If your friend seen my room right now she would freak LOL!
I also have piles of projects....I clean when I can't move LOL!
Red

I get there sometimes too Red...but this is my space and if I can live in it, who should care. I do think right now I could be doing a bit better! How do some of you others feel about your space?
Jean

I have one corner of my dining room along with some areas of my living room for my sewing and it is always a mess and in full view of anyone who ventures into my small apt.I used to fret about it but not anymore as everyone who knows me usally just wants to see what I'm working on and they never seem to mind the threads, lint,cat hair and heaven only knows what else they leave with clinging to their clothes. Can only hope they haven't sat on a pin!!LOL My cat and I are the only one's who live here permanently and we don't mind the clutter so we sit happily sewing and napping in the middle of it.(The cat napping of course and me sewing except for those sometime late afternoon nap breaks I just have to take!)Your friend probably would not visit here often.LOL I do try to pick up and organize every once in awhile but it just seems to go right back to the way it was. Yvonne

Yvonne I would love to visit you...its so much fun to share what we do and never notice the mess we make doing it.
Jean

Those who aren't working have neat houses! Busy people are making things and don't have time to worry about what other people think. I have boxes, trays, stacks, shelves,and cloths racks working for me and my clutter. I don't appologize as it is my room and the things I make are enjoyed, even by those who look with a critical eye.
Jayne

Well Like Jean and the others I have more than one project going at all times, like now a sampler to finish the blocks then birthday block time to get ahead of those again, I have -2- binding to do, need to put my siggy blocks together and my birthday blocks from last year. And with all this I work full time but my best friend cleans my house weekly so my sewing room is always organized I dont know how she knows where to put things but she does. I guess she knows me too well. She spoils me, it was also the best advise my mother in law gave me when I went back to work years ago. To take some of my income and have help to keep things striaght, since I was not use to having income being a stay at home mom she has been the best gift I ever could have given myself.

Nanci

I'm with Red. If she saw my sewing room she'd call the fire marshal. Same with my home office.

I've been messy my whole life and it's something I really struggle with. But when it comes to a crafts area -- well, you have to get the stuff out to see it. If you're in the middle of a project, I don't see how it could NOT be messy. Maybe that's just me. I once stayed up 'till 5:00 am trying to organize my office papers and by dawn all I'd done was move piles of papers in circles.

I also think that not all, but many, creative people tend to be less uptight about mess.

YES, I called your friend UPTIGHT -- as I am tired of the "superior" attitude adopted by those who have the type of "issues" that make them neat freaks. Sorry to rant, heheh, but I also would NEVER tell someone that THEIR space was too messy. I don't know how she said it, but that's a little rude right there, IMO.

When I'm creating, my mind is focused on colors and shapes and ideas -- NEVER on putting everything in its little place. She could buy me all the totes in the world and my fabric would still be in piles where I could SEE it.

OH -- to answer your question -- I usually try to organize my space between major projects. Take all the fabric and get it reorganized by color in its bins. Put seam rippers, bobbins, spools of thread, etc back in their places. Get a little elbow room!

And when we have overnight guests I REALLY organize 'cause my sewing room is the guest room. Somehow it all fits back in the closet.

Once I get going though -- you'll have to look under a pile of fabric to find me!

PS -- "Closing the door" to the room also counts as "cleaning" in my book.

I to would be happy to come to coffee and see your projects and not worry if everything was straight.

I moved into a new neighborhood 1 1/2 years ago. Just after I moved in and still had quite a mess in my sewing room, a neighbor who other neighbors had been saying I should meet because she sews also dropped in. Of course, my first thing was to show her "my space". As I said it was not yet in order but I was using it to make some curtains so it was messy from that and my visitor said with a little look that she liked to keep her sewing room in order. I told her I hoped to do a little better. Needless to say I found other sewing friends.

I do like to keep things in enough order to find what I need and actually sometimes get everything in order only to begin another project and it's messy again. That is my whole point of having a sewing room, I can close the door. For many years I sewed in my bedroom and in the dining room or whatever space I found. I really like my room. If anyone is offended by how I keep it, don't go there.
Another thing, people who don't sew or craft really have no idea.

Sally

My projects all stay in view as I work going from project to project and back again. Even the things I put away are all in clear plastic tubs so I can see where each color or pile is. Organized mess, I suppose. I may clear a spot for company but basically I just shut a door and if anyone has to sleep in there, well they better like fabric!
Linda

Lauraincdca I agree that creative people are not as concerned about mess. The tidiness of anyone's house has never bothered me even if they are not creative...I go to enjoy their company not inspect.

My friend is really a wonderful person and I am not offended because the down stairs was not that neat...I even had my hoop out in the family area to quilt on during a ball game. I hope her and I can spend some afternoons sewing together as she lives alone in a two room apartment.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and had a few chuckles. Nanci you are just plain spoiled and smart!
Jeam

Amen, Jayne! LOL. In my childhood, the worst malicious gossiper in the neighborhood was the best housekeeper. She would finish all her cleaning by 9:00 or 10:00am, I suppose it must have been, and then make the rounds of the neighbors, telling each successive one what she had found undone at the previous place--their dishes weren't done yet, the living room was messy, or the beds weren't made, the cat's pan stank, and so on. I imagine she didn't do this every day or make it around to every house every day, but I do know from my mother's grumbling that the woman was a trial for the women in that little group of houses.

Still, I have the family curse of feeling I have to clean the whole house if someone is coming. I try to keep the curse under control because I really feel that friendliness and warmth are far more important, and I know I don't mind if my friends' houses are messy. Is anyone else laboring under this sort of family-induced compulsion?

So...I haven't done much organizing of my stash yet (other than stuffing all that will fit into the kneehole of a big old rolltop desk), and it is the worst offender. Oh, well, I admit there are spools of thread here and there on bookshelves where the cats can't get at them, and there is a large hassock and a set of plastic bins piled high with cut fabrics and things in progress, and I just throw a lap quilt or towel over them.

I am constantly organizing mine, or at least the area I am using at the time. I don't think the whole thing has ever been done. I like having my piles around me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

beverly

Biwako...oh boy, do I know what you mean!!!! The women in my mother's family are like that...all of them! I have never been the best housekeeper...but when stressed, I usually clean to obsession. I have to know where everything is, if not, I go crazy. I hate clutter. The house is pretty clutter free...except for DH stuff on the coffee table. Right now, you can hardly walk in my sewing room...and that's literal. It's hard for me to concentrate with that much stuff around, but until we move stuff to the garage, I have no choice. I still show everyone my sewing room, and the projects I'm working on..I just tell them not to look at the mess. Maybe as I'm getting older, I just don't care if things "aren't perfect". Heck, I didn't even clean the sewing room up the last time my mother was here...and she's the biggest "white glover" of all...but you know...she raised her eyebrows, but she never said a word!!! I've also learned to just shut the door.
I'm hoping when I redo the room, to buy one of those closet hanger thingeys for sweaters and hang it in the room so I can put each project in one of the slots. That way I can see it, all the stuff is together, but off the floor or table space, and I can flip through the fabrics whenever I want.
Oh...this got long! I'm done! lol
Woodsy

Well, my space is right in the family room, you walk in the house and there is my mess for all to see! I try and pick it up to a acceptable state about once a week. I have a desk (which is totally covered by piles of fabric at the moment) and a white fold up table that we do school on in the school year (which is coming up, yikes!!!)which I have my last two projects on, the month blocks, which only need to be squared down to 12 1/2and my creative challenge which is coming along nicely. I use my youngest sons closet for my stash storage. He complains now and again and tell him that I gave up EVERY thing when we moved and he got his own room so I get to have this space.
I don't think my husband minds to much as long as he sees I'm happy doing something. At least lately I have gotten Joann gift certificates so I take that as a "You go girl!!!"
We have church at our house about every three months and that prompts me to pick up EVERYTHING at that time and put away and really organize. My next date it September 2 which also falls right when we are going to need that table for school!!! Kill two birds with one stone type of thing.
So if you have a room with a door, just close it and if people outside your own tribe don't like it, that's ok they don't have to live there.

Vicky

Well, I am a somewhat organized person - trying to get rid of clutter as much as possible lately - I have to have some sort of system of where things go, as my sewing room isn't large. However - I consider the various piles of current projects out in the open as part of my organizing. I do kinda reorganize and straighten up after one project is done, but usually there's several others sitting out waiting for me. If it bothers the neat freaks that see it, that's their problem. I do have a friend who is a "collector", somewhat of a packrat, clutterer, etc. but I would never - NEVER say anything derogatory to her about her sewing room - heck, her whole house. It's just part of who she is, and I don't go over there to inspect, anyway! I've gotten to the stage in life where I'm comfortable with how my home is, and don't fret too much about what others think.

Room? Sewing Room? You all have actual sewing rooms? Ok, now I'm just green with envy! I have one little corner in the den and my quilting machine is in the dining room. Because it is in the middle of the house and not just my room I feel I have to keep it picked up. Non-creative people do not understand the creative process at all, they just see messiness.

Melissa

My sewing/computer/guest room is very small. I try to be neat but I often sew on the dining room table. The bed in the sewing room has piles of stuff on it. When someone comes to visit, I clean it off. Every once in a while, I make a half-hearted effort to clean up but then I can't remember where I put anything. Colleen

I operate out of the closet in the guest room. I added shelves and stuck the kid's toy chest in there for my sewing and craft supplies. I reorganize about once a year which let's me remind myself exactly what I've got. Touching everything also inspires me and gives me ideas for new projects.

When we did the recent inventory of unfinished projects I arranged them in piles on the bed so I'd know what still needed attention. This is working out really well and I'm chugging along and making a little progress each week.

I sew in the kitchen and am forced to clean up for meals. Depending on the level of company expected, I either put things back in the closet or just neatly pile the stuff at the end of the kitchen table and on the chairs.

It's my house. My friends come to see me, not my house.

Once a year if it needs it or not. Right now it's as clean as it's every likely to be. Oops! That's right I'm not sewing yet since I'm still unpacking.

I have learned to turn a deaf ear to comments on my housekeeping skills. What I think is important may not be what others think is important.

Dina57 I think you win for having the smallest compact sewing area....a closet...but it's your space and I bet you love every inch. I have sewed on the kitchen table, them moved to the 5x5 laundry room with washer & dryer. This house had a 16x32 family room when we moved here and I asked for one end as a sewing room and got it.
Today I think I will rearrange my touchy piles.
Jean

All of my fabrics are organized and future projects are put away with the fabric and pattern together.

BUT...if I am in the middle of a project, it is out in a pile on my desk or coffee table (I cut on my coffee table). I know that if I put it away, I will never get it out again. And..I too "lose" things when they aren't where I can see them.

My DH hates this, but he's not a quilter...LOL

Lynette

I like to have projects where I can touch and see them, but, like Woodsy, I have a hard time working when things are all over the place. There certainly are times, though, when I've got several projects going at once and the bed is covered with fabric...

I have lots of bins, in 2 different sizes, for stash and projects. Since they are all handy, I do tend to put away as I go. Because the bins are out in the open, and the room is also the guest room, dh thinks it's cluttered. It IS, for a guest room, but pretty neat for a sewing room!

{{!gwi}}

Cheryl

Oh wow. Until about two months ago, I was sewing and pressing in the guest room, and cutting in the living room. The cutting table collected lots of stuff like stacks of fabric and patterns. Somehow I managed to get a lot done. About two months ago, when DH passed and my daughter moved out, I moved all my sewing stuff to the family room. I have lots of light and space, but I'm not getting anything done. What's wrong with this picture?

I know I've told this story before, but, I think it's amusing so...

When I first started quilting I had my sewing machine in my home office where I work. I suppose there was fabric in the family room/kitchen 'cause I cut in there. I'm sure there was stuff all over...

One day DH got really irate. Then I heard slamming and banging and bumping. I just hunkered down in my office and kept WORKING (so I didn't feel too guilty).

Then he comes into my office and says "THERE! You have a sewing room now! NOTHING leaves that room!!!!" He had put a table up, and all kinds of arrangements in our guest room. It was great.

Of course it wasn't long though before a few things crept out... Applique while I watched TV with him... A cutting mat on the higher kitchen counter... THREADS. Little THREADS all over the house, on my clothes, the carpet, the dogs, occasionally one would get ON HIM!!!

Now he says it is not my sewing room, it is my STAGING AREA for the havoc I wreak on the rest of the house.

But seriously -- I do work very hard. I probably work, on average, about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Lately it's been much worse. And he appreceiates it. He works hard too but his work is not so time consuming. (He just walked in here and saw me posting and said -- "Today, remember, INVOICES. That's top priority over the quilting biddies!!!" -- sorry gals!)

JEAN -- that is really nice that you will be able to sew with her in the afternoons. I realize now she was probably being "helpful" not "snide" in suggesting the totes.

CHERYL -- WOW, that pic is an inspiration in organization!!!! My bins are a lot bigger and fit in the closet. (Too bad half my fabric is not IN them right now! LOL.)

Biddie indeed! Bwahahahaha

I have to organize my sewing room fairly often because it's also the guest room, and because it's so tiny.

Very funny, Laura, and what a nice DH!

Melissa: No! We do not all have sewing rooms! Maybe this will make you feel better, lol:

Machine--on the floor in the living room
Cutting table--kitchen table (This involves a lot of moving
things and cleaning.) or the coffee table in front
of the sofa, so it has to be cleaned up every night
because DH likes to sleep on the floor there,
Japanese-style
Stash--mostly under a desk in the living room, but some in
boxes in the garage
WIPs--on a hassock or other place in the living room, very
messy, but covered up
Rulers--on bedroom wall
Computer--different room altogether
Iron--under an end table in the living room
Ironing board--folded up and stuck behind the wall and a
bookcase in the living room, but half of it sticks
out

Fran you will feel inspired again...you have been through a lot...it's okay. I find if I am dealing with important issues (like Tax Season), I can't concentrate well on my quilting. Once the stress and the job is done, I'm back quilting. Maybe laying out some touchy piles or projects where you can see them will help. Your new space sounds wonderful.
Jean

I try to red-up (I know--I'm showing where I'm from by saying red-up), but anyway, I try to give my sewing area (dining room corner) a good once over between projects--same with my home office--Once I finish a big job, I whip it back into shape, but if I'm in the middle of a sewing or work project, I let things get as messy as they have to--and no one dies from it!
And then of course, once I straighten things up, I can't find a darn thing!

anitastitch...I red-up too!! Glad to see we come from the same part of the country!!

I straighten up at the end of each day and clean up at the end of each project.. Try to keep things as organized as possible and Most of the time it looks good just not today.. grace

Don't let me out, I red up also....Our youngest son and his family left today so I'm getting my sewing room back, which had been his room when he had lived at home...When he got married, I don't think he was to the end of the street and I claimed the room...It also has a door and it gets closed if it looks too messy or cluttered, which seems pretty often...

Dorothy

Okay - Dorothy, I told you what a swamp cooler was.
What the heck does red-up mean???

Nina

I'll be glad to tell you what red-up means, since I brought it up--it means to give a room a quick, willy-nilly kind of clean up--No scrubbing or dusting or serious sweeping, just kind of picking stuff up. Sewing areas are very red-uppable since they don't really get dirty--just messy.

So what the heck is a swamp cooler???

anitastitch - You cracked me up!!
A swamp cooler is like an air conditioner that uses water.

Why is that called "red" up? Is it like readying up the place?

Oh, by the way, I donÂt red-up my sewing room nearly enough. Usually after a big project or when I simply canÂt find anything anymore. My tolerance for clutter is very high.

Nina

Melissa, some day the kids will move out & go to college or an apartment & then you get to reclaim their room & make it a sewing room. Until Thanksgiving, Christmas, & summer break & then you are back to the kitchen table & any flat space you can take.

Never heard of Red up til i read this post.We say give it a lick and a promise!!
I just took some pictures of my fabric closets,but havn't uploaded them yet,maybe tomorrow.

My desks seem to get the messiest in this room,everything that no one knows where it goes gets dumped on my desks.The sewing machine desk takes the brunt of it,but the computor desk gets it's fair share as well.I try to keep it picked up as much as possible,but if it gets too messy,i just close the door.

Kathi

Good morning everyone,
I know I already posted here but couldn't resist.
Since I am in south Louisiana where we have lots of swamp, I should have know what a "swamp cooler" was but I first heard of it on this forum. Actually,I've seen what you are talking about but believe me we need heavy duty air conditioning!
Kathi, a lick and a promise, I understand. I like red-up but never heard that. That sounds like my kind of living.
Hope everyone has a great day.

Sally

What a great thread! I'm one that doesn't mind piles, but I do get agitated if I don't clear up a big enough space to work in. I ended up investing in several of those thick clear plastic zipper bags that quilt shops sell for projects and fabric. I tied a ribbon loop in each of the zipper pull holes and then hammered a couple of nails in to the wall behind the door in my sewing room. When my piles get too crowded, I just scoop up the fabric/patterns, etc. that are associated with a project, dump it in one of the zipper bags and hang it on the wall to temporarily get it out of the way while I work on something else. Now..to my DH (who hates clutter), this is not cleaning - but it works perfectly for me. I can still see the project, and it's easy to put away and get out again - no stuffing in drawers like I used to. Bottom line is it's in my sewing room and he can shut the door - but he does gripe at me when it starts oozing out into the dining room or the kitchen table...and I'm guilty of that too. I can understand the desire to keep everything neat, and I like things clean just the same as anyone else (there's a difference between neat and clean to me), but why do we all feel the need to keep our houses looking as though no one lived there? You know...like when someone says "Oh..it has a lived in look"...well, yes...that's because we live here! As for my friends - not too many have seen my sewing room, and those that have are quilters or crafters of some sort and understand completely, so I'm blessed. Relatives and friends that don't quilt or craft just aren't allowed in there.
Clara

Here's a link to a diagram. Swamp coolers work very well in a desert climate. Had one that was window mounted years ago.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Now, isn't this an interesting and informative forum? I grew up on "red up" your room etc and have no idea where it came from....Anyone from the Pgh., area or even this part of Pa. knows what it is...Even the late Pgh., Mayor Bob Connor had a "red up campaign" trying to clean up the city...I believe the new mayor has continued to use the term..Now the Swamp cooler, that's a new one to me...I just love reading the different things that have been written....
Dorothy

All I have to say is that you ladies who leave piles of fabric out in the open must not have a cat in your house! LOL Mine think anything I leave out is theirs for the taking. I have to keep all thread, yarn and fabric inside something if I don't want cat fur all over it.

I'm also one of those neat-freak types, though I'm MUCH better than I used to be! Supplies for the current project(s) are usually out all over the sewing room, but everything else stays pretty neat, though I do get lazy about putting away those scraps and stuff!

As far as "leaking" outside of the sewing room...DH is most definitely NOT a neat freak, and if he ever said anything about a project in the living room or something, he'd get an earful about the socks under the coffee table and the dirty clothes on the bedroom chair, plus the tools he left lying around from some project a month ago...well, you get the idea.

Since I'm now onto hubby-bashing, his broken hand is finally healed! The ace bandage and the "sock" that covered his splint have been lying on the dresser for 2 weeks now. The other day I asked if he was going to keep the sock and he said no and threw it away, but did he put away the ace bandage? HA! :)

Donna

I do believe you when you say cats will take things...it reminds me of our uncle who owned a burmese sp?? and it had a little hideout place in a crawl space. Our uncle had bought 2 sets of season football tickets and placed them on the coffee table. That night the tickets were gone....well they searched for over a week and finally came to the conclusion the cat took them...they got someone to go into this crawl space and sure enough there were the tickets plus numerous other treasures he made claim to.
Jean

Koko, almost 9mos, is teething. Along with anything small he can get in his mouth, he has taken a liking to scraps of woolen fabric. Thank goodness, shih-tzus don't have strong jaws. He found 4/5 pieces neatly folded in baskets in my sewing room and now drags them around.

I just had to pop back in...I do have cats, 4 of the furry buggers and they do think anything that is laying around belongs to them...We have one that likes to hide things and when my grand sons were here last week, 1 had some money folded up on the end table...Well, the next morning, it was found under the rolled up bathroom rug along with some of her toys...She also leaves a toy mouse in her food dish during the night....Never a dull moment in this zoo.....
Dorothy

Dorothy, that's too funny! LOL One time years ago we caught one of the cats stuffing DH's tie under the sofa! :)

Donna

Funny posts about cats! My 2, being elderly, mainly confine their evil deeds to getting fur on my WIPs.

I was born and brought up in New England. My grandmother, also born and brought up there, used to say "red up."

Since I have limited space in a bedroom I cannot be too disorganized, but I have had it get quite messy. When I cannot find a pattern, or fabric, I then take a day and get things back into some sort of order again. I do keep my ongoing projects out, and in a closet I have on hangers anything that is large and almost done with what ever it needs hanging together.. this I found is helpful.
I am organized in a way, that I do have my fabric and patterns together in one container for my to do projects and other large baggies or what ever with scrap fabric for a certain project as well as the pattern, idea and notes on what I have that fabric for ... for example, all 2 inch long strips are in one large baggie and marked for future log cabin - 2 inch squares for 'what ever' and so on. I find this helpful... at least when I cut fabric the left overs do not end up in a pile and discarded because there is too much stuff to sort out. I have one ongoing project for club charity quilts that is kept in a separate bin with kids fabric and patterns so when the mood hits me to do something different, I can just pull the box and do some work on it.. eventually they get done and donated to my guild.

I also have 2 cats and they do things like play with the thimbles (took 2 months to find it) as well as spools of thread - you know the stuff they like to do. Still I enjoy having them around, even if it is 'pet me time' while I am trying to sew something!

I am enjoying reading this post and everyone's delima about orgaiziation... and I agree - if my guest think that my room is a mess... they can stay home!

I enjoyed reading how everyone is handeling their situations... we all seem to be in the same boat... (or sewing room delima!)
Barbara

I just started reading a book that takes place in Amish country and they used the term "red up". If I hadn't heard the term here first, I never would have know what it meant. Maybe the expression originated in Pennsyvania which would explain why the mayor of Pittsburgh used it in a campaign.

I kinda lost track of this thread. Some of these ideas are very helpful.

This thread was fun at the time but if you want to keep it, please bookmark it on your computer.
Jean