Naughty or Nice?

I must have been extra nice this year since Santa was SO good to me. Please excuse the following craft-related-Christmas-gift-bragging :)

I received some excellent books this year from my sister-in-law, E and my mother-in-law, C.
Along with some killer fabric that I will showcase when I make some thing out of it, E got me a book I've been wanting for a super long time, Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter. I cannot wait to get into some of these cool projects with my new fabric!!!!!

The Sewing Stitch & Textile Bible I received from C and I read through most of it today on the way to Waco. This book is a must have for anyone who sews or wants to sew. I cannot stress that enough. Great pictures, wonderful detail, plethora of information for any sewer or wannabe.

The whole while I was reading I kept making these 'oooooh', 'aaaaah' and 'mmmhmmm' mumblings as I was learning so many new things so quickly about things I have done already and things I want to do. B must have thought I was nuts...but what's new?? This will be a very informative and much used reference.

And now.....Ladies and Gentleman, sewers, knitters, crafters and organizational freaks, drum roll please.....This is my brand spanking new craft area! TADAAAAAA!
Today, B & I braved the labyrinth that is Ikea and found this sweet little set-up. I originally had told B I wanted to "Pimp my craft area" so I could move out of the living room and he could watch football with out the da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da of my sewing machine. I did some online research to see what was out there for organizers, shelves, tables, etc...what I found was that there isn't much that's crafter friendly. I finally found a kitchen cart (like a rolling island) on Ikea's website and at least wanted to check it out. By the way for those of you who know how much I despise Ikea, the other big box stores didn't have much and what they did have was ugly and waaaaay over priced. So, at least for now Ikea has redeemed itself...We walked into the labyrinth as soon as it opened with a whole herd of eager beavers and started looking. We found the kitchen cart and started looking at chairs (which the one I picked, I think is just great because it's teal) B actually noticed the desk and shelve unit and pointed it out to me happy to have found something in budget and all encompassing to deliver us from the labyrinth.

B spent the afternoon after Waco being a SUPER-HUSBAND putting it all together for me. I took about 2 hours putting all my craft wares up. I still have some organizing to do and I think I'm going to make some fabric boxes, but here it is. I had room for all of my jewelry making stuff, sewing items, paper crafts, knitting supplies and all the other craft stuff that I could gather up from all their hiding places around our house.

You may also notice the little table iron that was also rescued from the labyrinth along with a can opener (not pictured) that will hopefully last us longer than the 3 we've gone through this year.

Happy Christmas to me!!