Imagine yourself going all-out on an embroidery project, focusing all your concentration on that particular piece of needlework, getting into it, moving along on it, always having it there and ready for you when you have time to stitch…and then you run into the Brick Wall of Indecision.

Or at least, you find yourself second-guessing a previous decision and coming to a complete halt while you ponder your options.

Ever happen?

Well, it happens to me, probably at least once on every large project I work! The Hummingbird Color Kerfuffle we talked about yesterday – and to which you responded mightily with many excellent suggestions! – is exactly this kind of situation.

I always find pauses in a project like this a good opportunity to take stock of my workroom, re-organize, and clean up a bit. Doing so gives me time to think. And when I’ve finished tinkering and organizing, I’ve usually finished thinking as well.

Not only do I have a fresh perspective for my embroidery, but I end up with a moderately well-organized workspace where I can launch back into my project with an easier mind and a better sense of order about me.

The other day when I was leaving my garage-gone-workroom/household-general-storage-room for the evening, I took this photo. My work table was pretty much a mess, with stuff stacked everywhere – not just on it, but around it, too.

Taking some time to re-organize and do some thinking, I cleaned that up and sat myself down to do some calendar work.

And that’s when I realized I never told you about my “new” old ironing table.

An ironing table is a table whose entire surface can be used as an ironing board. It’s a great concoction, especially if you sew regularly (which I don’t) or if you iron large things (which I do). It’s fantastic for working and ironing as you go. Since I generally embroider at my work table, if I need to iron a piece of fabric, or maybe just a tiny seam in a piece of fabric, I can iron it right there on the table while I work. I don’t have to set up a separate ironing board.

This particular table is slightly higher than a normal table – think of a cutting table for sewing, where the table is about 6″ or 8″ higher than regular table height. It’s some 45-ish inches wide and not quite as deep.

It was obviously home made, and though not very “finely” or beautifully made, it is well-made and sturdy.

The top of the table is removable (it’s very heavy). There are a couple beams on the bottom of the top that fit into four notches on the table’s base, to keep the top securely in place.

Eventually, I’m going to replace the old cover that you see on it now with some new cotton duck (in color) over new cotton batting.

My cutting mat on top of the ironing surface provides me with a hard writing surface and general work surface, so I don’t loose the whole “table-ness” of a work table.

I’ve lined up my thread cabinets (which are regular table height) on each side of the ironing table, and I’ll use the tops of the thread cabinets to hold my every-day working materials, semi-organized in baskets and trays.

I picked up the ironing table at a moving sale. I’ve always wanted one, and this one was going for a song. I would probably like it better if it were about a foot or so wider, to give me more room for my tools and such. But then, you know, more stuff would just accumulate! So it’s probably better, smaller.

Although the table is relatively tall, I can still use my embroidery table stand on top of it to hold my embroidery frame, too.

So, with the workroom a little more organized and with all your good suggestions in mind from yesterday’s discussion on color, I can spread out some threads on the surface of my ironing table and finalize some decisions on threads, moving forward again with a fresh perspective!

I’ll let you know the results soon!