Happy New Year

I had to go check the calendar yesterday to remember the year. I am serious. I couldn't remember what year was ending and what the next year would be. Maybe it was my foggy head from having a cold. It does seem almost impossible to be in 2011. Time definitely accelerates.
Here's wishing all of you a happy new year. What will 2011 hold? A few plans are in the works, but only God knows the future for sure. So I will trust Him as I watch 2011 unfold.

Here's my favorite view out my studio windows -- my garden and the chicken coop!

My Quilt Studio Reorganization is Done

My quilt studio is done -- well, mostly done. There are still some project bins to go through. It's basically cleaned up, fabric sorted through and a new arrangement. I love the way it looks. Having a storage closet is a great help. Even after getting rid of so much stuff, I still feel like I have too much.
It's been almost a month since I quilted anything on the longarm. So Monday I get back to work. It will be inspiring to be in a clean, organized studio. I'm ready for 2011.

Still Re-organizing

Have you ever noticed when you start reorganizing any area, the project just grows and grows. First I started with my fabric -- 5 very large bins of sizeable pieces (1 yard or more). That lead to going through my small bins of scraps -- 26 bins and I condensed them down to 16. Next it was the miscellaneous craft supplies -- too many bins and containers to count. Then there was the scaling down the sewing machines and sergers I own. That was an especially tough task, and so far only one is slated for the garage sale pile. In the process of checking the back recesses of the garage I discovered two more bins of fabric, a bin of purse making supplies and two more bins of scrapbooking/card making supplies. Does it ever end? I'm determined to get rid of much. But the mess just keeps growing! In the last hour I pulled down all my decoration bins from shelves in the garage. This isn't Christmas decorations, but spring, fall, winter, valentine, Easter, etc. That's another 6 large bins! Yikes -- this may take more than a week to finish. (This picture is the shelves in my studio before emptying them and deciding what stays and what goes). When it's all complete I'll post pictures of my brand new, less cluttered studio (I hope).

Reorganizing

I've spent most of the day reorganizing my studio. I'm moving things around, eliminating a lot and donating a lot. Hopefully I can downsize. That's a hard task when you are a collector of fabric, quilt patterns, sewing machines, magazines, etc. There's more here than I could ever accomplish in my lifetime, so it's time to eliminate much of this clutter. Now that I have use of the walk-in closet in my studio, most of my sewing/quilting supplies will go in there. My goal is not to have more than I can store in the closet. I would like my studio free of all clutter. That's a lofty goal -- especially for me. Here's a couple pictures of the closet.

View from my studio windows

I know I've mentioned several times how blessed I feel to be able to have such a beautiful studio to work in. Not only is it great in the actual studio, but I love the view from the windows. The back windows look out at the garden and the chicken coop. Two of my other loves in life -- gardening and chickens! The side windows look out at the patio and deck with the pots and hanging baskets of flowers. It's wonderful!

Studio Anniversary

I just realized today that it's been one year since I moved to my new studio. The elation I feel when I walk through that door is still there. To have over double the space from my old little studio--what a blessing. I can sew in my studio instead of at the dining room table or a table set up somewhere else. My studio can double as a guest room when needed. In fact it was a guest room for two over Thanksgiving. But best of all to me is the windows. There are five windows that all look out at the backyard. I can see my garden. I can see the start of the hydrangea I propagated that is planted right below one window. I can watch my kids play basketball on the court that is just feet away (sometimes too close when the balls are really flying). Because the studio is an addition to our home I can even see into the living and dining area of the main part of the house. It faces east so early in the morning there's often the view of a beautiful sunrise. It is a wonderful room! It's also painted one of my favorite colors - candy apple green (a slightly lighter shade). I have a favorite quilt on the wall -- Leah's Spring. I found a kitchen wheeled cart that is the perfect height for a cutting table and because it has wheels it can be moved around. It's a perfect space. And now it's been a year since I've been in there -- I better go celebrate by sewing something!

OPEN HOUSE

You are all invited to a Christmas Open House, Thursday, December 17 from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00. There will be tea and coffee (made by my own personal Starbucks Barista - Callie) and other goodies. Tour my home and quilt studio, view lots of quilts and enjoy a festive time with friends. Drop in for 15 minutes or a couple hours and celebrate this season with me.

A Much Neater Studio

I finally finished reorganizing my studio this morning. Some things did get tossed out! The funest part was making a little antique vignette on top of my new shelves. The green singer sewing machine was purchased at a garage sale years ago for $5.00. It does work. The little pink child's sewing machine was one my girls spent hours stitching paper on! I've been collecting antique apron patterns so a newly covered bulletin board displays some of my finds. Someday I hope to have a comfortable chair in this corner for curling up with a magazine or book. I feel so blessed to have such a great studio. I'm hoping to have an open house for my studio sometime before the end of the year.

The Mess I'm Working On

I worked for several hours yesterday on cleaning up and rearranging some things in my studio. Since I need to get back to quilting for customers by tomorrow I only have today to finish. There's really too much stuff to get it all put away orderly, but I'm doing my best to sort, put some in the shed, throw some out (but not much) and get it neatly on shelves. I bought a new shelf unit on clearance and got a great deal on it. That should help clear up a little clutter and since it's the same as the one I already own they can be stacked together. So my afternoon will be filled with work -- but a pleasant kind of work. Who knows, I may discover another unfinished project that had been totally forgotten!

Quilting Studio

I have a beautiful studio to work in. There are five windows that face east and north. It's wonderful to look out into our secluded backyard and see my garden, the chicken coop (with my 4 feathered friends pecking around in there) and the deck and patio. The lighting is perfect most days and having a space almost the size of a double garage is a dream. My longarm is not the only occupant but there is my sewing center and then 3 cabinets for storage of sewing paraphenilia. One corner has a bookcase filled with books on quilting and sewing. Even with all that space I have a storage problem. Right now one corner is filled with bins, bolts of fabric and batting leftovers. The room has a large walk-in closet but at present it's filled with my daughter's things. Just today my husband cleaned out another area in my old studio and brought in 3 more bags of stuff! What am I to do? He says throw it out! Some things I can part with easily but sewing/quilting stuff is not one of them. A person never knows when they'll need a certain button, a little bit of a certain color of fabric, a pattern from an old magazine, etc. I have about 10 days until my oldest daughter arrives home and will need to access her closet (in my studio). So I have until then to get this figured out.

Cutting Table

When I moved into my new studio and moved all my sewing paraphernalia into one place, I knew I needed some kind of cutting surface. In the past, my cutting has been done either at the kitchen table or counter and now I wanted it in the same room. I checked into lots of different kinds of cutting tables. My priorities were that it didn't take up a lot of space and possibly could even fold away. Some nice options would be that it had some usable shelves. Most important though, was that it didn't cost very much since I didn't have the money to spend. One day while wandering the aisles of Fred Meyer I literally almost tripped over a kitchen cart that someone had left in the aisle. The height was right, it could fold flat, and best of all it was on sale and I happened to have a coupon for an additional 10% off! Wow! Can't beat deals like that. So for $60.00 I brought home the kitchen cart. I love it. My mat doesn't fit perfectly, but my husband said he could someday make an extension for the top. Right now though, it's very usable the way it is and I love how it wheels around. I think it was a great find!

Work First Then Play

I spent today cleaning. First my bedroom, which often becomes the dumping grounds for books, magazines, papers and stuff that just doesn't seem to have a home. I even sorted through all the bathroom cupboards and collected a whole garbage bag of stuff. It was amazing how many body gels and lotions I had saved with only a 1/2 inch left in them. Then I moved on to my studio. That too needed a good cleaning. After two quilting projects in the last two weeks there were scraps to put away, patterns and books to return to their proper place, and vacuuming of a lot of threads and fabric dog ears. All in all, I spent about 4 hours cleaning. The end result is I feel ready to play. Even though I want to have a relaxing week and one with some fun projects either started or completed, there is a great feeling with starting out with things clean. I can hear my mother's voice, "work first, then play". She was right you know!

Move To The New Studio

It happened! Over the weekend we moved all my sewing and quilting into my new studio. What a task! Since we were switching two rooms around and both rooms were full of paraphenelia, it was a huge undertaking. After painting the room, we moved all my daughters things to one side (as much as possible). Then we started to dismantle the longarm. It's been in my old studio for 9 years so I had no idea how it came apart. I asked my husband if he wanted me to take pictures of it, or find the manual so we knew how to put it back together, but being a guy, he said he didn't need instructions. Well, I would have been lost after the first two bolts were removed, but my great husband expertly took it apart and then reassembled it in my new studio.

After the longarm was in place, then everything else was emptied out of my old studio. There were boxes piled everywhere. I found projects and fabric that I couldn't even remotely remember ever having! By this time it was late Saturday night so everything had to come to a halt until Sunday afternoon. The next step was cleaning the old studio. Then we began to move all of my daughter's things into that room. Meanwhile we had piled up things all along one side of the new studio. Finally, everything was in the right room. The process of getting everything into a new place lasted well into Monday. I have about 2/3 of my sewing room put away. What is done looks wonderful, but one corner of my new studio is filled with bins and boxes of projects and nowhere to store it. There is a great walk-in closet in the room and someday I will have that for storage, but right now it still contains all my daughter's clothes and other items that will have to stay there until she returns home and for as long as she still lives at home. So it may be close to a year before I get use of the walk-in closet. I have a few ideas to help store my projects and fabric but at least some of it will have to find a home in either our shed or our garage.

It is exciting to think of sewing and quilting in my new studio. In fact, in the excitment of anticipation, I will probably have trouble deciding what to do! My hope is to eventually use my new space to have friends in to sew with me. I also will be able to use my space to continue to teach sewing through 4-H to young future seamstresses and quilters.

Color Choices

I have to choose a paint color for my studio. Since it has been my adult daughter's room there is no doubt that it must be repainted. Right now it has about 4 different colors on the wall and some zebra type lines as well as circles that say my daughter's name. I've gone to different decorating websites to look at what color is 'in'. I've been to several paint stores to look at colors. I now possess a multitude of paint chips, but what color do I paint it? The room has 5 windows (what luxury) so there is plenty of light in the room. My old studio is several shades of a golden yellow so I don't want to repeat that color. Most likely it will not be painted again or at least not for many years. Going neutral is safe but rather boring. Lately, I've gone in for more dynamic colors. Last fall I painted our half bath a pea green color -- I loved it. I have two brown walls in my living room and my dining room and kitchen have two deep red walls. My favorite color for the last few years has been green. I like to wear green, my eyes are a blue-green. Bottom line, though, is that I don't have much money to spend on paint and I have a can of green paint and a can of white paint. The green is darker than I want but if I mix them together -- hmm, it will be a surprise color. My own personal color of green. Stay tuned for pictures!