What's Up?

It's been over a year since I last posted...would rather sew than post in my spare time. But here is what I have been up to...

Sew Sampler Box Barn Quilt in progress. Started receiving FQS Sew Sampler Box this year and I am loving getting the surprise every month in the mail.

Swoon 16 king size quilt in progress using Lori Holt's Autumn Love fabric. My fall quilt for my bed (Thimbleberries Quilted Garden) is showing a lot of wear and tear lately so I need to replace it and I liking the swoon quilt.

I am doing 36 of the swoon 16 blocks and it will look something like this.

Here's a close up of a swoon block. Each block will feature a different autumn love print.

Lori Holt's Bloom quilt.

New studio pics....

I had my DH make me a peg board wall...love!!!

added 2 $30 white Walmart bookcases.

Packed with lots of cool stuff.

See the pink rug? Love this new addition!

I also finally got around to making my Quilt Diva quilt (it still needs quilting and buttons).

I put back up my Quilted design wall...

Goes so nicely with my area rug ;)

This Lori Holt min quilt also needs to be quilted...

Zipper Bags to hold Lori Holt's Sew Simple Shapes...

So my son moved back home a few months ago so he could save money and go back to school, which is a good thing and he's getting straight A's. But with this change DH gave up his office which was actually a downstairs bedroom. I gave up my office/sewing room space to him and took over the dining room space as my new sewing room (My longarm is still in the one car garage quilt studio).

I like my new space a lot...see above pics :) 

I also have been on a huge Lori Holt binge lately...so far I have made several of her sew along quilts. I have done Bloom, Cozy Christmas and I have the fabrics to make Sweetie Pie, Be Happy, Let's Bake and I am currently following along with her Autumn Love sew along and I pre-ordered Farm Sweet Farm. I am also patiently waiting for Lori's Vintage Christmas Book to be shipped and will be buying more Cozy Christmas fabrics over the next few months. 

Settling In, Making It My Own Again

I was going to take photos of the TX Quilt Studio before I packed it up but my digital camera died and I totally spaced about using the camera on my phone, so there is no photos of it. Fine by me since I never felt comfortable in that space. However I always did feel comfortable in my AZ Quilt Studio and even more so since I moved things around a bit to make it more user friendly for my needs since I am not doing longarming for the public anymore. I flipped my Scrap User System and my longarm machine.

 

It gives me more room for my scrap user system the way I originally envisioned it. All strings and strips on one side... 

 

with a new cutting table from IKEA (it's actually an adjustable drafting table) along with my rulers in the middle...

 

and my larger scraps on the other side.

 

My 2 white dressers got damaged in the move back to AZ so I down sized to 1 solid wood dresser for my longarm threads.

 

My yardage is still located under my longarm as it was before.

 

Added another wire shelf for my accuquilt dies and brought back 2 bookcases that were left by the previous owners of the TX house (stores all of my quilt books, patterns, and magazines).

 

In the office part of my studio, where I use to meet with customers, I also changed things up a bit. First the old heavy dark desks are now my DH's office furniture, and I took over the IKEA desks (which I like a lot better). I extended my design wall...because lets face it you never have enough space for larger quilts. This is my main sewing area.  

 

and  my embroidery machine is set up under the window. I moved my shelving to a new wall to frame my computer desk and TV. Yes I decided to add a TV in my my sewing space so I can watch movies, and Netflix while sewing.

 

More shelving to display my threads and nick knacks.

I also raised my curtain rod higher so when I take quilt pics the quilts are more visible. Oh and the rug was bought in TX at Target...loved it because it look like it has buttons in the designs. So this is where I will be spending most of my time...boy it's so good to be back home in AZ!!

There's No Place Like Home

 

Well it's official...we are moving BACK to Arizona!!, the beginning of June when the twins finish up the school year here in Texas. Now I know I haven't posted in almost a year...there is a perfectly good reason for that, moving then unpacking and trying to get everything to feel like home etc...well truth be told although Texas is a great place it just never felt like home to us. We spent over 20 years spreading our roots and making Arizona home that well, Texas just didn't have a chance in our hearts.

 and definitely couldn't compete with this,

 or this,

 

or even this :)

Good thing we didn't sell our AZ home because that is where we will be heading back to.

Chris will still be working for Epsilon but was given the go ahead to work remotely from AZ. So the Texas house will be going up for sale in April. 

Also while in Texas I just haven't felt like doing much quilting...the TX quilt studio ended up not being as big as I thought it was once I started putting every thing in place, which means I wasn't feeling very creative this past year :( I need to be able to like the space if I am spending lots of time in it, lol I did take pics of the TX quilt studio and will be posting pics of it eventually though, just not today. I also have not purchased ANY new fabric this past year which also could be for my lack of creativity...who knows

I am however looking forward to moving back into my old office and quilt studio...making a few changes with the office furniture and where things will be placed because I did purchased a cutting table and additional IKEA pieces for the studio though. Also I will have to get to work making new quilts to hang on the AZ walls because last year when we were moving to TX I gifted most of the wall quilts to one of my besties.

DH has also been asking me if I am planning on reopening my longarm business since we are moving back to AZ... don't know yet, maybe, I need to think about it some. While I've been in TX I am still getting monthly quilting requests from people back in AZ looking for longarming services. If I do it won't be until the fall at the earliest so we can resettle into the house and get things unpacked. 

Current Office and Studio Pics 2014

It's been awhile since I posted pics of my office and quilt studio, so since I am cleaning them in order to make it nicer for when people come to check out the long arm I am selling to make room for the new bigger long arm I ordered, I thought this was a good time to update my studio pics.

 

This is the view into my office space 

 

 This is where I sew when I want to watch something on the computer. Under this desk area I keep 2 good size containers of crumbs/ fabric. One for neutrals and one for color.  

  

 I keep my treadle machine under one of my windows in the office 

 

I also have a basic design wall in my office.

                             My quilt studio is right next to my office

 

 I have a 2nd design wall in my studio 

 

 Opposite of the design wall is where I keep all of my long arm thread, easy for my customers to choose the color of thread they want on their quilts.

 

 Under my long arm, I keep my fabric yardage separated into the 12 colors I keep.

 

             Next to the yardage is where I keep my fat quarter storage 

   

 This wall runs parallel to my long arm and is where I keep my Bernina

 

 To the right of my Bernina I keep some of my scrap user system...

 

 and to the left of my Bernina I keep the rest of my scrap user system. Again all of the areas are separated into 12 colors. They are white, off white, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, brown, grey, and black.

I use my foyer closet to store my batting and right now on my dinning room table is quilts waiting to be quilted and lots of stuff that is being sold with my long arm.

My Perfect Sewing Set-Up

I have moved my sewing machine into my office area...much more comfortable to sew in the office than it was in the quilt studio I lovingly call my sweat shop, lol!  Here is a mini tutorial for a ironing station near your sewing machine, using an inexpensive TV table that I bought at Walmart for under $9.00.

 

I first  took a fat quarter that matched the colors of my Quilt Studio (even though I am currently sewing in the office) and pinked the edges to keep it from unraveling.

 

 Then I took 4 layers of scrap warm and natural batting 1 1/2" smaller than the fat quarter and centered it on 

top of the wrong side of the fat quarter.

 

 Place the TV Table upside down on top of the batting/fat quarter. While pulling the fat quarter edge over the edge of the TV table and to the underside of table use a stable gun to stable the fabric in place.

 

 

  See how we did the corners? place the staples about every 1/2"

 We used a stable gun that attaches to my air compressor (which I use to clean my long arm with instead of the canned air). This is much easier than using a traditional staple gun.

 

I purchased 2 of the TV tables from Walmart so I could have one on each side of my sewing machine...1 for pressing during block construction without having to have the bulky ironing board set up all of the time for smaller jobs. And the 2 one for trimming up blocks as I go. On this table I have a 12" sq. rotating cutting matt. Works out pretty well and keeps me from running back and forth so I can get more sewing done. Stay tuned for more updates as my office and my quilt studio evolve into my perfect creative space. 

What Can You Do in Just 1 Day?

Well you could build a wall!

That's right on Saturday I woke up and told my DH, Chris that I wanted him to build me a wall and he did :0) He's the best!

As you know my quilt studio is in my converted 1 car garage. When we moved in DH and friends put in a sub floor to raise the floor to house level and to level the floor itself. Then a few weeks ago our friend Ralph put duct work in my studio so I could have some heat/air conditioning in my studio. But my studio was still about 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house because of the draft comming from the metal portions of the garage door. So.....  

DH & my 16 yr old son went to Home Depot and picked up some 2x4's, insulation, and some drywall.They removed the track for the gargare door and stored it in the wall (clever huh, just in case we ever or who ever in the future ever wanted to restore the room back to a garage). BTW from the front of the house it still looks like a garage, the door is still there, LOL! 

But the inside looks like this. Not bad for a days work. Now we just have to get some estamates to tape the seams and texture the drywall to match the rest of the house. A coat if primer, and 2 coats of paint to match my room and it will be done. And the best part is now my studio is only 2 degrees colder than the rest of the house. DH wants to have insulation blown into the other 2 walls and into the attic area of my studio to bring the temp even with the rest of the house. But I might talk him into waiting until next year since that estamate was about $500.