Saturday, May 14, 2011

My Creative Space : dealing with uninvited guests of the evil variety

A while ago a dark gloom settled over our house, albeit a brief one but for this lone crafter, a tragedy. A tragedy all of you who love fabric will empathise with, on a deep level.

Rats and Mice and fabric do not mix. Yes, rats in the stash.

Not only had rats/ mice got into my fabric stash, they had poo'd wee'd fornicated and birthed. Amongst my fabric. They had treated it like a cheap hotel.  It was not just any fabric, not the pieces from the bargain bin at Spotters, no no no. The maps. Hundreds of dollars worth of fabric potentially ruined.

And so began more swearing than I think Busy has heard in her short life,  shrieking, screaming and general hysteria not only at the poo  but also at finding baby rats squeaking between layers of fabric. Sorry, I hope you aren't eating you lunch.

Thankfully Chef was home to help deal with 1. rat search, recovery and drowning and 2. to apply hugs, tea and sympathy to me. It was a dark day. Not only did I have to throw out a huge amount of fabric they also ruined an almost completed one of these. And it's not like I whip one of those ones up in ten minutes!

All of this fabric was in a cupboard, I still can't work out not only how they got in but how quickly they trashed it!

So since then there has been just a small amount  of paranoia about " the maps". Windows to the sewing room have remained shut, doors remained closed, fabric has been placed inside about 15 plastic bags in a drawer that I check compulsively.

I had in mind a solution but I needed to find it. It had to be metal but not heavy, have wheels and preferably be upright.
And here it is:
My Craft Trolley. I love it. I love that it is red. ( a bonus)

I love that all the made maps fit inside ready for orders.

It even has loads of drawers for stationary on top.

And drawers for works in progress.
Chef is jealous, after all it is suppose to be for tools.
These are my tools.  If you look closely you can see my lady hammer.
For more Creative Spaces pop over to Kirstys.

33 comments:

  1. Oh no, oh no, oh no!!! My heart just sank for you my dear, what a horrible horrifying discovery! I am so sorry for the damage and the hard work gone, hard earned money and all of the feelings that go along with such a mess. Oh dear.
    I do love your new drawers :)

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  2. oh, that is horrible!
    I am feeling for you (and thinking about how I need to take better care of my (far less valuable) stash.
    I love your solution...

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  3. Oh no, how awful! At least you get some awesome drawers as a result.
    Loving the 'lady hammer'...

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  4. oh. my heart felt so heavy (and my skin a bit tingly!) reading that Cath...nice solution, but what a way to get it.

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  5. Oh noooo! What a horrible thing to discover, reading about finding baby rats made my skin crawl, I can't imagine how awful it must have been in real life! But I LOVE your funky red solution. That is some hot lookin' hardware.

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  6. OH NOOOOOOO!!!!! My sister is sitting here with me reading this and we are both hands over mouth making inhaling gasping sounds! NOOOOO!!!! Invaders!

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  7. You poor thing - that is awful!!!
    I freaked out the other day when I saw just one tiny mouse skuttle across the floor. But rats - Nooooo!!!

    Hugs to you, I hope the brilliant new storage is making you feel a bit better Cath.XXX

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  8. Mice and rats just give me the creeps too! Same thing happened with part of my fabric stash stored in the shed. They were nesting in there. It was so gross and I had to throw a lot away. Your new craft trolley looks much safer.

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  9. I understand where you are coming from, we just had baby rats trying to stake out a winter home in the laundry, luckily my dogs had an identity crisis and thought they were cats and got the buggers!!

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  10. They are revolting little bastards aren't they. I feel your pain and love your new RED cupboard!

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  11. Oh Love! You need a cat!!! And a hug! That is so awful x

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  12. How awful and heartbreaking Cath, feral things.
    Bless the Chef though.
    and your trolley is inspired.
    But perhaps in addition my cat should come from a visit.
    On tuesday she caught her first mouse ( that I'm aware of ) and ate it.
    I'm a proud , though slightly grossed out mum xo

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  13. far out! {not swearing!}.
    you came up with a fun/good fix tho :)

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  14. Oh Cath... I can't even imagine... I would have sat down and bawled! You poor thing. So glad you had Chef to help you and that you've found a way to keep them safe. Your trolley is just fantastic! Kx

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  15. ewwwwwww, I sympathise! We caught two mice in the roof this week - ughh, it makes me 'itch' just thinking about it. new trolley looks fabulous :-)

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  16. How horrible for you. Glad the new cabinet is working out.

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  17. oh me oh my - not eating but feeling queasy here...

    the trolley will also double as a very dapper lemonade stand should your fab entrepreneurial stretch to that...
    oh god - not the maps...'free stowaway with every purchase'?

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  18. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck....bloody rodents!!
    oh...love the red...I have the blue version.
    xx

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  19. OH I am SO GLAD I was not there when it happened. I would have run shreaking from the house!!!

    Glad the man of the house was there - oh I am still tingling in fear - Ergh!

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  20. Oh no! How horrific. We had a dead rat out the back a few weeks ago, don't know what I would do if I found one in the house

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  21. I think I would have vomited if I found baby rats in my stash, especially a stash of hundreds of dollars worth of Spoonflower. I weep for you, and hail your sainted metal storage cupboardy thing as the saviour of craftsperson-kind.

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  22. That is terrible. Really, really awful. A tight little ball formed in my stomach when I read that. It would take more than tea and hugs for me to feel better after that. I love my fabric. :( Hugs to you.

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  23. HOW AWFUL!! I'm so sorry you had to go through all that and kudos to your Chef for exterminating the rats and for the hugs and tea after. It's all just too awful...

    The new fabric cubby looks FABULOUS! Hope it keeps the nasty rodents from your lovely fabric stash in the future, but you might want to check the walls just in case -t hose nasty bastards can actually squeeze through a hole the size of a DIME! Can you believe it?!?!

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  24. Thank you to everyone who commented i think I got to read them all before the blogger collapse!!!

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  25. I hear your pain, it has happened to me, but not my fabric stash. I hope you have gotten rid of those dirty little critters now.

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  26. Eek! You are so brave to deal with the r-word...glad to see you've found a solution---and a gorgeous one, to boot!

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  27. Oh my, you did lose everything! Sorry Cath. You know what I said last time about those rodents... hope all is happy at the homestead now. Kx

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  28. I WOULD HAVE BEEN BESIDE MYSELF. Poor, poor Chooky!

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  29. Oh dear that is terrible. I love your new storage though!

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  30. poor chooky alright! eeeekkk.
    those tool trolleys are cool.
    hope that solves the problem.

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  31. Love the trolley. Hope you've recovered OK after your most unpleasant encounter of the mousey kind!

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  32. very very evil variety. that's awful Cath. Lovely trolley you got out of the ordeal though!

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what a nice person you are- taking the time to comment in this busy hectic world...Thank you!!