Time to Tidy the Studio

The new year always has me cleaning, organizing, and trying to get my world pulled together so I can tackle some great goals. This year is no different and I've got several big projects to tackle. Since my two biggest accomplishments of last year weren't even a glimmer this time in 2015 (My Craftsy class- Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine (50% off link there!)and opening my online shop, Amy's Quilting Adventures, to sell my favorite supplies for ruler work and other tools), I'm extra motivated to prepare myself for whatever lies ahead!

 The first order of business was to corral my plethora of papers, pictures, and Post It notes. A quick trip to Staples and I brought home some pretty magazine holders in my favorite colors of turquoise and white to put next to my "inbox". I'm using them on their sides to hold files files and papers. (Got that idea from David Allen's Getting Things Done system) The Post Its were put into my bullet journal. Here's a video on the bullet journal. I can't ever stick with a pre-made planner, but I've gravitated to this from making to-do lists on far too many separate pieces of paper, Post-It's, and other notebooks. Here's a link to Bullet Journal Joy, who has a prettier, more artsy vibe. Both folks use some fancy notebooks, but I use a simple Walmart blank journal.

Not too shabby.

Now that the papers and computer were taking up only half of my work surface, it was time to make sure I had space to iron and cut efficiently. I had two ironing surfaces and one was too big for the space, the other was too small. I made a new ironing board out of a piece of plywood 18x22 inches, a layer of batting, and some natural twill. After using my trusty staple gun to put it all together and pulling a 3/8ths inch staple out of my finger (Yeeeouch! Big oops.) I made it a pretty cover of (What else?) turquoise and white.

Now to get to my creative work! I did work on a sample using the TopAnchor Celtic Knot templates. I hope to have them available in the shop soon. Take a look see where I ran out of bobbin thread below. Less than an inch left to stitch and my bobbin comes up empty.

How about you? Are you getting organized? Have some great goals for yourself too, quilty or otherwise?

Busy Little Bee

I've been a busy little bee lately. Maybe not so much on the little, more like a bumble bee, especially as I'm charting new territory and stretching a bit outside what I know. But how else do we learn? So I'm buzzing and bumbling along.

My Craftsy class, Quilting with Rulers on a Home Machine, has been very well received! Over 1000 students so far and I'm getting a ton of positive feedback. I'm answering a ton of questions too, which is a great part of the Craftsy platform. That's still a discount link above, and there's going to be a big sale for Labor Day weekend at Craftsy, so come back here Friday to make sure you get a link for the best price available.

My poor happy flower is a little droopy. Somebody knocked it off the window ledge.

How do you like my new work surface as a backdrop for photos? I'm taking pictures of products (not this bee) for my soon to open online shop. I can't wait to open this convenient spot to review and purchase the best assortment of rulers for free motion quilting.

Here's one of the reasons I like my new tables to have wheels! I can move things around to take advantage of natural light.

I'm using a big piece of white foam core to help get light where I need it.

In other news, I've got a guest post up over at Christa Quilts today. Bet you didn't know that I was once worried that Christa might have been my first stalker? Turns out she was just very enthusiastic. Go check it out and see why!

Christa's a pretty busy little bee too. She's got a book coming out very soon and you'll hear more from me about that later, plus some great patterns and her own precut shop too.

If you haven't signed up for my newsletter (see right side of blog), please do so. This is new for me and different from following the blog via email (an option on the left sidebar- I don't have access to those emails). I want to be able to send you additional great quilting info, updates, and an announcement when my shop opens. I promise not to hit you with a bunch of spammy "buy, buy, shop, shop" kind of things.

Reorganizing the Studio: Part 3

I am so excited to have done these changes to my studio! Thinks look so much more eye appealing now. When your studio is the first thing people see when entering your house, it's got to look decent. Maybe not magazine worthy, but tidy. Plus, I just can't work if things are all messy.

This table and its mess underneath just had to go. 

All the elements are in place, but I'm not entirely sure if things are in the right place. I'm sure the fabrics and all my little plastic drawer units need further organizing, but I'm not quite sure how I want the tables arranged. Good thing the two new ones are on casters and my machine's table has felt feet that are easy to slide across the floor.

There's my favorite handy man. The white shelf was $15 at a thrift store. It was a hideous pink with painted flowers. He mounted it to the wall for me along with my old peg rack and a new to me treasure-- my grandmother's sewing box, made by my grandfather. It's even got a few wooden spools of thread in it.

Above is the first arrangement of the new tables. My sewing table sticks somewhat awkwardly into the middle of the room, but is placed to take advantage of the natural light. Depending on whether I was working or not, and whether I was using my Janome or using the table for cutting/pressing, I'd slide the white table one way or another. The new tables are 4 inches narrower than the banquet table, but it's still a bit crowded.

I love these two new tables! They're made from a set of shelves I already had, but we broke them into two halves and put wooden tops on them. The shelves were adjusted for best use of my plastic drawer organizers. I also have a shelf just under the top that is a great place to set my laptop, papers, and such when I want to use the work surface for cutting or pressing.

Above are some of the shelves that were replaced by the new cubbie units. They've been tucked into the corner across from the end of the stairs. We don't open that door, but I use it for my calendar. (I take a cheap calendar apart, cut off the pictures, and tape all the pages so I can see the whole year at a time.) My lights, tripod, and a few other odd shaped things are stuck in this corner as well. I plan to keep my eyes peeled for a cabinet with a hutch or something similar to replace the plastic units one day.

Above, the tables have been positioned back to back for use when doing a bunch of ironing. I had to move my sewing table to make space for them and now that I've moved it (and have better lighting in the room) I think I will keep it this way.

I like it this way, above, but I'd move the computer on the other side, closer to my sewing machine so I can look into the dining room and not be so close to the front door. It's a very work friendly arrangement. But I also like the open area provided by the arrangement below.

With the casters on the new tables, I can move easily from one arrangement to the other. I can't quite decide which way I like best. Which do you like best? Tables back to back, or tables along the wall?

Here are my cubbie units. I love them! By Closetmaid, there are 2 9-cubbie units and then there are 2 shoe organizers on top. Hubby bolted them together for stability and attached them to the wall and stair banister for safety. I folded my fabric fairly neatly by wrapping it around my 5 inch wide cutting ruler and then folding it in half, selvedges to center fold of the fabric. Fit perfectly.

 I found some Command hooks with metal pegs and stuck them to the side of the cubbies closest to my machine. They're perfect for my rulers.

Now with my studio all tidy, I need to get some serious quilting done. I need to finish my ruler work sampler quilt (and post it to my Craftsy class projects area) and shoot some videos. But I head out early Tuesday morning for a week in San Antonio for Janome Institute. I'm going to this dealer event on behalf of my local Janome dealer. Then my Craftsy class should be ready for launch soon after my return. So serious quilting will have to wait a bit.

So now it's your turn.

I'm setting up a link party with this post so you can share your quilty space. Whether you've got a jaw-dropping beautiful studio, just a functional space, maybe a nook in some other room or just a small bit of your space that makes you happy, share with us here. Make sure to visit one another and leave comments. As part of the link up, I do insist that you link back here so others can find the rest of the party. If you don't have a blog and want to share, email me one picture at amy(at)amysquiltingadventures(dot)com and I'll post it here.

Scroll on down for the Linky, here's pics of my non-blogging readers' studios:

Here's Paula's "she-cave"  She says: "My sewing and weaving space (my floor looms it's by the TV) is our finished basement.  It opens onto a three season porch where I often will "spill into" when the weather here just south of Boston cooperates.  My sewing room used to be part kid playroom and part office.  Now that my kids are grown and living their own busy lives, I have repurposed the space to a she cave and have moved my home office to what used to be one of our kid's bedrooms.  I am jealous of your fabulous natural light I could use a little more of that.  Here's a picture of my space....

Studio Progress and Back to School

My kids headed off to school this morning-- even my little guy happily headed off to Kindergarten. It might have been bittersweet, but right now it just feels sweet.

I went for a bike ride after they left and then buckled down and worked on my studio. The new shelves are all done, so I moved them into position and worked on loading them up with my stuff.

There's my wonderful handy hubby with his handiwork. 

Replacing the mostly functional banquet table with the two new tables. The new tables have much better storage under them. I'll tell you more about them on Friday.

 It seems like my stuff has grown. It doesn't all want to fit. But today wasn't about getting the fabric, tools, supplies, batting and other quilty paraphenalia all organized, but to get the new shelves in place and the old ones moved out, not to mention getting supplies off the floor! I still have much to do to get this project all finished.

Friday I will show you the final post in this Studio Reorganization Series and I'll have a link party set up for any of you who blog and want to show your quilting spaces. If you don't blog, feel free to send me one favorite picture of your studio via email and I'll share it too.

One of the wonderful things about back to school time is the school supplies. If you haven't checked out that section of your local store, you're in for a treat. There's the usual stuff of course, but also some beautiful binders, organizational supplies, paints, sketchbooks and journals, and other handy stuff for artists, creatives, and quilters.

I picked up these coloring book style pocket folders for $0.25 per 2-pack. Something for my daughter and I to color together. I almost picked up the cutest little watercolor sets in a tiny tin at Walmart, but restrained myself.

But I can't help myself when it comes to my favorite Kindergartner. He says he loved his day and can't wait to go back.

After my bike ride, I sat in the park for a bit and enjoyed the peace of the morning. I ended up sharing some thoughts on my personal Facebook profile and I thought they might encourage one of you today. It's more touchy-feely than I usually post here so if you're not interested, it's safe to click away now, but come back soon as I've got an interview for you from the talented Leah Day on Wednesday, the Studio Link Party on Friday, and more information coming up about my Craftsy class.

Friends, I'm sitting here in the park listening to the river flow by, the breeze swirling around me, and wrapped in the most incredible sense of peace. I wish you could feel it. I am certain (in this moment - y'all know I am prone to worry at times) - that God is with me and mine, that the challenges and hardships we will face will grow us and be for a greater purpose (maybe one we will never see) and that we are incredibly blessed to have overcome the challenges and fears of the past. I am so grateful that despite our financial hardships I was able to have my kids home with me for so long. I am also very excited to have the opportunity to use my gifts in the pursuit of a self-made career. That's a chance not many get or that are encouraged to step out and try. So now I turn the page and face a new season (and mix my metaphors) and make the most of it! God is so good and my husband is pretty awesome as well!

 I followed up with this comment: And this post is mainly for myself because hard times will come, fears will creep in, and I want to remember how awesome this moment is.

You, my dear blog readers are a huge part of the good that's going on in my life and I thank you so much!

Reorganizing the Studio: Part 2

This weekend we are tackling part two of my studio reorganization. Part one was the addition of cubbie units to hold most of my fabric and replace a hodge podge of storage units. They've worked out great, but still need a little organizational tweaking.

My cutting table is a large folding banquet table that's been raised up with some pvc add-ons to the legs. Very functional and ugly. Also the folding parts of the legs makes it hard to use the space efficiently for storage.

We've decided to take the tall metal shelving unit apart and create two shorter shelving units out of it. These new units will sit side by side as a cutting table, ironing surface and computer work station for most of the time, but can be put together to create a larger work table. All the stuff on the shelving unit had to go somewhere of course. I also haven't finished clearing out the wire basket units.

The hope is that I can get things set up so I can create and quilt without creating a huge mess and also so I can use my computer, camera, extra lights for shooting videos, and still not be embarrassed to have someone come to the front door. Up to this point it was difficult to switch from one activity to another, whether it be ironing, cutting, sewing, using my computer, or taking photos or videos.

The shelving unit was taken apart and wheels added. This went amazingly well. My hubby was happy to find that the locking casters I bought at Walmart screwed right into the inside of the shelving unit's posts.

We have 2 of these tall units and we used the bottom halves of each to keep them the same height. The top halves were put together and are used in another room, for another purpose.

The top surface is one inch thick glued wood panels. Real wood, but smaller pieces glued together. We bought them at Lowe's for around $32.00 each. Once the hubby gets the supports finished, I'll be sanding, staining and sealing them. 

My kids start school on Monday and while I will miss them, I am looking forward to uninterrupted creative time. (I am seriously going to miss my little guy who heads off to Kindergarten.) I've got some great stuff in the works to share with you and I am so excited about my Craftsy class coming out near the end of the month. (No, I don't have an official date.) The class will allow me to interact with and answer questions from my students learning ruler work in much more detail than I can here on the blog.

It's such a blessing to have my own creative space in our small house. It's also pretty interesting to see how we've adapted the house to the different seasons of our life. We've changed the purpose of several rooms over the years. Adapting to life and moving forward. Have you found done the same as kids are added to the family, grow, leave the nest? Maybe you've moved houses or added/removed a home-based business? Tell me about it in the comments. (In fact, I think we can do a one-time linky party as part of my post when I show my room all done. No need for magazine-worthy spreads, but share your favorite space or organizational set up for your quilting. Get your space ready!)

Now, I should get back to the work of studio reorganization and also give my handy hubby a big hug. He's been working hard on this project. I can't wait for Part 3 of this series and show you the "after" pictures!

Reorganizing the Studio

I've been doing some organizing and tidying up of my studio. My so-called studio is a tiny room by the front door. If I were pretentious, I'd call it the parlour since it hardly qualifies as the living room. It's 12x12, but it also includes the staircase, front door, large opening into the dining room and the necessary open area to make it from one are to the other. High traffic!

Neatly folded fabric makes me happy!

I do a fair job at keeping things picked up and put away, but since the storage pieces I use are all mismatched and not attractive, I decided it was time to buy a little something to dress up part of the room and make things a little more orderly and not cluttered.

This looks so much better than what was there before! I'm going to replace the big lamp with a little one I have.

I bought two each of two styles of Closetmaid stackable units at Lowe's and they are perfect for the space and my budget. They're not the best quality, but I think they'll do the job. They are the first thing you see when walking in the front door, so I'm glad to have something more visually appealing. I still have a ton of fabric to re-fold to fit and other things to fill them up. The stairs are behind the new cubbies.

Here's the in-progress shot. Now to work so I can show you the after!

But like every organizing project, things always look worse for a time, while getting things moved around! The wire basket set and plastic drawer units in the rear left hand side of this photo are getting emptied and will find different uses somewhere else. The tall metal shelving unit has been partially emptied and hubby is going to break it into two shorter sets of shelves and make me a cutting table that breaks into two halves. It will replace the folding table and odd assortment of storage under it. I can't wait to get that done and show you.

We sat and talked a while and figured out what I needed and how it could best fit into the space without breaking the bank. (Oddly, he wasn't too wild about my idea of adding a room onto the house.) I'm hoping it will allow me to do more actual projects instead of being stymied by the visual clutter and the sometimes mental clutter that my work seems to produce.

I hope to have the "After" shot for you in a few days!

Light Table Alternatives for Quilters

In a my previous post on working with text, I mentioned a few light table alternatives. Today, I'm telling you about them.

A light table is actually pretty simple to build. It's just a platform to hold a light with a transparent surface. A web search will turn up several DIY options. Here's a very simple light box tutorial. If you build your own, make sure it's not a fire hazard, yet bright enough for tracing. There are many tutes for making light boxes for preschooler activities right now, so make sure the tute you use is suitable for tracing.

 I will say that taking photos of lights is a pretty hard task. The camera gets all confused. (Maybe it's the lack of an experienced operator.)

I have an old light box that was given to me. The plastic surface is getting a bit yellowed and dim, and it's bulky. I like it though and it works fine. Now there are digital and LED versions available, but they can be spendy. They are nice and slim though.

If you have a tablet computer device (iPad, android tablet), You can use a drawing app with a bright white "page" or even a flashlight app to provide light and after you first protect the surface with a piece of glass or Plexiglas, you can use it as your light table.

Can you see the Plexiglass over my tablet?

My preferred method (until I got my light table) is to take my sewing machine out of it's recessed hole in my sewing table, put a light in the hole and cover it with a sheet of Plexiglas. In fact, I like this method better than the light table when tracing large designs as more of it can lay flat.

You can also use a clear acrylic extension table with a light under it for the same purpose.

You can pick up some good battery powered lights for this purpose or even a string of LED lights.

Then there's the super easy to store version: Using a window! Tape your design to the window with painter's tape and then tape the fabric over and trace away. Granted, it's a bit awkward if the neighbors can see you. But you can't beat the price.

You might also gather from this post that a sheet of Plexiglas is a handy tool for a quilter. I'll save that for another post. Yes, I'm getting to be a tease with my posts. But it keeps me posting more regularly and keeps the posts a little more concise.

Organizing my Works in Progress

 The McTavish-along is getting off to a good start and I am so glad to have so many folks comment and link up. Isn't free motion quilting fun? And to learn from one another via the internet is just fabulous!

One thing I learned, thanks to fabulous appliquer Karen @ http://karensquiltscrowscardinals.blogspot.com/  (Not Karen McTavish) was that I had become a no-reply blogger! Oh the shame! Seriously, I understand privacy issues, but if you're a blogger like me who is trying to build a circle of like minded friends, or if you're asking a question of a blogger, you really shouldn't be a no-reply commenter. This means folks can't respond directly to a comment you leave! Apparently this setting has a mind of it's own in blogger sometimes and it's a good idea to check to make sure you aren't set to no-reply. (Leave yourself a comment on your own blog and see if the email you get shows no-reply instead of your email addy.)

I've got a ton of half finished projects that have been sitting in my recliner in my studio. Messy, messy. My "studio" is a small room just inside the front door. Can't let it get too messy.

It almost felt like the chair of shame, taunting me with all the unfinished projects. Some are for me, some for classes I teach, some for the shop I work at one day a week. The big grey piece is a commissioned quilt I'm working on.

 I bought another big drawer unit this week. I plan to use it for works in progress and get that chair emptied out!

Got the drawer in place. Looks like I might as well move some pictures off the wall....

Have I mentioned lately that I homeschool my kids? Yep. Never ending battle for time at my house. Today during history, I let the kids doodle while I read aloud.

This sweet girl is a creative one! Look at her doodle! I think my quilting is rubbing off on her a bit. This past week she made a dress! All by herself, no pattern or anything. Now, it's not going to be worn by anything other than a stuffed animal or doll, but still!

I gave the dress a spot of honor on my design wall. She's already using my Janome 3160 to piece a doll quilt. That stop-start button and the speed slider are awesome when teaching a child to sew!

 

Here's one of my WIP's, a sample for the shop and inspiration for a class I'll be teaching at the end of March. Gotta get a binding done!

 And my main project, a commissioned quilt for a friend. Look at all those tails to finish off. It's going well, but I need to get it done!

I have a border in mind that will involve ruler work and an area of McTavishing where there's a bit of water in the scene.

 Here's a FMQ sample for the shop that still needs binding. I need to get it done and back in the shop. I quilted it at the shop (Sew Simple of Lynchburg VA) on the Janome 8900.

It stitched up beautifully and the automatic tension worked wonderfully. No adjustments needed.

Then there were these blocks I did on the shop's Janome 15000. These are designs that come in the machine, created by Jill Buckley, aka The Quilt Rat.I need to piece these into a runner or wall hanging.

And another piece for a demo I did a few months ago still isn't done.

 

And this purse, from the post Quilting to add Color, from back in November.....is still just a set of quilted pieces.

 But, look! The new drawer is filled.

And the chair is revealed....sort of.....I threw a quilt over it. Doesn't it look better? Wish I had time to sit in it!

 The blog has seen a huge jump in readers lately, so if you are new, don't forget to follow the blog with whatever method you choose (there are links in the sidebars) or bookmark the page.