My sewing room as three stations, if you will. I have a wonderful sewing desk (Thank you Treva) that has plenty of room for even two sewing machines, should I need to drag out my serger. On the day I took this photo I was using it for computer work, so there's no machine on it at all.
Behind the sewing desk I have a large wood desk that I use for my cutting station. Its top is large enough to accomodate my biggest cutting mat and I can use it for drawing and lying out pieces when I'm not cutting. It also makes a nice storage spot for finished blocks, magazines I'm reading during breaks from quilting, and it's the spot where Kelsey puts things that belong to me when she's cleaning another room.
And then my pressing station is set up under a window. I have a regular ironing board that I keep there when I'm working on blocks or other sewing. I have a table ironing station that I made for larger pieces and it comes out when I'm putting a quilt together.
I really love this room. It has a television with Dish DVR, a couple of nice windows, a small heater for when my feet get cold, and even a couch for anyone who wants to keep me company while I sew. My daughter, Ashley, comes over often to check out what I'm making or to show me what she's working on. She has inherited my love for fabric!
And my sewing room is also a favorite place for my granddaughters, Annika and Alivia. They love to come and help Grandma sew. Annika insists on lifting and lowering the presser foot as I sew. She stands beside me, not so patiently waiting for me to finish my seam, all the while asking "Now, Grandma? Now?"
I love this photo. See how smart these kids are? Playing Scrabble on the computer! I can tell you this.....they felt pretty special this day. They were allowed to play with my computer while I sewed. It was a lot faster than letting them help. And they played Scrabble for a long time before deciding it wasn't as much fun as it looks when Grandma is playing.
The last project I finished was a quilt that I started over a year ago when my sister still lived in Dubai. It's called the Morning Splash and is a pattern designed by Judy Laguidara. Judy has a wonderful blog at http://www.patchworktimes.com/. I'm envious of Judy... she blogs daily.
Lavina and I decided to make this quilt together so we would send pictures back and forth to each other showing our progress. I can't find all the photos I sent her along the journey of this quilt. But here are some of the ones I sent early on, and then the ones later on as I got close to completing it.
Lavina and I decided to make this quilt together so we would send pictures back and forth to each other showing our progress. I can't find all the photos I sent her along the journey of this quilt. But here are some of the ones I sent early on, and then the ones later on as I got close to completing it.
This is where I left it after Lavina decided to move back to the states. She wasn't going to have a lot of time to quilt, so I moved on to some other projects while she got set up in her new home.
In September I attended my annual quilt retreat. I decided to finish up the quilt so I spent me first day at retreat cutting and sewing borders. The pattern called for more borders, but I didn't have enough purple fabric so I ended mine here. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.
Now I have 7 quilt tops finished awaiting quilting. Did you notice there is no long arm maching in my sewing room? Did you see that there is no room for a long arm in there? I've been plotting a way to get my dream machine. In two years my youngest daughter will have graduated high school (God willing) and we will once again have a free room. I'm thinking I could knock out a wall and combine the 2 bedrooms into one big room . . and voila' . . . a room long enough for a long arm. Unfortunately, every time I mention this to Vince, he starts in about how maybe he should be allowed to have some of his things in the house too! Men . . . .
