I've said it before, and I'll say it again....

I tag sales!

I have a space in our bedroom that I use as my sewing area. For years now I've used a student desk as my sewing table and it's worked out well enough for me to sew but it's never been great. I have not just a standard sewing machine but also a serger (an amazing and wonderful gift from my MIL) and the two machines take up quite a bit of space on a standard desk. When I wanted to sew on one machine I always had to move the other machine out of my way. For a while now I've wanted an "L-shaped" desk so that I can put one machine on each side and be able to roll my chair between the two machines since many of my projects require switching back and forth between the sewing machine and the serger.

At a tag sale a couple of weeks ago I found just that! It's not exactly a "nice" piece of furniture in that it is just laminated pressboard, but the size and functionality of it just right. In reality it is a computer desk and even has a pullout drawer for a keyboard but it is as close to perfection as I'm going to get for the $8 price tag. Someday I might replace it with a sturdier, more asthetically pleasing piece, but in our current financial position this desk is just the ticket! And, the deal didn't end there. The same tag sale had a perfectly functional rolling chair for a steal at five buckaroonies. So, for a total of $13 I have a new sewing center!

And here it is:

Rick and I moved the old desk and chair out and installed the new desk in the corner last night. I had already cleaned out the old space and reorganized my sewing stuff so I was all ready to go! The one thing I need to do is replace the three drawer unit behind the chair with a shorter unit so it can also be tucked underneath the desk and more or less hidden from view. In fact, I might buy two matching 3-drawer units because the one that is under the desk in that picture is a little too wide for me to sit at the serger comfortably. Target here I come!

In celebration of the new sewing area I granted R.'s request to do more sewing today. Ever since she sewed up that pillow she's been asking daily if we can do more sewing. I'm creating a craft monster! She had asked to sew up a little blanket for her stuffed animals and a few days ago she picked some fabric from my stash to use in a quilting project. We had to put off the actual cutting and sewing for a few days because there was no room in my sewing area to work - what with the old desk still in place and the new desk in pieces right smack in the middle of everything.

But, today everything was in place and you should've seen the look on her face when I told her to check out my sewing area. You'd have thought I told her Santa Claus had come in the middle of August. She jumped for joy and then ran down to my bedroom screeching "Is the new desk in there?! Can we sew today!" How could I say no to that?

Here is the result of today's efforts. She's getting pretty darn good with the machine!

Tomorrow, or later this week, we'll get the quilt batting out and find a scrap piece to use as the backing and get this puppy finished up. She is so proud of her accomplishment - and well she should be! She kept saying over and over "I'm making my very first real quilt!" How cool is that? I didn't do my first quilting project until I was in my 30's and since I was teaching myself how to do it I don't think mine was nearly as nice as what R. sewed up today.