Sewing Room

The way to attract followers is certainly to blog more often than once every six weeks! I hope it is well understood that I do not have a lot of time right now to keep up with blogging but I hope to get better. Now that I will have a sewing area, I hope I can find a few moments to sew a couple days a week and thus have something about which I can blog. I do have projects I need to work on but time really doesn't allow for it between the needs of my three little ones and household responsibilities.

Nonetheless, an idea popped in my head recently on a sleepless night to create a sewing room in an end of my master bedroom. This would simultaneously clear out furniture and organizing carts, etc., from our living room, thereby giving our three growing sons more room to play. Once the furniture was cleared from the living room, my plan was to move around the remaining furniture in that room and open it up more. It's amazing how simply moving things around brightens up a room.

In addition to my moving the sewing things upstairs to the master bedroom from the living room, I'll be getting a sewing table for cutting built by a close friend and a sewing table for my two machines found by that same friend at a local yard sale! I don't have these pieces yet so I cannot use the area I have created but when it is finished, it will be simply divine! So here are the first three photos of my area in progress:

The empty furniture with bags and stacks of fabric and supplies

More fabric and supplies - the empty space you see will be home to the tables - the cutting table will go in front of the window and radiator because it will be taller and it won't interfere with the radiator. We have an old-style boiler heating system so the hot-water powered heat simply comes out of the wall through that radiator.

Finished in 2 hours. And, true to my family's fashion, pictures everywhere. The only part not organized is a couple of bags of scraps and other items to be "upcycled." I'll be creating bins for these and placing the bins underneath the cutting table. My shipping supplies will not be under this table you see either. They will be on a shelf on my cutting table for a "shipping center of sorts."

Soda Cozy Pattern

Some of my crafty friends have inquired about my soda cozy pattern. I listed my Soda Cozy Pattern on Etsy and at my website here. I prefer you use my own website but if you prefer Etsy, that's fine to! The truly hardest part of the pattern is maneuvering the bottom. You can sew a cozy without the bottom but then the can could sweat on your furniture and the cold can escape through bottom just as easily. This is why the rubber cozies made by large manufacturers have bottoms. Of course this bottom does not cover the complete bottom of the can for ease of sewing but it still functions quite well! Will the cozy keep your soda cold for four hours? No. But will the rubber ones? No. Trust me I tried it. Besides, who takes four hours to drink a soda?

New website new blog

Now that my new website is up and running and my designer has coordinated all of my social networking sites with my web design, I feel like the business is really taking off. I have lacked the time lately to sew much though. Between my craft show this past weekend and the drive to TN to visit my family and the twins and my 2-year old, time really doesn't allow for much. Right now all of the babies are napping so I can do some computer work. My mom's friend, Robert, is fixing her sewing machine table/cabinet so that I can sew while here. It was damaged in her move from WA state back home here in TN. I certainly will find time to sew while here as I'll be staying for the entire month of July.

Here is my list that I'd like to work on for the month:

• 15 soda cozies in Chief Illiniwek fabric (out of print and impossible to find because the Chief was banned a few years ago)
• 10 more make up pouches that I call my "Anastasia pouch". These are cut out already - I just need to cut out the decor bond and iron those pieces do the pouch fabric pieces. That is the only time consuming part. Sewing those actually doesn't take too much time. 
• A drawstring golf ball bag in each of the three golf ball fabrics I have along with matching reusable baggies that are large enough to fit both a sandwich and a snack/fruit. My mother in law graciously ordered 10 of each of these for a golf tournament in Europe and she believes I should make samples for our local golf clubs here. This means that I really need three of each as we have multiple golf clubs in our area. I hope that goes well. I have a friend who knows the person in charge of them all so hopefully that "in" will give me a leg up. 
• My own purse - I want a purse that I can use everywhere. I have three kids. I need a big purse but I truly RARELY use my diaper bag unless taking the babies to my sitter for the day or going for a full day outing, which really doesn't happen since the twins are still so small and we don't have a double or triple stroller. I am debating how I want it to look, the pockets on the inside and outside, etc. Do I want a magnetic snap or a zipper? Any ideas? What do you like about your purse and what would you change?