Friday Meanderings

Nothing much going on in Homosassa.  Too Hot!  

Well, there’s always scalloping.  And hitting the local bars.

I’ve been designing a mermaid doll pattern for my mermaid-loving granddaughters. Despite the three girls suggestions and advice, they haven’t been very pleased with the results yet. And that’s why I didn’t have a DIY post yesterday. Still need some adjustments.

Hopefully I’ll get back into the routine next week and have a post.

Hey, it’s summer!  And things are a little more laid back, right?

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

mermaids
Mermaids and a few cats

 

DIY Letters

This DIY is fun, easy-peasy and CHEAP!

We have all seen these letters on walls, right?

PBletter

The above are from Pottery Barn Kids and are on clearance.  8 bucks each.  They have other styles anywhere from $10 to $29 each.

Little Miss Piper had her name on a wall in her bedroom.

DIY Letters

So Cute.

When Adley the Queen was born I wondered when her letters would go up.  I just assumed that Lauri, their mom, was buying them from a place like Pottery Barn.  

Silly me, Lauri would never spend that kind of money at Pottery Barn!!!!!

She made them.  With a little help from Hobby Lobby letters and paper.

Which she waits until they are on sale, of course!

Adley letters

DIY Letters

DIY Letters
Lauri traces around the letter onto colored paper, cuts it out, and then glues it on!

DIY Letters

DIY Letters

DIY Letters

DIY Letters

DIY Letters

 

Easy-Peasy! Cheap! Fun!

Let’s get Organized!

Okay.  I got to admit, I’m not the most organized person.  Terry just walks into my office and shakes his head. 

But it’s not really disorganization.  It’s more like clutter.

Because my head is cluttered. 

Therefore my office/sewing room is cluttered.

I always have two sewing projects going and strewn about in the sewing corner.

Let's get organized!
Making some mermaids and a heart quilt.

Then there are the websites to update and the community groups I’m involved with. That requires layers of paper.

Plus all those silly day to day things (like paying the bills and cleaning, fortunately since Terry retired I don’t cook anymore)

You get the idea. I’m a busy person! With stacks and stacks of stuff!

But I really want to be be clutter-free.

Especially in my head.

I got this cabinet from Ikea last year. Ikea calls it Alex.  I call it Perfect!

Ikea cabinetAnd I love love love it.

I keep all of my necessary sewing paraphernalia in there. Like thread and feet and needles and measuring tapes and…..

it would have really been perfect if I could have stored the bobbins on top of the spools of thread.  I just like to have them matched up so I can just pull them out without hunting for the right bobbin. 

I had this case but the inserts weren’t long enough to put the bobbins on top. 

thread organizer

So I told Terry what I really really NEEDED.  And (after he was done cooking for a moment) he made it!

Let's get organized!
Terry cut pegboard to fit the drawer
Let's get organized!
Then cut dowels that were long enough for both the spool of thread and the bobbin.
Let's get organized!
Figured out how far to space the dowels
Let's get organized!
Sanded one end of the dowels down so the bobbin would fit on it. (That’s my sander although I don’t use it often anymore!)
Let's get organized!
Set the dowels up with the right spacing
Let's get organized!
And glued them in!
Let's get organized!
Perfect!

 

Let's get organized!
Jack was here last week and decided I needed some help with the thread and squeezed every spool he could find in and around the dowels. I think it’s a little better my way!

 

Let's get organized!
Jack is being very silly in this picture.  Someone forgot to pack his pajamas so he had to wear these way too small ones that I had tucked away. He was very happy to help me with my spools of thread but was not happy that Grandma was making mermaids instead of puppies!
Let's get organized
I usually have the embroidery unit for the sewing machine here but it’s on the machine right now. It’s very big and cumbersome. Not sure where I should store it. Jack also wanted to know why I had a dinosaur!

 

Let's get organized!
Here’s the machine with that embroidery unit! And the instruction booklet.  Still need to refer to the manual!
Let's get organized!
Might as well reveal what’s in the drawers! The second one is regular sewing stuff. Those are the spools of thread that Jack tried to squeeze in. He’s such a big helper!
Let's get organized!
This is where I keep all the stuff that goes with the embroidery unit. There’s usually more in there but I’m using it. So much stuff with the new machine! Bobbin thread, embroidery thread, frames, stabilizer.  I had NO idea!
Let's get organized!
This is where I keep things for quilting.  Graph paper and colored pencils are very important for my quilting process! And yes, it really is that neat!
Let's get organized!
And here’s my “junk” drawer. Where I put those necessary sewing items that do not fit any specific area.

And I hope you noted I still had thread in two of those drawers.  So I possibly need a special thread drawer for all of the embroidery thread!  And one for the extra thread that didn’t fit in my special thread drawer although Jack tried really hard to cram it in.

And I JUST WENT TO IKEA YESTERDAY!  A new Alex for me!  More work for Terry!

Yippee!

(But my head is still cluttered!)