I am a week away from my long arm being set up and no closer to having my studio in order. My husband told me that he won't be putting in the lights this week. The knick knack shelf has not been moved and nothing can progress until that is done. I actually threw a tantrum today. I am 54 years old and throwing tantrums. That is pretty sad.
I apologized to my family for ruining the spirit in our home this morning. My ever forgiving son said "Mom, I understand, you have the awesome new toy and you can't play with it." Of course when I was mid tantrum he had offered me Nutella to soothe the savage beast I had become. Some lucky girl will someday benefit from the training his sisters and I gave him.
I am sure that not being able to use the long arm yet is part of the problem. The other part of the problem is I know my family. If the studio changes are not done before the long arm is set up, they will never be done. History has proven that out. So I am frantic to get things done.
Add to that I haven't really sewn anything for two weeks now because I have my studio in disarray. I have to find space for it all. I did reorganize some of my stash storage and put fat quarters in my fat quarter storage bags. But playing with the fabric only acts as a salve for so long.
Right now, I wish I wasn't working. It would be so much easier if I could be home to work on it during the week. Honestly, the past two Saturdays I have ended up running errands. So nothing gets done. How am I suppose to get anything done when I work long hours and am too tired to do anything when I get home. Plus I am wheezing more and more these days.
Don't I do a good job of feeling sorry for myself?
I did pick a color for the studio, actually two colors. I have decided to paint the wainscotting. I will be painting the upper walls "Clear Blue Sky" and the wainscot "Slumber" both by Valspar. I will paint the other trim white. I am going to make my daughter get it ready to paint. If I have to I will set up work lights in the studio so I can paint at night. Plus I think my husbad will be putting in the lights this week after all.
This week my daughter asked if I would help the young women's group at church learn quilting. This presents a few challenges. One is that there are only two young women, and one of them, my daughter, will be graduating out of Young Women in May. Another issue is, I don't believe the other young woman has any sewing experience. The leaders will be happy to help but both of them don't sew. I need to pick a quilt that will be simple enough to get done quickly and yet still let them feel like they accomplished something. A pattern that will work for a beginner and a more experienced sewer.
I chose to use the Fons and Porter pattern Around the Rail Fence. This will help teach them to do quarter inch seams and straight lines plus they don't have to worry about matching things us as much. We will strip piece it and get them sewing right away. Tatianna will be helping with this as well. I may need to get some 1/4 inch presser feet that have the blade to butt up the fabric against. Or maybe we just make bumpers on the face plate of the sewing machine using weather stripping.
I am afraid a good deal of this will fall on Tatianna to teach. I think about the only time we can get the girls together is during spring break and well I have to work. But I can get the plan solidified, the fabric cut and she can get them sewing. Hopefully they can make the rail blocks or at least most of them, then Tatianna and I can put the top together. Then maybe we put in on the long arm to quilt it. I think they might like to see how that is done.
So to Sum Up, Studio is a mess and I only have a week to pull it together. I have another quilt project for some one else to work on. I have not sewn in two weeks and my family is paying the price. Hmmm, sounds like I need time off. Oh wait I can't my boss is out of town this week and my counter part is having a family emergency. It looks like long hours and little patience in the forecast.
Goals are not looking too good right now. Have you ever had days, weeks, and months like that?
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Studio Frustrations
When we moved into this house a little over eight years ago, We all knew that I would need a space to do my crafting. The problem that arises is the house is too small for our needs and we have absolutely no storage. There are enough bedrooms, 4 to be exact. There are two bathrooms which is adequate. The back entrance houses the washer and dryer and a stand up freezer. The kitchen is just off the back entrance and at the end of the back entrance is a very small pantry. We have a family room that the three of the bedrooms open off of. Then there is the parlor or living room, where the main entrance is and where the door to the master beroom is.
Now each bedroom has a closet, each closet is being used to store things other than clothes. Mostly my craft supplies. My poor children don't even have their own bedrooms because my husband's and my stuff are in them. At first the plan was to use part of the master bedroom as a craft space. But it was quickly filled up with my husband's stuff. That left the living room, which we did not have furniture for anyway. It was suppose to be temporary, but over the first year and a half I set up the living room as a craft studio. Then my husband started doing lapidary work. Because he likes to be near me, he moved into the studio with me. That was working out okay except that when he was faceting, I couldn't sew. So I made jewelry instead.
As time progressed, I was doing more and more quilting. I wanted and needed a long arm. Okay maybe I didn't NEED a long arm. But I did NEED a different machine to quilt on. If I was going to spend several grand on a machine so I could do machine quilting, I might as well go all the way and buy the long arm. I figure the long arm is an investment. I hope to use it to supplement my retirement by machine quilting for other people. However, buying the long arm meant my husband had to move out of the studio to make room for it.
From August on, we spent a lot of time getting a studio set up for him outside. We took a storage shed and converted it into a studio. It now only lacks a few things, a mini fridge, a microwave, and a cat door and perch for the outdoor cat. (By the way the outdoor cat insists on being an outdoor cat but he likes the rock shed) Oh and we haven't run water to it yet but it is hooked up to a hose for the time being. All of this being done when my husband has not been traveling for work. Which he has been doing a lot of.
Once out of the studio, my husband left me with designing and organizing "my studio". I do mean left in the literal sense. As I said he has been traveling for business and it doesn't look like it is going to slow down anytime soon.
With my studio being in the house, I feel it affects the whole family. The thing is we spent so much time and money on his studio and the long arm that there is not much money left for my studio. So I am needing to use what I have. We need to get lighting in there and we know what we want. I need to paint it and have an idea what color. All of this is easily done and my kids are really willing to help.
What is not easily done is trying to figure out where to put every thing. The area I have to work in is about 12.5 by 16 feet. Take out 3 feet for the door and a walkway on the north end, then take out another 3 feet on the south east corner for the door to the master suite. That leaves me 12.5 by 13 foot are to put a 12 by 5 foot print long arm machine. Figuring I need 2 feet in front of it and the eats up more than half the space. Plus I need to leave a path to the master bedroom. I had 3 short book shelves, a tall wire rack/shelf, a 3 by 5 foot desk, an ironing board and a 3.75 by 1.5 ft knick/knack shelf, all in that original space. It is not all going to fit in half that space.
I am frustrated to say the least. For me, the frustration led to being blocked and then to procrastination. I couldn't see where to start. Plus I was hoping Tatianna could move her machine into the space as well. Instead of her moving in, I will need to move some things out.
Tatianna suggested that we just make the studio for the long arm and it's supplies and move everything else into one bedroom. That would require taking down the bed and then we would have no place for the other kids to stay when they come home. That won't work for the family.
My husband suggested we give up the dining room. But we do use it at least a couple of times each the week. I hate to give that up. Plus giving up the dining room would require making changes to the kitchen and that takes money.
Anyway I look at it, there isn't a quick easy solution that makes everything magically fit and that doesn't require buying new stuff and or giving up stuff. It is a conundrum and not one I am going to solve before the tech gets here on April 3rd to set up my long arm.
My husband did come up with one solution. Hang the flat screen TV on the wall and move the knick/knack shelf into the family room. That will require the relocation of "goat" his antelope. But we can do that. A lot of this will fall on my kids. Now they are very supportive but as I have pointed out they haven't really had their own space since we moved in. And now it doesn't look like they ever will.
Moving the knick/knack shelf will be the first order of business in setting up the studio. Followed by installing lights and painting. I then will rearrange the furniture as best I can. I will still need a tall bookshelf to replace two of the short ones. I am thinking a couple of shelves over my sewing desk for books and notions. This week will be spent trying to figure out how to place things and clearing things to place stuff. Maybe even painting. It will be a start. Fortunately my kids are all willing to help. I just need to decide how, when, and where I want things done.
So now I have a deadline. I also have the start of a plan. I still want things done by April 3rd before the tech gets here to set up the long arm. But I am just focusing on how to use the original space and not expanding. Now that I have a general idea of how to set things up. I can actually start to work the plan.
I need to get a tall bookself for the jewerly stuff and I need to move some books around. I also need to get some shelves to put up over my desk. I need to choose a paint color and paint it. My husband and son will need to intall the lighting. Plus I need to sew (or buy) some curtains for the windows.
All this while we are working or going to school full time, with my son and I commuting an hour to and from work, and in between my husban'd business trips. It will be a chellenge.
It is going to require some late nights. But I at least can see some hope for the immeadiate future. The addtional space from another room may come later. Boxes and bins of fabric will have to stay in the other rooms and so will the other craft supplies. Some of the jewelry stuff may need to move into another room as well. But for now we can cope. I know we can because we have been for the past 8 years.
Do you have a sewing/quilting space? How do you organize it? What tips can you share with the rest of us? I know there are ideas on Pintrest but what have you found that works?
Now each bedroom has a closet, each closet is being used to store things other than clothes. Mostly my craft supplies. My poor children don't even have their own bedrooms because my husband's and my stuff are in them. At first the plan was to use part of the master bedroom as a craft space. But it was quickly filled up with my husband's stuff. That left the living room, which we did not have furniture for anyway. It was suppose to be temporary, but over the first year and a half I set up the living room as a craft studio. Then my husband started doing lapidary work. Because he likes to be near me, he moved into the studio with me. That was working out okay except that when he was faceting, I couldn't sew. So I made jewelry instead.
As time progressed, I was doing more and more quilting. I wanted and needed a long arm. Okay maybe I didn't NEED a long arm. But I did NEED a different machine to quilt on. If I was going to spend several grand on a machine so I could do machine quilting, I might as well go all the way and buy the long arm. I figure the long arm is an investment. I hope to use it to supplement my retirement by machine quilting for other people. However, buying the long arm meant my husband had to move out of the studio to make room for it.
From August on, we spent a lot of time getting a studio set up for him outside. We took a storage shed and converted it into a studio. It now only lacks a few things, a mini fridge, a microwave, and a cat door and perch for the outdoor cat. (By the way the outdoor cat insists on being an outdoor cat but he likes the rock shed) Oh and we haven't run water to it yet but it is hooked up to a hose for the time being. All of this being done when my husband has not been traveling for work. Which he has been doing a lot of.
Once out of the studio, my husband left me with designing and organizing "my studio". I do mean left in the literal sense. As I said he has been traveling for business and it doesn't look like it is going to slow down anytime soon.
With my studio being in the house, I feel it affects the whole family. The thing is we spent so much time and money on his studio and the long arm that there is not much money left for my studio. So I am needing to use what I have. We need to get lighting in there and we know what we want. I need to paint it and have an idea what color. All of this is easily done and my kids are really willing to help.
What is not easily done is trying to figure out where to put every thing. The area I have to work in is about 12.5 by 16 feet. Take out 3 feet for the door and a walkway on the north end, then take out another 3 feet on the south east corner for the door to the master suite. That leaves me 12.5 by 13 foot are to put a 12 by 5 foot print long arm machine. Figuring I need 2 feet in front of it and the eats up more than half the space. Plus I need to leave a path to the master bedroom. I had 3 short book shelves, a tall wire rack/shelf, a 3 by 5 foot desk, an ironing board and a 3.75 by 1.5 ft knick/knack shelf, all in that original space. It is not all going to fit in half that space.
I am frustrated to say the least. For me, the frustration led to being blocked and then to procrastination. I couldn't see where to start. Plus I was hoping Tatianna could move her machine into the space as well. Instead of her moving in, I will need to move some things out.
Tatianna suggested that we just make the studio for the long arm and it's supplies and move everything else into one bedroom. That would require taking down the bed and then we would have no place for the other kids to stay when they come home. That won't work for the family.
My husband suggested we give up the dining room. But we do use it at least a couple of times each the week. I hate to give that up. Plus giving up the dining room would require making changes to the kitchen and that takes money.
Anyway I look at it, there isn't a quick easy solution that makes everything magically fit and that doesn't require buying new stuff and or giving up stuff. It is a conundrum and not one I am going to solve before the tech gets here on April 3rd to set up my long arm.
My husband did come up with one solution. Hang the flat screen TV on the wall and move the knick/knack shelf into the family room. That will require the relocation of "goat" his antelope. But we can do that. A lot of this will fall on my kids. Now they are very supportive but as I have pointed out they haven't really had their own space since we moved in. And now it doesn't look like they ever will.
Moving the knick/knack shelf will be the first order of business in setting up the studio. Followed by installing lights and painting. I then will rearrange the furniture as best I can. I will still need a tall bookshelf to replace two of the short ones. I am thinking a couple of shelves over my sewing desk for books and notions. This week will be spent trying to figure out how to place things and clearing things to place stuff. Maybe even painting. It will be a start. Fortunately my kids are all willing to help. I just need to decide how, when, and where I want things done.
So now I have a deadline. I also have the start of a plan. I still want things done by April 3rd before the tech gets here to set up the long arm. But I am just focusing on how to use the original space and not expanding. Now that I have a general idea of how to set things up. I can actually start to work the plan.
I need to get a tall bookself for the jewerly stuff and I need to move some books around. I also need to get some shelves to put up over my desk. I need to choose a paint color and paint it. My husband and son will need to intall the lighting. Plus I need to sew (or buy) some curtains for the windows.
All this while we are working or going to school full time, with my son and I commuting an hour to and from work, and in between my husban'd business trips. It will be a chellenge.
It is going to require some late nights. But I at least can see some hope for the immeadiate future. The addtional space from another room may come later. Boxes and bins of fabric will have to stay in the other rooms and so will the other craft supplies. Some of the jewelry stuff may need to move into another room as well. But for now we can cope. I know we can because we have been for the past 8 years.
Do you have a sewing/quilting space? How do you organize it? What tips can you share with the rest of us? I know there are ideas on Pintrest but what have you found that works?
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Sick Bed Quilting
So I got a lot done on my Christmas Lemonade Quilt this week. All of the 160 blocks are made. It was all I got done and then only because I was home sick with the flu. When I get sick with the Flu or Bronchitis, I have trouble doing much of anything. I am too weak to put a whole lot of effort into a project but I also can't just lay around all day. I find that I can quilt/sew but only for short periods at a time. So I set things up so that I could sit to cut and press as well as sew. I would work for about 20 minutes at a time and then go sleep. So being home sick for the week let me get a lot done on the quilt. It also help me to find relief in the aches and pains of the flu. I found that if I was still too much my muscles hurt more. So getting up and moving a little seemed to help. Who knew Quilting was physical therapy as well as mental therapy?
I got most of the work on the quilt done in the first half of the week, when I was feverish and achy. By Wednesday, I knew I had to go to the doctor if for nothing else but a doctor's note for work. Turns out I was sicker than I thought. I came home with a handful of prescriptions and totally exhausted. I fell into bed and pretty much stayed there all afternoon. I did trim up a few blocks in the evening but hit the hay pretty early. Thursday was mostly sleeping and taking meds. I cut a few blocks but that was it. Friday was pretty much the same with a few more blocks cut. Saturday I managed a trip to town with my son for some groceries and was exhausted again. Only a few blocks got cut on Saturday. It was weird how the farther into the week I went the less I got done. The aches and pains had really diminished but the breathing was a problem which I believe is what was making me so tired. I did manage to finish cutting and piecing the last 24 blocks today though. I had slept in quite late and I took a couple of short naps to get through. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Not sure I can make it without a nap.
I know this is crazy but I almost don't mind being sick if I can get some quilting done. Don't get me wrong, I would rather not be sick and get a lot of quilting done. Since I have to use my accrued time off when I am sick at least I don't feel like I wasted a whole week off. I got something done no matter how little or how long it took. Plus I feel less stressed because I got to do something I love to do. It's all part of healing. Quilting is a part of my healing process.
Do you ever quilt when you are ill?
I got most of the work on the quilt done in the first half of the week, when I was feverish and achy. By Wednesday, I knew I had to go to the doctor if for nothing else but a doctor's note for work. Turns out I was sicker than I thought. I came home with a handful of prescriptions and totally exhausted. I fell into bed and pretty much stayed there all afternoon. I did trim up a few blocks in the evening but hit the hay pretty early. Thursday was mostly sleeping and taking meds. I cut a few blocks but that was it. Friday was pretty much the same with a few more blocks cut. Saturday I managed a trip to town with my son for some groceries and was exhausted again. Only a few blocks got cut on Saturday. It was weird how the farther into the week I went the less I got done. The aches and pains had really diminished but the breathing was a problem which I believe is what was making me so tired. I did manage to finish cutting and piecing the last 24 blocks today though. I had slept in quite late and I took a couple of short naps to get through. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. Not sure I can make it without a nap.
I know this is crazy but I almost don't mind being sick if I can get some quilting done. Don't get me wrong, I would rather not be sick and get a lot of quilting done. Since I have to use my accrued time off when I am sick at least I don't feel like I wasted a whole week off. I got something done no matter how little or how long it took. Plus I feel less stressed because I got to do something I love to do. It's all part of healing. Quilting is a part of my healing process.
Do you ever quilt when you are ill?
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