Work/Space

At long last I've spent some time focusing on the corner of our house which is my designated craft space and storage area. It's in the basement, which I've always found rather depressing. I've used plenty of paint and color to brighten things up but the fact remains that it's underground with both poor natural light and hideous overhead alternatives. I hadn't realized how sensitive I was to such things until I started to avoid the space altogether, piling up yarn all over the house or tossing bags into the space and abandoning them. I've been given mountains of yarn and yards of fabric over the years and hadn't ever figured out how to manage it all. I'd all but given up sewing as I don't really enjoy tangling with the machine and doing so in a dark and gloomy space? Why bother? The quilt I started for The Princess shortly after her birth has been languishing for five years along with another I started after my my brother's death.

I finally decided to just buck up and make the best of it. I'm sure there are countless folks out there who give anything for a designated work space like mine could be. The last few weeks I've been working hard to make this space work for me. A recent trip to The Big Swede and an entire day spent assembling the monster storage unit seems to have done the trick and gotten the improvement ball rolling. Huge thanks to The Spouse who battled that monster with me!

I now have the Wall of Fabric, sorted more or less by color. The painting is by Laura--lovely, isn't it?

And the Wall of Yarn--just like your local yarn shop, right? Who knew I had so much yarn? In my defense, I bought very little of the yarn, the rest has been given to me by lots of generous folks. Now that I can see what I've got, I've got ideas galore about future projects.

There's even a cozy corner with a comfy chair. As cozy as a basement gets, anyway. A project I really want to start soon is a shawl for me as it's always a bit chilly down here.

Getting things tidied up and put away has allowed me to appreciate some of the treasures I have hidden down here like this gorgeous Indian fabric and the Chinese lion pincushion from Bean:

and the beautiful stainless steel framed mirror my sweetie made for me during his years working for this guy.

I have a small cedar box holding remnants of my grandmother's needlepoint projects:

A gorgeous skein of unusually soft sari silk yarn from Colleen:

And a prickly old cat who loves to hide down here, ideally on the ironing board or in a pile of fabric:

I'm realizing it doesn't feel all that lonely down here after all.