Deana's Sewing Space

Today I am machine quilting my Jessi's Medallion quilt.  It is for my daughter's wedding gift the end of May.  I  hope to finish it this week, but I have much going on outside of quilting so we will see.

Val's Tuesday Archives is about sewing spaces this week, so I am going to show you mine.  It was not cleaned or organized for the photos so you are getting the real deal.

My sewing space is little more than the size of a walk in closet.  It came with the house and already had counter tops, drawers on the bottom, and cupboards on the top.  The drawers were already stenciled with labels that do not fit what I have in them, but they work for now.  This room is in the basement but has two large windows for great lighting.  The room is unfinished:  there is sheetrock that has been only primer painted and the floor is cement.  I have layed down some pieces of carpet to make it more homey.  The windows have plastic over them for insulating the room.

 

 I prefer to sew right next to a card table for two reasons:

1.  When I machine quilt it holds up the weight of the quilt next to me.

2.  When I piece I like my iron right next to me.  I am a busy lady and must get things finished quickly, so getting up every time to press is not functional for me.

My cutting area is a space where the counter has been lowered for a sewing machine.  I don't use it for that because I am very short, 5 ft tall, and I need a lower level to cut well.  I brought in a table to sew on instead.

My stash is organized into crates.  I organize the stash by colors that could go together in the same quilt such as brights, background fabrics, civil war, etc...  I am pretty frugile and rarely purchase way too much fabric for a project.  I calculate carefully how much I need and only buy that much.  I do purchase fabric I like when I find it on sale and keep it in my stash with fabrics that coordinate well with it.  I also cover the tops of the open crates with fabric to keep the dust out of them.

You can see more crates stacked on top of this shelf.  There are four of them up there all with different stashes in them.

I store my UFOs in boot boxes.  You can see some of them stacked by the window in the cutting area as well as some on the shelf in the above photo.  It works for me because all of the boxes are different and I just remember which project is in which box.  I tried labeling them, but when I finish a project I just stick another one in it, so I threw that idea out.

I have two design walls in my sewing space which I COULD NOT FUNCTION WITHOUT.  I like to see what I'm working on and ponder design ideas while I sew.  

One is on the wall I see while I sew.

 The other is the entire wall off to my right which is also easily visible while I sew.  It really helps with block placement as I am sewing rows and blocks together.

I sew with my laptop on a little stool in front of me.  I watch videos, listen to music, and often listen to the scriptures as I sew.  I actually finished the Book of Mormon 5-6 times last year just while listening as I sew.  The laptop also keeps me up on incoming emails and other things I track.

One counter top has scrapbooking books and geneology.  

The drawers were hand made out of very heavy boards which has caused them to break off the guides they run on, so I have open spaces that no longer have drawers. Some of the drawer boards have also broken off the front.

I have one drawer full of fabric dying supplies and instructions.  I love to dye fabric and Dharma is the place to order everything you want.

I have a tall closet for things like a roll of batting.  I need to resupply soon.  Normall the door is shut so it looks nicer.

I also keep my books and patterns on a shelf.  It mostly consists of magazines I had subscriptions to.  I don't really purchase patterns because I prefer to design so most of these books were given to me as gifts.

Finally, I have a little corner where I keep some quilt tops on the counter.  They need the bindings finished or they are waiting to be received by their owners (my girls when they wed).

Linking up today with:

Val's Quilting Studio

Freemotion by the River

Show N Tell Tuesday

WIP Wednesday at Fresly Pieced

Let's Bee Social

QUILTDJOOJS: Herfst!!

I WOULD LOVE to have a design wall like hers (and the quilts on it)!! My little sewing room is much too small for now. Maybe I could move a cabinet out, or maybe I'll just have to wait until the kiddos move out in a few years so I can steal one of their rooms.

QUILTDJOOJS: Herfst!!

Cottons 'n Wool: Good grief

I like the yellow sewing room -- very cheery, but mostly I like the sewing machine cover. I may need to make me one. Cottons 'n Wool: Good grief

Clean Studio « Feathered Fibers

Clean Studio « Feathered Fibers

I think her see-through hanger is a wonderful way to organize and be able to FIND your things. I may need to get me one.

My Sewing Space

I'm finally back. I've been a bit under the weather for a couple of weeks; so I'm a little behind, but that's nothing new. I thought the idea of sharing pictures of our sewing/hobby spaces was fun, so here I go. The first picture is my quilting frames. I love my quilt frames because they make hand quilting so much easier, take up less space and because my son-in-law, Doug, made them for me. He did a great job on them and I know it took him many, many hours. Shanna's quilt that I am currently quilting is hiding under the fabric pieces, but since she can't see it yet I covered it. By the way, the exercise ball is what I sit on when I quilt. I know--a little strange, but it's very comfy for me, and probably good exercise, but certainly not enough.

For the past couple of months I've been sewing in my family room downstairs instead of my sewing room. I can spread out down here and leave my project scattered about because I'm not using the room for anything else right now. It is in my canning kitchen; so in a few months (after the retreat) the sewing stuff will have to go back upstairs so I can use the kitchen for what it is meant for. For right now, I love using it as a sewing room. I have been working on my miniatures so they are on the tables. On the cutting board I have some stack and whack blocks I'm cutting out for a wallhanging. Why should I stick to one project at a time?

This is in my sewing/laundry room upstairs. This is one of the cupboards in the room with my small stash.

This is the counter where I usually sew. I have my old machine set up here, but hardly ever use it. Notice the pincushion on the wall to the right of the thread. That's a very special pincushion because Grandma Winkler made that and gave it to me. You will also see a couple of other projects I'm working on. There is a pink and blue quilt that are pieces of brushed nylon that Grandma Winkler also gave me years ago. I started a quilt many, many, many years ago, but never finished it. I made it so long ago that I had never really pieced a quilt before and I was pressing open all the seams. This past week I used some of those scraps to make a doll quilt for my little grandaughter's birthday, but I forgot to take a picture of it and mailed it off. The looseleaf on the pink and blue has pages of fabric samples and lists of fabric that I need for projects I will do in the future. I take it with me to the fabric store.

This is another view of my sewing area in my sewing/laundry room. I think you can see why I like to sew downstairs when I can because I can't spread out very much here. The blue caboodle holds my Dorinda quilt borders. The larger paper bag is garden seeds ready to be planted. Once that happens, sewing will be on the back burner for several months while I garden and freeze and can produce. Truthfully, I'd rather sew, but I sure love eating the stuff I can. Under the counter is a plastic storage with drawers. I have a quilt project in each of those drawers waiting for me to get to. There are also some other projects in a closet. I counted 11 unfinished projects, but I'd rather call them "works in progress" then I don't feel so bad. Oh, that really bright orange thing in the corner is my hubbies hunting hat. It needs to be fixed. It's only been there since last hunting season. I still have a few months before he needs it. :o)

Now, a change of subject. The other day I looked up a history of Dorinda and thought this was an interesting paragraph. It said it was written by Ella Lloyd Beckstrom, and she got it from Mitzie Rogers.

"When I was a girl of thirteen, I lived with her (Grandma Dorinda) during the winter. The snow was very deep and it was my duty to sweep paths each morning, get her wood and feed her chickens. Her large old lumber barn was across the street from her house, and the high drifts of snow were eight to ten feet deep. One morning she bounded out of bed, dressed, and with pencil and paper sat by the window to draw a quilt pattern from the figures the frost had made. This she called 'The Window Pane Quilt'. She had on hand thirty-five quilts and tops at one time, nine white bed spreads all designed by herself. She was a natural artist. Much of her work is to be found among her friends and relatives."

I sure would love to see that "Window Pane Quilt".

Gotta see this cute retreat

Just click on the link here:
Fat Quarters: Retreat 3

Reveal your space

Hay, I thought it would be fun if everyone -- EVERYONE -- posted a few photos of their sewing space. It might help us all bond or something. There are rules, though.
1. You cannot clean it or move anything. Take an as is photo.
2. If your space spans the house into various rooms, please reveal all.
3. If you follow this blog but don't really quilt (Shanna, Kristen, Dorine, etc) please blog your hobby space -- whatever that hobby may be.

This really could be fun.




This is in my sewing room. It is a very tiny space with a lot of cabinets and wall to wall counters/tables. This is my cutting / pressing area.

This is my counter stacked to the hilt with coke crates. Each crate has an unfinished project in it -- so embarrassing! You can also see the table where I generally keep my Bernina and actually sew. Right now it has piles of future project ideas.

This is in the corner. You can see a window on each side. This section holds the Juki and my miniatures project. Tattered Toby hangs on the wall. You can also see another stack of those UFO coke crates.

This is my inspiration wall. It has a little 30's wallhanging I won at an annual meeting miniatures raffle and a 30's pinwheel quilt Loretta made me for Christmas. There is also a photo of a beautiful trapunto quilt that I hope to make someday and a dated list of all the FINISHED projects I've completed in the past couple of years.

This is my quilt magazine/book case. Notice how small the miniature pinwheel is next to the bookcase. The top CLEAN shelf is Jim's church books. The bottom MESSY one is mine.

This is my kitchen table. It has hosted my Bernina for several months now as I have been machine quilting. You can see the current project in it.
Oh, I still have JOY in the window from Christmas.
And that concludes DJ's sewing space.