with a new bedside organizer, my latest project from In Stitches. I started it on Monday and finished it this morning. I have this habit of getting obsessed with a craft project and pushing through to finish it even if my back is killing me and I can't see straight because I've been staring at the little needle going up and down and up and down and up and down. It started with a love for the idea of a bunch of pockets right next to my bedside, then got even worse when I found a cute patchwork fabric that I loved and just had to use, even though it was a little more girly than I wanted to foist on my husband (it's his bedroom too, and he gets one for his side). I could have done his in a different fabric, but that seemed weird, and he also gave me the go-ahead after I showed him the fabric I had bought and asked him whether it would threaten his manhood to have it in his bedroom. I think he could tell how excited I was.

I found a denim fabric on clearance that was perfect for the long part that goes under the mattress to connect the two sides. I also used the denim for the front two pockets, even though the pattern suggests using the same fabric as the rest of the pockets, because I liked the idea of having a bit of dark blue to break up the busyness of the patchwork, especially once I got the mental image of monogrammed letters and a little border at the top of the denim pockets. The denim also lines the biggest pocket, since I wanted some extra strength for my journal and magazines and whatever else ends up in there. It could get dangerous, like the bottom of a big purse.

There was a lot of cutting, pressing, pinning, and of course stitching. But now that my tiny nightstand isn't overflowing with things precariously balanced on top of one another, I would do it again in a heartbeat. By the way, I intend to keep my glasses *inside* the glasses pocket, instead of hanging out for the sake of photo-worthiness like they are in the first picture above, especially since it's lined with nice soft satin.

I came really close to lining the glasses pocket with a microfiber lens cleaning cloth, but I was too eager to get moving on the project and didn't want to have to stop to go buy a cloth. Like I said before, I get a little obsessed. I remember one summer that I worked on a big cross-stitch project tirelessly for about a week so that I could finish it before my mom got home from her yearly AP reading. I saw cross-stitch patterns as I was falling asleep, the same way you see Tetris in front of your eyes after you've been playing too long, but it was still the first thing I picked up every morning. There's something so satisfying about pouring a lot of energy into a project and then standing there, admiring it. Or in the case of the organizer, using it. It's the same sort of feeling I get when I obsessively push my way through reading a good novel.

Epilogue: we're developing a tradition around here of putting craft projects on our heads for photo ops. Jack started it. I'm continuing it.

Labels: craftiness, photography

• posted by erica 5/13/2009 07:54:00 PM
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