Thursday, November 29, 2007

Enter If You Dare!

Awhile back, I was out and about reading Blogs and I saw that a few people were showing pictures of their stitching spot. Lori-Ann even shared a great find as well. So I thought it was about time that I opened the door into 'The Store,' as Katie likes to call it ;o)

When we first bought this house, the room that is now my computer/craft room used to be just a storage room with no window and a hot water tank. Yuck! Over time, DH worked away at it and my little haven was born :o) Now I have a window, laminate flooring and a computer desk -

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You can barely make out what they are but my prized (and signed) pictures are on either side of the window. I have Shawn Mullins, Bon Jovi, Tommy Lee Jones and a letter from the late great Timothy Findley :o)

I also have shelving, storage bins and a work table to the left -

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Yes, those are horses on the shelves and yes that might seem like a lot to you but they are only a 'very' small portion of what my collection used to be. LOL! If you really look, you might even spot Flat Shannon ;o)

To the right I have my sewing table and the great Wall Of Stitch -

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As my stash grew, I had to come up with ways to organize it. In the storage bins, there are four small drawers on the top and they proved to be ideal for keeping my specialty flosses and Q-Snaps -

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The DMC floss was a bit of a challenge because I wanted to get away from winding them on bobbins. Every storage bin that I looked at wasn't deep enough to let a skein of floss lie flat. A few years ago, DH and I were in Freeport, Maine for a weekend and we were looking around the Hunting & Fishing L.L. Bean store. DH came across a Plano fishing tackle box that he thought would work well -

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It was pretty funny because the salesperson asked me if I was a big fisherman. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him what I was really buying it for! LOL! Lori-Ann is right though, these are SUPER for organizing your stash. The one that holds my floss is quite large and measures about 15H x 11D x 16W (in inches). It holds the full line of DMC floss along with the variegated, linen and some rayon.

Now the one I bought for my buttons and embellishments is tiny in comparison -

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This one measures 10H x 7D x 11W. Again, it's from Plano. If you are interested in seeing what they have available, just visit your local Wal-Mart.

If anyone has any great tips on organizing, please lmk or post them on your Blog. I'm always fascinated to see how others have created their own personal space. I hope you have enjoyed your tour of my little sanctuary. Please come again :o)

24 comments:

Carolyn said...

Can I come to your "store" to play???

You have a great room for all your stitching stuff.

I can only aspire to have the collection you have gotta get the kids out of the house first)

Pam Seavey Schaffner said...

What a great post Cathey! Leave it to Bean's to come through for your storage needs! Would love to know how you made your cool signature. Can you email me (pschaffner@cinci.rr.com) and give me some guidance? TIA, Pam

Alberta said...

Cathey, what a great room you have created for yourself with the help of DH! How could you not be inspired?!

Your Wall of Stitch is beautiful!

Paisley said...

What a great stitching spot! You're so organized! Can I come over? :-)

Stitchabilities said...

Wow what a stash haul!!! Love your horses,I used to collect Piggy's(not sure why Except I thought they were cute) but I gave most of them to charity shops :(

Lori said...

I SOOOO admire your organizing talents :O

Isn't it funny how I found "Plano" and didn't even realize that's what you already used? lol

Those clear bins are my next collection.
About the horses...all I will say is, that's alot and if it makes you happy is what counts. I have a collector's habit as well ;)

Karen said...

wow , I don't have a certain area, just some draws

Jennifer said...

Nice room! I'm jealous. My DH doesn't know it, but I plan on getting myself a craft room when we buy a house. I don't think he'll object too much though - he'll be looking for good basement space for his stained glass projects.

Shannon said...

Sigh, I'm jealous of Flat Shannon getting to play in the Store !

Beautiful room, gorgeous stash, well organized. Fantastic !

When organizational bliss returns to my stash, I'll post pics. But yours definitely puts mine to shame ! :)

Marita said...

You are so organised! Great job. Inspires me to tidy up my stash a little.

Rachel S-H said...

OMG! You collect Breyer horses too! I have been collecting since I was a little girl! Woo hoo!

Ranae said...

You are so well organized. It must wonderful to have a space like that, someday here for me when DS moves out, lol.

Cindy said...

Very cool to see your stitching spot. You are so organized!!!!!

The Plano boxes are great for stitching stuff. They make those not to far from me, and one of these days I need to stop and check out their outlet store :)

I would love to see a close-up of your signed Bon Jovi pic...did you get to meet him / them ?

Irene said...

Great "store". I've heard about the Plano boxes, but had never seen them. Looks like they store a lot and don't take up much room.

Laura said...

Wow and double Wow! What an incredibly fantastic stitching area. You are so organized. I really like your fishing tackle floss storage box.

Iris said...

your stitching room and storage solutions look great.
Like your horse collection, my daughter would freak at it, she loves horses ;-)

Stephanie M. said...

I wanted to know if you would think that 13 x 10 x 14 would work for the dmc? I am having a hard time finding the exact BIG one that you have. Thank....Stephanie

Laural said...

Firstly, Congratulations to your DH!!! Your latest finishes are adorable too!

If I ever clean the trash pile that is my section of the craft/computer room I'll take a picture. That will probably never happen though. Your space looks wonderful!

Pumpkin said...

Stephanie, I don't have an address for you so hopefully you will see this :o) What matters the most with the Plano boxes are the removeable boxes. Some of them have spacers that can be moved around to form different sized areas. With my floss, I have taken them all out and all that remains is the fixed one in the middle. The sections on either side of the fixed separator are the perfect length to hold a skein of floss when it's laying flat. If you are looking to house your bobbins, you'll have to take one with you and judge from that. I hope this helps :o)

stitcherw said...

Wow your room looks great, so neat and organized. All your containers keep things visable too so you can tell where things are quickly. The tackle box for your floss looks like it works perfect. I have mine in a hardward cabinet that has a bunch of little pull out plastic drawers. On the face of each drawer I have the beginning and ending numbers of the floss inside. The drawers are long enough the floss can lie flat too(except for a tiny bend at the end). I think my floss is my most orgainzed stash.

Your Reindeer finish was adorable. I haven't seen these kits, but it looks fun. My Garfield I've been working on for a while is on plastic canvas too and will be a magnet when done. For some things the plastic canvas is really nice as it is so sturdy.
Sue

Stephanie M. said...

Cathey, Wanted to thank you for your response to my post and tell you that I found the Plano box like yours (same size). It was raining on Friday so I spent Friday evening organizing my floss in its new home.lol If you want to reply privately my email address is steffie0128@gmail.com. Thanks again, Stephanie

Jennifer said...

Yep, still jealous of your set up, but this time I am saving the pictures of the flosses in the drawers for future reference. Now that I've collected a bit more specialty floss, I'm thinking this is the way to go.

Sharon said...

Love how you have all your storage set up! Very nice. I really like the Plano boxes-I may check into that for my dmc as I haven't come up with a great way to store it.

Michele B. said...

I came from Jennifer's blog - thank you so much for the great ideas and pictures. I love your system! And it was so much fun to see the Breyer horses. I have my small collection from when I was growing up. I'm so happy my mom saved them.