Sewing Room Update & A Project!!

Here I am, as promised to give you a sneaky peeky at the progress in my sewing room makeover. While I knew this would be a pretty big task, I had no idea just how EPIC it would become! Ben Hur's got  NOTHING on the makeover of my sewing room! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Firstly ... some of the photos I HAVEN'T taken would be ...

• The embarassingly-numerous garbage bags of rubbish that have been taken from the sewing room ... so far!!!
• The bags of 'stuff' that have been packed up to pass on to friends, family, the Salvos ... anyone who stands still long enough to have a bag thrust into their arms!! :0)
• The precariously leaning piles of books, videos (yes those antique DVD's! Tee! Hee! Hee!) and magazines dotted around the house
• My Beloved Geek Boy bumping into a bookcase that didn't used to be there in the dark! :0)
• Me tip-toeing around previously mentioned leaning towers in the middle of the night when I go 'walkies'!!

You may laugh ... and in fact GB and I have both spent a bit of time laughing at each other's mishaps ... but remember, if you laugh TOO loudly, I shan't be at all sympathetic to you if/when you undertake a similar makeover! :0)

So ... on to the peek of our progress. We're working a little differently to the norm (now THERE'S a surprise - NOT!! Tee! Hee! Hee!) in that, instead of emptying the room and applying paint coat one to the WHOLE room, then repeating for coat two, then attaching all skirting board, painting all skirting board ... etc ... we have been working in quadrants. There's so much 'stuff' in the sewing room that it just won't physically fit into other rooms ... which you can well imagine have their own 'stuff' in them already! :0) So, working around this problem, we've cleared half of the room, then shoved the other half of the 'stuff' against the opposite side of the room and done all work to that half (paint walls, attach skirting board and window trim, paint same) and now that this is finished, we will shuffle the furniture across to THAT side and continue the process. So ... this is the finished side of the room ...

This is where one side of the ugly built -in cupboard was torn out and it's now a nook just the right size for my new sewing desk ... which is also finished. I LOVE how it's come up and it's so sturdy that this baby will NOT be a-rockin' when I get my faithful Huskie fired up! :0) We've got two shelves installed above it and  you can see how the baskets of my fabric stash will be stored ... most of those baskets are empty yet ... except for one ... can you spot it?? It's a bit like "Where's Wally?" Tee! Hee! Hee! We'll put another shelf above these that will house some of my 'pretties' and pattern samples. Still tossing up what to do about that section of the floor ... at this point, a mat is sounding like a great solution! :0) Oh ... the doorway into the sewing room from the hallway is just to the left of this pic.

A funny story about this photo, my Huskie and my Hubby ... I had been complaining loudly to GB that I hadn't been able to sew for over three weeks now and was suffering withdrawal symptoms. He'd obviously taken this on board (or was just sick of hearing me whinge!!) and emerged from the sewing room and very proudly told me that he'd cleared the spot for my new sewing desk and set my machine up on it, so I could now sew. I thanked him very much ... then pointed out that, actually, besides the fact that there's a lot of construction clutter and saw dust around that I wouldn't want to get on my fabrics, I still can't sew because ... the machine's power cord and pedal aren't attached! Tee! Hee! Hee! They were put somewhere 'safe' during the packing up of the old sewing table and I haven't rediscovered them yet. But .. it's the thought that counts, right?! :0) What a sweetie my GB is!

Back to the sneaky peeky ... around the corner from the desk and on to the next wall ...

You can see that my made-over cupboard now looks right at home in this room ... the fabric panels were the inspiration for the wall colour. This window looks out onto our front verandah ... still deciding what style/colour curtains/blinds to put up here ... it needs SOMETHING, cos we're on a corner and have three bright street lights beaming into the front of our house at night. Since the daybed in the sewing room is sometimes used as an extra guest bed ... having something at the windows for privacy and to block the light to allow guests to sleep is a must. The window already looks heaps better than before we began ... it didn't have any trim around it and looked a little shabby ... now it looks bigger and stands out nicely against the blue. Hopefully a bit more progress will happen tomorrow - it's our Show Holiday and although I'm working (Highfields where I work has a different show holiday!) GB and his Dad are going to do a bit more on the sewing room makeover, then we're at the weekend again ... will update you some more next week ... hopefully! :0) Oh ... and if you'd like to take a peek at the true colour of the walls (it's a bit hard to get a good pic in the current overcast weather) you can pop over here ... the colour we're using is "Sea Note".

Now to the "Project" in my heading. Another of my projects has been published in "Handmade", with my complimentary issue arriving today.

The lovely Victoria has been following that up for me and it's nice not to have to chase down a copy of the issues with my projects in! :0)  And the project ...

My Scrappy Hearts sewing bag! This project (like the Shabby Chic Hearts published a couple of months ago and pictured hanging on my hutch in the wider shot above) is fabulous for using up the smaller pieces of your pretty fabrics that you can't bring yourself to throw away, plus it has pockets inside to house all your sewing goodies, so it's perfect to pack up to take with you for a sewing play date. It's in the current issue of "Handmade" Vol. 29 No. 1. And I'm in fine company this month again ... The lovely Jenny of Elefantz has a pretty rosey coffee set in this issue; embroiderer extraordinaire Val Laird has designed a fluttery butterfly bag that all little girls are sure to love and sweet Fee (Fiona Ransley) has a bag in this issue featuring a stitched saying that had me singing a childhood song under my breath for some time later!! "There was a farmer had a dog and BINGO was his name, O!" (I'll get you back for that, Fee! Tee! Hee! Hee!) Oh ... in case you haven't guessed and didn't see from the cover ... this issue of "Handmade" is a "Bags For All Occassions" issue ... so all of you 'bag ladies' out there, be sure you don't miss out! :0) And if any of you make up my little sewing bag, I'd love to see some photos! :0)

That's it from me for now ... I'm off to have a cuppa and look at the pretty pictures in my mag again! :0) OPAM gals ... the end of the month is upon us, so please update your sidebar list of finishes and drop Peg or me an email to let us know how many projects you've crossed off your "To Do" list. And even if you're like me and haven't got any finishes to add (don't stress ... life will get in the way from time to time!!), if you could just let Peg or I know, it saves us a stop in our epic blog-hop. In the meantime, I hope you're all having a fabulous week and managing to steal a bit of time to do something that makes you smile! :0) Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!
CHEERS!
KRIS