And now for something completely different!

Occasionally, I actually do non-knitting crafty things. I know this comes as a shock to you, dear reader, and so I'll understand if you have to look away from the screen for a moment to recover.

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Are we better yet? Okay, good to go. I've had a mind lately to turn my back room (which has always been sort of my random room) into more of a craft-centric room. I've inherited my grandmother's old Kenmore sewing machine, along with a number of sewing accessories and some truly, TRULY vile-green shelves.

We repainted the vile shelves, and decoupaged their drawers with a nifty brocade we found at Jo-Anns (when it comes to fabrics, I'm still a craft store girl - recommendations for nice fabric sources are encouraged!). The final touch was finding nice drawer pulls, which we managed today at a local hardware store.

We pulled it all together, and this is the result:


Don't mind me lurking in the background! :) Mr. Petey got something new too...

A freaking cool corner cage. I knew they made corner fish-tanks, but this is beyond nifty. Since my rooms are small, I have to try and make use of as much space as possible, and this is perfect for him. The little jerk is thrilled. I'm going to claim the cage is crafty as well, because I had to put it together TWICE (we had to take it apart to get it inside this room). The directions had no words, only vague pictures. I thank my knitting experience for getting me through the assembly, because I don't think I could have made it through otherwise!

Here's another angle of my crafty corner, and of course, nothing gets done here without a cat involved:


This is a close-up of the sewing machine. My guess is that it's a late 60's, early 70's model (based on the avocado colour, which is actually sort of nice in this room...).

Funny story about this here sewing machine. My grandmother has always kept in great condition, so I wasn't sure if it would need servicing. When I started it up, it was SUPER sluggish. Like a sewing machine sewing through molasses. I pondered for a bit... and then Mom mentioned that Grandma used to have to oil it occasionally. A light-bulb went on in my head... My gun cleaner/lube! A few spritzes and a bit of clean-up later, it runs perfectly. I feel ridiculously smart. Sewing machines and guns, who knew? I wonder if I should write the lube company...

Last picture, a close-up of the shelves we painted. These began life as deep avocado green, with lighter yellow-green drawers. I sanded them down to the base wood, primed, and painted them with a barely there vanilla colour.

The top shelf is my sad little fabric stash. Since I'm not a very accomplished sewer, I only have what's left from past projects. I'm tempted to make a few pillows, and try to improve my sewing ability. This sewing machine has BOXES of accessories that I need to learn to use!

This room also has a walk-in closet. I have a lot of yarn. I'm thinking, some shelves from Home Depot, and I might just have a yarn closet.

Ideally, I think I'd like to get most of my crafting materials into one place, so I'm not running around the house wondering where the glue is, or where I left the scissors.

If I do the shelves, I'm make sure to take lots of pictures. Until next time!