Craft Room Clean Up

Christmas.  Baby.  They sure have a way of ruining a craft room!  I'm so lucky now to have my own room for crafts.  Sure I could all-purpose it, or give it to visitors, but this is my house.  I have never had the opportunity to create my own space for my messes (er... projects).  So I did.  So that's why if you ever spend the night here,  you're sleeping on the couch.
      But as you can see, my room has become a disaster.  Scraps of projects past, plus little this's and that's... all over. 

Somewhere, under this mess, there is a whole wooden table.  Kind of like Where's Waldo, no?

          My giant table, which is so ugly, is beautiful for working on.  It's sturdy.  Already scratched up.  Perfect for cutting fabric, scrapbooking, sewing, ironing in a pinch (but I have an ironing board.  I'm just that lazy).  

See?  I DO have an ironing board.  It's right by our guitars that never get played... Oh... guitars.  Post on pause...

            *rocking guitar solo* I'm back... So I spent my morning getting some stuff taken care of.  I have diapers that need refreshing (some of our used BumGenius diapers are desperately in need of new tabs (whole other post)), I have scraps that need sewing, baby outfits just itching to be made--I'm almost three months behind in my baby scrapbook (and she's almost three months, so you see the problem here).

Lurking in the corner by my massively old TV, and the props from the baby photo shoot.  I need to find a home for everything.  Oh wait.  That's why they're there in the first place--home sweet home. 

          Scenes like this all over the room--scraps from past projects (remember those lovely bags?) just waiting for use.  Or the trash.  What will become of them?   (the suspense)

I spy with  my little eye... camo flannel, for more flannel wipes?

             Larger scraps found a home in my new fabric drawer.  Sure I could cut everything into squares.  Or fat quarters.  But you never know.  So I've got big pieces in here.  And then, after reading many crafting blogs, I decided to make a true scrap bin.  To keep!  This basket is full of odds and ends, really too small for anything except something intentionally made of scraps.  I'm thinking a pot holder.  I'd make a small quilt (like another carseat blankie) but they're not very coordinating.  So I dug through my trash and began to sort:

It's like the foster home of fabric.

 And then Matt stumbled on the motherload stuffed in a giant Christmas bag!

The scrap bin overflow-ith

          What's in there?  Flannel too small for wipes.  Flannel backed satin.  Scraps of all the colors of the bags.  Scraps from my sock-to-legwarmers project.  I think I have enough satin flannel to make Claire a pair of pants... but what >1 needs a pair of pants like that?  No stretch.  Kinda sexy.  Wrong wrong wrong.  Maybe I'll make a pair for Wally--I can use my button-hole-er to put in a tail opening... tempting.

Not a Knitting Zone

          My crochet items also found a home (instead of their temporary one underneath my end table in the living room.  I took all my PDF patterns and put them in a nice little binder and sorted out all the balls of yarn.  Luscious.  Makes me want to jump in and crochet a sweater of many colors.  Or another hat... NO, I said I wouldn't make another hat--stop me you temptress... but I might buy some of those cute patterns going around that look like owls.  Claire needs a trendy owl hat.  

Glad you took a picture.  This never lasts long.

         Finally, after much distraction, I have a clean working space.  Notice my awesome purple Brother (Wal-Mart special) sewing machine.  Some day, when this beloved friend blows up, I might invest in something a bit more expensive.  But this has all the features I love.  Threader, thread trimmer, digital settings.  Buttons that make me stitch backwards, and lift the needle... it even tells me what foot I need for a particular stitch (and COMES with all of the feet... foots?  so I don't have to buy any more).
         You can also see my scrap bin, right at my feet.  My sewing box.  My keep all for pens and scrap booking.  It never gets cleaner than this!  Now you know where the REAL magic happens!