Studio Remodel & New Projects...

Well Hello Autumn! 

 I can't tell you how happy I am to see you.  It has been a long, difficult year for me (for us, for our family), but with the onset of colored leaves, the completion of our outdoor room and the anticipated arrival of cooler weather, comes the notion of peaceful days and healthier mind, body and soul.

This is going to be a bit of a catch up post.

A few months ago I moved my studio from a teeny tiny room downstairs to a larger space. 

In between personal catastrophies and some "outdoor" renovations, 

I have spent quite a bit of time purging, organizing and primping the space  which has been painted and outfitted with some new shelving that I designed myself.  The once cement floor has been covered with beautiful hardwood, the walls have been painted and "daylight" overhead lighting installed.  I am in love!  

Finally,  the dust has settled and the studio is welcoming and tidy.  No clutter here!  Just a beautiful open space with  lots of room to spread out, and a stack of WIPs  (works in progress) just waiting to be addressed. 



The machine I use.... the Janome Horizon -  I love.  My husband bought this for me for Christmas and with everything that has been going on around here  I have barely had a chance to test drive it.  That's gonna change right NOW!
I took it out of the case, attached the beautiful acrylic table and it's ready to go.  Janome really does make superior sewing machines.  This is my second Janome.  I still have my first one and use it on the tough stuff like leather, plastic and copper.  Which - by the way - it sews through like a champ.

 I've spent a good part of today puttering around, and working on a pretty little batik quilt in ocean colors.   I think I'm going to make about 30 blocks and sash them all in white with some intense free motion work in the white borders - at least that is the plan - for now.







It's been a nice quiet  day - even though today it's hot and humid.  A few more weeks and we should be firing up that fireplace on a daily basis. 

Boy am I ready!

Oh Yeah!

It ONLY Took Two Days.....

to get the studio this clean! It is so pleasant to work in here when everything is in it's place. We even did all the drawers and the walk in supply closet. It's like we just moved in. Blaise is going to repaint the floor for me while I am in Florida as it takes 3 days or so to dry.

This is my side (pictures are clickable) where you can see two of my favorite things in the world - my Janome 6600P and my IPOD I Home. I love sitting in here working on my projects and listening to music depending upon my mood - Mozart, Green Day, Yanni, Tokio Hotel, Bon Jovi, Poison, the Beatles..... talk about atmosphere - it rocks in here!

My husband made the countertops just the right size for Sabrina and I. We are both short so they are a bit lower to the ground and are just right. For my smaller quantities of fabric - I used Sabrina's baby bookshelves. Larger quantities and bolts of fabric and batting are inside that closet you see pictured.

Over to the left - is the "messy" side. It's not messy right now -= but this is the place we both do all of our painting, stamping, cutting, gluing, burning, heating, etc. It can get pretty nasty on this side.

Here is Sabrina's little corner of the world - her drawing corner. She's got it all fixed up and even made little containers for all of her different pencils out of plastic cups so she can have them separated by type of pencil, color, etc. She keeps her rapidographs, sketchbooks, and paints in the plastic drawers to the left.

We love our little studio and it's nice and tidy now so I thought I would share it with those of you who haven't seen it. Hope you enjoyed visiting.

We're Back!!!!

The work is all done, the paint is dry. The whole house repainted, carpets cleaned, closets, cupboards, drawers, etc., cleaned and reorganized, furniture scrubbed and polished - nothing left untouched. Ahhhh - even the dogs are clean and fresh. Finally - life gets back to normal - after three weeks of chaos.

I thought you might be interested in seeing how our little corner of the world turned out. Come on in -- I'll give you a quick tour..



Here's Sabrina's drawing area. She bought a beautiful drawing table with several months' allowance (she saved over the summer) from Jerry's Artarama. She keeps all of her pencils, pens, etc. in clear glass jars (from mayonnaise, pickles, etc.!) and they really look nice. (Lisa, do you recognize anyone in particular in this picture???)


Here's my area. Nothing changed here really. Just re-organized. The fabric is folded and put on some shelves out of Sabrina's room when she was a baby. They were unfinished pine and I put a clear polyurethane coat over them. The sewing desk my husband built out of plywood and covered with laminate. Really, really inexpensive - but very functional. It's also just the right height for me. (Lisa and Monica, do you recognize anything in this picture???)

On the other side of the room is another table my husband built where we keep the light-box, paint rack and a few other misc. things. I also lay a cutting mat over top of it and I can do some cutting on there. When I have yardage to cut, we have a freestanding table from Sam's club that is about 8 feet long and 3.5 feet wide that I set up in the middle of the room and then put away when I'm done cutting.

The walls used to be light blue with a slate blue floor. It was pretty, but the blue didn't reflect the light very well and was a bit depressing. I bought new daylight tubes for the flourescent fixtures (WOW what a difference.) I picked out a nice light yellow for the walls and a very light (almost white) epoxy for the floor. Not a huge room (about 15x16) but big enough for three work stations and lots of open space for Gizmo and Tobie. We also have a little closet in the back that is lined with shelves for supplies. And with the painted cement floor - if we spill something, or drop a paintbrush or a soldering iron - it's no big deal. The best part - NO clutter! I can't work in clutter.

Tomorrow promises to be a wonderful day. No work - and ALL play! I've got some serious catching up to do.

First Order of Business: Finish the runner up prize I promised to make as a Pink Artist for Girl Gone Thread Wild's Drawing for Love Squared which is to occur on October 15th. This piece is done, I'm just waiting for the paint to dry and I will post pictures of it Monday.

Second Order of Business: Finish up applique big blocks.

Third Order of Business: Get started on that huge pile of Christmas gifts!!

It's oh so good to be back. I'll see you around!!!

P.S. I have the best husband in the world!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Gizmo....

is as much a permanent fixture in my sewing room, as my Janome sewing machine is! So Sabrina figured, why not decorate him! "NOW" he looks like your sewing assistant!!" she told me.

He's such a kind, and patient soul.