Inspired to Create...

Saturday was my birthday - I won't say what number birthday - but my birthday none-the-less... I share my birthday with one of my best friends and "cousin-in-law" Lori. Lori was celebrating a "milestone" birthday this year (the big 40), so her family threw her a party. So we went to the party to help her celebrate.

Lori is an amazing artist and illustrator. Although it was her party, she painted me this canvas for my birthday.I just love my new picture!!!

She even put red polka dot ribbon along the edge of the canvas to finish it off...

She is such a talented artist!!!

Doesn't it look great in my sewing area - it matches perfect with the sewing table I made earlier this year.I am now inspired to start sewing some new creations...

A Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear...

I found this old work table on one of my thrift store runs about a year ago. I paid a whole whopping dollar (yes $1) for it and they guy at the thrift store even delivered it for me at no extra charge! Please ignore the mess around the table!

It has been sitting in my garage waiting for me to prime and paint it. I am in the process of converting part of our living room into my studio and wanted to see how it would fit, so we moved it into the house last weekend. But the thought of keeping it in its current condition - "woodgrain" laminated top, and ugly 70's gold pealing paint (until the weather warms up enough to spray paint it) was depressing.

So, armed with aluminum foil, batting, fabric, ric rac, ball fringe, Velcro and a staple gun, I went to work transforming my "new" work table...

I designed the whole table to be an ironing surface to tackle those large projects or quick seam pressing while sewing, and a cutting and sewing table. The first thing I did was cover the laminate with aluminum foil . This prevents the laminate from melting and helps to reflect the heat back to the underside of the item being pressed/ironed...

Next, I covered the foil with 2 layers of cotton batting...


Some cute white and red polka dot fabric was put on top. I tried out the ironing function of the table to get all the wrinkles out - by the way it works great! It was the easiest ironing I have ever done!

I stapled the fabric and batting to the underside of the top.


Then trimmed the extra fabric and batting and tucked it between the edge of the top and the table.

It gave a nice finished edge...


I sewed up a cute skirt with some coordinating red and white and aqua and white polka dot fabrics, and the black ball fringe and ric rac I was gifted with the other day...

I Velcroed the skirt to the table.


And here you go, the finished table...

I have a custom Lucite quilting table on order, along with a transparent custom cutting mat to fit the entire left side of the table (so I don't accidentally cut my ironing pad but can still see my pretty polka dots).

I am thrilled with how it turned out!

First Ever Giveaway and Contest

Well, I'm having my first ever giveaway, and contest rolled into one!

I am once again trying to make some sense out of my sewing/craft room. Actually, I never really finished it last year when my hubby and I cleaned out a whole big room in the basement to consolidate all my crafting/sewing into one workspace. We had it about 80% done, and had some good things going on, like my peg wall next to my sewing area...

But before finishing, I started working on projects, and one thing led to another and entropy took over, and a small hurricane, one tornado, etc... and now I have a huge mess on my hands again.
So my goal is to get it totally cleaned up and organized - and the real goal is to have some soft of system to keep it that way! (ha, ha, ha!) I think if I can show hubby that I can keep it clean, I may be able to grab some space upstairs in the daylight instead of being banished to the basement! Don't get me wrong, I like my cave. While I was in Florida visiting my parents last winter, Dave had some people come and install an extra heat vent, and an electric baseboard heater by my sewing machine to keep my tootsies warm. He also had some additional lighting installed. As I said, I like my cave, but having some natural sunlight and not doing the steps all the time sure would be nice.

So here is where my giveaway comes in...

Do you have a suggestion for keeping my space neat and clean?

Do you have a craft or sewing room that you are proud of?

Do you have a system for organizing your fabric stash, craft supplies, etc... that works?
If so, then enter the giveaway in one of 4 ways...

• Leave me a comment with your suggestion for controlling the chaos - you will receive one entry into the giveaway.
• Leave me a comment with a link to the page where you have blogged about your space or system (or your fliker, photobucket, picasa, etc. photo site) in a comment so that we can all see it and be inspired by it! - you will receive 2 entries into the giveaway for a link to pictures of your space or system.
• You can also enter your link, by clicking on the Mister Linky icon at the bottom of this post. These will also generate 2 entries into the giveaway.
• If you put a link on your site back to my blog about the giveaway, then you will receive 2 additional entries.

All entries must be received by October 31.

The winners will be randomly selected from all entries received.

The first place winner will receive 6 fat quarters in a variety of these vintage sheets I recently picked up, and the second place winner will receive 4.
Now for the contest part...

A contest means that there is a competition, and someone wins. In order to win the contest, you have to have what is, in my humble opinion, the best workspace for me! I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case, I am the beholder, so I get to be both judge and jury!

Keep in mind, that all work is being done on a strict - "don't spend any money" budget, so big expensive professional studios are not what I am looking for. I like to see those, but I am looking for cheap and easy ways to make my space functional, fun, organized and easy to keep it that way.

The winner of the contest will also win 6 fat quarters of vintage sheet material, and be featured on my blog page!

In addition, if I incorporate your system, or use your pictures as inspiration for my space, I will send you 2 fat quarters.

I hope I have provided you with some motivation to share with me your spaces. You know I must be desperate to share with you the before pictures of my current space.

Now get out there and take some pictures and let us see them. If you have a previous post about your space or your methods of organization in your sewing room, you can link to those too - they do not have to be new posts.