When you run a business it’s important to have a nice place to work. Not necessarily a “ritzy” place but a space to put your things, organize your workspace with a little extra spot to think and create and most definitely… a place for all your “stuff”. I have carved out a place for an office and another one for a studio but struggle often with a couple of the negatives of living in a log home.
#1 STORAGE. Log homes notoriously have no storage. Building a closet is not trivial in a log home. Cabinets work… but there is only so much wall space. Also… I have a lot of stuff (I will not admit this in public and will deny it when confronted). I am primarily a quilter… but I have been know to embroider a little (which requires threads, hoops, stabilizers etc.) I occasionally make some clothing (I am not a seamstress… bite your tongue) or mend a few things for Hubs and the boys. So that requires a stash of brads, zippers, buttons, stretchy strings, blah… blah. I have clothing patterns which I pretend to use (I made things for the boys when they were little) and a dressmakers dummy in case one day I wake up at a Holiday Inn Express and I suddenly understand how to read a Vogue pattern.
#2 DUST. Oh how much dust exists in the studio. I travel with CWQ teaching, sometimes I am in the office working on the layouts of new books and patterns and I own an entirely different company that needs my attention so I don’t spend every day in the studio. After about a week it looks like the attic that time forgot. I should learn to drape sheets over everything when I leave it every day… so I could unwrap it like a surprise when I return. It might make my threads look a little less furry.
#3 DARKNESS. I love reading all the other quilting blogs out there. They have such nice pretty pictures of their bright studios and even brighter fabrics prints. My pics will NEVER look like that. No amount of photography studio equipment will bring enough light into this cabin for perfect pics. The studio is like a black hole. There are 6 Ott lights in there along with an overhead light. My photos still look dim. So you will have to use your imagination.
Despite the unfortunate items above… the studio is a nice place to work. If only we could get rid of all those unfinished project boxes that keep haunting me. I like to have everything out where I can see it. Fabrics should be out and available so I can access everything I need for a particular project. I also leave out all the unfinished projects so that I can be confronted with them before I begin each new project.
Of course, I ignored all those projects and started a new quilt for All Scrapped Out! using my 6 1/2″ 60˚ Template available here. Another quilt created completely from the scrap bins. No precutting, no pre-pressing and no stash fabric except for the border. Not too shabby. As soon as it stops raining I can take some better pics outside. But at least you know I actually sew and complete things.
Speaking of sewing and completely things… I finally found some fabric to make a baby/toddler quilt for some dear friends/business assoc. of mine. I found this fabric (Googlies from Benartex) at the LQS last Friday.
Once I found the perfect fabric the quilt went together pretty quickly. I used my 6 1/2″ Trapezoid All Scrapped Out! Template available here to make the blocks out of stash fabrics. I envision baby James making a fort under this just as soon as he can toddle. I made it big enough to snuggle with Mom and Dad and use for a twin bed. Here is the finished product.
I love the way it turned out. Can’t wait for his Mom and Dad to see it. I turned the lights off in the studio for the night. Two quilts tops complete is enough for the day. What did you make on this rainy Saturday?
~Happy Quilting
Penni