Hello everyone! I am very excited to share my sewing space with you, because much of it is very new. So new that it still looks tidy and even almost organized!
You see, I am a baby quilter and new at sewing as well. A few years ago my Aunt, who was an extremely talented quilter, passed away. I realized there was no one left in the family who did quilting, so I thought I would give it a try. I come from an artistic background; my Mother is an artist, so I grew up painting and drawing. As an adult I took up cross-stitching and beading, among other things. So trying out quilting seemed like a natural progression to me. My Husband bought me an inexpensive Brother to get started with, and I was off and running!
As I said, that was several years ago, and all this time I’ve just been working with my machine set up on my kitchen table, since we live in a small place without much extra room. But since I’ve gotten serious about both quilting and sewing, my Husband gifted me with a brand new sewing/embroidery machine this past Christmas, and an updated sewing area to go around it for my birthday in January. I am so pleased with this new space, even if it is still crammed into one end of my kitchen.
Yes, that is a kitty by the window! That’s Benjamin, one of my three cats, and he likes to be nearby when I’m working, so he has his own spot on top of one of my storage units.
I am trying to keep things as organized as possible, though it does admittedly get pretty messy when I am in the middle of a project. The shelves in the foreground of that picture are where I keep trims, ribbons, jelly rolls and some other fabrics. There are also some folders where I keep projects that I’ve torn out of magazines and hope to someday try. Down below I keep scrap booking papers, paints, and other artsy supplies.
Between those shelves and the sewing table, there is a set of cubicle shelves with drawers where I keep most of my fabric stash. A small ironing board sits on top of that, so I can easily hop up and down from my chair to press seams when I’m working. I set up a full size ironing board when I have to wrangle larger pieces of fabric.
On the sewing table is, of course, my beautiful new machine. I absolutely love working with it! I also have my sewing and quilting threads, and a small bulletin board where I tack reminders and important information. On the table my sewing box is always to my left. It’s where I keep most of my small supplies, so I can just grab them all and go when I am taking a class.
To the side, there is a set of shelves where I keep some of my many books handy for reference, as well as items like quilting rulers that are easy to grab when I need them. On the top of those shelves is my collection of embroidery threads, which my Husband also recently bought for me. He’s pretty awesome, alright!
I’m sure you’ve noticed all the toys and other treasures all around. Well, I am a collector, there’s no doubt about that. I collect so many things – dinosaurs, Star Wars and other sci fi paraphernalia, Delft, chickens, cats, My Little Pony toys and Breyer horses, just to name a few favorite obsessions. And I like to have the things that I love around me. So, you can see many of those things in my sewing area, along with beautiful gifts that my friend Grace has made for me, pictures of my Mom and Husband, and my “internet niece and nephew”, the hummingbird plate I inherited from my Mother-in-law, and lots of other very special and important things.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this look at my crazy little corner of the kitchen! It’s pretty wild and colorful, but it makes me very happy to have this space to work in.
Happy Sewing!
JennM
