The Big Tidy Up - Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop

Happy Mother's Day

and

Welcome to 

The Big Tidy Up 2019

at

Creatin' in the Sticks!

It's my day in the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2019

hosted for the 5th year by Cheryl Sleboda.

When I was little, my mom often read this book to me and it really was my absolute favorite.

It's about a little girl who has a very messy room.  

It's ironic that my day in the hop is on mother's day and I still need this kind of motivation to clean up my room.  Hopefully, my amazingly neat and spotless mom won't happen upon this post and be embarrassed that her grown daughter still can't keep her space clean.

So thank you Cheryl for the motivation to clean up my act before I leave for quilt market this week. 

 It will be so nice to come home to a neat and tidy studio after all the craziness of market preparation.

No judgment here, please.  Remember, I have had some pretty ugly deadlines

and

I joined this blog hop knowing I would need the motivation to clean up after the crazy.

First, the ugly.

Yes, this crazy is real. 

 My studio is above our detached garage and is large enough to have a 19' workbench with shelving along one wall and another 12' workbench with shelves on another wall.

The other end of the room has a sink and sitting area, but you can't see either one.

The sitting area is buried with quilts that are either waiting for work or finished and need labels.  The sink is covered with stuff at the end of the workbench.

So, let's go around the room and I'll show my improvements.

Because there are few straight walls in my studio, I put a design wall at the bottom of the stairs as you enter my space.  I just pinned a flannel backed table cloth to the wall and works in progress are the perfect welcome as I come up the stairs or as I leave.

Let's head upstairs to the studio.

This is where I hang minis or pillow tops not in use.

I purchased this sink cabinet at a school auction for 10 dollars and my hubby installed it for me.  It's so handy because there was no water in the studio before and I had to go to the house every time I needed to wash my hands or brushes or even fill my water mister.

I use plastic boxes for storage on the shelves of the benches.

Most of the boxes are labeled and large ones on the bottom shelves hold patterns, batting, interfacing, and other misc. items where the top shelves hold smaller shoe size boxes.

As a designer for Thermoweb, storing rolls of HeatNBond by my lightbox with tall terracotta pots I picked up at Hobby Lobby for 1 dollar a piece is perfect.

The smaller workbench is the perfect place for my new AccuQuilt. It's also where I keep some books and magazines.  I use old animal cracker bears for button storage.

The shelves underneath hold plastic boxes with smaller pieces of fabric sorted by color.

Larger fabric pieces and current projects are stored in this cabinet that is actually just pieces of closet organization units.  The middle hanging part is perfect for quilt tops ready to be quilted and clothes waiting to be mended.

Next to the fabric storage cabinet is my ironing surface and then instead of a sitting area that I never used, I have my grandmother's sewing machine and a few of the quilts I have left to finish.

To finish up The Big Tidy Up, I gave the biggest essential a little attention.

I like to clean the lint from my sewing machine between professional service times. 

Where does all that lint come from?

 I clean around the bobbin case weekly, but for occasions like spring cleaning, the bottom of the machine comes off and with a soft brush, the lint comes out. 

Visit the other Spring Cleaning Bloggers and get some great tips for organization:

1. April 29 – Linda Bratten – http://lindabcreative.blogspot.com
2. April 30 – Sandra Johnson – http://www.sandrajohnsondesigns.com
3. May 1 – Jennifer Schifano Thomas – http://www.Curlicuecreations.com
4. May 2 – Becca Fenstermaker – http://www.prettypiney.com
5. May 3 – Sue Griffiths – http://www.duckcreekmountainquilting.com
6. May 4 – Kate Starcher – http://katiemaequilts.com/blog
7. May 5 – Jo Westfoot – http://www.thecraftynomad.co.uk/blog
8. May 6 – Sam Hunter – https://www.huntersdesignstudio.com
9. May 7 – Simone Fisher – http://simonequilts.com/blogs/news
10. May 8 – Elisabeth DeMoo https://www.brownbirddesignsquilts.com
11. May 9 – Sarah Myers –  http://www.quilted-diary.com/blog
12. May 10 – Amy Bradley – http://www.purplepineapplestudio.com
13. May 11 – Kathy Nutley – http://www.QuiltingsByKathy.com
14. May 12 – Carla Henton – http://createinthesticks.blogspot.co
15. May 13 – Sherry Shish – http://www.poweredbyquilting.com
16. May 14 – Kate Colleran – http://www.seamslikeadream.com/blog
17. May 15 – Pamela Boatright – https://www.pamelaquilts.com
18. May 16 – Cathy McKillip – http://wishuponaquilt.com/blog
19. May 17 – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com

Full disclosure here, I couldn't have pulled off 

The Big Tidy Up 

without a little help.

Because my hubby gave me a few hours of his time

I was able to spend my Mother's Day Saturday playing with my daughter and  

granddaughter.

We played hard and wore her out. 

There's nothing better than holding a napping baby.

Happy Mother's Day!