A Christmas Gift

For Christmas, my oldest daughter gave me a gift card to my favorite fabric store!  Gift cards are so awesome because your mind just goes wild with ideas!   I always try to use them for purchasing something that I would not normally purchase with my hard earned pennies.  Usually something that I want but consider not entirely necessary at present, something that can wait till another day for purchase.  I'm sure you know the feeling!

Anyway, I was storing my ribbon stash in a drawer, and if you know my studio, you know that my space is limited and all space is premium.  Drawer space could be used a little more efficiently, for sure!  So see what I purchased!  Ribbon Storage!

Formerly this space was unused wall space.  Now my ribbon storage is vertical at the back of a plastic storage shelving unit, right alongside my tread, webbing and lace storage! Not to mention, the empty drawer space now ready for items that I use rarely and want to tuck away from view.

Thanks, Jackie! 

Spring Cleaning!

I've known that I had a bit of Spring fever, even though here in the Pacific Northwest the winter hasn't been very severe--mild actually.  All the storms have been missing us and going more to the North.  Anyway, I still find myself longing for the freshness of Spring.  I guess I further proved it to myself this weekend, with a furious bout of Spring cleaning!  Seems like many friends have been giving me fabrics and notions and they had been building up in bags in my "studio"-- the end of my bedroom.  It was getting me down, because not everything had it's place and I had to walk around 'stuff' in bags on the floor.

A friend said to me last week, "I love getting new clothes at Goodwill (thrift store) but I never seem to clean out my closets and get rid of the old clothes."  That gave me an idea.  I had plenty of  old clothes in drawers that I never wear.  So I went thru the drawers and was able to fill up two large bags of clothing that are headed to the thrift store.  This left me with four empty drawers in my large dressers.  I started going thru my stuff and organizing.  Here's the finished product--a clean studio space.



Dresser top storage all arranged!

The dressers had been stacked with books and fabrics thrown in disarray!  NOW, I can see what I need and get to it!



Fabric Storage!

This side of the dresser I couldn't even open, because of the boxes stacked in front of it!  I got rid of what was in the dresser that I never use and now it holds my larger fabric yardage and a box of unfinished projects that I can easily pull out and finish!




Drawer full of felt and ribbon

Now I can SEE my ribbons and readily get to my felt supply!  They were in a box with all kinds of fabrics stacked on top of them.



Desk top handy items!

On the end of the desktop, I have my Ott light, my pin bowl, my scissor caddy, thread storage and a little wire basket for fabric scraps.  Oh, and my coaster for my tea cup!  It was stacked with unfinished projects, which can get confusing when you are working on something.  It was causing a lack of focus on my current project.  This is much better!

And then there is my bulletin board!  (I recently did this post about it.)  I obviously didn't get to it yet!  Oh well, there'll be another day.

You got Spring Fever yet?

Start of Organization

The organization of my "studio" space, which I have mentioned before is just the end of my bedroom, starts with this bulletin board.  It is hung over my bedside table.   It's the first thing that I see when I awake or get ready for bed.  It's easy to pin up ideas of the day.  I keep my reading books on the table along with a tablet for writing and of course, my eyeglasses, and a few quilt magazines.  But the basis of my organization starts with this bulletin board.  I have a list of my current orders, and hang my shopping  list there.  At other times, I pin hand drawn ideas to pursue later--so I won't forget my ideas; and most of the time, I hang pictures from magazines that inspire me.   I haven't learned, nor tried, to use pinerest yet, so my bulletin board will have to do!  

Oh . . . and the decoration at the top of the board?  I made it years ago and just like the look of it.

Oh, oh . . .and I linked up with Erika's  Friday 'Embrace Inspiration Workshop' over at Artful Rising blog.

Where does your inspiration and organization start?