My Studio

Who needs a formal living room anyway? I'd rather have a place to sew, and that's what I got when we moved into our home five years ago. Here's where I go to dream, play and create. My little oasis.

My worktable was inspired by a friend's window treatment worktable. Hubby found a huge, solid wood table at a hardware store that was heading for the storage shed. He thought of me and my love of all tables big, and asked if they would sell it. A few days later we loaded it on the trailer and brought it home. This photo may be a little deceiving as this table is 5 feet wide by 8 feet long! It almost didn't fit in our front door. We actually had to saw quite a bit off the legs to get it in! It's over waist high, which is just the perfect height. I can reach more than half-way across, so I can use every inch of it. I ordered commercial grade, worktable padding and canvas for the top, and added an inch of black insulation board to the layers so I can pin directly into the table. Talk about a dream. It makes any project more fun. Plus there's lots and lots of storage underneath. Pardon my wrinkly yellow fabric on the sides... it was the biggest piece of yardage I had on hand that I was willing to staple around the table. It's just intended to hide the mess underneath! I'll show you that later...

Here's my new Brother Duetta sewing and embroidery machine! I've spent the last two days getting to know her, and I'm not the least bit disappointed. Amazing machine!

My crazy big collection of sewing and quilting books in on the left. Patterns, etc., are across the room....

My goal is to fit every single piece of fabric I own into this room. I have the two bookcases on the right filled to capacity, 1/2 of the two bookcases on the left filled (the top half of those bookcases is filled with notions and patterns), and I still have, lets just say, quite a few more yards downstairs. I would actually love to fit anything and everything that I own craft-wise in this room at some point. I will admit that I have too much.

Until a few weeks ago, this room contained a large train table. If you have young sons or grandsons, you likely know what this is. I finally managed to wrangle it downstairs into the extra bedroom, which my grandsons now call their "toy room". Yeah for Granny!

Here's a peek under the big table... notice there's still a little free space on the right... I try not to get too excited about this as I know it will not last for long.

My studio spills over into my dining room - - thank goodness we can eat in our kitchen. In the five years we've lived here, I've used the dining room for eating twice. It is generally the home for my serger, and my Quilt-Cut (another of my favorite things), and they really do get more use if they stay out in the open. Storing a serger just isn't any fun at all.

Now I know you're wondering if my studio stays this neat all the time. While I'd like to say "oh, sure!", you probably know that isn't true :-) If there's a mess in there, it means I am actually getting to sew!

Disaster Team Training & Sewing Machine Dreams

I got up WAY too early today, but it was for a worthy cause. I had a disaster team training session at the KY Baptist Convention office in Louisville. The class was on Disaster Grief Counseling and it lasted until almost 2 p.m. It was a nice class, and I got to see a few of the medical team members that went to Haiti with me in March, but the best part of the class was meeting a new friend, Tina. She is a nurse too, and she spends many weeks each year doing medical mission and humanitarian work in other countries. I was thrilled to meet her. She's a nurse educator at the University of Cincinatti, and she actually takes students on most of her international mission trips! How cool is that?!?! Coy at the KBC mentioned that we might have the opportunity to go on a humanitarian trip to AFRICA next summer!

I don't make it to Louisville on a regular basis but since I was there today, and since it was only 2 in the afternoon, and since I was only 10 miles from the closest Viking dealer, I had to drive over to The Smocking Shoppe and test drive a fancy sewing machine I've been drooling over. Husqvarna Viking (yes, the same Husqvarna that makes chainsaws and the like) makes sewing machines that are among the best in the world. I bought a simple Viking machine a few years ago and have wanted one of their top-of-the-line models ever since.

I went into the Shoppe thinking I'd inquire about the Sapphire - the model I thought I wanted - but was informed by the wise, wise staff (or should I say clever saleslady) that what I REALLY wanted was the Topaz model. Well, she was probably right, even though I didn't even know the Topaz model existed until she showed it to me. Well, an hour long test drive confirmed my worst fears. I indeed DID want a Topaz, and the price difference was only about a thousand bucks. Notice I said the price DIFFERENCE. Yes, they are expensive machines.

I work hard. I work hard and make my own money. I deserve to spend a little on me, right? This is what I told myself over and over in that Shoppe, and I was within moments - mere seconds - of yelling "SOLD", paying the lady, grabbing all the goods, and burning up I65 toward home so I could stay up all night playing with my new toy. My heart was racing, and my head was spinning with visions of everything I would create with my new mega-machine.... when the clever saleslady said ONE WRONG THING that ruined it all - and lost her a sale. My blood went cold in an instant, and I was out of that Shoppe within minutes. Oh, I was nice. But I think she got the point.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise (I just love it when that happens) because when I got home I did some research and found that the lowest price she quoted me was probably a few hundred more than I could get it somewhere else for, PLUS the reviews on that particular model were mixed. A few too many negative reviews for my liking. I am thrilled with my decision to leave that Shoppe without paying the lady.

I recently put the purchase of a longarm quilting machine on hold due to the fact our home is for sale and a longarm machine setup isn't something you want to be moving from house to house. It literally requires a room of its own. I really can't afford to own both a longarm AND new sewing/embroidery machine, so I might have to flip a coin to see which one I will try to get. The sensible me says I don't need either one, and the sensible me usually wins. In fact, I sense that my husband will likely get a new boat before I get a new machine...

Shots Anyone?

Thank goodness I was up to date on most of my immunizations... but I still needed a couple of shots in preparation for Haiti. Thanks to Ruthie (our famous public health nurse here) I now have two band-aids that verify I have current protection against Tetanus and Hepatitis A. She's such a good shot-giver (and a sweetie to boot).

I still have to go to the doc for a script for the Typhoid vaccine, plus scripts for some other meds that I have to take with me to Haiti (in case of certain bacterial infections like Malaria, ewww). So hopefully I can squeeze in a visit next week...

My mind is full of planning, and I am making lists of course. OCD comes in handy when you're trying to get a trip like this organized. OCD also comes in handy when you're a quilter. Well, maybe not always. I've found that being quite obsessive about details does actually PREVENT action sometimes, especially when quilting. It's weird, and if you lean toward being a little obsessive yourself, well, you understand.