I do love January. A new year is a fresh start. A chance to try something new. Let’s be honest, after all of the insanity of the last few years, I feel like we could all use a bit of a reboot.
New Year – New Hobby?
Towards the end of 2022 I also picked up a new hobby. As I dusted off my sewing machine, I started working on a “new” craft that would become a bit of an obsession… New in quotes because while its new to me, it’s been around for a long time – quilting. What I hadn’t embraced is the idea of sewing space organization.
With quilting, there are so many aspects that have NOTHING to do with the ACTUAL quilting of your work of art.
There’s the cutting… so much cutting. Stay tuned for more about sewing space organization related to scraps coming soon!
Then the ironing… I’ve ironed more in the last few months than I ever have in my previous 40+ years on this blue marble.
There’s the measuring… the collecting of fabrics and threads… and ultimately, the storing of all of the supplies… now you get why sewing space organization is so key.
So. Many. Supplies.
Do you NEED ALL THE THINGS? No. Not really. But as a lover of supplies and tools and gadgets, I couldn’t pass them up.
My “Craft Room” is also my home office so to say that space is limited would be an understatement. Normally, my sewing machine is stored in my rolling bag until I’m actually ready to sew. When I have time, I then take over set up on the kitchen table.
I’m envious of those who have a legit sewing space. A sanctuary if you will with a cutting table, ironing station, sewing table, and room to store all the things. Someday I’ll have that, but for now I’m making do so that I can partake in the craft that speaks to my soul.
But I digress. If one has a gluttonous desire to own all the things, but doesn’t have much space, how do those two realities align? You get creative and turn to the brilliance of others who have come before. And Amazon. And Ikea.
Finding Perfection
Like many of my quilting friends, I embarked on the Just Get It Done Quilt Declutter Challenge for 2023. (After all – New Year Organization is a theme of mine) I saw the bags and bags and bags that accumulated over the holiday season cluttering my space. Luckily, I also stumbled on a brilliant blog with some fantastic organizing tips. Not just the ideas that look great on Pinterest – you know the ones that don’t actually work or need entire weekends to put together. No – this brilliant magician shared real-life, easy to implement, solutions to the ever growing need for organization.
My favorite was how to store all of the various rulers one amasses. As you might imagine, I have rulers of all size and shape. Ok, so mostly square and rectangle, but hexagon and triangle too.
Now, in full disclosure, the solution that Andy at A Bright Corner shared is no longer available at IKEA. As luck would have it, the Big Guy and I have a day off together. Why NOT make a date out of going to IKEA to see what we could find. (Shocking exactly no one, I had already shopped online so knew they would have what I wanted.)
There are a couple of designs currently available at IKEA – mostly the hardware is the only difference. The Hultarp Rail and matching Hooks were exactly what I needed at a FRACTION of the cost of a towel bar. These are designed to make the most of a kitchen and come with attachable baskets and containers, but I just needed the rail and hooks themselves.
Bringing it to life
Then, when we got home, threw food at the girls, and then the Big Guy hung the bar up, I knew this was the solution I had been looking for. It’s a step towards my sewing space organization.
It is perfection. And? Hangs beautifully under my wall of thread for the embroidery machine BG got me for my birthday because why have one new addiction when you can have two? But that’s a topic for a different post.
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