A New Work Center At Last!

Here's My New Cutting/Pressing Area!  Just finished this morning!!!!

I wanted to share pictures now, cuz we all know it won't stay this pristine very long!  You know how it is...it only takes a little creative energy to cause an explosion!

Hmmm...the old yellow paint looks a little tired next to my new bright blue & white fabric...

Sheesh!  One thing always seems to lead to another!  Maybe I shouldn't go there right now...

 

The old counter top height units from the good ol' days at the Family Practice Clinic were I used to work came up from The Dungeon.  They were free standing and were given to me for precisely this use when we moved the practice into a new building.  My back will really appreciate this new height for cutting and pressing...stooping is not what we do best. 

 

The cabinets are wider than they are deep & I decided to place them so that the drawers and shelves are most accessible and so that I could retain as much walk space in this little room as possible.  That left a little hiding place in the far back corner, so what you can't see is that a bookcase loaded with books and inspiration is tucked in underneath.

 

The new upholstered top is made from a 37 x 62 inch piece of 5/8" particle board.  We nipped all four corners so that I won't impale myself!  We put the leaf back in the dining room table so we could lay everything out flat and I cut (actually I ripped) my drapery weight fabric for the ironing surface 44.5 x 69.5, then layered on a slighty smaller piece of silver coated ironing board fabric, (also ripped).  I layered both face up on top of a piece of warm and natural same size as the silver stuff.  I did a bunch of centering, smoothing and ironed out some creases and the curled edges that I had torn, then grabbed the far side and flipped it all over in one fell swoop, so that my pretty print was face down on the table and the silver was sandwiched face down now, between it and the warm and natural.  We centered the board on top of those then wrapped and stapled, folding the corners in gift wrap style.  We did a sneak peek before we stapled all the way around to make sure there were no wrinkles or distortion.  I also folded the raw edges of the topper fabric under so I wouldn't have any frayed stringys dangling down...that. being one of the downsides of tearing fabric. 

 

Before it went on the counter we put a layer of rubber shelf liner down to protect the original melamine and to keep it from sliding around.  Did you know that you can purchase yardage of that stuff off a big roll in the fabric department at Wally World?  Yep!  You sure can! 

I found the adorable drapery fabric at the "J" store in the clearance section and it was included in the 50% off sale this week to boot!  SCORE!  $7.50 a yard!!!!!  Gotta love that!  It's perfectly smooth so that I won't be "embossing" any interesting designs into whatever I'm pressing.  I also had a coupon for my Silver Heat Resistant fabric.  The warm and natural batting for that "little bit, but not too much Cush" has been hanging out in the Underground Stash Storage Unit forever, so I'm considering that free!  My sheet of particleboard was about $15 bucks and they were friendly enough at Lowes to do the main cuts for me.  Part of the leftovers from that have already been used to put a new back on a little cheap-o bookcase that now, no longer sways in the wind!  It's already back in place full of quilty books!

 

See that Iron back there?  That's my new cordless, brand starts with "P"!  Lovin' It!!!!  Not exactly cheap but SOOO worth it!  More than a Cheap-O and less than those pretty yellow ones with the "O" name!  If there's anything that can get my sewing day off to a bad start, it's snagging a big chunk of freshly squared up and ironed cotton on iron cords!  I get a little cranky when I re-wrinkle what I just un-wrinkled!  When I want a blast of steam, it really delivers!

 

Gotta Love My Birdies and Swirlie Branches!  Right????  I did!  Bought 5 yards...enough to recover when I need to, plus make a sewing machine cover...cover a bulletin board...

hmm...did I get enough????

 

 

Thanks to the tutorial from Lori at Bee In My Bonnet on how to do this I'm almost at a point that I can start sewing again...as soon as my sewing machine is found under Mount Vesuvius on the other side of the room!

 

I'm Sooooo Excited!  Can You Tell?!?!?!?!  But before I start using this great new workspace...I better start on a little dinner yumminess for my willingly helpful husband!

 

 

~Nancie Anne