my sewing room and other projects

I've been working on several home improvement projects and have finally painted my sewing room so I thought I'd share a few photos of it with you now - while everything's clean and sorted!

My 5 year blog anniversary was this month.  I have rarely shared any photos taken in this room. It was a medium green but always so dark.  I love these now white walls.  The room is so much brighter and feels bigger.

This desk is an old one!  When my recently retired husband first started working the company was setting up cubicles and selling these out-dated executive desks for $10.  The pull outs, on both sides, are extremely handy for modern sewing.  I use them all the time.  The desk itself is extra deep so I'm able to use it as a cutting table, too.

My ironing station is a Kallax unit from Ikea.  I put this together last year - well worth it!  I keep patterns in those file containers on the bottom left...

...and works in progress (WIPs) in shoe boxes in the black felt containers.

This room is long and narrow so I'm able to fit a Handiquilter on an 8 foot frame.  I don't make huge quilts so this set up works for me.  

I've been updating all around our house, not just my sewing room.  Along with lots of painting I recovered my old dining chairs.  

The fabric is from Anna Graham's Forage collection.  It's an Essex linen-cotton blend.  My friend is an upholsterer.  I asked her to do this for me but instead she invited me to bring the seats to her house and work with her.  It was an amazing and fascinating day.  (I should have taken my camera!)  She has an iron that's on a high bar that spans the length of her work table.  It doesn't get very hot because it's all about STEAM!  Since this isn't official upholstery fabric we first steamed the yardage to pre-shrink it, then fused an interfacing she has that keeps the fabric from stretching.

I learned how to make piping, too!  
This project was much more involved than I thought it would be but really, when you work with people who know what they're doing, everything is.  (Like making quilts!)  
Before attaching the seats back onto the frames I sprayed them with a good amount of Scotch-Guard.  I couldn't be happier with how they turned out.

On this last day of January, how about I finally share a few Christmas sewing projects I gifted last month?

I made this pillow using scraps from my Kaleidoscope Plus quilt and Amanda Jean's  Chain of Diamonds pattern in her book No Scrap Left Behind.  

But then, since it matched the quilt so well I couldn't give it away, so made another with Denyse Schmidt scraps.  

I also made these fun vinyl pouches.  My first time sewing with vinyl - I hardly noticed.  I used a tutorial from the Moda Bakeshop but changed up the dimensions and didn't quilt the back.  I was needing a quick project.

And finally, more rope bowls!  Everyone loves these.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading through till the end!  
Hope you're keeping warm during this Polar Vortex.