Function

Those of you who have been lucky enough to graduate from sewing at the kitchen table to having your own permanent space...  Do you ever find it hard to make said space work for you?  Especially as your hobby grows?  Or if you share it with someone?

When we moved to Oklahoma I was lucky enough to acquire about half of the office.  Over the last two years I have slowly been taking it over a bit more, and a bit more.  But, I feel cramped.  Quilting is hard (the actual quilting part).  I sew on a lovely desk that in our old home used to be my husband's home workspace.  But, the desk is tall, and my sewing machine has to go in the center.  So unlike at my kitchen table where I could plant myself at one end and have loads of table space to my left, on the desk I am often battling my quilt sandwich falling off.  It's VERY frustrating.

I later received a Martha Stewart Craft table to work as an alternating cutting/ironing station.  It's GREAT!  But, I rarely can use it to cut on b/c I need to be ironing and cutting back and forth so it just doesn't work as well as I had planned.  Which means I am still cutting on the floor.  It works for me, but I'd like to get off of the floor with the dogs and kids walking all over my fabric.

(I got a plank of wood, covered it in heat resistant batting and then sewed up a cover for it.  The "ironing board" can then be lifted off so I can place a small cutting mat on the surface of the table.)

I debated trying to make moving into the guest room work, but honestly, that was more of a hassle then it is worth.  Getting rid of a dresser, a bed, buying a new form of bed for guests, and other more functional furniture.  So, it dawned on me that if I could find a desk that gave me more space to the left of my machine, deep enough for my big cutting mat (or even just my "smaller" one) that it would solve SO many problems.

Enter Ikea.  Now, it is a bit painful to put Ikea furniture in this gorgeous wood floor, built in desk situation (Yes, there are giant built ins on the other side of the room.) we have in our dedicated office.  But, it is going to be so functional for me, and I've never seen "ugly" Ikea furniture, so I feel pretty safe in my purchase.

Pardon the blurry table top.  I bought items from the Vika system for the desk.  I loved that I could design my own desk AND it is about 3 inches shorter (height) than my current desk which will make FMQ a LOT easier.  My current desk has a nice amount of drawer space so I bought the drawer system for the left hand side support.  I also knew I wanted to have as much space on the right hand side of the desk so my sewing machine can be WAY over in that direction (leaving room for my cutting mat on the left as well as bulky quilt tops).  So, I got that U shaped leg to go on the right.  Because my current desk will move into the guest room I needed a new chair, and I wanted something on wheels.  So I picked out that cute Snille chair in green.  The adjustable height will be a huge advantage for me.

It's supposed to be delivered in early March.  I can't wait to get it all set up.  :)