Clean up and Create!

Santa may have had a little help in picking out this toy box for my studio.

It fits perfectly under my cutting table. Right now I have my finished quilts in it. And it is firm enough to use the top as a 'holding zone' for my current projects.


I've also used a little bit of time this month to tidy up around my sewing space. It's a never ending process as the size and type of projects I work on change from year to year. This year I want to to work on quilting some of my UFOs and making small quilts.

I also want to make space to create - new designs and dreamboards. Part of what I have made room for in my space is more paper stuff - without it all ending up in one pile at the end of my cutting table! This long file folder hanging pockets contraption should do the trick;)

The first step in organizing stuff is knowing what you've got!

I decided to move the dark green tote that holds leftover batting scraps and fabrics collected for future projects out of my sewing room closet. It's not something I use every week - or even every month. Definitely more of a long term storage container. It's in my son's ginormous closet now.

As you can see, sorting my stuff with my new priorities in mind gave me lots of room to store what I need to keep close. I was able to move my rolling cart into the closet to open up my floor space - which is important working in a small area. You can click on the photo above to get a better look.

I don't buy a lot of storage containers. Actually, I've found some of my most useful ones for free. These stacking boxes, that originally carried cucumbers, make great storage for my strawberry containers of smaller fabrics. I label them and store them on the top shelf of my closet.

I even managed to clear out the top shelf in my cupboard that sits right beside my cutting table. It's already started to fill up with fabrics for current ideas, but I did get it sorted and cleaned up first!

On top of my cupboard I've stacked some of my new storage containers. I'm trying to get an assortment of smaller containers for handwork projects {yeah, that's the reason!}
This tends to be a dump zone for me and I'm trying really hard to make it a useful, pretty spot. I've already added a few angels from my collection that I've found since tidying here {after I started attacking the boxes in my bedroom closet!}

The beginning of the year is always a useful time for me to focus on what I want to accomplish in a year.

Knowing WHAT you want to do in your space,

HOW you are going to do it, 

WHEN you are going to do it,

makes the WHY of  

arranging your space and storage an easier process. 

Clear up, Clean out and Create!

Sarah Vee