Sunday 27 February 2011

Thing come to those who wait!

I have always loved to craft, mainly with cloth and thread. Whenever I saw a haberdashery shop as a child I had to go in and look. I preferred them to toy and sweet shops and mum didn't mind looking because she liked to do a bit of sewing and embroidery too. I have been crafting (preferring material crafts rather than paper crafts), since I was able to handle scissors, needles and fabrics. At a very young age I discovered libraries and craft books. I had to make do if I wanted to create something and had to use what was available. There was always fabric and thread and a huge tin of buttons and beads at home which I loved just to tip out on to the carpet and sort!

As I got older and received pocket money I would buy yarn for crochet or knitting, mum taught me the basics of how to knit and crochet and I taught myself to read knitting and crochet patterns. I bought fabric and thread and borrowed needlework books from the library. I had a fantastic school-teacher (who as they say changed my life) when I was about 10yrs and she patiently taught the whole class to cross stitch on Binca and to make felt toys, in those days the school provided everything!

I am self taught in embroidery and other craft activities, and someone once said to me that you cannot learn Bobbin Lace from books. Well to me that is a 'red rag to a bull' so I did just that! If there is something new I would like to learn, I try and seek out a book designed for children as these books always seem to always work! I also taught myself Tatting travelling on a train to and from work in the seventies from Southend-on-Sea to London, a 45minute journey.


When I married and started a family, I started crafting more and more. I said I would love a large needlework box where I could separate things into different compartments, well I thought that would never happen but, when we moved to Minehead twenty years ago, we had trip to Taunton our nearest large town and walked into a charity shop and there it was for £5. I brought it home in the boot of the car and left it in the hall, where it stayed for many years being used as a dumping ground. (when one draw got full, because there was no-where else for the crap to go, we started the next draw!) I don't know how many times I sorted it and tried to use it for its intended purpose.

Forward a few years and boys left home one-by-one and there was an empty bedroom. I thought "that's my craft room" Well, it is what is described in housing blurb as "the box room".

Alex painted for me and put shelves up etc. I thought to sort it gradually, that didn't happen. Alex proceeded to dump my stuff in the room not sorting it leaving that to me. In the end I just put the books on the shelves and filled another shelving unit with stuff that needed sorting. By last Christmas I must have been in the room about eighteen months and think all my stuff has congregated there. From the 1st January I set myself a little tasks, just an hour a day when I would go in there and have a sort, emptying the draws of all the stuff that is in them and set about using it for its intended use!

Draw one
SCISSORS
and other cutting equipment
Draw two
NEEDLES
lots of different needle for different uses
Draw three
PINS

Draw four
appertaining to my old and new
SEWING MACHINE

Draw Five
REELS of COTTON

Draw six
General HABERDASHERY

Draw seven
PATCHWORK

Draw seven
PENS and PENCILS
and hole punches
Draw nine
VINTAGE!

Draw ten
RIBBON
Draw eleven
LACE and BRAIDS
Draw twelve
BIAS BINDING and ELASTIC

Draw thirteen
BUTTONS and CHARMS
Draw Fourteen
MIXED BEADS
Draw fifteen
JEWELLERY FINDINGS

Draw Sixteen
SEED BEADS

Draw seventeen
CHIPPED STONES BEADS

Draw eighteen
BEADING THREADS and WIRES

Draw nineteen
SEQUINS

Draw twenty
LARGE SEQUINS

Draw twenty-one
WOODEN, PLASTIC and
OLD PEARLY BEADS
Draw twenty-two
CERAMIC and DECORATED
GLASS BEADS

Draw twenty-three
BELLS and BEAD KITS
Draw twenty-four
ITEMS
that can be found here
### TIP ###
I save these little packets.
Do you recognise them?
They can be found in the box with new shoes
or in the bottom of a new Handbag, well don't throw
them away, they are great for keeping moisture at bay
in things like needles, and pins and scissors.

19 comments:

  1. OMG, I am so jealous (in the nicest way of course) I have been looking on Ebay for something like your chest of drawers, its perfect for all the bits and pieces.
    Mine are all scattered in various places and I can never locate what I want.
    Have bought the caraway seeds, just need to make the cake now.....
    Briony

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  2. What a great set of drawers - perfect for craft stuff! well done on the organising - can you come round and sort my room out now?! Abby x

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  3. How very handy...lucky you!!
    ;-)

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  4. I 'need' one of those too!!! I like fabric craft as well as papercraft and I could store all my cross-stitch stuff in there!!! I got rid of a whole drawer of clothes just so I could use it for cross-stitch storage! x

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  5. What a beautiful post, and so inspiring, and what a beautiful chest of drawers, I'm quite envious... I must use your trick of doing a little a day, to fill all the small 'tacky' plastic boxes I have been collecting for the same reason. It must be so lovely to know where everything is.
    Sue x

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  6. Lovely, a place for everything bet your glad you kept it
    Cate

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  7. Oh what a fabulous chest of drawers you lucky girl. Organising properly is so motivating, I'm trying to do it myself, and the things I'm finding are desperate to be used, after 3 house moves in 3 years, I am loving putting all the matching items together at last. You realise you do have plenty of colours of thread when they are all put together, and no need to buy more needles.
    E
    xx

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  8. Fantastic use of all those drawers, it's amazing just how much stuff is needed for crafting. I love arranging and sorting so I would be in seventh heaven playing with all your lovely crafty bits in your treasure chest.
    florrie x

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  9. Oh wow. How I would really love your set of drawers. They are really gorgeous and would hold sooooooo much for me here. I chuckled at your one drawer for threads though cos mine fill 4 drawers here and are all colour coordinated :-) OCD rules :-)
    Thanks for your comment this morning...yes it is King Cole Melody and isn't it pretty? Only fault was the stripes of colours were pretty wide on a little knitty and I had to use 2 balls to get matching fronts and sleeves :-)
    Hugs,
    A x

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  10. Wow! That`s so great! I now want one too!
    Thanks for sharing!

    DEBBIE MOSS

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  11. I am so envious! Just the perfect piece of furniture for any creative person!

    Jayne

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  12. Wow Julie! Wouldn't we all love a chest with so many drawers. My heart's desire!!

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  13. I have total cabinet envy! There is a very large old glass fronted drawer cabinet in an antique store near me that temps me every time I go there. It's too large for me, but perhaps if things do indeed come to those who wait I'll find just the right one some day.
    And I thought I was the only one who saves all those little packets of silica gel!
    Happy to see your materials have found snug organization and I wish you years of lovely handwork made more pleasant because of it.

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  14. What a super buy that was and its so practical as well as being lovely. You lucky thing! :-)

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  15. WOW! Julie what a treasure chest/trove! Want one :))
    Love Bee x

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  16. A wonderful set of drawers and all those lovely things in it. I'm in awe!

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  17. What a lovely blog post!
    I love your chest of drawers and the story of how you came by it.
    I enjoyed my peek inside the drawers too :)
    I think my favourite has to be the vintage drawer. I'm sure I have that very same packet of needles and the hooks and eyes too.
    I've tried tatting but I never did get to grips with it.


    Margaret

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  18. Much better than a sweet shop.. your fabulous collection of items get to last so much longer than sweets! I can see that Knitting Nancy is going to a very good home!

    Michele x

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  19. hi julie, just been going back through previous posts! I have serious drawer envy with your crafting drawers.I would love something like that for my stuff, instead its squirrelled away in all sort of different places.

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