A Working Studio

When you think something, you think in picture. You don't think a thought in words. You think a picture that expresses your thought. Working with this picture will produce it into your experience. 

Grace Speare

Today is the last day of Vicki Welsh's Real Studio Tour.  We are supposed to share our studio with you.  I've shown parts of my basement studio in the past.  First I shared A Few Good Ideas with you.  Then I showed you some pictures of how I Store Things.  

In the past I have also shared a few other looks at my studio.  My sewing studio, then my New Machine and Rearranged Sewing Studio.  Before that I had shown off my longarm machines, the New One and the Old One.

Today I'll share a few more pictures of my work space with you. In the Longarm Studio you can find tools and office supplies.

Longarm Studio

Tools and white board

Bobbin Winder and Inspiration Board

Desk and Bookcase

Longarm Necessities

Metal Cabinet for Thread and Dyes
Rack for Displaying Tops

Another rack of stencils and tools

Office Supplies

 Racks of quilt tops await my attention also. 

Tops to Quilt and my
Old Longarm is in the closet behind

 In the main room of the studio is my cutting table, bookcase and ironing area.  There is also a TV and piano.  Art supplies are located in a dresser under the TV. (no picture)

Quilting and Art Books

A right turn here takes you into my Sewing Studio or to the stairs.

Old Notions and Buttons in Jars 

Cutting TableYou can even see the matt today! 

Today the table is cleared enough to be used.  Can't say that everyday. LOL You can see into the longarm studio here.

Strips in Bins

Big Ironing Board Workspace

The other end of the ironing board.
Can't work without books on tape.

Since this is the Real Studio Tour I'll show you my Grandmother's Rocker which may or may not still be full of things waiting to be put away.  Hey, they aren't on the floor and they are all projects neatly organized with all the parts together.

Waiting to be put away?

Even a few quilts can be found here

With the studio in the basement sometimes it takes a while for things to find their way back upstairs.  I need to come up with a nice use for those wooden peach crates.  I'm tired of moving them around.

Behind the green curtain is a stubbed in bath that I hope to have finished next year.  Having to stop working to go upstairs for a bathroom break interrupts things for too long. A finished ceiling in the basement would be nice too.  Of course having workers tracking in and out to do this and all the rearranging it would take is an issue.  I guess no pain no gain. 

I have a lot of space but I have a lot of stuff filling it all up too.  If I could sell my old short arm and old longarm it would clear out some space.  The shortarm is in my sewing studio (no pictures) and takes up 12 feet of it.  The longarm fills the closet under the stairs.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse of my Real Studio.  It's not a showcase but it's very functional for me.

Linking with Sew Many Ways

Storage Ideas

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas. 

Henry Ford

Vicki Welsh has been having a Real Studio Tour this month.  This week's feature was on storage ideas.  I am jumping in on the last day of the link up because I've had a few other things to blog about this week. I have a large studio, my entire unfinished basement that has no ceiling and half of it has a bare concrete floor.  I have a whole lot of stuff to store since I am a longarm quilter and once owned a quilt shop.  Storage solutions for me is a big issue.  I have recently been rearranging my largest storage closet and the sewing studio.  I'm not done yet because I had to stop and focus on some Christmas projects for a while.  I thought I would share a few storage solutions I have found useful.

I found this great wire basket on a trip and
I've been using it to hold some of my magazines.

This 3 gallon glass jar has a handle and
I use it for ribbon. Keeps the dust away.

Notebooks on a Magazine Rack

I use notebooks to hold projects from magazines and the internet. I also use them for design ideas and to keep directions for quilts I've made. I have a few full of quilting designs too.  Their numbers have outgrown my bookcase storage and some have found a home in this magazine rack.

Batting storage is always a problem for longarm quilters.

 When the local JoAnn was closing their old store earlier this year I was able to pick up 3 large rolling storage bins for just $10 each.  I've also added a few different kinds of batting to my collection.  One reason for rearranging my closet was to make room for one of the bins.

This one is in the longarm studio.

This one is full of pillowforms and packaged battings.

Moses basket full of larger cuts of batting.

One of the things I've done this year is to label all the larger cuts of leftover batting that I have.  I pin the size to the batting and hold the roll together with a large rubber band. I've entered the sizes and type on a clipboard so I can quickly tell if I have a piece that is large enough for smaller projects.  This is working out great since I can quickly see if I have something the right size.

Back in the closet there are:

Large bins of fabric sorted by type.

More bins and a basket of fleece.

In the sewing studio you can find this:

These need to go back into the closet.

Pegboard Wall holds stencils and templates

 In the middle is my shortarm quilting machine which I need to sell since I don't use it anymore.  It is used as a long landing area for fabric and projects that need to be put away.

Back in the closet I have a lot of zippers hanging along with a lot of thread.  You can see some of it HERE.

Zippers are sorted on shower curtain rings

Bags hold crochet hooks and knitting needles

One shelf still needs some work 

More bins and fabric being sorted

This 3 drawer unit is for 2 1/2" squares

I recycle meat trays to hold projects

Since we moved here in 2000 we've gone through 2 refrigerators.  I saved the bins.  The one above holds practice squares for free motion quilting.  The one below hold scraps.

I know I am blessed with a lot of space in my studio now.  I have done with a lot less in my lifetime.  The closet that is full of bins in larger than most people have for their studios and much larger than what I had to use at times.  My husband has never minded me having space for sewing.  I made clothes for myself and my children for many years.  It is NOT all neat and tidy.  Never is, I usually have multiple projects underway and more in the planning or finishing stages.  There are always some personal projects, blog projects and charity projects going.  It keeps me from getting bored ; -)

There is more to my studio.  There will be another post in this series in the next week.  I also have some other posts on my studio HERE and HERE.

Cause and Effect

Action is a great restorer and builder of confidence. Inaction is not only the result, but the cause, of fear. Perhaps the action you take will be successful; perhaps different action or adjustments will have to follow. But any action is better than no action at all. 

Norman Vincent Peale

Well, are you ready to see my new toy work horse?  I've spent a lot of time in the studio taking turns at running the longarm and cleaning and organizing.  All the effort is now starting to show up.  I have one large quilt off the longarm and another ready to quilt.  The sewing machine area of the studio is clean and in better order than it has been for a long time.  It's still not a showcase because I use a lot of recycled items for new purposes but it is very functional.

I really love the bright LED lights on the new machine!  They can be this bright or dimmed.
There is 11.25" of room between the needle and the side of the machine.  Even with the longarm there are still some things I like to quilt with the walking foot.  I haven't tried the snazzy one that came with the machine yet but it is adjustable.

Here are my three sergers.  I didn't have a machine on this table before.  I haven't used the two on the left in over ten years so I took them out, cleaned them up and ran them a little. They are working fine but the one on the left needs some adjustment made to the cutting blade.  I haven't figured it out yet but I will.  I'm thinking of putting one in the longarm room since I frequently serge the edges of the quilts before I load them.  Then I'm thinking of setting the other two up for different stitches so they will be ready to use for different things. I usually serge the edges of new fabrics before I wash them.  A three thread stitch works fine for that.  Four thread stitching is what is used for garment construction although I've used it for more pillowcases than clothes in the last few years.

I moved the Janome 6600 to the desk I had been using for the serger.  I managed to fill up the rolling cart on the right with projects that were in the area.  I'd love to get some of these finished soon.  Several of them are leader and ender projects and several others were 'discovered' in the cabinet over the desk.  I cleared out the right side of it to hold embroidery supplies so they would be handy.

I also hung up a paper towel holder that I had bought last year.  I had a hard time deciding where to put it.  I always keep paper towels handy in the sewing and longarm rooms.  I use them for cleaning and many other things.

I found a home under the desk for the rolling case that the machine will travel in, if I take it anywhere.  The plastic drawers had been where the rolling cart is now.  The big thick book to the right of the machine is the instruction manual.  I'm only about 40 pages into it so far which got the bobbing wound and the machine threaded.  The automatic needle threader is so cool!

This desk was a Goodwill find for $25 a few years ago.  It is formica covered particle board and weights a ton!!  The men in the family had more than a few choice words to say while moving it.  After living with it for a while I decided the gray was depressing and bland so I grabbed the colorful letters and have fun 'writing' messages to myself.  I am in touch with my inner child as you can see.  Hee-hee!!  I added the mirrored circles to reflect some light in the dark overhang too.

The four sewing machine cabinet drawers I found antiquing in the mountains and they had been sitting on the floor collecting dust for over a year.  I cleaned them up and put them to use holding some of my decorative threads.

The Quilting Lines sign once hung at the entrance to my quilt shop.  The shelves to the left hold a few projects but most of the recycled meat containers hold scraps sorted by color. The brown bag on the left holds the embroidery unit for the machine.

The top of the desk holds some of my collectibles and antiques.  I'll have to share them another day.

Another cool feature on the new machine is the laser positioning guide.  You can use it to line up the sewing line or move it around to line up with the edge of your fabric.  There is also a laser point at the needle for lining up embroidery. 

To prove how many hours I've put into my quilting and organizing I tell you what I listened to while I was working.  Inheritance by Christopher Paolini  is the fourth book in the Inheritance Cycke that started with Eragon.  The audio book was 24 discs long.  If you are a J.R.R. Tolkien fan you will enjoy this series.  The series got deeper and more complex as it went along.  Nothing like a good story with dragons and elves.

That's what I've been up to.  I have a few shots of the quilting I did but I'll share those in another post.

My Studio

Things are seldom what they seem.

Sir William S. Gilbert

Moda Bake Shop has been have a Link Party for showing off your studio and stash.  I'm coming late to the party but sneaking in before the deadline.  I hear there are some prizes to be awarded too.

Here are a few shots of a few corners of my domain.  My studio inhabits the entire basement of our home.  It is three large rooms and two large closets and an under the stairs closet.  I have a lot of sewing and quilting stuff and I fill the space.  I put in my years sewing in much smaller spaces but after closing my quilt shop I had a good bit of inventory to place.  When two of my children moved out within a month I was able to claim the space and finally unpack things.  I also have a shortarm quilting machine and a longarm quilting machine.  The shortarm is for sale I haven't used it in about 8 years.  The longarm can be seen here.   

Janome 6600

This is my Janome 6600.  I do all my piecing on it unless I'm traveling then I use my Elna Quilter's Dream.  The Janome resides next to my serger.  I mostly use it to finish the edges of fabric before washing and to stitch the edges of quilt tops after they finished to keep them from fraying and seams from coming loose.  I wrote about it in this post.

Elna Serger

Here is my serger corner.  I keep tools within reach, a CD player for my Books on Tape that keep me company, extra thread and the drawer unit on the right also holds some tools and instruction booklets.

My Work Station

Here you can see how I can easily swivel my chair for each machine.  The corner shelf unit holds boxes of extra sewing machine and serger feet and accessories.  The top shelf has a large jar of bindings and a nice quilter doll to keep me company.

Tools on Pegboard Wall

At the opposite end of this room is a sheet of pegboard that holds templates, stencils and a variety of other tools.  You can see the end of the shortarm at the bottom of the picture.  The hot water heater is located to the right of the picture.  The two opposing walls each contain a design wall and they can be seen in a few other posts.

Boxes of Projects

The large closet behind this room holds most of my fabric stash.  Here is two shelf units full of projects all in various stages of completion.

Some of My Fabric Collection

There are many large totes of fabric in the closet as well as fabric on shelves.  Here is a neater section.

Pulling Fabric for a Project Disrupts the Order

This is what happens when I start looking for something.  Those red ones are 50 gallon tubs.  There are six that size, some of them are blue.  Two of them are full of Christmas prints, one is full of fabric for clothing and three are full of large cuts for backings.  There are a few others that are color designated. 

I have a post with pictures of the thread stored in this closet here.  My cutting table and ironing board is located in the main room, sorry no pictures of that.  It is due for a major clean up and put away session.  There is a picture of the end of the cutting table here. 

Well that the tour for today.  Hope you liked it!  I haven't been blogging for long and would be really pleased if you decided to be a follower or just leave a comment.  I'm going to be participating in four blog hops in the next couple of months I hope you will stop by again! 

May all your piecing be peaceful!