Change is good!

With the purchase of my wonderful brand new sewing machine, I felt the need to shake things up in my attic work room, because, well, it deserved a nice home!

This is what it used to look like. It wasn't as user friendly as I would have liked. Plus there was a lot of wasted space.

The sewing machine was at the far left of the room (out of frame) right at the top of the stairs on a small table and the space never felt comfortable.

So, I shuffled everything around, moved pieces of furniture from and to other parts of the house and this is what it looks like now! Although this is still a work in progress, the layout of the room is more efficient and now works a lot better for me.

                   The white cabinets on both sides of the sewing machine hold fabric.

The sewing corner. This table is much bigger so I can spread out! ;-) 

I repurposed stuff to hold all the thread, ribbons, elastic and tools I need.

Repurposed boxes for buttons and bits of lace. 

(The pile of fabric scraps is not usually there (I have cats), but it was a busy day...) ;-)

The old table I use as a sewing machine table, has a drawer that holds needles, bobbins, presser feet and accessories! 

I'm still looking for a container to store my presser feet, this jumble is not working very well... 

In case you're wondering, I don't have a cutting table in the attic. I use the kitchen island because it's exactly the right height for me and it's really big! Plus, going up and down two flights of stairs is very good exercise!

And, in case you're worrying, the yarn and the knitting machines seem to take it all in stride! :-)

What I did this winter, this spring and a big part of this summer!

Want to see what's been going on here since I last posted, a long, long, long time ago?

Here's a very quick look at some of the things I made!

I made a crochet shawl...

Since my work kept me very busy all through fall, I didn't have time to can anything and my pre-holiday knitting marathon was very short. I still ended up knitting 10 pairs of socks, 1 hat, 1 scarf and 4 pairs of mittens, but it was a very close call and I didn't have time to make everything I had planned.

I do not want to go through that again. No way! So I started next year's Christmas knitting on December 26th!

Since then, I've made a whole lot of socks but many of them have already been given away as birthday gifts... gotta keep on knitting!

Here's one of the happy recipients, showing how the socks match her flowers!


I also knit 2 pairs of adorable newborn sized baby socks in Regia's "my first Regia". This yarn has short colour repeats to go around little feet, the tiny skein is more than enough for a pair (you could squeeze out 3 pairs with two skeins) and is just too cute for words!

I knit an A-line hoodie in red Cascade 220 (the picture on Ravelry was so cute, I had to copy it), but that one's for me!

O.K. I haven't sewn the buttons yet (anyway, it's too warm to wear right now) and it looks really pink but, believe me, it's more of a raspberry red...

Now that I've told you a little bit about the knitting part of my life (there's a lot more to show you in the coming weeks), I have to admit that lately,  I've been spending most of my time sewing. Yup, I've been having a love affair with fabric...

When I  sold my former home in April, I decided to treat myself, so I went ahead and bought a new sewing machine! A computerized 60 stitch Janome with a whole lot of sewing feet to go with it! I'm having a great time trying out everything that machine can do and everything those amazing feet can do!

When I rediscovered sewing last year, I sewed with my old no-name sewing machine. I've had it since the 70's and it was very, very basic to say the least. It had a hard time sewing through more than a couple of layers of fabric, it refused to sew with a double needle and just gave me a hard time all around.

Now, everything's changed, sewing is a pleasure and a lot of fun!

I was so ignorant of how much sewing machines have changed that I didn't even know that they now have auto-threading!!!!!!! That alone was worth buying a new machine! ;-)

They now also have snap-on feet!!! Wow! Where have I been all these years???

Let's just say that I am a very happy camper!