Friday, August 9, 2019

Its Not a Sewing Room, It's a "Studio"...and Frugal Friday

My so called sewing room is the smallest-non bathroom type- room in the house. By choice, believe it or not (I want to be able to move around the room on the wheeled chair). It is, however, more than imperfect.

This room used to be the adult son's and I had what is now his bedroom. After about six months we jointly agreed to change it out-so that he had room for the dog and to make a kind of "studio apartment" in his bedroom and because of the aforementioned reasons on my end. We moved without doing any decorating-leaving the walls in said sewing room as light green. Not a color I would have chosen to begin with. Add that to a lack of light (I have a giant age-old tree out my window that keeps the house cool, but cuts of any natural son) , and you have a room with not alot of natural light. I supplement/cover for this issue by taking pictures on a white board or white fabric and having one of those lamps that has three natural light bulbs.

The biggie though, issue wise, is that when I moved into said room I was mainly a quilter. Since that time in 2013, said room has become the occasional office. As well as a home to jewelry crafting, art and collage, general sewing, knitting, tabletop weaving, family history scrap booking, art collage, essential oils and the stuff needed to make body products, and writing and general crafts of various types. Sewing room is a pretty simplistic description.

Along with all those crafts, lord love us, comes the inventory. Because really, everything but the writing requires inventory. I've been pretty good on the fabric front. I sold the huge majority of quilt fabric before moving from Dallas (because, six months in storage) and have not gone crazy in the replacing-opting i stead to purchase fabric by project much of the time. of course, all that smartness and semi minimalism has been ruined by the other inventory-yarn, felted wool, watercolors, acrylics, craft paints, card stock and various papers, craft paint, wooden bird houses, jewelery and supplies. Where do I begin-or is it stop!

Getting rid of any of the aforementioned is not a solution. So my weekend and part of next week will be filled with two things:  streamlining storage when I can, and preparing said workspace  for any and all of the crafts.  While not purchasing any new storage containers or tools (famous last words). I'll let you know how it goes when I come up for air!!

Meanwhile a few frugal things in the retirement life:

1. I joined a use it up challenge for fabric items. I hesitated to do this even as I'm getting ready to purchase some unique fabrics for my landscape/art quilts, but I ave some remnants that I think can be put to good use. And work on "fabric and yarn in", "fabric and yarn out".

2. King Soopers has 4x Fuel points or gift cards through Tuesday, including prepaid Master and Visa. I plan to start using these s well as other cards and gather up the fuel points since travel season will be beginning in September.

3. I made my every months list of things I can do, make, bake or enjoy around the house with no or minimal (like thread for finishing) cost. I also updated my list of free and almost free things to do around town, after consulting my town's Facebook page and other sources. Between library activities and rec center activities and just getting together with friends, I always enjoy seeing the list. I wont get to all of it, but it's nice to have and not just from a frugal standpoint. If I ever have one of those rare  "I don't know what to do" or "I need to leave the house for awhile" moments, I have some alternatives.

4. I started the Fall and Christmas "make/buy/go and do" list so that I can budget for gifts and crafts and space out my calendar when it comes to concerts and such.

5. Other than a desperately needed third pair of sandals, I have not spent a cent on clothes. Even though many of those 60 buck shirts are down to nine dollars or less at my favorite stores. I'm not having a no clothing spend moment as such, just trying to hold off and only choose what I REALLY love and need. 

And so it goes on semi-frugal Friday.

10 comments:

  1. Always enjoy your frugal Friday posts. I think all crafters out grow their space. Hope your reorganizing helps.

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    1. I think what will happen is that I'll move portable art and such into the kitchen....at least some of the time.

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  2. I had a 17' x 18' sewing room. It had two commercial machines and two home machines. I had room to put in an antique dining table for a cutting table, a Butterick pattern cabinet, a bookcase and the freezer. Everything was organized in the bookcase and pattern cabinet. The room needed three chairs and could hold them.

    The most amazing thing was the Christmas I wrapped 17 gifts for my friend to give to his family and my gifts. I had all the wrapping paper, tape, boxes all in place. THEN, I walked away and my house was clean. I could clean the room up later.

    A woman does need a room of her own, no matter the size. Of course, now, that does not matter.

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    1. I still like a dedicated place and prefer just one of everything to minimalize...

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    2. Barb, I did have one of everything. But. the way the room was set up, I did need three chairs. Two machines needed higher chairs.

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  3. Good luck with the sorting and reorganizing efforts. It sounds like a great room!

    I'm going to follow your lead and make a list of free things to do. Time to do some research.

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    1. It keeps me from spending money and I always come up with new things.

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  4. Fabric and yarn in, fabric and yarn out..... I am afraid I fail miserably at this, but am getting a bit better.

    God bless.

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    1. I'm not sure I'll be a success either. We shall se.

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  5. I need to do a tidy up and reorganize in my 10x13 living quarters. How can it get so disorganized in just a year? New things need to be put in the right places. Shelves need to have the baskets regrouped. Office side needs another bookshelf. I need a out of sight space for food items (I buy something then when I go to get a portion/piece ... the parents have snarfed it up or taken it into their room! The peanut butter is always LOW.

    It's a constant KonMari!

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