sewing room in a box

we are arrived.

splish, splash, stash has moved to the beach! a blog that started when i was sewing in my bawthroom space while my little girls splished and splashed in the tub is now being written within sound of the pacific ocean splishing and splashing outside my door. for the first time in forever, my blog name actually fits a little.

i packed up the suburban and the girls, then we headed west to join my husband and son. s1is currently undergoing medical treatment in california and his medical team recommended he stay close by rather than travelling back and forth for the next six weeks or so. we aren't really sure for how long, it changes continually.

so, my husband and i made the decision to relocate with him and the two girls still at home. we found a quiet rental on the coast within reach of the hospital and medical team. it's an enormous blessing not only to be getting him help for issues that have only escalated over the past four years, but to be able to be here with him in a peaceful, healing environment. sometimes it feels like we're living in a dream outside of time and reality, that we're on a relaxing vacation. there are certainly upsides to our situation. but other times reality hits and i remember that, really, we're here for help and healing.

knowing we'd be living a quiet life here, i spent time preparing handwork to bring along with me for our stay. i packed it all up in one box. it's quite a change having all my sewing in one box versus an entire room. for the time being, it's a really nice change, actually. i do recognize it's only possible because of the work i did in the room back home.

but for now all my sewing is contained right here in one little space, just like our entire lives are pared down to living in a small beach house. it's pretty alright, actually.

so what did i pack for my time away?

for starters, there's all the quilts i'll be stitching on in one form or another. i brought seven: four handquilting and three handbinding projects. honestly, i can't tell if this is ambitious or not enough. 

so often i say, "perhaps i'll get this done in time for this," and it absolutely never happens. but this time i outdid myself! i prepared more than i dreamed possible. the move got delayed nearly a week, which helped, but i certainly surprised myself with what i got done.

all the notions and little tools fit in this tin. 

the pink glasses case holds my threads for "cheery (easter) quilt." the black case is for when i do white handquilting - it contains snips, 12wt thread, needles, threader.

most items i selected individually and intentionally, not wanting to waste any space or have any extraneous things i wouldn't be using. but this cute little mini tote that holds handwork supplies i just grabbed and put in without editing its contents. it's so small and a bobbin or two i didn't need wasn't going to hurt. turns out it's a good thing i didn't edit it!

when i was packing all my tools and notions, i was worried i'd forget something. that's happened on a few spring break trips and i didn't want to repeat the mistake. i was very careful to load my travel tin with all the things. when i sat down to stitch for the first time here, i found i had indeed forgotten something. actually, i'd pulled out something and forgot to put it back. i didn't have the white 50wt thread i wanted for handbinding. darn it.

fortunately, i had a bobbin loaded with blue thread in my little handwork satchel that goes with two of the bindings i needed to stitch down. i'm going to be okay!

 i was able to fit the broken ruler in the box because it's no longer too long, haha. (d1 sat on it accidentally last year and snapped it. still useful, fortunately.) i need the ruler and the hera marker for marking quilting lines on some of the quilts i'll be handquilting.

thread, of course. there were a few bobbins of 50wt in the mini tote and i brought plenty of 12wt in 2021 white for handquilting. i also brought the little carrying kit that has my colored threads for "cheery (easter) quilt" in case i get around to that.

extra needles and threaders for when i can't get the 12wt easily into the tiny little needle eyes.

readers for seeing all the handwork sharply.

i also brought jolene's lovely, inspirational quilt books for when i want to dream about quilts rather than work on my own.

i brought my pin jar because all my pins will need to go back in it when i'm done handquilting. i'm from a dry, desert climate and have never had problems with pins or anything rusting. i hope the humid costal climate doesn't cause any problems. six weeks shouldn't be too long, maybe?

my mini iron came along because there was a little extra room for it. i was actually thinking i might want to find a wool mat at a local shop. and i was going to bring my epp project, but left it at home in the end. so the iron is probably taking up space unnecessarily. we'll see. the rental house doesn't have one, so maybe we'll need it for something else anyway.

that's the grand tour. what would you bring along for an extended stay?

bonus: my new sewing space comes with beautiful views and great lighting. my photos should look better while we're here.