Studio Spotlight Blog Hop - My Day!

Welcome everyone!  I am sure you have enjoyed seeing where your favourite designers 'create their magic'. I know I have.  

Today it is my turn.....to take you on a tour.

First I must say that when this tour was proposed my studio was IMMACULATE! It was right after my annual holiday cleanup. The floor was completely clear, my cutting table just had my mats and cutters and rulers on it, my machine was at the ready (cleaned and oiled) and my fabric.....well, it was all in the proper place!

That was then....and this is NOW. I am busy preparing for the Quilting on the Beach retreat in Kona. One box is filling up nicely with kits for Machine Quilting with Decorative Stitches.  There are kits and kit 'parts' in a couple of piles near my fabric cupboard along with notes about the final products I need to order for my students. Kits for Give & Take Applique Design Discoveries are in a couple of bins too.  Hope it all fits in my suitcases!

   

And I just HAD to make one more sample for my Decorative Stitches workshop so my main table is covered! I am having great fun selecting threads and stitches for this new piece. I am focusing on tropical leaves and flowers and you can see my 'in progress' sample at the sewing machine.

Now...on with the tour.....

My space is an addition to our home. When we first moved here almost 20 years ago I worked briefly in our small office, sharing it with the computer and my son and his video games. That lasted about a week and I was on the phone to the builder! Now I have the space of my dreams - it is large, bright and right off the family room. I like being 'connected' to the rest of the house. 

To give you a sense of my space here are a series of photos going 'around' my studio

I have two large bookcases for my books, magazine collection and some 'bolted' fabrics and supplies. I cleared a lot of magazines last fall and now only keep the ones that have my articles and patterns in them. I use the top of these bookcases for display and storage for items I rarely use.

Beside the bookcases is my large south-facing window with storage under the window on 2 Ikea 'bakers' racks. You can see there is an outside door blocked by the bookcases. When this addition was designed I asked that they not include this door....but it was framed and done before I could change it. I think the door was accessible for a brief time! 

Most of the storage in this area is for my classes - files with all the details (handouts, supply lists, my class notes) and fabric boxes for class samples and class demos. The lower shelves here also have boxes with my paints, stamp making materials and other art quilting supplies.  

My fabric stash closet is the last 'item' along this south wall.  Small pieces (fat quarters and under) are stored in bins by colour (and some by 'type of fabric' - batiks, Japanese, hand-dyed). Larger pieces are folded and stacked. 

Storage is the main 'issue' in my studio so I make use of the height in some areas. My husband built the cabinet to sit on top of this dresser. It holds my collection of specialty threads and fibres, my bead collection and lots of ephemera for art quilting. The set of drawers contains more products for art quilts - silk fabrics, metal pieces, dyed silks, etc. The bookcase next to that has more bolted fabrics and there is storage for quilts on the shelf below. The door is one half of the double doors that lead to our family room/kitchen.

This is the view of my sewing/ironing area directly opposite the picture above. The fabric closet (that you don't see in this picture) is to the left. You can also see part of my design wall. The small quilts on the end wall are some of my Journal Quilts created as part of the Journal Quilt Project. I have vertical storage on the end of the cabinets with a gridwall system. This photo was taken at night and I was working on a new sample for Give & Take Applique and a small African quilt for my father.

I have been trying a couple of arrangements for the sewing/cutting stations in the last few months. I purchased these wonderful cabinets from a friend of my daughter. This is a great place for them but it has impacted the access to my design wall. Now I have my long table away from the wall and everything has been pushed over in the room. Not sure that this is my favourite arrangement yet. I do like having a table to my left when I machine quilt on my home machine so that preference is causing a few issues. It's a 'work in progress' but in the meantime I need to work so I'll keep it this way until I figure out a better solution.

The new cabinets are filling up nicely and a lot of items that were on my cutting table are now in a better place. I like keeping 'inspiration' small pieces at one end of my design wall.

The other half of the addition is through this door.

This space is the same size as my main studio. First it was a playroom for my children, then my daughter's bedroom. There was a pool table in here after she moved to her own home. But now it is the main Patchworks Studio space and home to the Handi Quilter Avante that I co-own with several friends. Peggy and Darlene are here completing a baby quilt made by another owner, Jill. It will be donated to the Baby Quilt program through our guild.

These shelving units are home to the shipping department, my patterns, and books. It is a compact space that is very functional.

I use one alcove in this room for quilt storage. These bins contain quilts from my books and patterns. More quilts are in a couple of bins underneath the longarm.

In the other alcove are my quilts waiting to be quilted - they are not 'top priority' but I work away at these as time permits. 

Now...for my giveaway!

I am giving away some of my latest patterns and there will be 3 lucky winners.Leave a comment here on the blog. One person will win these 3 patterns:

Like and share this post on Facebook and one person will win these 3 patterns:

Sign up for my FREE online newsletter (signup is on the sidebar)  and, in addition to the Free pattern you will receive for subscribing, one luck winner will receive ALL 6 patterns!

You will want to sign up for the newsletter - I'll be including a special 6-part MYSTERY QUILT starting the first week of February. 

Deadline to enter is midnight (PST) Friday, January 23rd. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Tune in tomorrow to learn about Kristine Poor's studio.