Rearranging the Sewing Area

That system that tore through Missoula Wednesday night brought us some rain yesterday morning. I was testing out the serger I bought in Spokane when I heard a huge clap of thunder and the heavens opened. The rain was lovely while it lasted.

That serger has found a home. The quilt store is hosting Krista Moser this week for a quilting workshop, and I knew the young woman who took my Déclic class Monday night would be in the workshop. I went into town after stopping at Thursday sewing and gave her the machine. She was very excited and I know she will put it to good use. She has already made a second Déclic top!

I also picked up the Bernina 880. In a lovely coincidence, the previous owner was another one of my students in Monday’s Déclic class. She took excellent care of it.

By the time I got home, I had to do chicken chores and work on dinner, so all I managed to do with the 880 was get it out of the luggage and into the table. And now I need to make a decision.

The 880 doesn’t fit perfectly into my existing table; the husband had to cut a piece of wood to put into the support tray to elevate the machine enough that I could put on the extension table that came with it. That works, sort of. I’m going to live with that setup for a few weeks and evaluate. I would prefer not to have to buy a new table. But I desperately need to rearrange my sewing space.

Currently, the cutting table is in DD#2’s old bedroom. The Bernina serger also lives in there. I removed the bed last summer to give me more room. Fabric is stored in bins in DD#1’s old bedroom (slightly larger), which has a full-size bed for visitors. That room also has a small table for my Accuquilt cutter. The coverstitch machine is in the spare bedroom which has a twin bed. My big sewing machine (now the 880), along with the Necchi BF and the ironing board, are in our bedroom.

The husband jokingly asked me last night if I were planning to kick him out of our bedroom. I admitted that I had thought about moving us into DD#1’s old room and making our bedroom into the main sewing area. That won’t work for a variety of reasons, but it was worth considering.

I need to start by removing the bed from the spare bedroom. Doing so will free up a considerable amount of space that can be better utilized with shelving. The goal would be to reorganize my stash—of everything—to the point where I can consolidate machines into one or two rooms.

I sew almost every day. We get visitors rarely. Having beds in all the rooms made sense when family was coming to visit several times a year, but it doesn’t make sense any longer. I’ll keep the bed in DD#1’s room just in case. I’m also trying to be cognizant of the fact that “stuff expands to fill the available space.” Part of me admires those people who live minimalist lifestyles but I am not one of them. I’m trying to find a balance.

I’m hoping to sew with the 880 today but we’ll see how things go. I need to prepare for tomorrow’s canning class and I also need to make a couple of batches of zucchini bread to put in the freezer.