Tag Archives: studio

Studio space.

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One of the changes around here is that I’ve moved into a studio space outside where I live.  I didn’t think I wanted that for a long time because I figured it would hinder late night productivity sessions and such, but I now have a space in the building where I work and I’m super excited about it.

I work at a coffee shop called Krankies and the building they inhabit, which was originally a meat packing plant, is filled with many other things.  There are apartments and a web design company upstairs, a guitar repair place, some practice/teaching studios, and Device, a screen printing business in the basement, the Electric Moustache gallery on the main floor and the studio with spaces for 8 artists (including Laura Lashley, Liz Simmons, and Ian Dennis).  I moved in and set up pretty quickly, minus shelving to hold my fabric.  I had built in shelves in my last space so now I have to figure something else out, something to put in a concrete wall, no less.

What's on my design wall: The Undertoad

Things show no signs of slowing down.  I’m powering through to finish a commission this week, hopefully going up to Roanoke this weekend for some quilting action with Lindsay and to hang out with Catherine, finishing another quilt for a shower on St Patrick’s Day, having another sewing date with Cait for our next LMP+QG project, and then going to DC for a long weekend. Looking farther ahead, my dad is coming in April, I’m going to the beach for my birthday in May, I’m still trying to go to Toronto this spring, and I’m hoping to get four quilts that have been in the works for awhile off the WIP list, and sew a couple more dresses.  Let the productivity commence!

A little clean up.

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Nothing like guests to make you clean the house.  Usually that just means the kitchen and the dining room but since Caitlin was coming over on Sunday afternoon, I had to clean my studio and make sure two people could fit in there  :)  While cleaning, I came across a few orphaned blocks that I stuck to my project wall, thinking maybe I’ll do something with them.

North Carolina is one of the hungriest states in the US.  It was brought up recently (through a source I cannot find) and it spurred on some people around here to do something about it.  My friend and coworker Philip put together a compilation of local bands for fall.  (You can listen to it here.)  A local visual artist was paired with each band to create a piece of art that correlated or was inspired by the song on the comp.  There was also a festival this last week/end including most of the bands and a gallery show of the art.  All the proceeds from the sale of the compilation go to the Second Harvest Food Bank (you can also buy it here!).  We got a group of artists together to make art pieces that were approximately 6 by 6 inches that were donated and sold to benefit the food bank as well.  I made this…

It didn’t sell but I really like it and it’s inspired me to make a series of 6″ blocks to finish and hang.  I started a small paper pieced hexagon block to get my collection going.

Soreness.

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The ergonomics of my sewing room suck.  I’m ashamed to admit that my sewing table and my cutting table are the same table.  Ugh, I know.  There should be at least an 6″ height difference between them so it’s too high to sew on and too low to cut on.

But I make do.  It mostly means I need to break it all up, sew a little, cut a little, iron some, lay on the floor, ya know.  So a day full of cutting was hard on my back.  I took a stack of 12 or 14 plaid button up shirts and cut them into flat pieces, ready to be cut again into triangles and sewn into kaleidoscope blocks.  I am debating changing the layout from this mock up I made to this pattern.  Opinions?

Busy.

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I feel like I’ve been really busy with quilty related things but like I haven’t gotten anything done that I can show for it.

I embroidered a label for a quilt last night but it’s one of my commissions so I can’t show it to you. I have mostly been working to compile a list of all the quilts I’ve ever made for my new website and wrangling pictures from people I gave quilts to back when I didn’t realize the importance of photographing them. I’m kind of appalled about that, honestly. These days I probably take at least 30 pictures of every quilt and it’s process but many of the first weren’t documented at all. That said, I do have at least one picture of almost all of them by now and I hope that one day I will visit all these people and take the photos that they deserve.

I set out this morning to clean my studio but in the midst of that effort, I kept just finding things to work on. So I finished a couple grocery totes from way back around May craft faire time, I boxed up a couple works in progress that were strewn about, I measured the angles of my Christmas tree skirt and realized I’ll have to take apart and redo 5 of 6 pieces, and made some headway on my Single Girl quilt.
I like how my phone takes wide photos.

I’m learning from the first one I made (a gift I have yet to give and show) and I realized why I ended up with twice the green backgrounds I needed – the fabric was folded in half when I traced and cut! Duh! But that just means I’ll get to make a third Single Girl quilt (with Kaffe Fassett?) and that a’int such a bad thing. So I’m cutting the backgrounds a little bigger so i can trim them down better, I’m not pinning anything, and I’m pressing the seams in opposite directions so I can match up the rings better. So far so good; two rings down, only 14 to go!

When I was photographing old quilts today Amos snuck outside to “hunt” and roll around in the grass. It was pretty cute but when I brought him back inside, he wouldn’t stop crying. I wish he could be an outdoor cat but that time he was missing for 24 hours really freaked me out…

Hexagons for Humpday #4

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This seems to have turned into a biweekly affair. And that’s okay. I just keep sewing a long and liking it a little bit more every time I work on it. I’m pretty anxious to see it all finished. I have cut pieces from almost all of my stash and still have nowhere near the needed amount. I might have to buy a cheater print or make some trades.

Specs:
505 basted = 43%
80 sewn together = 7%

In other news, I finally painted my craft room! I went back and forth on colors and have mostly been broke these last few months but I decided to go for it. And I love it. It’s a kind of bright olive perhaps (which pictures do not capture) that’s called ‘Gecko.’ I finished the touch ups today and tomorrow I will paint the shelving backing and the inside of the closet and I’ll be so close to done! I have plans for the rest of the room and I’m really excited about it coming together. Now to get to all the other rooms in the house!