putting the puzzle together again

I am thoroughly enjoying the state of my sewing room! It is sort of in pieces, and I am taking my time putting it all back together again. I showed you some pictures not long ago that depicted the "before". Then I left on vacation, not quite sure if this would be something that Bob would be interested in doing without me. Well, I can tell you that I have the world's best husband! Not only did he carry out the original plan to repaint, he also ripped out the old carpet and laid new laminate wood flooring! This DIY project started out with the need to hang my fabulous Vanishing Design Wall, a gift from Bob for Christmas (which shocked my socks off that he remembered I liked it from some brief conversation awhile back, I guess he really does listen sometimes!). Here is my new design wall in place:

When I decided which wall I wanted it on, we took down some shelves and knick-knacky stuff and posters, etc., on that wall. That left some big screwholes on a basically ugly sponge painted wall. The original blue was Dan's request when we built the house in 1989, then added the white overlay about 10 years later when the room became my "studio" and Dan moved to his new kingdom in the remodeled basement. So it was due for an update. That brought me to decide to just continue with the removal of "stuff" and picked up a bucket of pale gray paint for the walls. Since the closet was all full of built-in shelving and bushels of fabric, I decided it didn't really need painting like the rest of the room and just left that all there. I departed on my trip, and Bob and I chatted on the phone about the state of the paint. To my surprise, he decided this would be the time to change the floor, too, which I totally agreed with but was a little leery that this would be a long project, plus I wasn't home to pick out color and type. Well, I needn't have worried because when I got back home there were only about 2 board-widths left to be laid! And it looks maaah- velous!

I am taking my sweet time with putting things back in there because I wanted to cut down on the clutter and distraction that was in there. So it looks kind of bare, but that's OK for now. Because the flooring needed to extend into the closet, Bob had to clear that out and remove all the shelving units, which was a daunting task. The only downside for me is that he ended up handling every bit of fabric that I had tucked away in there, bringing him to the realization that there was enough to keep me going for a long time! Ooops! I am sorting and weaning the collection down a bit as I make my way back through it, and thinking about the best ways to organize it that might be an improvement on what I did before. The drawers hold my small cuts (fat quarters and less) and are sorted by color. That part is done.

There's a bit more to go.....

But I was inspired to add a saying to my wall to reflect my thoughts--

No heavy hearts allowed! Now back to the sorting!

on the road again

I showed you Deb's quilt a few days ago while it was on the quilting frame. I am happy to report that it is now off the frame and went home with Deb last night. Because of the challenging arrangement of blocks it took me a little while to come up with a design that would fit into the "wheel" of this wagonwheel block. I ended up doing a lot of these:

looping scrolls in varying sizes to fill in the spaces. Once I get into the rhythm they are hard to stop!

And today I am celebrating the start of a great vacation. This is my girlfriend getaway with Nancy and Leisl, great traveling partners. Here is some of my stuff in the staging area, waiting for final packing andthen loading into the official Stitchin' Trips trailer.

We headed east this morning, into the land of cheese, which can be a hard road for us lactose intolerants! We are staying in Appleton tonight, went out to see Country Strong for our evening entertainment and popcorn binge. Pretty good show, a few tears were shed. Our only real problem with the show was that the speaker system was not working well, bass notes were real buzzy, and for a show about country music singers that was not good.

I left my sewing room looking forlorn, but I think it will be looking much better when I return in a week. It started with a plan to hang my new design wall, a lovely gift from my precious husband, I was totally surprised that he had even remembered that I had shown him a picture once. Hanging it on the sewing room wall made the most sense to me so it would be within easy reach. That meant taking down some wall shelves and a lot of decor and misc. stuff pinned to the walls. That left one bare ugly wall with big holes from the shelving screws. This room was first painted blue when it was Dan's room. Then a few years later he changed to another room and this room became Julie's room, so we got really creative and sponge painted white over the blue. For a long time I wanted to repaint, but always felt overwhelmed by the thought of removing everything. But when I saw one wall was bare, I came to the conclusion that the time is now to get a clean coat of paint. So here are some recent photos of the collection of stuff that

is usually in my room, and the only things remaining are the wooden table and the gray metal cabinet. The rest I was able to remove to other temporary homes nearby. And then I bought paint and left town! Hoping that the good painting spirits will be present in my home (Bob) and feel free to get the job done! There will have to be a big reveal when I get home!

When I talked to Bob tonight he was mumbling something about emptying out the closet to remove the shelves and lay new flooring, I think he may have been delirious! I had intended to just cover it with plastic until the painting was done, but if flooring is changing that's a whole other ballgame! I'm a little afraid that if he has to actually handle and pack up all the stuff in there, he might start to wonder about my purchasing plan. I'm not sure he knows that there is no purchasing plan, I just plan to purchase whatever meets my needs!

This could be an interesting vacation!

welcome to my world

I have been putting in some hours lately between EQ (Electric Quilt design program), cutting mat and sewing machine while concocting what I hope to be something wonderful for our MN 2010 Statewide Shop Hop. I am ready to show you a section of it---

I think I have it to the point where I am done fussing with the layout and measurements, and ready to move on to the quilting. And compose the directions in understandable format! Since Moda is cutting 5" charm square packs and the featured panel print is designed in 5" squares, a portion of the quilt uses those. And I'm already thinking about all those other wonderful 5" squares I have stashed away, they will easily slip into this pattern in the near future! This just gets better all the time!

My June project for the Posse Pledge to Finish, I have completed this little tabletopper:

It is sooo Iowa! Yes, the state bird is the goldfinch! I purchased this at Country Threads the last time I was there, probably 2008. I sewed it together and then laid it aside, but rescued it from oblivion so now it can rest on the table at my Mom and Dad's house. We get plenty of goldfinches at our own house, somehow they don't understand that they are supposed to stay south of the border!

After I finished the sewing of the MN quilt yesterday afternoon, I took a look around me and decided it was high time that I did a little cleaning up in the sewing room. It was kind of like a festering wound, gradually getting more irritating as my messy piles grew and grew. Well, the wound has been opened, drained, irrigated and covered with a nice tidy dressing so I can show it to you--

This used to be a bedroom and is on the second floor of the house. The big double windows face west and I included a shot to show you some of the view that I enjoy there. When I purchased my longarm, the only place it would fit is in the basement. I considered moving all of my sewing down there, but I love this room and the great view of the trees and sky, so it has stayed right there. It does mean some trips up 2 floors and down 2 floors many times, but until I am too feeble to pull myself up those stairs, it stays put. I have my Viking 830, Juki mid-arm, and Bernina serger all lined up ready to go.

Next to that is the cutting table, which is just a dining table raised up on some stilts that Bob engineered for me. The plastic storage drawers just fit under the table, and hold scraps, beading supplies and misc. crap. In the corner over the table is a suspended TV and a bulletin board of inspiration and mementos.

On the wall opposite the window I have my Martha board, so named because it's a Martha Stewart product from KMart and bigger than your average ironing board. (I don't think Martha can do anything small.) And showing that I need to change the cover, starch is my friend but not the friend of the cover! Back in that corner is a grey metal medical supply cabinet that I rescued from one of my former places of employment as it was going to the trash, and it serves me very well for a lot of my small items. Each drawer has a metal label slot on the front, so I can keep it organized.

In what used to be the clothes closet, I have a good portion of my fabric stash. Probably one of the best things we have done to make my sewing life easier is this closet. We removed the bifold doors and installed shelving from the lumber yard. The drawers hold fat quarter size chunks, sorted by color. The open shelves hold bigger cuts of fabric.

No way am I showing you my "overflow" room, which houses lots more fabric, kits, books, patterns, yarn, and more misc. crap! It's in the bedroom right next to this one and not nearly so neat, and would be really can hardly be called a bedroom right now!

Well, after the cleanup ended, a funny thing happened. I just sat in my chair and gazed upon the space, MY space, my territory, and felt the need to just stop and ponder for a moment. Reminding myself how lucky I am to have this space. I haven't always been able to have this room of my own, so I can appreciate what a difference it makes in my life. It allows me the chance to open my mind to more new ideas and possibilities.

I want to also show you a sewing room that has me green with envy! I have come to know Heather Mulder Peterson, designer of patterns and fabrics known as Anka's Treasures. She shared pictures of her mother's sewing room on her blog, Trends and Traditions. Now this is one sewing room that I could just live in. Maybe have Bob throw me a crust of bread now and then. I don't think I would ever want to come out! Well, a girl can dream!