Happy Hour Sewing Room Chores and Reflections

It was a stressful work week. And it was Valentine's Day.  I was engaged 40 years ago--oh it sounds like such a long time ago!  We typically do not go out on such holidays. Just too much hassle contending with everyone else.  So, I went to my fav Italian Restaurant in our small little town and got take out.

My sewing area, like all areas that are around me, got a bit out of hand.  You will not remember the Ajax White Tornado...but that is how I approach work and home life. My brain and body going too fast from one thing to another until suddenly you look around and ....well...it's a mess.

My sewing room is a bonus room over a garage--our garage is very large, and this room is very large.  It is also very much like a sanctuary.  One side of the area is a very large knee wall.  In one section there a  narrow alcove that is just wide enough for a futon mattress.  It has a 2x4 window that faces east.  It has a light above.  In fact, I'm sitting there now with my two English Setters typing this post.  Looking out the window, I'm high up and can see the high up tree life--squirrels and birds going about their business of living.  So it is a cozy space read.  I have a vintage Amelia Earheart suitcase, that makes the perfect flat stable area to set the laptop on, or, to set a beverage.

 I was able to repurpose many pieces of furniture to fit my needs for a sewing table, cutting table, ironing station and catch all.   Accordingly I have an eclectic mix of stuff that works just fine. So I took my glass of wine up, and began taking control of vertical spaces.  One helpful thing that I have is an upright laundry basket that I put all of my shreds (not scraps).  R. Arpell did a nice video on using that stuff to make animal bed stuffings.  Mind you, you are putting cotton scraps...no any paper or pins etc.  It's a perfect way to capture and reuse stuff.

It was nice quite time to find, fold, shuffle, sip, sip, sip....I managed to find the missing glove to my quilting gloves that I've been looking for 3 months.  That was a big win.  But I also pulled out my fat quarters for the William Morris fat quarter bundle that I purchased and began to find other things in my fabric stash that would augment it.

I have no idea what I plan to do with it, but William Morris really inspired me some years ago as I was designing a room for an addition that we were putting onto our house.

I also ran across a book that I purchased from Thrift Books.  It is Mia Rozmyn's "Freedom in Design:  New Directions in Foundation Paper Piecing."  I do seem to gravitate to the more modern 'stuff', though I've not made much.  I also found my American Philatelic magazine that the post office sent to me as I buy stamps directly from them.  I kept the book as I found that there were pieces in it that inspired me in terms of colors and shapes to use in quilting. 

Take a look at this Ellsworth Kelly set of stamps.  I was very inspired by this use of color and shapes.

I cut out some other pieces out that inspired me and taped them with painter's tape to the wall.

Anyway it was a reflective time to get some needful things done.  I also learned during that time that my sister in law's mother had passed.  She was a lovely woman who I had come to love.  I will miss her, but she was ready to go.  I wish her a loving Bon Voyage to eternity.