Further along than it looks...

Well, the plasterer did his thing all day Friday (I am assuming, since I was at work and he was here) and the plastering is finished and sanded. Boy is it sanded!! There was plaster dust over everything. What a mess. But at least it's done and ready for the electrician and paint. It doesn't look like much, but Bill the Builder and I worked all weekend, cleaning and sorting and cleaning and throwing out and cleaning....

Not sure when the electrician is coming. Hopefully this week. Bill the Builder has cut out for power points and it's all ready to go. What a nightmare job it all was and with very little to see for it.

The next thing I want to do is measure everything. One of the reasons I started this blog is that I searched the net for ideas for setting up a room like this and couldn't find anything useful. I will do a floor plan of everything I want to do in this room, with measurements of the room and measurements of what I need to fit in here.

I want to be able to quilt on the doover without banging my hip on the cutting table and I want to be able to use my hot glue gun without getting third degree burns. Well, I'll probably still get third degree burns but I want it to be because I am careless and not because of lack of useable facilities. Yes, there is a difference.

Here's what I want to put in there: my quilting doover and be able to use it with ease, a cutting table that I can walk all the way round and will take a quilt that will fit on the doover, my embroidery machine with room to set up the pattern on one side and all the cottons on the other side, my sewing machine with room to put the pieces on one side and the finished blocks on the other side, my ironing board and iron close to the sewing machine, my fabric cupboards, plenty of book shelves, a rod to hold my roll of batting, my design wall (thank you Miss Lynda), enough bench space to do scrap booking and card making, something workable to hold all my embroidery discs as well as paper patterns including pattern books but separate to all my magazines and some kind of rod system to hold all my 2 1/2" strips (because I have become obsessed with 2 1/2" squares but that might pass soon because of the quilt centre I have just finished for my gorgeous DIL), proper storage for WIPs including tops that are yet to be quilted.

I'm still getting my head around everything that I actually want in there. I want to get it as right as I can first time round and if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I am thinking that tomorrow I will shove everything out of the way so that I can quilt a top I've made for my daughter's friend. Did I mention that I've four quilts to be finished for handover by the end of September?

Oooh....off for a glass of red to soothe my shattered nerves!

Moving right along....

Last night, Bill the Builder and his trusty slave (that would be me) replaced all the cornice in the soon-to-be-but-not-soon-enough quilting room. Bill the Builder started barking orders at the slave until the slave stomped off in a sulk and poured a glass of red wine.

The slave soon returned after being fortified by a particularly snappy little red, which warmed the slave's tummy (and personality). My quilting doover is under those blue and white sheets on the left.Bill the Builder says he is very keen to have this project finished because he is fed up with all the mess. Clearly, he is a neat freak and I think I can prove this theory with the next picture. It is the front and one bay of his shed.

It is a four bay shed, with a huge skillion to the front and a smaller one to the back. He has oozed out of the shed in both directions and has started planning where he is going to put the camping gear in the new room. As if THAT is going to happen! That wooden sign above the door reads "Old Ba#%$^ds Shed". I bought it for him. I am SUCH a good wife.

This morning at daybreak (actually, an hour before daybreak) the plasterer turned up again. He is plastering away out there now and I'm thinking I should rush out with coffee or something, to keep him alert and plastering. Oooh, I do hope he can finish it today.

It's a challenge!

This is Barney No Friends, Bill's psychologically damaged cat, soaking up a few rays and getting sun energy to power him through whatever nasty plans he has for today. Following are the "before" photos of my soon-to-be-and-well-deserved new sewing and quilting room. Bill the Builder is going to convert the carport into a lovely, dust-free and well lit room for me. At the moment, everything is pulled away from the walls to have the plastering done.
These two sets of cupboards are out on the driveway and hold all my clothes sewing stuff (don't do that anymore) and my papercraft stuff. That is Barney No Friends striking a pose in front of them because he thinks everything is about him......and it's not.

This is what the carport currently looks like. Urkle!! Everything is pulled away from the walls so that the plasterer can do his thing. Hopefully, he will finish this coming Thursday. And then what I have to do, is fit this (in current small sewing room)

and this (one door of three door cupboard in laundry)

and this (cupboard with fabric and thread in current sewing room and recently tidied up by dear friend, Miss Lynda, but since messed up again by me)

and this (one side of current small sewing room)

and this (cutting and embroidery table in current small,unworkable sewing room)

and this (other side of current small, uncomfortable, unworkable, de-motivating sewing room, including built-in wardrobe full of plastic tubs of fabric, UFOs and stuff)

all back into the remodelled carport! It's not as bad as it looks........actually, it's worse than it looks!! But I shall do as my mother is always advising and "haul myself up by my own bootstraps" and "gird my loins" and get on with it. Oh, hang on. I don't HAVE any bootstraps! Perhaps I shall just get on with it.

I've finally done it!

After much thought, I've finally decided to set up a blog! So far, it has been relatively easy, considering that I am a card-carrying techno-wimp. One of the main reasons for my blog is to document the progress on converting the carport to a u-beaut sewing and quilting room for me! At the moment, it is a disaster area because everything had to be pulled away from the walls so that they could be sheeted, plastered and painted.

I had to bite the bullet and turf out some things (this is also a work in progress). So far, I have closed my eyes and thrown out the two years of Better Homes and Gardens which went back to 1981. It wasn't easy. Then I started on ancient copies of Australian Country Craft and Decorating, some so old they didn't have the separate pattern sheet! I've taken out the patterns that I like (and I might get round to doing) and put them in plastic sleeves. Then I threw the magazines out!

Most of the plastering is done and is scheduled to be finished on Thursday. Here's hoping!