Sewing area mini makeover.

The sewing area was definitely getting out of hand. As usual, I get caught up in the task (or many tasks) and don't clean or tidy up behind myself, so I had to stop everything and get stuck into the sewing area. Now it is just a tidy, organised, but still cluttered, and I don't mind a bit, work space.

Sewing Area - BEFORE

Sewing Area - AFTER mini makeover (tidy up)

Before and after tidy up of work space.

Once again, way too long.  It has been a very busy few years and finally I seem to be rediscovering interests, hobbies etc I have put on hold.  In all honesty, I didn't realise how long it was between posts.  I find this very cathartic to be able to blurb on about "stuff" under no illusion that, it is, really just for me.  It works for me to do this, writing in a journal, not so much.

Well enough of that. Since having time to rediscover lost interests I genuinely start out with the intention of keeping everything in order, neat and tidy, well that never, ever lasts long.  I get so side tracked all the time I find myself with 100 things happening at once and inevitably I have to stop and tidying up and that is what these photos show. I have once again promised myself to never let it get out of hand again, yeah and pigs will fly. Next..... the sewing room. Now that's going to be fun, decades of collecting vintage sheets, tablecloths, tea towels, I need a cup of tea just thinking about it.

BEFORE

AFTER 

The decoupaged (pages from old semi-destroyed books) boxes in the foreground are labelled and number so I can keep tabs of where everything is. 

The vintage tea towel of the dog and cat that I turned into a wall hanging is one of my favourites.  I actually made it to sell at the markets and surprising no one has bought it.  So here it now hangs and I love it. Just makes me smile.  It was meant to be. The squirrel hanging I bought in North Adelaide in the late 1970's, ouch.

Again with the vintage tea towels (on back of chair) I have hundreds of them.

Cellophane....twice as fresh!!!

I recently was lucky enough to find some really nice treasures at a local "garage/yard sale" here on the Mountain.  One of my favourite being a bound collection of the Saturday Evening Post May 1954.  I have been having so much fun reading and looking through this time capsule of the modern 1954.  Some of the adverts are sooooooo politically incorrect you have to laugh. Here are a couple of my favourite. Sorry about the quality, the scan bed on my scanner only takes A4 size and the magazines are quite a bit larger.

Easter Bunny Bags............. Doing it just for fun.

Something I have come to realise now in my 60's is that I am not going to make any money from my crafts.  Not to say they aren't good enough, which they might not be, but because of my lack of 100% determination to do what it would take to make any money.  It seems that no sooner do I try and make something that I completely enjoy doing, the task of the current craft, into something that could possibly make money, I loose interest.  I only enjoy it when it is a "one off" activity.  So I am now not going to try, albeit very casually, promote myself.  I am going to do my craft of choice at the time, possibly try selling it and/or give things away to friends and neighbours.  The joy really is in the making and the giving.  I soooooo enjoy making new things out of old.  Well we'll see how it goes.

This is the final product, made completely with stuff (material, tape etc) I already had, some of it for a long time.

These cute little bunny bags came about using material scraps I had (and still have).  There are 14 in total (since starting this post it has dwindled to 12) and ever so cute.  But now onto the next project....Kimonos from vintage sheets.

These are the prototypes, the first 2 I made.
 I learnt/figured out what to do next and how to do it.

I started an assembly line, sorry about lack of photos, but I got so caught up in the activity of making the bags I only randomly remembered to take photos. I cut out as many pieces of the bag as I could from my piece of remnant allowed (14 x 36cms x 18 cms), 14 pairs of inner ear (the white with pink roses) and 14 pairs of the out ears the same as the rest of the bag, 14 pairs of 30cms long ribbon/handles.

I then sewed without hemming the inner ear onto the outer ear.

Then I pinned 2 ears to one of the handles, then pinned the ears and handle to the bag.

Then at the other end of the bag pin the other handle.

This is when I got busy again and forgot to take photos.  I had all the bags pinned with ears and handles and I just had to put 2 rows of stitching on each end to attach the ears and handles, then with right sides together I sewed a .5cm seam.

I also wasn't happy with the face on the bag. Firstly, I used a brown marker and when I test washed it, it ran like crazy so I switched to the black, old reliable Sharpie. Secondly, the face was boring and I wanted something more animated I guess, so this is the final bag.

Too HOT to work outside... So here I am, inside on the computer

It is just too hot outside to go or do anything.  Safest and coolest place is inside with the dogs.  Lots of water and something to keep busy with.

I am starting the New Year, as so often before, with plans and promises of getting organised and finally finish down sizing, its been 4 years now.  I am getting there, but I have just come to a bit of stand still. So I have spent the few (hot) days reorganising my work space.  I hadn't intended to do it, so no "before" photos, but I can tell you the difference is "night and day".

I have been able to give, sell, trade and gift sooooo many things, but we are still overwhelmed by how much "stuff" we have.  I am so glad we started downsizing now and not in another 10 years.  It might take us until then to accomplish the perfect balance of "things".

The work space where I take photos for my Ebay (if you like what you see have a look here) and Etsy listings works well.  It is close to the window and the best time for me to take photos is definitely in the morning, so up goes the blinds, in comes the light and away I go.

I also have a craft area, but that still needs some work.

There's one dog, enjoying the air conditioning.....

..... and here's the other one.  Spoilt or what!

Best ever photo station.  I don't have to put in up and pull it down each time.

The craft/sewing area, but that's another time, still too messy.