My Craft “Room”

Lately I’ve seen several tours of craft rooms, and I have to admit just a teensy bit of jealousy.  But that being said, I’m pretty pleased to finally have a spot that is just mine to do whatever crafting or sewing I want. 

Previously, I would haul out my Mom’s circa 1960 New Home sewing machine and plop it on the kitchen table.  It would stay out until a) I finished the project, b) my husband got so fed up with it that he finally complained about it and I cleaned it off for a day or two, or c) we had guests over who actually wanted to sit at the kitchen table.

Earlier this year, I finally got my dream machine – a Janome Memory Craft 9700.  I wanted one that would be good for quilting, making clothes and crafts, and also did some embroidery.  Check, check, and check!  It made several trips onto and off of the kitchen table as well.

Then, this summer I sold my motorcycle (yes, I had a motorcycle – BTW, my husband did not :p ).  With some of the proceeds from the sale of my beloved but post-baby-neglected Honda Shadow, I bought two Pottery Barn Bradford three-drawer file cabinets.  I know I probably could have found something ramshackle to try to fix up beautifully like all of you, but I had been eyeing these things forever and I had cash burning a hole in my pocket.  I already had an Ikea Vika Hyttan stainless steel table top that I had purchased years ago thinking I could try to span the guest bed and make that my craft room.  That never happened, and now the old guest bedroom is Arden’s room, and the new guest bedroom is the old office.

My craft "room"

So, put it all together in a corner of the dining room, add a $10 desk chair from Staples, and voila!  Instant craft “room”.  I still need to do a lot more organization.  I’d love to have some open shelves with things in pretty baskets, but with two dogs and three cats, that’s just inviting trouble.  I do most of my crafting at night, and you can see from the photo that the lighting is not ideal so that’s why I often have a yellowish cast to my photos.  Do I sense a lamp shade redo in my future?  There’s a bit of obligatory toddler-proofing as the corner of the table top was exactly noggin’ height.  The stainless steel table top comes in handy for my little magnetic ruler – you can just see it through the mesh on the back of the chair.

"The Quilt"

This polyptych art titled The Quilt was a wedding gift from my hubby, and is a local Michigan artist.  I admit, I had to google to find the word polyptych.  I knew what a triptych was, but had no idea what a four-part piece was called – quadptych?  Um, no.  But isn’t it great?