How It All Started

Update: photos of 2013 quilts added to Quilts page.

It took a while, but I've visited everyone on Ellison Lane's Studio Spotlight.  I really enjoyed seeing where other quilters create and suggest that you go by and view some of the beautiful spaces.  

http://ellisonlane.blogspot.ca/2013/08/studiospotlightlinky.html

Some quilters sew at their kitchen or dining room tables, others (like me) have a dedicated studio, and still others sew somewhere in-between--a corner of a bedroom, a hallway, and so on.  Chatting with others about their spaces had me thinking of my days of starting out.  We were living in our first home, a small three bedroom with rooms that barely measured 10 X 10.  Living with three growing boys took every inch of house and our large yard.

Of course, I started out at the kitchen table.  When the three boys were still very young, I made almost all of their clothing except jeans and Underoos.  When they started asking for boxers, I began making those, too.  One year alone I must have made a hundred pairs of boxers.  The boys were middle school age by that time and didn't really want to wear "homemade clothes."  Of course, the hand-made movement had yet to occur.   

built-in sewing table Rich custom made for me

Then we built our house, and our builder suggested a little sewing closet in the hallway.  The closet was supposed to be for linen and extra storage, but he offered to build one shelf extra deep and at table height.  I was thrilled.  For a while anyway.  


I outgrew the closet when the boys were about high school age.  I'd begun making quilts since I rarely sewed for the boys, although I continued making boxers for them even after they moved away. 

storage under the cutting/work table

Stash storage closet

Today, the old sewing closet is where Richard piles up papers, pays bills, and hides out.  I am the lucky seamstress who has a large building of her own.  Extra large, actually, because once we'd purchased the long arm machine, Richard determined that I'd outgrown a whole two-car garage, which he had enclosed.  He added on about half of that again, making it plenty big enough for the long arm and a seating area.  

repurposed cabinets on the cheap

So I went from no space, to a small closet, to a carport to today's large 30 X 30 space with every conceivable want: my beautiful Bernina, two sergers, a couple of vintage treadles, a long-arm, and more fabric and notions than any one quilter or seamstress could want. 

a hand-me-down cabinet from Rich's grandparents' house

If you're one of the bloggers who posted photos of your kitchen table or a corner of your bedroom, know that it's probably temporary.  You'll get here.  It took me 25-30 years, but I have always been a bit distracted (we call it ADD now) by really important or not so important things--family, sewing, money issues, etc.

old wooden boxes for display and storage above my sewing machine

seating area with the old trunk from my dad and a sewing rocker from Rich's parents

This last photo was taken in 2009 right after we moved into the addition. Even before I painted.  Of course there's paint now and curtains at every window, so the space looks very different.

long arm area and my grandmother's quilt rack (used to store finished quilts)

I guess it's time for a good cleaning and photos of the current state of affairs in the studio--not that it looks so great.  My life is a constant state of chaos and cleaning.  However, there's so much stuff in my studio, it would be difficult to figure out where it can hang out during a photo shoot.   Would you have some extra storage space for a few boxes and bags?  Think you can manage a crate of potatoes or a tree?