My Craft Room Finally Organized

Since the quilt show is over, and I now have my life back.  :)  I've been trying my best to make my craft hoard look more inspirational.  No one likes to craft in a mess!

Much like most of you, I've been scouring the internet for ideas and wow there are so many!  This has taken me much longer than I'd hoped, and I'm still not finished.  Not everything fit into my room!  :(  My treadle sewing machine that I thought would be a MUST in the room I am most creative in, but NOPE....there just isn't any room for much in the way of "ornaments".  She's on the catwalk....and I think she'll have to stay there at least for now...

Anyway getting back to what I intended on sharing.... :)

So I found this post on how to "file" your fabric.  http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2012/01/tool-time-tuesdayfile-your-fabric.html.  Well, wouldn't you know it, I've thrown all my filing cabinets out and now I find a great use for them!  I was still determined to file my fabrics, so I went on line and I found these crates, 6 for $24.00 so I bought two sets.

You can buy cubicle cabinets at Walmart and Ikea however those cabinets the cubicles are only 12x12 and these crates are 15-1/4"L x 13-3/4"W x 10-1/2"H and that is where the dilemma began.  Now I had to build my own cubicle storage unit just to be able to file my fabric.  Mostly because I'm a bit anal and more because I wanted a inspirational room not a storage space.  So I went to the home depot and purchased some cabinet grade plywood.  It was on sale for $34.99 a sheet and I calculated I needed 3 sheets.  This turned out to be wrong and I only really  needed 2 sheets, I did end up using most of it in the end though.

So with all my supplies purchased I began building.  I sort of used these plans but altered them to fit my new filing crates, http://ana-white.com/2010/07/well-i-did-promise-you-i-would-work-on.html.

With the frame of my cubicle cabinet mostly complete on the first day, and the day I realized I had too much plywood.  I decided to make three drawers to fit on top so I went inside and ordered drawer slides from here dirt cheap:  http://www.zorotools.com/g/Euro-Style%20Drawer%20Slides/00064403/None.  

Then the next day I finished the cubicle by putting on trim and painting it white and pink.

Then I made the three drawer unit and waited for the slides to arrive.  Wow, drawer slides are harder than one would think!  I got some good instruction here:  http://sawdustgirl.com/2012/03/09/installing-cabinet-drawers-with-glides/.  Once I figured it all out and had the units completed and painted, then I had to wait for my son to come over to help me get it up the stairs.  

Then I took a break from my craft room because I got side tracked and decided I needed two new fountains for my back yard.  I was not willing to pay for the cheap ones again cause they only last about a year and I wasn't going to spend all the money I spent on the front yard for the back yard!  So I went to walmart and got 4 plastic pots and two clay pots and then off to home depot for 330 gallon per hour pumps.  Here is what I made with Walmart Pots.

Now with my distraction over, back to my craft room.  I decided a while back to move my craft room to the game room because we never used it for games anyway.  :)  but I never thought about the lighting...or lack of lighting!  The older I get the more light I NEED!  So I needed a better light source..... I made one.  :)  Very simple.....  I used these INSTRUCTIONS

And then I found a use for that old window I purchased.  I made a cabinet and used the window for the door.  Doesn't look like much here, but I fixed it up.

And remember those ruler crates I made to sell at the quilt show boutique.... well I made myself a few.  They are perfect for ribbons or vintage spools.  I hate ribbon holders that have a dowel in the middle.  I like to take my ribbon to my work table and I hate having to remove all the ribbon just to get to the one I want to use.

Anyway after all of that...today I started cleaning up and organizing all my new stuff.  I have a long way to go yet, and tons more idea's I've found here and there.  But my craft hoard is looking much better don't you think?

I hope I've inspired you to build your own dream craft room.  One that will inspire you to also be the best you can be!  Oh I still have to figure out my paper crafting room...that is my next adventure!

Cheers,

Janet

The Quilt show if finally here!

After more than a year of hard work the quilt show is finally here and our booth is so awesome! We had 2400.00 in sales on Friday and expect to be even more busy this Saturday. What fun it was and I am so glad that it is nearing completion! Here it is before we opened for business. After the sale on Friday we had to remove one table and consolidate so it looks as pretty as it did on the first day. I'm praying we sell every single item.

Update:
First of all I would like to thank everyone for their hard work at the quilt show…we were all very busy, I am HAPPY to say!!!! WE SOLD EVERY SINGLE ITEM, and I applaud you for that!

I thought I'd update this post so you would know how much cash we brought in!!!! It is exciting I must warn you! :) :) I am grinning ear to ear….and head to foot I must say.
It was all worth it. I've just added up the receipt books but of course during our 90% off sale we just quit writing receipts but as close as I can tell you with receipts that were written we made….are you ready?????
$4567.90

Our potential sales if we had gotten full price for every item would have been just a hair over 6000.00…..and since we had a 20%, 50%, 75% and a 90% off sale I believe our sales are very very very outstanding!!!!! I think every single member of our guild came by our booth to show support. It was amazing! And of course all of you were amazing! I thank you, We thank you, and we can’t say that enough.

We had a total of 9 giveaways, they were: Show & Tell Bag, Set of 8 Build a Banners, 3-45 strip batik jelly rolls, Ruler crate with 5 replica bobbins, a thread bag, a back pack, and of course our beautiful spool quilt. Here is Sandra Gilbert the winner of our quilt.

And then I found on Carla Kennedy's blog these pictures...this is so exciting to me.  This Is Bankie winning the bird house.  She looks so excited in this first picture.  I am so happy someone in the guild won and I think she was tickled to have won it!

Very blessed to have worked with you all!

Cut little Pig Pot Holder

Today's project pig potholders.  So cute! I made a couple of these for myself and one about a year ago for my secret sister and have been meaning to make more.  So finally today I made 4 of these little cuties for the quilt show boutique.  Very easy to make.
You can get this pattern on Craftsy
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/this-little-piggy-potholderpot-holder/113428

So here they are.

Thank you gift Light Box Finish....

I finally finished the light box this morning.  I meant to have it finished this past weekend but time got away from me and company kept me company!
I think it turned out beautifully and I do believe QuiltWorks will love it.  I hope so anyway.  It is a surprise for the next guild meeting so don't let the cat out of the bag please.  :)
Here are the pictures as promised, I hope you like my creation!

Getting things done!

As the quilt show draws near we are little little elves working away getting ready for the show.  We have so much to do and so little time left.  We even have one more workshop to complete.
I have all the tags done thank God! I used my SIL and the print and cut function this made our tags looks so chic :) .

We've sent all the thank you cards and an extra special one to Connie at QuiltWorks and we've made and delivered all the thank you gifts 38 of them..wow that was work in itself but these ladies are so worth it!  I have the Light Box started.  All the pieces cut out and the finish is complete.  All I have to do is assemble it, well that is the actual hard part but I'm half way there.  Here is a picture of the pieces and sentiment.  I'll post another picture when it is all together.

I also finally completed my spools.  My big drill died so my spools were on hold.  I got a new drill and now my spools are complete.  I still have 11 of those ruler crates to make but that's an easy job.

My new drill press...oh she's a beaut

Of course here are the spools...:)

And then, I didn't like my  hand painting on the tin can raffle bird house so I redid those but printed them and modge podged them onto the signage for the bird house.  Looks so much better!
 

My list of "To Do's" is getting shorter but it isn't short!  I have had a ton of fun with the boutique but will be so glad to have my life back.  Oh it's not so bad but it does take lots of time.  We are so excited to see how we do.  We hope that the boutique is a success.  Our guild does so much for the community and the more money we have the more we can do.  It is a blessing to be involved!