Its just as I imagined it would be!

The big build is finally over! Well actually it has been since January when I declared I was moving in! Since then and under the guidance of my good friend Lisa, a long round of painting furniture began, I cleaned, sanded (several times!) and chalk painted (2 coats!) a chest of drawers, a small cabinet and a wardrobe (PHEWW!!!) and I have to say I am pleased with the effect.  As the title suggests my 'STUDIO' is exactly as I thought it would be. So join me on the grand tour...

As you approach the room I have this cute little sign on the door (courtesy of DD at Christmas) 

then as you enter, you can see across to one of the storage areas which is in front of the sewing table as I sit at the machine. Its here I store things like threads- of all kinds, rulers and cutting mats, the tall drawer unit houses kits, trimmings, fastenings & zips, plus Vilene, bond-a-web and freezer paper rolls.

Next is the view from my 'cozy corner' showing the opposite wall.

plenty of storage here too, fabric in the chest of drawers, waddings, felt, and other craft stuff in the big cupboard (previously a wardrobe and wonderfully adapted with extra shelves by DH!!). The top of the chest of drawers works well as my ironing surface, which is basically a very large cake-board with a toweling cover, lit on darker days/evenings by a daylight lamp on top of the dresser. I decided not to keep the ironing board up here, as most of the time I will be stitching smaller things - i.e. blocks and small projects, and if I have the need to iron larger pieces then it won't be hard to bring the ironing board back in for a while. The base of the dresser houses more of the stash, while the top is my book case and a display area for some 'special' bits and pieces.

Next looking across from the large cupboard towards the cozy area. This is all kitted out with a comfy chair, it has good light from the window, and a view of the back garden, an angled daylight lamp on the windowsill brightens things up for the darker evenings, with of course a quilt to keep my knees cozy, plus the little cabinet holds the radio and makes a good place to stand the inevitable cuppa and Biccys and there's space in the recess/cupboard for the current hand sewn project plus a few odds and ends. The windowsill also displays a collection of smaller bits and pieces which I have collected over time or have had gifted to me.

Last but not least is the business part of the room where I sit and sew, from here I have a view of the road at the front of the house so I can see if visitors arrive (and keep a nosy eye on the neighbours and passers by! LOL)

I still have to cover a large heavy duty board which is designated to be my design wall, (which is currently being stored in the garage) this is going to be a two person job so a 'quilty' friend is coming over to help with that soon (Thanks Lisa! X) This will stand against the wall between the storage corner and my comfy chair. I decided not to have it fixed in position, in case I want to move it for any reason. 

That concludes the tour, I do hope you enjoyed it, now I'm off to sew - somehow this new space has given my inspiration a wonderful boost and I sew most days when I am home.

I'll try to be back soon with a round up of things made/completed since my previous post.

Lxx

Busy days!!!

Hello my Friends!
Here I am back again with another round up of events from my neck of the woods. Firstly let me tell you about our show, the figures are in and we had over 300 visitors through the door during the one and a half days we were open and hopefully we will have made a nice sum for whichever charity is chosen by the members. Here are a few of the quilts (and there were many) to give you a taste.

This one was huge at least 7ft long and  6ft wide and very striking, had us wondereing just how big this lady's bed might be!

All the buildings and rooftops were outlined in Silver - very effective when the light caught it.

and 3 more to round up.

In my last post I mentioned the groups15 minutes of fame, well my dears! the exhibition was filmed and some of us (including yours truly) were interviewed for Just Hands-On.TV, apparently they will be uploading it to U tube in due course and letting us know when, so as soon as I hear anything I'll give you all a shout so you can tune in to watch and see a lot more quilts.!

I entered mostly smaller pieces this time plus a couple of charity quilts, Here is my Chairman's challenge piece for 2015. We had to depict a film or book title at A4 size, I was very pleased with this but it's soo easy to guess, then I actually missed the September meeting so it didn't get entered in the voting.

The sewing room continues to take shape and as you can see I am going for a blue and white theme. I am now doing all my sewing in there, but have not yet moved everything in, getting the storage sorted seems to be the theme at the moment and I am busily painting a chest of drawers which will double up as storage and ironing board. This is where I've got to with that.

 

 DD has asked me to store this lovely Oak dresser for her (for around 10 years! honestly that's what she said!!! ) and suggested I could use it in my room, it has lots of cupboard space (3 Shelves) and will also be my bookcase (I seriously culled my quilting book collection obsession by selling them at the show) those left fit nicely on here and there are some shelves for my 'bits and pieces'. I am not allowed to alter the dresser and in order that the books don't scratch it I have made a runner (40" long x 11" wide) and some coasters. Here they are all ready for hand sewing the bindings down later tonight.

I am really pleased with myself as they are completely made using scraps and as wadding I used a recycled electric blanket that the wires have been removed from which is really firm, I added the strips quilt as you go style and tried for a random look. 

And here is the table, I bought an oilcloth cover and I think it looks much better, as before it just 'jumped out at me' as a large brown 'blob' when I walked in the room

Last but not least I have just spent a most enjoyable day at Clock Tower where most of us took part in a Disappearing 4 Patch workshop led by the lovely Sheila, I didn't get very far as I only found out on Wednesday that it was this month, (I thought it was in March!!!) so I spent a fair bit of time actually sewing the squares together.but once that was done I managed these 3 blocks.

I bought the majority of fabrics from Totally Patched who were traders at SVQ exhibition, and added 2 from my stash. Again I am going with the blue/white theme as this will be used in the sewing room eventually.

Right now I'm off to get myself some tea, then snuggle up with the aforementioned hand sewing in front of a movie.

Byeee!

Lxx