A tour of Studio U

 Yes - I got photos for you today. A full tour of Studio U. I haven't been sewing a lot up there - there isn't even a sewing machine at the moment, but on some of the nice sunny days, I hope to move up! And speaking of the sun? Where has the sun been hiding? There was some sun yesterday when I went for my walk, but it's been pretty cloudy lately!

Did I get my e-mail woes solved? No. That was after spending two hours on the phone with Microsoft. At least the support person got my e-mail to come into Outlook, but ONLY into the Important folder, not the Inbox. I don't mind - as long as the e-mails come in. I'm going to receive a call from the escalation team today to see what they can do. 

I'm happy to report that the UFO club is FULL - chock a block full! We all have great ambitions, and with money on the line, many projects will get finished this year. I can't wait! Well, I shouldn't wait - I have homework to do! And despite the issues with my e-mail, I believe that everyone who responded got in. If you haven't received an e-mail with the homework list, then you didn't get in. 

Now I need to get the rest of the clubs/classes organized. I was supposed to do that yesterday, but it was hard to do that when someone else had control of my e-mail account. 

So while we were waiting for things to synchronize, I had some time on my hands and didn't want to wander too far away. Guess what I did? I cleaned and sorted stuff in the office. And you know what? It felt great!!! I do have one thing from the office to share with you later, but there's a WHOLE pile of stuff to come. I make good progress. I'm happy. 

OK - and now on with the tour. 

There's this glorious big desk in the room, and yes - you have to love those bright colors!! Currently, there's NOTHING on the desk, except for my pattern weights, an empty dish for threads, and a power bar. There are two tubs of supplies for work under the desk—all neat and tidy. 

Ah - but I can hear you saying that the cupboards must be crammed with stuff. Not so. Let's have a peak. This is the first one—nothing on the top shelf. The bottom shelf has one bag with TWO knitting projects in it. Hmmm - I think I could empty that handwork tub in Studio B and put all the handwork in here. That would free up that tub and empty that corner in Studio B. Oh - I've got to do that today. Then truly, all the handwork is going to be in one spot. And since I'm doing it in my cozy spot upstairs in the evening, it makes sense. 

The inside of cupboard number one 

The middle cupboard has all my machine embroidery files on the bottom shelf. The top shelf has two containers of supplies for Kimberbell stuff. Actually, one of those project boxes could be sorted through and more stuff put away. For the moment, it stays. 

The inside of the second cupboard

This is the inside of the third cupboard—some books related to sewing machines and that metal container should be downstairs with the other containers. And technically, the books should be on the bookcase downstairs. Oh - I see I might have to refine this area a wee bit. Oh my -- I'm becoming obsessed, but that's OK. The idea was to put like things together. 

The inside of the third cupboard

Then there is the wall with the window, and under the window is a long window seat. See how cloudy it is??

The window seat under the window

So the first half of the window seat is filled with my projects. Yes - more UFOs, and I'm OK with that. At least I know where they are. 

More UFOS are hidden in the window seat

The second half of the window seat is filled with stuff that belongs to M. Someday, it'll all be gone! 

M's stuff in the window seat

There are three worktables in this room. This one is the cutting table. I've tucked the mats onto this side of the table so when the sun does shine in, they won't get damaged—rulers at the ready. 

The cutting table

Under the cutting table is a bit of work. This is a box of scraps that needs to be sorted and put into pet mats. In an ideal world, this box would go downstairs and sit with the rest of the stuff (4 IKEA bags) that still remain to be sorted. Maybe I'll do that today. Or better yet - I should just go through it and sort it NOW. 

Scraps to sort through

And this is on the other side of the cutting table. The bottom tub is a tub of scraps that someone gave me years ago. I've no idea really what's in it, but it should be sorted through - she was very generous in the size of her scraps. Probably loads in there to make lots of scrap quilts for community projects. I might go through it this week - just to know what's in it. I've never touched it. The white basket on top is my stuff that needs to be sorted. 

Scraps to sort through

Here's the "spare" table in the room. 

The extra work table

Perhaps my handwork tonight will be to further sort through this room. 

Here's the sewing table. As I mentioned, there isn't a sewing machine in the room at the moment. 

The sewing table

The sewing table's drawer has only essential items - mostly cleaning stuff and a takeaway sewing kit that I never use anymore. I should disassemble it and put the tools and other supplies away. Just when I thought everything was spic and span!!!

The drawer to the sewing table

Beneath the drawer are these two small plastic rolling carts. Hmmm - from the look of it, there's not much in either one of them. I actually woke up in the night, thinking that I need to consolidate them into one container.

Two small containers of stuff

Or I could put the stuff in this container sitting to the right of the sewing table. 

Another small container in the room

Because the shelf is pretty empty!  Oh boy -- I see that I have an hour or so of further tidying to do. But since there is ROOM to put stuff, this isn't going to take long at all. Oh my - I want to do it NOW, but I have to finish the blog. 

The cabinet is pretty empty

There's the ironing board. The bookcase is filled with M's stuff, as is the closet, and we won't go there. But wouldn't it be nice if the bookcase was gone and the closet was empty as well? I'd be happy, but one thing I learned over the holidays is that M doesn't know how to sort and purge. Every year she comes back, we think NOW is the time to make that happen, and she won't touch the stuff. I might have no choice but to pitch and purge myself. I mean, how long can one keep clothes in a closet when you don't even live here any longer?? 

The ironing board

Beneath the ironing board is this cabinet, which is also filled with supplies. This is FULL, and so everything stays in here. It's been like this for years, and everything is very neat and tidy inside. 

Supply cabinet

OK -- so here's one thing that I found when I cleaned the office. I found five laundry bags that DH brought home when he used to travel. I know - why do I end up the recipient of everything that members of our household drag home? 

Laundry bags

Now I thought that I heard someone say they were using this woven material (and it has a name, which I don't know) for liners for masks??? It's not really a fabric, but it's woven. A lot of tote bags are made from it. Anyway - there are three big laundry bags made of this material, and if anyone wants them - they are welcome to it. 

Material for mask liners??

There are two canvas laundry bags. I had to laugh when I saw the logo that was embroidered on one of them. Not stamped - but EMBROIDERED - at what cost???  Well, I certainly don't want either laundry bag - I suppose you could remove the embroidery stitches and have a nice bag, and the other one that is stamped could have something appliqued over the logo. I don't need or want them, so if someone wants them - you're welcome to them. Otherwise, they are going into the donation box. 

Canvas laundry bag

I did as I said I would and decided to sit down and finish that puzzle. AHA - it looks like I'm almost done - right? WRONG!!!  Those three pieces did NOT fit in those three holes. I had to rearrange a few pieces in that area to make everything fit. 

These three pieces do NOT fit

And here it is - DONE!!!!  That was a challenge! So, Kathi or Nancy - this is coming to one of you!

The puzzle is DONE

I decided this morning to start sewing one of my Christmas Fig quilts together. I got the first two rows together and one row of sashing. Can I get it finished today? I need to get these done as I have to move on and quickly!!

Progress on Christmas Fig quilt top

Well, there's lots more to come as I go through the office. It's going to be a slow process as there's a lot of paper to trash and sort, but already it looks so much better, and once everything has a home, it's going to be a snap to keep things tidy. And once I get rid of all the crap that the family dumped on me. OK - and what I accumulated as well! Yes - it's mostly my stuff. 

On that note - I'm out of here. Got lots of stuff to do today - errands, dentist, phone calls and let's not forget the -e-mail!

Have a super day!!!!  (don't forget to set your timer to 10-minutes and see what you can accomplish today!)

Ciao!!!