Bam Bom Catchup

 

I realized I of course had missed out completely on the July BAMQ B.O.M. This month is square in a square. My studio assistant pretended to be napping but she was keeping a sharp eye on me.

Especially when I used the spray bottle of starch when it was time to iron.

There it is, a nice big block. And yes, I wish I had paid more attention to the direction of the dots. But it's not too bad.

All together now! It's getting pretty big, and I may go back and make some more of the alternative versions and sizes of the blocks.

It's Curtains

This picture of my hand-dyed scraps is lit by the strong afternoon/early evening sun at 5:30 pm. This is nice to have the light when it's not super hot, but it's a lot of direct sun. It honestly feels like too much direct sun in a room filled with fabric and thread. 

Last summer we had to go as far as to mount on the outside of the house a shade curtain. It worked very well, but it was quite ugly from both outside and inside. So there's a curtain project afoot to see if I can avoid having that shade put up again this year. 

The window in my workroom is an unusual size, it's quite wide at 8' and it's 4' high. So that means that buying grab and go curtains from Target isn't in the ballpark really. Unless one has a sewing machine....mwahaha. 

All I can hear in my mind's eye memory is the Bugs Bunny version of "It's Curtains for You":

So I bought some "light-filtering" curtains from Target that need to be modified down to size as they are much too long at 84"

These curtains are very simply made, and I discovered that both the top and the bottom have a similar big hem that's open on the ends so that they're can both be functioning rod pockets. 

Here's the before picture. The current curtains on the sides are very old and made out of a fairly heavy damask that is also lined. They were made for a normal 6' width window. So they block too much light and also don't cover the whole window. The dumb thingy on the curtain rod in the middle was what I made out of the leftovers from shortening DS's blackout curtains that we got for the same afternoon sun situation. It was made to try and block the bright light that was coming through the top of the exterior shade we put up last year. Unfortunately it didn't work and also looks truly demented.

Tah-dah, much much better. No more demented pouf crouching up on the curtain rod and a very nice filtering of the light as per the package. The two curtains were both shortened to 4' high and then I used the left over fabric to make a third curtain (seen on the left) for when it's really bright.

This is great, I feel so much better, like I now have some control over the amount of light coming into the room. 

Even with the strongest sun of the day coming in, it's still much better. I love the moving shadows.

I'm counting this project as Done✅

 

The Great Sort

The project of putting away the teetering washed fabric stack so that I have room to quilt has turned into a whole thing. Of course it has. Because I was unearthing layer after layer, kind of like combing through the geomorphic strata of the past few years. 

Oh hey, there's all of the fabric that I bought via the subscription box Culcita. (rip) I really liked the fabric four years ago as it arrived in their cute little boxes (and still quite like most of it) but I never used any of it. None. It's now sorted into its very own container now. In theory, the groups of fabrics are an easy starter for a quilt. Now that I've looked at it all again, maybe I'll actually use some of it. Don't laugh, it might happen.

More details on storage decisions made during The Great Sort:

• Another part of the stack was a huge amount of yarn-dyed plaids and shot cottons, mostly Kaffe Fasset I think. Those are in their own box now because they require special handling.
• There was also a lot of solids in there, which I have now put into all the color cubby boxes. 
• I found a big assortment of ruler, number, letters, and words fabrics which are now in their own box.
• I'm not sure why, but I've got all of my Tula Pink fabric in one box. They seem special somehow so they get to be separate.
• And I made a box for Carolyn Friedlander and Marcia Derse fabric to live in. They're very different designers of course, but the amount of fabric for a separate box worked out.

And I'm done! With that clear open space next to my sewing machine, I can quilt some of those bigger quilts.

Goodness me oh my do I ever have a lot of fabric. This is something I knew of course, but handling so much of a chunk of it as I was sorting it out and putting it away was really hitting me differently. I mean...am I really a fabric hoarder? Verging on I'd say, but at least self-aware.

Seasick Quilting

 

Well, I learned something new yesterday. It's possible to get seasick right in your own home! I was concentrating on machine quilting the Lone Round Robin and it was an unusually windy day, a very steady wind was blowing. I'm quilting along and all of a sudden I got that awful sudden swooping feeling in my stomach that usually means either an earthquake or the onset of vertigo. Neither of those was happening. It was the constant movement of the palm and redwood trees in the window that was visible in my peripheral vision. I think it was made worse because it was blurry as my glasses don't wrap around and correct my vision. So the quilt was moving, and the needle, and my hands and also the world outside my window. It was too much for my brain I guess. 

Seriously, I stopped quilting and started looking up the earthquake tracker and considering going and laying down until the vertigo passed. Thankfully the seasick feeling went away quickly and I got back to quilting. Guess I'll have to try to remember to close at least that curtain in my studio on windy days. Luckily windy days aren't super regular around here.

I've gotten a lot done on the grey quilting.

The big polka dot fabric corners were fun to do and I like how the swoopy lines worked out.

You can really tell which bits are quilted and which are not.

I had to pin it up on the design wall to check that the quilting isn't adding "too much" to this already busy quilt.

A detail of one of the squares. I came up with this design on the fly and I really like it.

New table

One of my two tables has never been ideal. It’s a drafting table and I’ve always liked the size of it, but the height isn’t adjustable. It’s too tall when I’m sitting down. And it’s way too short when I stand up to rotary cut. But now there are these newfangled height adjustable tables. I talked myself out of splurging on one, but then my husband insisted. Primarily because he saw one for sale at Costco and secondly because I was complaining about my back hurting after doing a bunch of cutting.

 So here it is at standing and rotary cutting height, it can remember four heights and has usb charging outlets. It’s glass topped and the controls are on the lower right hand corner. Like a mini built in touch screen. It feels so space age!

And here it is lowered down to sitting level. It’s not the same size or shape of the drafting table so I’ve had to move a lot of stuff around. But it’s a huge improvement in my workspace. Now if the power would come back on! It’s been a couple days and I’m itching to sew again!

Posted To Inspire

The two bulletin boards that I have in my work room are used for different purposes.  This first one is larger, more easily accessible and requires no thumbtacks to put something up.  So it gets changed more often, has more current, topical, things like show advertisements, birth announcements.  I have things hanging off the bottom too, a green silk scarf I'm supposed to do something with, and a cool black/white/green zipper I want to use for a bag or jacket.  This is mostly just a hodgepodge of stuff I want to look at more than once or an image I want to revisit.

The second one is smaller, much harder to reach as it hangs over my wide cutting/work table and requires a new thumbtack to be hunted up to hang something new on it.  I have inspirational images,things with color combinations or patterns that I enjoy, quotes and words and a few objects hanging on here, a collage of myself in a way.  It doesn't change as much, but it gets update occasionally, usually when I clean off the other bulletin board.

The coolest artist bulletin board I ever got to see in person was probably Judith Content's, it took up almost a whole wall above her desk I think.  And if I recall correctly she takes everything down on a yearly basis and puts it in a book, then starts over again filling up the blank wall.

Do you have something similar in your work space?

Welcome to An Open Studios Tour

Welcome to my studio!
This post is part of the Open Studios Online tour hosted by Cloth, Paper Scissors Studios Magazine, so be sure and go see all the other artist studio tours posted today.

The room that I use for my art-quilting and collage/mixed-media studio is upstairs in our house and was (when we did our recent remodel) intended to be a family TV room and occasional guest room. It has a door off to a bathroom and a big 8 foot window as well as carpeting. The room that was going to be my studio has turned out to be a music/computer room for my teenagers. So I've been slowly claiming this room as my own, even though eventually I will be moving into the room downstairs when/if my teenagers are no longer using it.

I know this tour through my studio won't look perfectly organized and inspirational and put-together like the studios shown in the magazine, but my room is probably in the most organized and together state ever and I'm really enjoying using what I've got.
First is the main work area of my studio, I have a table with my sewing machine, and a cutting table, as well as a drawer stack with my sewing notions. There is a rolling chair and a plastic mat so that I can zoom around since the room is carpeted. Behind the chair is a closet with no doors where I have most of my fabric in plastic boxes. Under the tables are more plastic boxes with projects and yes, more fabric. I love having everything I use the most close by and together.

Here's a closer up view of my sewing station. The table I'm using is a computer table with a drop-down area intended for your keyboard, of course I've got the sewing machine on there. That way when I'm free-motion quilting, there isn't as much drag on the rest of the big quilt surface as I move it around. Also, I have a small rug underneath my machine, it helps it not vibrate and helps trap the thread scraps that inevitably fly around when sewing.
When I turn around in my work chair I see these stacks of plastic boxes containing fabrics and ongoing projects. I've labeled them all with my P-Touch lable maker which makes it look a little bit more "official" and cohesive to me than random stickers and pieces of paper taped on which is what I used to have.
A funny angle view from the cutting table, this shows the pincushions next to my sewing machine, sitting on top of the box of Sulky threads that I use in my machine quilting all the time. I find the closer I keep the tools to where I use them, the more they get utilized. I'm much more likely to switch thread colors because they are right there. I also keep the plastic box with all the sewing machine feet right there at hand too. Behind them are a rotating tool organizer which has scissors, pens, pencils, glue sticks, erasers , a back scratcher and a sewing stiletto.
That spot is one that my cats like to hang out in, they aren't in danger of getting rotary cut or stitched or pinned there, and they can keep an eye on what is going on outside in the front yard. Next to Spike on the table is a big glass jar where I put broken needles and pins and thread trimmings.Gosh this looks so messy, but you have no idea how it usually looks! On top of the table are an organizer of rulers for rotary cutting, a basket for fabric scraps (this usually gets unmanageable quickly) and a box of collage-y fibery bits that had to be gathered together somewhere. On the wall is a thread rack of colorful rayon thread cones, and a bulletin board with inspiring quotes, images and name tags.

To the right is a stack of plastic drawers that have all my notions like buttons, interfacing, tools, pens, more thread, needles, scissors, etc. On top of that is my spirit station or altar where I keep a 7-day candle going and light incense everyday I'm working in the studio, helps to keep me centered and on track with why I'm doing what I'm doing. To the right is a collection of promotional bags, tassels and an embroidery bag I'm adding to.

Below that is my to-go basket of hand-sewing projects and colored pencils and sketch book that I take when I go on trips. In front of that is the serger that is always at the ready to jump up onto the cutting table to finish some edges. Underneath the table is post office mailing boxes, plastic boxes of ribbons, yarns and fabric.

In the collage zone, here is my milk crate of mostly different types of glue and collage mediums. Yes it used to be a Foremost, but I repainted it. This collage zone has a big box of collage stuff that I can roll over to in my chair and dig through as I'm working.
And in this corner...The rest of my fabric is there behind that curtain on a Gorilla Rack shelf. I found that the cheapo metal shelves you can buy just won't hold heavy boxes of fabric and am really happy with these sturdy shelves, no bending and breaking. Also, I realized that I have to have a curtain on there so that the light from the window doesn't fade all the fabric. I also have several boxes of beads on those shelves.

There on the right is the vintage sectional rattan couch (formerly my grandma's) that my mostly invisible but still incredibly hairy studio cat lives under (long story). To the left of the shelf are three big plastic boxes that contain batting, backing fabric and miscellaneous stuff I really need to sort through at some point but never quite ever get around to it. If I'm looking for something, it usually turns out it is in one of those bottom two boxes.

On top of the big boxes there is my CD player/radio and basket of Cd's, very necessary to keep me going when I'm working. Behind the CD player is a laundry basket filled with clothing that I'm working on Wardrobe Refashioning, t-shirts that need reshaping, pants that need changing or copying, etc. And then there is my beading chair, it is a recliner that I like to sit in when I bead on my quilts, I put my feet up, make sure I have the portable phone near to hand and get my beading done.

On the wall is my pitiful excuse for a design wall with several pieces I've been working on this year pinned up. It has been temporary for a year now, but I just haven't made it a priority to make a big permanent more functional one. I have the plans, know what I need to make it, but I just have to get the husband time scheduled to help me out in procuring and cutting up the materials. Maybe I'll ask for it for my birthday. For now, it is a flannel backed vinyl picnic table cloth. It works well for small pieces of fabric, as long as no one walks by quickly, but for larger things, I have to pin them up.

Below the "design wall" is my Flynn Frame, the PVC pipes that go with it, two camera tripods and two bins of upholstery fabrics. On top of those bins are another art quilt I'm working on as well as a stack of some various fabrics that I'm planning to paint, painting papers, a Fiskars paper trimmer and a little step stool so I can reach up to the top of the design wall.

On the back of the door is one of those clear plastic shoe organizers, I have all kinds of stuff in those pockets, mostly just for eye catching views of interesting colors, but also so that I don't forget about this fabulous scarf, or silk flower or deck of cards or pack of Barbie shoes.

Here is the wall of book cases, three in all. The short one on the right has a lamp on top which helps illuminate the design wall to the right and the ironing board area. Also on that top shelf are my water spray bottle which helps in ironing and of course a can of spray starch. In that bookcase there are boxes of my dyed and surface designed fabrics, on the bottom shelf are collection bags. I have a bag of nylon produce bags, quilt binding bit, silk flower petals and leaves, trimmings from bulls eye blocks and other assorted scraps.

Under the ironing board is a three drawer plastic bin of assemblage stuff, plastics, woods, metals and glass, a box of all my batik and handmade stamps and my accordion sewing basket which the legs just broke off of.

The next bookshelf has all my quilting and art books, yearly show binders from my years of art quilting, a whole shelf of blank journals, a shelf of my completed art journals and altered books and collaborative projects, and several shelves of current projects and frequently used tools.
On top of the bookcase are two boxes and a basket of clothing patterns, my photo lights that I use to shoot my quilts with, and a basket of wire and hooks for making hanging bars for my quilts.

The final white bookcase is mostly filled with magazines which I've recently sorted out and gotten organized and labeled. so much easier to find what I want now. The next project is actually going through them one by one and deciding whether I really need to keep them all. There are almost too many to be useful at this point! The top shelf has mailing and office supplies. To the left is the wood supports for my Flynn frame, wood trim for around the two doors and closet in this room, ahem, guess that needs to get done at some point, and a roll of upholstery fabric left over from a previous project.

Here is a short video tour of my studio. A little bit herky-jerky, but you can see how all the parts of the room fit together. I have to say I'm always surprised by what my voice sounds like, do I really sound like this? I don't know, I wouldn't say so, that isn't how I sound to myself from inside my own head! Reality, what a challenging concept,eh?

I hope you've enjoyed your visit to my studio, please come back again and see me some time!

Open Studios Tour On The Horizon

Cloth Paper Scissors Studio magazine is hosting a virtual Open Studios tour, so this is just a heads up that I will be participating on October 3rd. You can too, all the information is right here on how to join in.

It is always fun to see how other people organize their stuff (or not) and utilize their space. Who knows, you might finally see the solution to some storage problem you've been puzzling on.
Now I've got to go tidy up and take some pictures and maybe even a video (we'll see...).

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...

This is a tangled tale of what happens when a bookshelf all of a sudden is empty and ready to use somewhere else in the house.

After a weekend of permanent shelf building in the hall closet space, a spare bookcase was freed-up since it was no longer holding the contents of the former hall closet waaaay back from before the house remodel.

I also was able to get a Gorilla Rack that was formerly mine for the studio reclaimed from the garage. It wasn't really being fully utilized there, and it was pretty easy to consolidate stuff onto another shelf. was doing stuff that had been put off for quite a long time around the house (hooray!).

So after all that reshuffling, I was able to move that Gorilla Rack into position in my studio room, as well as as the white bookcase in the above photo.

So...that meant that thirteen bankers boxes of books and magazines were finally able to come out of storage in the master-bathroom-to-be and back into my studio. Does this remind you of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" yet? I also went a little crazy with my lable machine and labled all the magazine containers.

Gosh that was a lot of work. But it got done, and now my studio room feels much more like my studio room instead of just a room in the house where some of my work stuff is.

I'm not too happy now that I think about it that this Gorilla Rack is next to the window, because that direct sunlight is going right onto the boxes of fabrics. I can either figure out another configuration for the entire room or make a curtain. Guess I'll make a curtain!I also moved my desk stuff from the gigantic one downstairs in the dining room area, upstairs to our desk-nook area in the master bedroom. Gawd, was that ever a hassle, all the tangled computer cords and excessively large collection of office supplies. I was complaining about having thousands of paper clips on Twitter, and it truly was not an exaggeration. Then Robbi Eklow commented they were probably for a quilt, and she was right. Years ago on QuiltArt we wer talking about office supplies used in quilts, and I did do one with staples, and had bought a big supply of pretty gold/brass paper clips to make one with those, but never got around to it.

My handy dandy husband made the desk top for me, to put on top of this nice two drawer filing cabinet that I found at Goodwill for not much $$. I think there is a plan for some shelves of some sort on one side or another of top of the desk for all the cd's and dvd's that one accumulates with a computer system, but I am not waiting for those to appear and getting on with organizing without them. That blank wall needs a quilt hanging up though doesn't it?

Mischief (and Mess) Managed

Well, here are the pictures of the studio after being completely rearranged, just in one day. Boy was I ever pooped! But I was glad that it was done, and I really like the feel of the room so much more now. Before, my back was to the door when I was at my worktable, and that is never a good thing, whether you believe in Feng Shui or not.
This first picture shows my main work area. The area behind my blue chair is a door-free closet space that has stacks of plastic boxes filled with fabric. And what do you know, they are all accessible now, because all the stuff that was in front of them is now across the room, which you can see in this next picture:

Here is most of the rest of the room, click the picture so you can read the labels I added. There are still several large boxes to sort through, but they aren't in danger of falling on anyone now which is an improvement.

Here is my thread organizer, finally up on the wall again. Now it feels like a studio. And there is my Cerridwen below the thread, stirring up her pot of creativity, my organizer full of rulers, behind that is a great creative calendar ArtPlay that Lunaea put together again this year (if you like collage check it out), above the calendar is Flora, who always watches over me to make sure I'm having fun, and above her is Mary in a metal shrine.

So, that is my big start on making my mark on this room, zing, shazam, this is now my studio!

I feel tons better about art making already, and have been very productive in the days since the rearrangement. What is that book title, "Move your stuff, change your life?", seems to be true, who knew?!

Getting Ready to Make a Mess

One of the many things I completed at the CQFA weekend retreat. Well, not completed really. The top is done. The quilting is not. So it is getting added to the To Be Quilted Pile, which is threatening to topple over at this point, there are so many things in it! Guess I better invested in a roll of batting and get it done. Quick! Before it warms up to much to want to be surrounding myself with fluffy batting and lots of layers.

But first I have to rearrange my studio furniture so that I have the room. Right now the way things are arranged, there isn't enough space for a larger quilt to move around easily. I think I've got it figured out, made a floorplan and measured several times. Finally today I think I actually feel well enough to accomplish it. This isn't something one wants to attempt when there is a question on whether it will actually get finished!

That reminds me, I better take some before pictures so I can show you how my workspace changes for the better.

Thanks Lulu!

New glasses! Yes, they are red instead of purple. Made by Lulu Guiness just like the purple ones, but instead of swirls and rhinestones on the temple, there are dotted asterisks with silver bumps. I love them so much and am re-thinking what colors I should wear to go better with them.
It is quite interesting to see who notices, who comments, and who doesn't notice and/or doesn't say anything about them.
I'm not naming names, as I've gotten over taking it personally, but still, it is surprising.
Glasses are like a screen, a mask that one is always wearing (when you're as vision impaired as I am). I feel naked comparatively when I wear contacts. So when the mask changes so substantially, it seems like it would be a noticeable thing.

Creature of the Studio

Look at this, I finally caught my studio cat in action and got a good picture of her. Pele is blind in one eye and we think, slightly brain damaged. Her brother knocked the scratching post over on her when she was a kitten and she almost didn't survive the injury.
She's a real sweetie, but only is seen after everyone else has gone to sleep. Most of the time she lives under the couch in the studio, but she loves to sleep curled up on my messy cutting table. So I have to remember to put the tablecloth over it when I leave the room, otherwise everything gets coated in her fur. bleah.
I feel like she is my cat since she inhabits the room where I spend my creative time.

Studio Colors

Here they are, the colors in my studio-to-be. Just freshly painted this very weekend by yours truly. I like painting rooms, it is actually pretty fun, especially when it is done. Next up on the getting it done schedule is installing the bamboo flooring, the lighting and putting up a bunch of shelves. We have never done flooring of this kind before, so it will no doubt be an adventure.

For those who like to read names of colors from paint companies:
The green/yellow is called: Yellow River and the purple is called: Lavender Bounty.
It is most definitely NOT lavender scented! The color combo is pretty, restful, and inspiring to my eyes. Plus, it looks good in the natural light that comes through the window. We're re-purposing wood that we saved from the remodel to use for shelves along the long purple wall. The wood was actually the former garage roof! So it is good and sturdy for holding up all my fabric supply. I may just keep it natural wood color, or paint it white, haven't decided yet.

Still not holding my breath on moving in to the studio any time soon from my temporary space upstairs, but there are beginning to be some movements towards it happening at least. Hopefully before the end of the year!

Neatness Counts

Sorry I've been blogAWOL,
life intervenes sometimes, doesn't it?! Between trying to not spend so much of my time on the computer, (a good thing, I've gotten so much done in the studio!) and teenager issues which involved a trip to the doctor for stitches, sigh(yes I was warned it was going to be tough, but I didn't know until I'd experienced it myself), the blogging just fell by the wayside.

Anyways! Moving on! (as Stephen Colbert would say)...

Turns out that one of the biggest things holding me back from getting anything done was my messy worktable. (see picture above).
I came to this conclusion as part of the work I'm doing in my mentoring class Creative Sparks with Gabrielle Swain.
She basically asked us to look around in our lives and figure out what is stopping us from getting going on making, doing, creating. And so I walked into my studio and thought to myself:
"Ok, what is it in here that makes me just do a u-turn and go read more books, magazines, blogs, watch movies, go outside, even, gasp! do the dishes instead of sit down at my worktable and **begin**.

And the number one thing was the messy surface. I couldn't see a place to start. Because there wasn't one. There was no space, too much besides just tools was out and taking up real estate on top of my worktable.
So I took a few minutes and cleaned up, I moved the scrap bag off and under the table, I emptied out the baskets, stowed away the projects in their designated boxes.
Now the only five things remaining are:

1. the cutting mat,
2. rulers/rotary cutter in the corner,
3. basket for scraps (which now gets emptied into my scrap tub under the table),
4. my thread jar (where all the threads, and broken needles go until I make them into witch balls, I find it visually exciting and inspiring so it got to stay.)
5. And one little wooden tray which currently holds the charm patches I'm cutting for J and myself as I go.

Seems too Simple huh?

Now my routine is when I'm done for the day I just tidy up after myself. So that the space is ready for me the next day. Geez, I know this is completely simple, and I don't know what it was that finally made this click in. But I sure am grateful and glad that it works for me! I used to scoff at those that kept hyper-neat spaces, seemed like a waste of time that could be spent creatively. Turns out, once I'm beginning with a clean space that it isn't really a lot of time to keep it that way. d'oh!

Times up, I'll share some of my work *output* with you tomorrow!

State of My Studio

I've been working on organizing lately, combining sorting, keeping/tossing, using, redistributing. General stuff shuffling. I think of it as shuffling my creative deck to get myself going on a creative track again. A good way to mark time until I feel well enough to actually dive in and make something.

This first picture shows the room I'm still using as a studio (it is meant to be the media room/guest room, once the downstairs remodel is finished!). Right now I've got a recliner and a rattan couch/ottoman in addition to my studio stuff. The room is large enough to have this comfy furniture, and I find I actually use it. I like to be able to get out of the chair by my sewing machine/table and flop on the couch to sort magazine images, or bead (great light by the big window). It is also nice to have this room when other family members join me while I'm working in here. Homework can be done, books can be read in the recliner, etc.
The only thing I'm missing having is a design wall, but I don't want to muck up my newly painted walls with tack holes. Maybe I'll have to make one of those flannel covered homosote boards to use. hmmmmm.


This is a view over to the closet while sitting on the rattan couch which is under the window. You can see the recliner on the right. The closet doesn't have the trim or a door yet. But it is filled to bursting with my boxes of fabric and supplies.
The larger tubs have batting, upholstery fabric and larger items, including all the decorative stuff I like to have hanging up in my studio. It is weird to be in a room with all my stuff, but to not have anything up on the walls but one calendar. I feel like if I start hanging things up, then I'll never be moving into the "real" studio room downstairs. But it has been awhile now!

This is how the recovering Zelda the Wonder Dog looks with her cone on (still). She still has some wounds healing, but no more stitches at least. I have to make sure to scratch her head since she can't do it herself (poor ol' girl)

Here is the wall o' stuff and ironing board across from the rattan couch. This is actually really organized now . I know it looks higgeldy/piggeldy, but compared to "before" it really is (at least to me!).

This concludes the studio tour...Back to work now!