Order Has Been Restored

I cleaned the studio. I even vacuumed.

It had reached the state known as "Critical Mess."

 Before I could clean, scraps had to be organized.

 My little scrap bins are near to overflowing. I think there are a couple more really scrappy quilts in my not-too-distant future.

 Now I can go into the studio and breathe!

 I can show off some of the special things that live in my studio. First, a bowl made by Julie's husband Larry Sefton. I love that this one is sewn together along a crack. This has everything I like, the asymmetry, the color, the raw edge, and the stitching. It's a unique piece.

This is another bowl from Larry. It sits near my sewing machine and collects pins. I love it.  Can you tell I am a bowl freak?

Here are the sock kitties, Monty & Millie.

Here's the inspiration wall above my ironing table. Perhaps you can find the note my son left me that inspired the engraving on the back of my iPad.

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The Stash

 Everybody comments on my stash, and I am embarrassed to say I don't think much about it. This is pretty much IT.  The little bins on the top shelf hold the tiny bits bigger than 2" square, but smaller than, say 6" x 8".

(All photos will supersize when clicked, then clicked again if you want to study each stack more closely.)

The bookcase is a simple melamine bookshelf three feet wide by six feet tall. Yes, it's messy, but I've been busy.

This is what it looked like when I moved into this house a year ago. Nice and neat. I haven't really added a lot to it since then, so most of what was in the stash in this photo was used to make the Fall House Top, Blue Deco, Blue Boy, Triangle Dance, Petals and the Diamond Jubilee quilts.

These are the White with Colors, Orange and Yellow stacks.

 Here are the Acid Green and Green stacks.
  

Next shelf down is the pink, lavender and blue.

  Light blue, dark blue and teal (blue-green)
 

Red and Purple.

 Black on Black (BOB) and Black with Colors.

Black and White (I LOVE B+W, but you knew that, right?) and Grey, a new stack this year.

 The the creams and browns and tans.

And these are my WOWs and very light things.

These photos were taken Thursday evening October 8, after I finished the Diamond Jubilee quilt. I like to have fabrics that are blenders, some that have smallish allover designs, and some that have medium designs, some with larger designs, and some giants, but generally, I like fabrics that I can do lots of things with. I don't get all too worked up about it.

Why am I showing you this? Because Jackie said "You must have a fantastic stash..." and she wondered "when you purchase fabric is it for a specific project or just because and if not for a project how much do you purchase randomly?"

I bought these fabrics when I visited Kathy in Belfast Maine this past July.

Wow. Talk about a good question.

First, look back at the stash. I buy a lot of pure, vibrant color. I do not buy muddy values, and I can't stand the  "civil war prints." Too tiny, too dull, and frankly too hard to work with. Most of what's in my stash reads as ONE color, with the obvious exception of the large prints, which I like to use as backings for my quilts. I tend not to have any of the "modern" fabrics either, because a lot of them don't know which color they are.

The two on the right were used in the Diamonds quilt

Fabrics that can't decide what color they are are too hard to work with so I don't usually buy them.  What does that mean, too hard to work with? It means the fabric can't decide WHICH it is, so neither can the viewer, which makes it a bad choice.

These are fabrics that were given to me, but they are examples of stuff that's really hard (for me) to work with. I don't buy fabric like these.

What I have come to recognize as my "style" is my ability to put different prints together and make them "flow" from one to the other and look good. I can do that because the fabrics I generally select lend themselves to this kind of work. They're basic, and don't fight with each other.

 
Then again, being trained as an Artist, I know how to make a color look good. Remember, colors are affected by the colors they are next to. So you can make a color look brighter or duller by changing its neighbors. That makes it look like you have more fabrics than you really do.


By and large, when I buy fabric, I buy half yard pieces. I might buy a fat quarter if I need a particular color and can't find yardage, but I don't generally hang out in the FQ section. If I'm making a house quilt, and I need a brown for tree trunks (for example), or I want a stone foundation, I'll check the FQ section, but that's about it.

I never buy more than one yard of ANYTHING unless I have a specific use for it. And I rarely buy  backing for a quilt until the quilt top is finished. (Ask me how I know this.)

NOW... I have my share of novelties and things that I just think are irresistible, but I know full well buying them that they are not the most "flexible" things in my stash.  Look closely at the yellow stack. There's a fabric in there of black and white zebras on yellow.  Not exactly user friendly, but I thought they were fun. At the time I had a yellow and grey and black and white quilt in my head, but I used a lot of the grays in the Petals quilt. Oh well. They'll end up somewhere. Remember, I'll fussy cut ANYTHING to get the look I want.

I adore "The Ghastlies" and someday I'll use them in something, but I don't know what. Stuff like this, I only buy a yard or one pattern repeat.

 For me, the novelties are the extra goodies I put in my word quilts as visual "jokes." They will be a letter "i" that is really a cat, for example, or something like the ladies in the Rules quilts.

I'm not going to use a lot of the fabric, but when I do, I usually get a big impact out of it, so it's worthwhile. Stuff like this, I buy a yard, not more. Generally I see a print like this, and if I can see possibilities, and I like the colors, and it isn't "cute" or "cartoony" or "corny" or "tacky" I'll buy some. Yes, I am very, very picky. (And yeah, I know I'm opinionated too.)

Generally, I don't buy fabric unless I need it. I mean, OK, you've seen my stash, so that's not a big surprise. I just made two quilts (Petals and Diamond Jubilee) where I ONLY used fabrics from the stash. Look at the top photo. There's a LOT of fabric in there. There are more quilts to be had from my stash.

One exception is WOWs, or White On Whites. When I make a quilt with a "white" background, I use WOWs. So when I see one I like, I will buy a yard, but usually I buy four or five one yard cuts of different WOWs. In this case, more is better. I like a variety of pattern and texture. Regular readers know I use them randomly and interchangeably. I think they add interest and I like the way they reflect the light differently.


ONE THING I NEVER EVER EVER EVER DO... Well, OK, two things.
1. I never buy precuts. No jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm packs or any of that crap. Never. Ever.
2. I never buy everything in a designer "line." Oh, gag me with a spoon, how dull. Much, Much, MUCH more fun and interesting to combine a fabric or two from one line with blenders, batiks, or anything else from among the thousands of fabrics at any given quilt shop.

Okay, three things. I don't buy solids either. I use blenders instead.

ANOTHER BIG LESSON...
I never buy fabric I fall in love with, unless I have a specific plan to bring it home and cut it up for a quilt I am making.

I bought these fabrics five years ago, and only cut into the one on the lower left when I made the Diamonds quilt last week!

Why?
Because it will sit in my stash for years before I cut into it.  That's a waste of money and storage space.  I keep threatening to teach a class and tell my students to bring their favorite fabrics and then make them cut it up. Does this thought make you cringe? Gotcha!


The only time I might buy something I really don't need is when I see a fabric and it's a beautiful pure color. Believe it or not a "true blue" is almost impossible to find, so when I see some, I'll buy a yard or more. As you know, colors come in and out of "style" so you can't always find what you want for sale in the shops. So I try to make sure I always have the basics.

I view my stash as my "Raw Materials." If it's in there, it's meant to be cut up. And one other thing. My stash is right out in the open. I never put fabric in a drawer, or wrap it up. For me, if I can't see it, it doesn't exist. I am not made of money, and storage space at my house is not infinite. Buying fabric I don't need, and then putting it away so I forget I have it, is a waste of money and space. I live by myself, so I don't have to worry about hiding my fabric purchases from a husband.  Believe me, I know full well that I spend more money each year on fabric than I do on clothes, but then, clothes are kinda boring.

LOL!


I can do what I do and make the quilts I make because my stash has a wide variety of colors with varying scales of patterns. I have them on hand. If something isn't working, I can walk over to the stash (which is right next to my design wall) and rifle through it, looking for something else.

If you don't have a wide selection of fabrics in your stash, you might settle for something less than what you need. If you've read this far, you know I don't do that. I never settle. I keep pushing. Having a good stash makes my life a lot easier in a lot of ways.

The stash on the evening of Friday October 9th. I just had to organize it while I was working on this post.

I've been building the stash for five years, and let me tell you one other thing. It will NEVER get bigger than what's in this bookcase. Too much can be overwhelming. Sometimes endless possibility can be endlessly frustrating. You've heard me say it before, sometimes having fewer choices forces you to be creative about what you do have. Tim Gunn says "Make it work." I'm not above cutting a shape out of the middle of a piece of fabric if I want that part of a print to do something special.

I look at my fabric not so much as what it IS, but of what it can BECOME.

Inspiration Wall

I finally set up the inspiration wall over my ironing table. Here is what it has looked like for the last two or three weeks.

Pretty boring, huh?

So the other night I stayed up way too late filling it up with photos, notecards, art postcards, favorite quotes, artwork from my fairy niece and nephews, and emails from friends.

The wall looks MUCH better.

Now, whenever I look up at it, I smile.  It's not quite finished, but that means there is room for new stuff to be added.

Ready for Action

I do not know why us quilters feel the need to show photographs of our clean studios.  Here is mine just before I cleaned up last night.

Three worktables is really nice for working, but not so nice when you've got all three covered with stuff.

After a couple of hours of stacking and folding, this is the result.  See that fabric on the far table?

It's going to be a perfect curtain for the door in the sewing studio!! You may recognize it from this post.

Getting There

Pat wanted to know if I had any plans for the big shelf along one wall of the studio.

I sure did!  Along the left side are all my son's children's books he received as gifts growing up.  The rest of it is taken up with bins of fabric I don't use much (solids!) and projects in various stages of abandonment (not really). And don't worry - see that "empty" wall to the right of the windows - I have plans for that too.

The design wall isn't up yet either, but I really want to work on "Life is 'Tweet" so I put it up where I could see it and it would make me think.

As for the questions asked over the last few days....

Wanda, Millie is adapting very well. She opens cabinets and sniffs what's inside. I come home and find cabinet doors ajar and drawers partially opened all over the house. She's climbed every place she can climb. She sleeps next to me at night, and when she decides she's had enough of that, she naps in the kitty condo in the studio, where she can survey the whole house.

Megan, Susan, Terri, and others, the movers will come collect all the empty boxes AND the giant pile of paper. They'll recycle everything. (It's one of the many reasons I chose them.)

Mary K, I don't know how much mojo I can lend you. My get-up-and-go has pretty much got-up-and-gone.  Fortunately Millie knows how to get me to relax. She comes over to me and MEOWS until I sit down and put my feet up. Then she sits beside me and demands to be petted. It's good for both of us.

The new Studio

This will be my sewing studio. It was designed as a sun room, and so faces south, and hasn't got a lot of wall space. I've worked out three different layouts, and haven't decided which to use. I'm pretty sure I'll only work it out until I actually start using the space.

Moving day is a few days away.

Stay tuned.

The Change

It's a 24" x 48" (61 x 122 cm) table for my sewing machine. I was hoping my taborets would fit underneath, but they won't.  Oh well. Adapt, improvise, overcome. This is going to make sewing things so much easier.

I went back to the urgent care clinic last night for a follow up visit. There is no indication of infection, so my bandage was cut down considerably. I can remove it five days after it happened (or Sunday evening) and soak the finger to dissolve the surgical foam. It's nice to be able to flex my fingers.

Now You See It

Now you see it.

Now you don't.


Watch this space. Hey, just because I cut my finger doesn't mean everything comes to a complete stop!  Although I did have to make a few special purchases last night...

Um, yeah.

The REAL Studio

This is what my studio looks like when it's clean. Which is hardly ever and only lasts a few hours. I find I am reluctant to enter my studio when it's clean, because I don't want to mess it up. So I tend to NOT clean it until I finish a project or it reaches a state I am sure you all know as "Critical Mess."

My studio is smallish, (about 11' by 12') poorly lit, doesn't have very much wall space and has no closet. It connects to my living room by a pair of French doors. They are a royal PITA because I am always opening and closing them to get at what's behind them. The biggest advantage the studio has is a design wall. The second biggest advantage is that I can see into the living room and the TV. (See yesterday's post.) I usually have it on when I work in the sewing studio. I love to watch tennis on the TV. I don't really WATCH, I just listen. Remember, I live alone, so the TV provides background noise.

This is what my studio looks like most of the time. Stuff thrown all over the place. You can see a pair of jeans I have to shorten, and a quilt I have to bind as well as some bins of quilts-in-progress.

When you walk into the studio and turn to the left, you see the thread racks on the backs of the French doors, and the bulletin board where I hang my most used cutting rulers and the design wall. I'm only five feet tall, so I need the small step stool to reach high up on the design wall. To the right of the design wall is my sewing machine.

 My sewing machine sits on an old student desk. Inside the desk are a couple of bowls with sewing machine tools and a bowl of prewound bobbins. I use grey thread for all my piecing, so when I get down to my last full bobbin or two, I wind about a dozen more. The plastic bin on the floor is for all the pieces to fall into when I'm chain-sewing. 

 This drawer in the taboret next to my sewing machine holds my most commonly used tools, my rotary cutters, seam rippers, rulers, blades, and other stuff. I always put these things away, because it makes it easier to find these when I am ready to work. I also put them away because I use tilted work tables and stuff falls off, and because I have a cat. 

Need I say more?

This is my small work table. It is a drafting table, and set at an angle. The sewing machine is behind me, and I set up a small portable ironing board so I never have to get up. It makes for a very efficient work triangle. I use a small decorative box as a tabletop wastebasket for threads and tiny scraps. My pins are in the large tin, and I keep a lint roller handy for when I need to rip out a seam.

 This is my big cutting/work table. Before the arthritis in my back flared up, I did all my work here (and I did it standing up). Now I use it for cutting large pieces and straightening up my long free pieced word blocks.

This is my large (24" x 48") ironing table. You can see it also stores plastic bins full of fabrics that are larger than scraps, but too small to be folded and stored in my stash. Above the ironing table is the magnetic rack for my scissors. Above the scissors are some of my favorite photos and photos of my quilts.

To the right of the ironing table is what I call my "inspiration" wall,  but really it's letters and emails from friends for whom I've made quilts. Whenever I'm feeling lost, I look up at the wall and read the letters of joy, and it gives me the courage to keep going. The house quilt was made by my Aussie friend, Helen. The blue ribbon was given to me by my friend Julie for encouraging her to get way way out of the box when she was making her See Rock City quilt. She's since won a Best in Show award for it.

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Across from the large work table I have some of my favorite things on display. The large quilt of color names is my Nine x Nine surrounded by one of my paintings and some other quilts by friends and photos of things I like.

 

On that far wall you can see bindings waiting for their quilts, and a shelf bracket that holds several rolls of blue painter's tape (dead useful for all kinds of things). There's a bureau back there full of stuff I never use, with all the notes of the book I am writing, a small desk (can you see the Digital Pinwheel blocks on the chair?) and the sock kitty Millies that travel with me...

See? I told you she was famous!

Then there's a small desk and a bookcase with a collection of quilt books, some books on Art, Color and Creativity, coffee mugs filled with pencils, pens, markers, notebook and other tools.

 Then there's the bookcase with my fabric stash. And since this is the REAL studio tour, you can see the pile of leftover backing from the Spools quilt I sent to my son and his fiancee for Christmas. Yeah, I know I should pick it up, and separate the fabric from the batting and fold it and put it away...

On top of the bookcase are plastic bins filled with leftover bits and oddballs. All my fabric is stored where I can see it, and all the bins are clear because I'm the kind of person where if I can't see it, it doesn't exist. So everything is out in the open. In a way it's all inspiration.

Now we are back where we started, by the French doors. The plastic cutting rulers on the board are specialty ones I don't use often.

Way at the far end of the studio, beyond the big work table is a special spot for my cat, Millie, She can lie there undisturbed, and she has a perfect view out the window. Millie does all the Quality Assurance work on my quilts. She checks them for softness, kindness, love and warmth.

Every quilting studio needs a cat.

Update: Because everybody wanted to know how I fit it all in... Here is the plan I made when I first decided to put the sewing studio in this room three years ago. I've moved a few things around, but you get the idea.

The solution: graph paper. One square = one foot. I measured everything I wanted to put in the room, measured the doors, and windows, and located the electrical outlets.