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Amy's Quilting Studio Adventures

It's been a whirlwind here in Lynchburg Virginia, home of Sew Simple of Lynchburg, my Janome dealership and creative sewing center as we prepared to start our second year in a brand new location. The original owner had the shop behind his house on a fairly well-travelled road, but we wanted a better location and more space.



We opened June 1 to several customers waiting for us to open the doors, and while things still needed some minor tweaking, I felt like the place looked pretty good. Above is just part of the shop.

 But behind the public places of the shop, things were chaotic at best. New homes for a lot of our stuff just hadn't been found yet, and there were a lot of boxes. My new studio/classroom was no exception, though I did let people take a peek.

Below I recorded the before shots and even shared them on Instagram, just to motivate myself to get it done.


These big tables are for my students. Can you even see the tables? A total disaster, I tell you.


Pile of white batting we pulled of the wall of the old place. It will be turned into a pinnable design wall as soon as we have a chance to pick up some insulation board. I think we overdosed on the wonder that is Lowe's Hardware when we kept going back for more paint.


Even though we ordered a new Horn storage cabinet, the mess was monstrous. Honestly, some of the mess didn't belong in this room, so that's where I started, getting everything out that didn't belong.



We got a new register too, but didn't get it programmed in time for opening day. We put up with the ancient one for the first week, but I did succeed in moving it to the office in the meantime.

Now it is neat and tidy. At least until the next creative vortex takes over. Below is my Janome 8200 in its Horn cabinet.


Then my cutting and storage area. If you carefully, you can get a peek of my shop's first ever Row by Row pattern. If you travel in Virginia to collect your free row patterns, make sure to visit me in Lynchburg.


Below, you can see a lovely little Janome machine I've set out to do some videos on some new specialty templates made for low shank sewing machines by TopAnchor. Very excited about hiving this option now for those folks with a low shank machine.


Here was no getting around the fact that I had more stuff than I had room to store the stuff, so we ran off to Lowe's (forgetting the insulation board) and got another shelving unit. We love these sturdy units. I love that my hubby put it together for me.


So now my studio/classroom is ready for me and my students. It's fairly small even though we took a wall out between two smaller rooms to make this space happen. It's perfect for the smaller classes I like to do, where everyone can get attention by the teacher.


At the end of the student tables is one of my free motion quilted words. I think it's perfect for my space and the color looks pretty great against my light turquoise walls. Let's hope it's a phrophetic word for this space!

12 comments:

  1. Terrific!
    Congratulations and wishing you every success in the new place. :D

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  2. someday I'll come visit. I love visiting quilt shops.

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    1. Visit me and Kelley Ann in the same trip. Guaranteed fun.

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  3. Congratulations, Amy. I wish I could get to Lynchburg on my way to NJ and NY this summer. I'd love to see your new shop, meet you in person and learn to FMQ as beautifully as you do. I hope your new location brings lots of folks in.

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    1. I'll be here when you can visit! But you CAN learn to FMQ without me, just keep practicing.

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  4. Congratulations on your new space. This is one of those times when I wish my daughter stilled lived in Lynchburg!

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  5. I wish you every good luck in your new venture. If you find a place for everything, then you're just not a quilter!!!!!!! I don't know ANYONE who can do that.

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  6. Congratulations on the new space, Amy! It's bit far for me to come visit (I'm in the Las Vegas area), but maybe someday .... :)

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  7. Congratulations on moving into your new shop how exciting. It is my dream to open a store front one day I hope. It looks awesome so far. 😊👌👍

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