Saturday, March 29, 2014

Studio clean-up and quilt progress

I've got quite the opening photo for you in this blog post. Here it is!
Pretty awful, isn't it?! This is my studio/home office. Like everyone, at times it gets out of control, usually when I don't want to take the time to clean up from one project before starting the next. (Which in this photo, clearly happened about 50 projects in a row!) This is the worst it's been, I think. 

We're doing a little rearranging in our house and a guest bed will be making its permanent home in with my sewing and work things (definitely can't complain--my space is the bonus room over the garage and I love having it--happy to share it with a guest bed!). Anyway, my mom came to town for a few days and we worked hard to add a little more organization to the room, as well as just clean up in general. Thanks Mom!
Now my job is to keep it that way! :)

Would you like a tour? Here are the after pictures:
Those are fabric storage bins, for scraps sorted by color. I upgraded from 12 to 16.

Bought a new chair (!) and moved my ironing board from in front of my fabric bins.  That's more fabric in bins under the table with my cutting boards. Just need to hang my thread holders on the wall. (They had been on my sewing table, which is definitely more convenient, but the thread kept unwinding when whatever I was sewing on touched it. I don't mind the walk! Ditto with the ironing board--it's a little farther away from the sewing table, but it's no longer in the way. And the walk is good for me!)
Look, you can see the carpet! Here's the ironing board again, my work desk, and the corner of the futon (soon to be replaced by the actual guest bed).


These are bins of projects in progress--better than piles on the floor! Those little doors lead to short storage closets in the eaves of the house.

We actually finished this project EARLY--before Mom had to go home. So we went back to working on my zig zag quilt.

This was my original plan--each yellow row was a different color yellow.

I tried switching up the yellows, making it random. To my surprise, I loved it so much more!

Here's the pieced quilt top:

So much progress! And I can't even tell you how much I enjoy spending time in my studio/office now...so relaxing!


10 comments:

  1. What a room transformation! Quilting requires the freedom to be messy. When I see a perfect sewing room it makes me very suspicious.

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    1. Don't be suspicious of me now that I have a neat room--you can see where I"m coming from! :)

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  2. Oh my goodness! I just saw the first photo featured in my bloglovin' feed, and immediately, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought, 'Thank goodness my room isn't the only one to look like that!" I don't have many quilty friends that understand that messy goes before creativity sometimes. Glad you are enjoying your more organized space!

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    1. It's interesting how many quilters relate (so glad you do!) and how many non-quilters are horrified. :)

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  3. I love how the zigzags have so much more movement with the random yellows.

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  4. Wow! That was quite a mess. Mine never makes it on the floor like that but piles on every surface, including my little couch in the sewing room. It always feels good to get things up and organized again and your new look is wonderful. Creative minds work alike!

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  5. What kind (brand and style) of chair did you buy? Did you research or just "try them on"?

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    1. Sally, I'll be honest--as I'd previously been sitting on a folding chair and/or step stool, anything was an improvement! I went to Office Max and Office Depot and tried a few out, but ultimately went with pretty much the most basic one. It's comfy and some of the others had too many bells and whistles that I didn't need/want (leather, arm rests, etc.).

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  6. Oh yeah, that first photo looks familiar! I'm glad I'm not the only person that can work in a mess. Some ladies always seem so neat and ordered in their sewing room. I aspire to this, but in reality I'd rather just get in there and sew. What's the saying? A tidy house is a sign of a boring life? Something like that! How lucky you are having your Mum help you tidy. Mine does offer to help my kids (they are young) tidy their rooms. I prefer the mixed up yellow chevrons too.

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  7. Прекрасная студия. Мечта!

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