Sewing Studio: Final make-over

Every so often, I have posted here about my sewing room and how it has been transitioning over time into more of a studio. Except for the wood floors (that may never come), I think finally have the ultimate space for me.

Over the holiday, my husband moved his office out, to the third floor….woohoo. This opened up my room. I realized that I could use the same storage we have in our walk in closet (Ikea), along the stair case railings. A space that was not really usable, became usable.
SewingStudioStorage
I love having my Kona’s in one spot and have a hanging area for my backs. This space is also used for all my scraps and my WiPs.

I have also added a new chair from Ikea, which is the new home for a great cushion/pillow that I got for Christmas (from wonderful Nicole @ mamalovequilts).  I now have this amazing 8×7 foot design wall which has already been put to good use.

NewChair_Footstool

Of course, you can’t have a comfy chair without a footstool. I managed to finally finish one of my WiPs using Cloud9’s barkcloth. It was a total fluke that the columns lined up in the panels.
Footstool

These are additions to my sitting area, where I can sit and blog or have coffee with friends.
SittingArea

This is an older picture of my sitting area, as I replaced that little design wall with an inspiration design board. Its made of cork tiles.
InspirationDesignBoard

One final photo of my new-ish table, that I teach, host friends and quilt large projects on. It seats 4 people with machines ok. At the back is my project table and fabric storage which has been uncluttered of late with the new storage.
SewingTable

If I can work out periscope sometime, I will actually give you all a walk through. Anyway, I love this space and I hope you enjoyed my photo journal of my space :-).

 

 

 

Last official finish 2015: Negative Crosswalk

Love Patchwork & Quilting issue 29 NEGATIVE CROSSWALKS
[Photo provided by Love Patchwork & Quilting]

I feel so appreciative for the chances I have had this past year. The last of the year, my “Negative Crosswalk” quilt and pillow were published in Love Patchwork & Quilting, Issue 29 (arriving in stores this week in the US). I love this photo, they did an amazing job with staging my quilt.

The quilt came from one of my quilt design a day’s design.
NegativeCrosswalk_03March(1)

The quilt has come home now. It’s one of my favorites. I love the graduation of the back to light greys. I continued the lines through the edge, in the binding.

NegativeCrosswalks_Front

The quilting was all straight line quilting with my walking foot. I used 1/2″ lines for negative space and then matchstick quilting for the crosswalk pieces. I used matching Aurifil thread which worked out great.

NegativeCrosswalks_Closeup_label

I wanted to continue the striped theme on the back. I used a variety of striped fabric (black, grey and white stripes) to comprise the back with a couple of pops of color (from Tula Pink Elizabeth prints).

NegativeCrosswalk_back_closeup

Details

Name: Negative Crosswalk
Design:
Designed by me, Pattern in Issue 29 – Love Patchwork Quilting.
Fabric: Kona Cottons + Various striped prints (Lotta Jansdotter, Cotton + Steel, Tula Pink)
Dimensions: 60″ x 60″
Quilted: Straight Line quilting, Aurifil 50wt various grey’s, white 2024.

I am looking forward to entering it into Quiltcon 2017. It will be the first time, I will finish a quilt with plenty of time to spare :-).

 

Introducing “Colour: A Blog Series” + Giveaway

ColorWidget

I am so excited to announce, this year-long blog series on Colour, specifically for quilters. I hope to make the series an interactive and practical study of color. Our goal is to provide you with resource tools, tips, ideas, processes, fabric selections choices, etc. Hopefully, making it easier for you to start playing and becoming more comfortable with color when creating your quilts.

What will the format be for the blog series?
We will have two posts per month.

The first post that will appear in the first week of the month, will be introducing the color, my view on using this color and a task/assignment for those interested in participating.  It will include some color specific examples but also include more general content that we plan to build on each month.

The second post of the month, coming out the third week of the month will be and introduction from our guest + linking to a post from our guest (see schedule below), exposing  you to a variety of processes from different people.

What is the schedule and who are the guests?
We have an amazing line up of guests that will be sharing their process, tips and/or resources.

Month Colour Guest/s
  January Orange  Myself http://factotum-of-arts.com
  February  Yellow  Melanie Tuazon http://melintheattic.com
  March  Blue  Daisy Aschehoug  http://antstosugar.com
  April  Green  Anne Sullivan http://play-crafts.com
Giuseppe Ribaudo https://www.instagram.com/Giucy_Giuce/
  May
 Coral/Peach  Heather Jones http://www.heatherjonesstudio.com/blog
  June  Purple  Sandi Sawa Hazlewood http://craftyplanner.com
  July
 Brown  Alison Glass http://alisonglass.com/
  August
 Pink  Alyce Blyth  http://blossomheartquilts.com
  September
 Black/White  Christa Watson http://christaquilts.com
  October  Aqua/Teal  Katarina Roccella http://likeflowersandbutterflies.com
  November
 Grey  Nicole Daksiewicz http://modernhandcraft.com
  Nydia Kehnle  http://www.nydiakehnle.com/
  December  Red  Nancy Purvis http://owensolivia.blogspot.com/

How do you participate?
There will be two ways in which you can participate. Firstly, we will provide an activity at the being of the month that will help you on your color journey. There will be a link-up on the second post of the month, in which you can add your link and share with others.  Secondly, there will be an opportunity to add comments anytime based on prompts (or in general).

Will there be prizes/giveaways, if I participate?
There will be prizes for each monthly link-up and then a single giveaway once a quarter for those who leave a comment. Please check out our Sponsors Page (which will be updated as sponsors come on board).

How do I catch up on the information if I miss anything?
A summarized view of the blog posts, resource tools, tips etc will be maintained here, so you can catch up anytime.

What does this series not cover?
This series is not going to go in-depth in the theory side of colour, as it aimed at more practical application. However, we will provide resources where you can read up on it and there will be reference to how selections work and why.

What’s Next?
Up next is the post on Orange. You will find content including:

  • fabric pulls around the color Orange (with links to sellers)
  • examples of a couple of projects I have made with Orange
  • general tip of the month relating to using fabric for inspiration
  • we will start building the resources for you to use with some reading resources.

Giveaway: Your task for this month

Let’s start with a simple task for this month. Just leave a single comment below that is either:

  • a question that you would like answered during the series
  • or you provide a link to a resource that you use that helps you with selecting colours for your quilt projects.

I will randomly choose a winner, 21st January, who will win a $20 gift card to the Fat Quarter Shop.
FQS-logo
A copy of “Simply Color: Orange: A Crayon Box for Quilters”
SimplyOrange
and a collection of 5″ Charm Pack of the Orange Fabrics, I feature in the next post.