What’s on Your Sewing Table?

Life has been “Mach 2 with my hair on fire” lately.  Deadlines, more deadlines, tons of ideas spinning in my head … and life (you know … dishes, laundry …).  Well all of that and a tooth abscess and subsequent root canal that kept me down for a few days.

 

When I was virtual quilting this morning (aka Pinterest surfing) I stumbled upon a sweet little thing, had the urge to run with an idea it sparked, and headed straight to my sewing desk, pulled out my tackle box of 1” pieces and started in.

 

Reality check.

 

I was working and sewing in about 1 square foot of real estate.  There was barely room to move the three spools of thread aside, that lay by the base of the machine, or the two pencils, because my computer was squeezed into what little space there was, as I was fitting this piecing in while making a few phone calls (the ones that keep you on hold for a while).

 

 

 

Yikes!  Time to tidy.  What did I find on my desk?

• – A 9” high pile of fat quarters
• – 4 sample pots of paint for dining room chairs
• – An old belt for a craft project
• – Bottle of hand lotion, jar of hand lotion, jar of lipchap
• – Roll of garbage bags for the second floor bathroom (did I mention my sewing area is in the basement!!)
• – 2 seam rippers
• – 9 spools of thread
• – 3 coloured pencils
• – 1 mechanical pencil
• – 1 note pad
•  -Hat and gloves (rushing in to answer the phone from walking the dog)
• – Various English paper piecing templates – used
• – 1 needlekeep
• – 4 travelling notions zippered bags (for four different projects!)
• – 2 pincushions
• – 1 desktop needle threader
• – 6 finger cots
• – 1 iPad power cord (the iPad is upstairs)
• – All-In-One Quilter’s Reference Tool  (always handy on the bookshelf beside my desk, but did I put it back?!!)
• – Another pile of English paper piecing templates
• – Box of seashells from this year’s trip (to go upstairs to shell collection bowl)
• – 2 financial files (from phone conversation I had and was on hold for so long went to sewing table to stitch!)
• – 1 Christmas present from my mom, still in it’s goodie bag (more on all that deliciousness later!)
• – 1 item to go to the post office to be mailed (totally ready, umh but not in the mail!)
• – 1 sketchbook
• – Two “small pieces” tackle boxes
• – USB Stick
• – 2 mini cutting boards
• – 1 6” x 6” ruler
• – My workout jacket (really?!!)
• – Superior “Handy Nets” thread spool nets
• – 2 sets of headphones
• – Bottle of glue
• – My good tape measure (construction variety!)
• – 1 screw (for what?)
• – 11 photographs
• – 1 dish detergent packet bucket (that was holding “stuff”)
• – 2013 order form for the Boy Scouts “Fert ‘n Dirt” sale
• – 1 roll of drafting paper
• – A business card for my painter
• – Broken piece of crockery (:-(( … but I have a plan!)
• – 2 buckets of fabric pulls
• – Some snipped threads (because the snippets mug travelled upstairs to the kitchen one day???)
• – 2 thread pads
• – 2 pieces of clothing for alterations (that I had forgotten about … oops!)
• – A mesh laundry bag for my son’s rowing uni’s (unopened oops!)
• – My camera

Phew!  In the crush of the past few weeks, it had become a repository for creativity and more!

 

 

 

My sewing area is eked out of an 6′ x 10′ area in the family room. (yes there is “supplementary” storage elsewhere).  Tidying is a regular thing.  I don’t beat myself up about it when it gets messy.  That is part of the process of creating.  And I remind myself of Alexander Calder’s studio in Connecticut.

 

 

 

 

Out of this studio came greatness, and the unique balance of complexity and simplicity!

 

 

 

 

Calder’s studio reminds me that a bigger studio does not mean I would be neater!   I wonder if he ever tidied?

 

What’s on your desk?

 

Happy Stitching

&

Have a great week!