Upstairs on one side of my stitching chair is a little chest/table thing. There’s one drawer at the top, then a cabinet door for the rest of the stand. I store the project bags in the cabinet door, have all my “stuff” in the drawer – chap stick, bees wax, hand cream, emery board, pencils, stylus – everything I use every day. Then on the side of the cabinet, I have the Command hooks and I hang the floss ring and several small pairs of scissors on those rings.
Downstairs, I have nothing – no table, no drawer, no hooks. Last night when I sat down to stitch, I kept having to get up. The floss ring would disappear. I couldn’t find my scissors. The tape measure would be between the chair cushion and the arm. I was working halfway from Pattern Keeper and halfway from paper so the papers kept dumping when I’d get up (no stapler downstairs). Vince said “Can you sit still for 5 minutes?” Probably NOT!
As I was walking through Hobby Lobby today, I saw plastic kids “lap desks”. I thought . . that would work!!
I wear one pair of glasses to stitch and then my regular glasses when I’m not stitching. I didn’t bring cases down for either of them so I have to be careful but sometimes I’m looking at something on the tablet and I need my real classes, then I go back to my stitching glasses so I was having to get up to get those because I didn’t want either pair falling into the chair and getting sat on.
You can see I’ve taped the “legend” down for the symbols/floss colors so I don’t have to keep going back to the pattern. It wouldn’t bother me if I had those for all my current projects taped to the top.
I found the yellow notebook insert in the sewing room and it will hold a lot of the little things I need.
This little bag holds pens, pencils, emery board, post-it notes, kleenex, tape measure, extra needles.
There’s a place for my water, my phone, my tablet, the paper chart, the bag of little things, hand lotion, bees wax. This is going to be so nice for keeping things where they need to be down here. I wouldn’t mind finding a nicer one for upstairs.
It’s also nice that when I’m ready to get up, I don’t have to find the scissors, find the pens, find the floss . . everything that has ended up in my chair with me. I can just pick up the lap desk and put it back in the chair when I get up, then pick it up and put it across my lap when I’m back to sitting and stitching. What a find . . for about $8.
Vivian says
Haha!! My daughter just got one for her 6-year old! He loves his, too. He uses his to eat lunch (or whatever) in the livingroom on the floor in front of the TV. He doesn’t get to do that too often, but he thinks that lap desk is the sweetest thing! 🙂 It wouldn’t fit on my chair for my handwork, but I have another type of lap desk that works just fine. Enjoy!!
Nelle Coursey says
Thanks for sharing this!! I think I need to get one of these! Pat could use one too! That is a great price too!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
They are very cheap and a bit “flexible” (nice word for saying flimsy) so they may not be great for writing or drawing but for what I’m doing, they work great.
Nelle Coursey says
It is ok if it is “flimsy”. We are like you, for what we would use it for, it would be great!
Laura Haynes says
Ok, I may have to go to Hobby Lobby for one of those lap-desks. I have one that’s a flat surface with bead-filled squishy pillows attached underneath. It ends up sitting too low and too far away. One like that just might do it.
And your description of your sewing cabinet lit a lightbulb for me, why I have been frustrated with our side tables in the living room, wedge-shaped tables to fit close to our recliners. But there’s no storage in them, no coffee table either. So, several things for me to think about. Thanks, Judy, for sharing your life, thoughts, processes, marital funnies and wisdom with us.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
My cabinet is just an inexpensive white distressed cabinet from Hobby Lobby or Wayfair but it works. Or course my “lack of decorating style” probably doesn’t work so well for others. 🙂
Twyla Starr says
I purchased one of these for my great granddaughter to use in the back seat of my car as it fits over her lap and seat belt. Then sometimes we use it in the house for her playing. I have used it occasionally for writing, etc. They are handy when someone has to be in bed.