the HQ

Today, I thought I'd give you a little tour of my sewing studio (the HQ), or what we affectionately refer to around here as the "guest room" (its original designation).

I use the italics when referring to it as a guest room, because more often than not, there would be no room for an actual guest here. You see, I prettied it all up to take some photos, but this is absolutely the most organized it's ever been.

The last time my mom came to visit, I had even taken over the guest bathroom. I keep all of my oversized fabric supplies (chenille, terrycloth, batting) in the linen closet in the attached bathroom, and had filled the entire shower with miscellaneous supplies. I thought it was an ingenious solution to a storage crisis. My mom just wanted to take a shower.

Seeing as my mom's coming again this weekend, I thought I'd better get to work and tidy up the joint:


I got the yellow arm chair at a resale shop - 40 bucks for a pair of them. Their sunshiny yellow makes me happy.

Please take a moment to notice the window covering. While I sew many things in this room and could easily whip up a little window curtain, I have chosen instead to hang a towel over a curtain rod, and secure it with safety pins. The irony does not escape me.


You've already met Penelope and Frances, Right? And up there above the bed are the pretty fabrics I hooped up last Easter.

This is an awesome vintage cabinet I bought at a thrift store for 20 dollars. I jammed it into the back of the minivan, brought it home, and painted it pink. It's moved through a few different rooms in the house, and finally settled here. I'm currently using it to store vintage tablecloths, sheets, and quilt tops.


The sewing table. I got the old metal topped table years ago at a garage sale. We brought the table up to our cottage in Minnesota, and I brought it back home at Christmas to use for sewing. It's a bit high, but good for now. On top of the table is my pink cutting mat. If I want to cut big pieces of fabric, I have to set my sewing machine on the floor.

I got the pink chairs at the Kane County Flea Market two years ago. They were in mint condition.

See those bins that my fabric is in? I bought those from the Land of Nod a few years ago for the kid's playroom, to hold blocks and stuff. Then they moved into Olivia's room, and now they are mine - all mine!! I swiped the dollhouse from Olivia, too, because she already has like 3 more in her room, and enough is enough already! I store larger sized fabric scraps in the dollhouse.

The little perched bird is from Anthropologie, and I love her. I also love the little planter chicky. I keep most of my sewing books right there on the shelf for easy access, and I use the jar full of vintage spools of thread as a bookend. It's nice and heavy.

I was greatly inspired by Pixiegenne when I decoupaged the suitcases on the floor.



Over here you will see the dresser I use for more storage. I love drawers, and store things like bias tape and vintage buttons and blank onesies in them:

On top of the dresser is a painting I picked up at a resale shop in Minnesota, a sweet little nursery lamp from an antique store, a floral metal box that I love, and of course, my pink ipod (I so enjoy listening to podcasts of This American Life while sewing).

Finally, we come to the back of the door. I've shown you this before, but I can't, in good conscience, give you an incomplete tour, so here it is again, in all it's scrappy glory:


And that, my friends, concludes the tour.

xoxo