Let the cleanup begin....

I finished my semester's grading today (not a huge task these days, as I teach only one class per term). To celebrate, and to clear my palate from all the little holiday gifts I've been making (and messing up my sewing table with), I cleaned up my sewing corner in the dining room.

Back when we had just Elliot, I sewed in our basement, so that he could play with his Thomas trains or watch TV while I worked. Then he got bigger, and I moved my sewing stuff up to the (unheated) tandem bedroom on our second floor. He'd still spend time with me in that little room, but he could also play in his own bedroom....togetherness with space. I sewed *lots* of baby clothes up there while I was pregnant with Astrid. Then she was born, and at first I wasn't sure if I'd ever sew anything again.

Baby time passes quickly, and though Astrid was the fussiest baby *I've* ever met (small sample, to be sure), she eventually let me sew for very short periods....then a little longer....then a little longer....just as long as I did whatever I was doing in the relatively wide-open space of our dining room (really one big room with the living room). I try really hard to keep my cloth and patterns contained in and around my sewing desk (an old children's desk), but it has a tendency to seep outward....something that I know bugs my husband, though he's very kind about it. I think he's glad that I don't hide away in the basement or upstairs.

Anyway, since our crayon disaster, I actually have a really good reason to be very busy sewing, and now my work area is practically pristine.