog, A Little Bit Biased. She is a wonderful person and very accomplished. You will have to check out her patterns if you haven't already done so. Her quilts are as adorable as she is!

Before pictures were taken in June of 2009

Here's a glimpse of what things looked like before new flooring and new paint.  It was a process getting it to this point and I liked it a lot, but there was a lot of clutter and stuff everywhere. The old pinkie taupe carpet had to go. It was 13 years old and ugly!!!

The curtains are nice but they don't match my room anymore.

I have yet to make new ones.

My portable design wall backed in plastic and held up with push pins.

The MESS began after a flood in our basement which resulted in all new carpet and with new flooring comes new paint. It's kind of like the book "If you give a mouse a cookie. . . he's going to want a glass of milk to go with it."

So, if you give a quilter a brand new wood floor. . . she's going to need a new paint color to go with it.  And that's how it all happened.

Lucky me!

Here's a look at the mess that I had to pull out of my room and store in various places like my daughter's room. Luckily she's away at college. lol.

Thanks to my dear sweet husband, Mr. Bitty Bits, for painting and helping me move my crap around from room to room to room as we prepared for the new carpet in the basement and the wood laminate flooring for my sewing room. He was a good sport but by the end we were exhausted. This all happened in October and it took us until just before Christmas to get it all back in order for our company.

After pictures were taken in February 2012

Here it is. . .

THE BIG REVEAL!

The flooring is a beautiful charcoal grey wood laminate.

The paint is by Sherwin Williams and the color is "Knitting Needles"

Did you notice my DESIGN WALL with the SWOON block and four other little blocks on it?

Well, it's actually a Design Wall QUILT!! Yes, I created a Design Wall Quilt. The binding and the fabric I used matches the other quilt I made for my sewing room. I had my friend Kaylene quilt an overall sewing motif on the quilt.

I didn't want to just put up my old design wall which was basically a piece of plastic with flannel on it. I thought it would look tacky. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The quilt is hung with clips that are attached to a rail system from IKEA.

I loved Amber's use of curtain rods for her wrapping paper and freezer paper so much that I decided to use them in my room. I used the second curtain rod for my grosgrain ribbons, ric rac, and organza ribbons. I really love having my favorite red polka dot wrapping paper and ribbons at my finger tips. Thanks Amber for that great tip! Here's the LINK to her post.

The two canvas prints are both from the moda girls of Sweetwater. Their blog is Sweetwater MAKE LIFE SWEET. I picked up one at Spring Market last year and the second one I bought recently at their online store. I matted them both in red cardstock and put them in a floating glass frame that I picked up at Target for $19.99.

The grey clock I also picked up at Target and plan on spray painting it a cherry red.

Here's a view of my cutting table which has remained in the same spot as in the before pictures. It's been a good place for it and I can access my things from both sides of the table. There are drawers on the front side and open storage boxes on the opposite side where I keep all of my plastic project boxes.

You can also see the smaller version of my Merry-Go-Round Quilt (Cover Quilt on the Feb 2012 American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine) hanging on the wall by the lamp.

Here's the backside of my cutting table where you can kind of see the open storage boxes. I also love the thimble pottery that I found at JoAnn's over a year ago. I think my friend and I bought every single one they had left. I have 3 different sizes and use them to store my tools, pens, pencils, markers, scissors, zippers and selvage scraps. They are one of my favorite finds. . . EVER!

Oh. . . Yes. . . here's another favorite find.

I found these containers at Target last year and I just knew I had to have them. I started out with about 4 of containers and it grew to 8 and now I have 16 of them. They were a little pricey and that's why I picked them up a few at a time. I don't regret buying them at all. They are a great way to store the things that you use all of the time not to mention how cute they make things look. Besides I just couldn't resist the RED lids.

Buttons!!!

I just adore buttons. . . and love seeing them in their cute containers!!!

Here is a view of my ironing board and more storage boxes. The picture was taken from the other side of my cutting table looking toward the door where you come into the room. The banner was made using my Hugs & Kisses Tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop. I thought it would be fun to use the letters in my blog name to hang in my sewing room. The big scissors are plastic and I happened to find them at the Dollar Store for just a $1. I've been looking for more of them and haven't found any since. I felt really lucky to find the only pair of RED scissors they had!

Here's a close up view of my wire shelf that I got years and years ago from Longaberger. I use it to hold my bottles, aprons, my favorite pincushion bunny from my friend Thimbleanna, my small Longaberger basket and my PEZZY fat quarters that I recently bought. If you need a bunny pincushion she sometimes has them to sell but if not she does have the pattern for sale in her store. Go HERE to buy the pattern.

I have one window in my sewing room and it provides a bit of light in the afternoon. That's the one down fall to my sewing room. It has very poor lighting. I hope to resolve that problem at some point with track light of some sort. Anyway, sometimes I can get a good picture in my room when the light is coming in the window in the afternoon. Here's a few pictures of my red chair and my favorite tall dresser that I keep fabric in along with other crafty things. It's a great piece of furniture. I LOVE my RED chair too!!!

My cute bear is from Gap and I bought him 12 years ago when my daughter was a baby. He's just so cute sitting there on two of my favorite quilts.

 

This quilt is a baby quilt that I made and taught a few years ago. It's a replica of an antique quilt that I bought at a local antique store call "Star Flower Mill" The squares are appliqued in the center of each white square.

My friend Kaylene quilted an amazingly intricate design on this small quilt.

I hope you enjoyed this inside look at my creative space. It's the very best part of my day when I can spend time in my sewing room. I don't get to sew as much as I'd like too, but come summer when I have time off from school, you will definitely find me down there almost every day of every week.

A little piece of advice. . .

Big or Small. . . Find a SPOT and MAKE it YOUR OWN!

♥ ♥ ♥

Oh people, aren't you just in love???
I am so jealous of the thimble containers.  I really need those...
And the rocking chair.  And the quilts.
And well, all of it is sew inspiring!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Kim for sharing your space with us!
Please leave Kim some comment love below.

Happy Quilting.
Amber