Farm Girl Vintage quilt along - sewing

I spent most of yesterday behind my sewing machine which is such a rare and welcomed treat these days.  I am joining Lori Holt over at Bee in my Bonnet in her Farm Girl Vintage quilt along and am running a bit behind.  I started late so I am actually playing catch up and any chance I get I try to finish a block to add to my stack.

Her book is adorable with so many cute vintage looking blocks.  The directions are easy to follow and most of the blocks have been very easy to put together.  I am trying to work with fabric I already have in my stash but must admit that I've made one or two (or five) trips to the quilt store to round out my selection.

I've been sharing them as I go on instagram but I am hoping to line them up and show them to you here soon.

I don't know if I shared with you that I gave up my studio when my daughter moved back in a few months ago and claimed a corner of the living room to craft in (that's a whole other post) but last week I reneged on my selfless move and have restaked a claim to my craft space upstairs.

This pretty wall of inspiration is part of what pulled me back in.  I'll show you both spaces in the days to come.

So that's it for me...what's new with you?

xo, Patty

craft studio - day two, organization

When my daughter walked into my craft studio after the re-org, her first comment as she took it all in was...you got a lot of stuff!  She is so right, I am not going to try and deny it or even begin to justify it (I am sure there is some deep psychological need behind it all)...I have a lot of stuff!

Believe it or not I have pared it down recently and given some away.  I feel like what I have right now are all things that I use on a pretty regular basis...or plan to use soon...

I have developed a system of stations for different crafts, trying to group items together for easy access.  Fortunately for me when we moved in here six years ago I inherited this built in bookcase which is the workhorse of my craft studio.  It holds the majority of my supplies with the exception of paper, fabric and buttons which I'll show you tomorrow.

So heres the breakdown...

The brown crates hold all my glues, glue guns and my heating tool.  The stacked boxes contain crinkle ribbon, small cuts of lace and misc. fabric charm packs.  The red and blue buckets hold tags and vintage embroidered hankies and next to my craft book and magazines are a few of my vintage sheets.

These storage boxes are labeled and hold all the little things I use for paper crafts.  The stack of books on the top shelf are old music paper, one of my (vintage) grammar school math books and and old dictionary that I use for mixed media.

Top shelf - smaller cuts of batting, misc. unfinished projects in all the baskets, the large suitcase on the top shelf holds stamps.

Paint brushes, sculpting tools, copic markers, washi tapes, and colored pencils...

Top shelf - The muffin tins hold my beads and jewelry supplies, the blue case is full of craft paints.  Middle shelf holds threads and pins and the pink box contains my stamp inks and alpha stamps.  The jars contain zippers and vintage thread spools.

My tool caddie,  household notebook (I'll show you what I keep in there another time) and day planner, the small boxes hold sewing needles and Velcro.

The vintage make up case contains tulle, vintage wallpaper and a bit of velvet.  The old fishing box is used for my teaching supplies.

So there you have it...my wall of stuff.  This is the most practical storage area in my space and I have plans to change out some of the more utilitarian storage containers for pretty ones in due time.

If you stuck with me this far, thanks.  I will be back to share more of my studio tomorrow.

xo, Patty

my craft space

When I decided to join Karen over at My Desert Cottage for her annual Where Bloggers Create party a couple of months ago, I was enjoying my recently redone Craft Studio.  Just to show how quickly life can change, our (oh, so briefly) empty nest is no longer empty and my beautiful studio is now my daughter's room once again. 

After touring our little cottage looking for a new craft room (and trying to figure out who I could kick out of what space) inspiration hit. 

I have relocated to a cozy little corner in my four year old grandson's room. Since he tended to join me every time I snuck in my studio to play, it only made sense for me to take my craft toys to him.  He has been around grandma's stuff since he was born and is very good about what he can and cannot touch. 

His walls are painted light blue and his room is accented with red and navy.  I decided to embrace the color palette along with some splashes of turquoise to add a fun twist and bring in a little femininity without being too girly.

The biggest difference I found when adapting to a smaller space is the greater need for streamlined organization.  Plus with limited floor space, find ways to go vertical.

My fabrics used to be folded and exposed in this shelving unit (which was on the floor before) but in this smaller space it was a little chaotic looking so I purchased these fabric totes to store them in and sorted it by line and color.  I couldn't resist leaving a few of my vintage sheets displayed for inspiration.  I also swapped out my mix matched storage boxes for inexpensive paper boxes in white (plus a few of the blue with pink roses). 

I also labeled e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

I rounded up pretty containers for storage since I wanted everything that was left exposed to be beautiful.

Some of my ribbon collection is rolled on round clothespins and placed in these weathered planting boxes.  My copic markers and fine tip writing pens are at hand in a planting tin...




I used this pretty floral pot to corral my wrapping and packaging supplies.  The space underneath the oil cloth covered tables houses all my batting, yarn and paints. Plus a whole lot more...

My buttons are sorted by color and collected on a terraced stand in a cubby and my vintage embroidered hankie and napkin collection looks sweet in a red tin bucket.

Pretty pots and cups hold my colored pencils, paint brushes and more buttons...

I love using pretty things for utilitarian purposes.

I was over the moon excited when I graduated to a big girl studio earlier this year but life changes and you adapt and find new beauty and inspiration.  When the time comes for our nest to be empty again I am sure I will jump at the chance to have my own space but for now, I am just fine sharing what I love to do with my favorite little boy.  I wouldn't trade my time with this little guy for any studio space in the world.

xo, Patty

Now head over to My Desert Cottage for Where Blogger's Create and so many more wonderful creative spaces and be inspired to make a little space of your own.