Ethel's Sewing Room

It seems like I have always known how to sew since I was a teenager.  Believe it or not I even won a Singer Sponsored Sewing Festival when I was about 14 or so.  I made a royal blue one-piece jogging suit, very stylish for its time!  All I remember is that it had a white rope waist drawstring and my mother made me wear a whistle around my neck to complete the ensemble.  She said afterwards it was the whistle that made the judges pick me as the winner (LOL).  I still have the whistle and the trophy I won, but unfortunately the jogging suit is no more.  It wouldn't fit now anyways.

My mother was an excellent seamstress and has made more for me in the past than I have sewn for myself.  But about 6 years ago Mabel signed us up for a quilting class.  I must admit I found it much more enjoyable than sewing clothing.  Little did I know that the paper piece quilt called the Quilted Village was a little more advanced than a beginner quilt class, but it was fun.  Did the quilt get finished you ask?  Well no it didn't nor did the other class we took either.  Mabel finished hers naturally and has gone on to complete numerous other quilts, but since I had smaller children I just never had the time.  Fast forward to present day 2011!  My son made the comment to me that it's a shame he'll have to show his children someday the quilt that grandma started but never finished.  That got me, so I'm slowly (very slowly) getting back into the quilting and I'm going to complete these quilts I have started and hopefully make more.  However, Mabel keeps getting me involved in so many different projects that I probably will never finish any of them!!

But first I felt I needed to have a space that I could sew other than the kitchen table.  So I've been spending my time turning our den into my den/sewing room.  I think I'm having more fun organizing the room and my sewing notions than I will have sewing!

So the first thing I want to share is the cabinet I got to organize my fat quarters in.

I picked up the cabinet at Michael's crafts and have spent all my time color coordinating my fabric stash and organizing the cubby holes.  The cabinet is a very nice quality and I was able to use a coupon to help bring down the cost.  So I was thrilled.

I don't know if I'll want to use any of my fabrics now,

because they look so cute on the shelf.

Found these cute jars at the Dollar Tree.  They fit perfectly on the shelf and I like that they are actual glass.  The jars at Michael's for the shelf were cute, but they were plastic.

So you can see I am on way to having a sewing nook.  I'll keep you posted as I organize some more.  Mabel laughs at me because I am more into the gadgets and notions and how they look in my room instead of actually using them to accomplish sewing anything!!  She knows me so well.