Upstatelisa: Coming Clean....

Winter here in upstate NY left a BAD taste in my mouth

and a mess in my sewing room....

So when Cheryl shouted out for bloggers to participate in a blog hop about spring cleaning,

I knew that was a call to me!

I have NEVER (!) been shy about posting photos of my sewing room in its natural state of chaos....

however, in preparing this post,

I was comforted by the words of Author Unknown...

A clean house is the sign of a boring person. ~Author Unknown

I have never (!) been called boring, right?

Anyway,

I am fortunate that we do NOT own dining room furniture

so I quickly took over this room for my sewing

when we moved to this home almost 16 years ago.

It is a convenient spot right off the kitchen-

a great location for the purpose of multitasking,

particularly when our kids were small.

It has a lock....

though on closer examination,

you might notice that the lock is on the outside of the door!!

Once upon a time,

it was a dark room that housed my sewing accessories and machine

on a long table,

along with plastic shelving for my fabric

and a few other craft items

(I liked to rubber stamp baby announcements back in the olden days!).

But then, I started scrapbooking for a few years,

and I started making more quilts and occasional gifts..

all to say
that I had accumulated quite a collection of fabric, crafting supplies, books...

Eventually,

Mr. U customized my sewing room
with built-in shelving,

a custom made cutting table,

knick-knack shelves, great lighting,.....

and even French doors

(which don't lock either!)

but they work well as a fleece-over-the-door design wall

so no one would DARE open those doors!!!

but

Keeping this beautiful room clean is another story!!!

My cutting table doubles as a 'throw-it-in-the-room' surface

when I get home from errands,

'I'll-just-leave-it-here-till-I-figure-out-where-to-put-that' table

as well as a place for my ongoing projects...

but as you can see, I canNOT do much cutting!

The floor has a dual purpose...

for walking on

and

storing multiple 'I'll-just-dump-it-here-till-I-figure-out-where-to-put-that' things

and yes, I store the base of my Vitamix (black thing on the left) on the sewing room floor!
(that's another story!)

I often find that the floor is a great place on which

to actually create, don't you?

This is from a messy sewing room disclosure a couple of weeks ago..

but it highlights, nicely, the palpitations I get

when a family member decides to visit my sewing room...

It takes Enter At Your Own Risk to a whole new dimension!!!

I am a "pile-er" and no surface is immune to the amassing of piles!

The foot stool (in the lower center of the photo)

is a great place for assorted papers that need filing, right?

So with the impetus of Cheryl's impending blog hop,

I cleaned!!!

And now....

I no longer share my arm chair with towels from the gym

and assorted books waiting to be shelved...

I will be able to cut fabric on the table without cutting something else

(like, say, the wrist handle on my digital camera!)

All the pins are in one place

and

I can sew a project without knocking stuff onto the floor!!!

I can sit at my desk

(without sitting on work files!)

and do work!!!

Actually, I can walk over to the desk without tripping on a zillion things too!

So now, I have a veritable 'tabula rasa' for creating!!!

But... guess what?!

I forgot to mention

that I also share a studio space at a local destination for us arty types!
And you might have guessed...

that lately, the clutter has been 'stunting' my creative muse

Soooooo....
what better reason than the blog hop

to do some spring cleaning here!!!

(this is an in-process photo...

I don't leave my floors like this at the studio,

really!)

Now I have only been in this space since October...

(yes, I do have a few supplies, don't I?)

but after an afternoon of shifting, disentangling,

and some "Oh, I forgot I had this!" moments,

I am now organized and tidied up

and ready to do some ~~messing~~ creating!!!!

Just remember what Author Unknown said...

Dull women have immaculate homes. ~Author Unknown
(she's got that right!!!)

Now I am not alone on this adventure...

check these cleaners out too!!!

Here are the rest of the spring cleaners....

May 7 Kathy Matthews http://www.chicagonow.com/quilting-sewing-creating/

May 8 Misty Cole Http://www.dailydesignwall.blogspot.com

May 9 Heather Kinion http://heatherkinion.com/

May 10 Jessica Darling http://jessicakdarling.com/

May 11 Lisa Blevis Filion http://upstatelisa.blogspot.com/

May 12 Peta Minerof-Bartos http://www.thenotsewguiltyquilter.blogspot.com/

May 13 Mandy Leins http://mandalei.com/

May 14 Amalia Teresa Parra Morusiewicz http://funfromatoz.com/

May 15 Sam Hunter http://huntersdesignstudio.com/

May 16 Debby Ritenbaugh Brown http://higheredhands.blogspot.com/

May 17 Debbie Kleve Berkebile http://www.mountaintrailquilttreasure.blogspot.com/

May 18 Michelle Mattingly http://stitchesofjoi.blogspot.com/