Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Welcome to my almost completed studio

French doors
Welcome to my almost completed studio and I have to thank my husband for getting it this far. 

One of the things I wanted when we started this project were French doors.

It was quite nice to walk up to them this morning, open them and walk into the studio, knowing I would dye fabric today!!!  


Design wall and old door
But first there was one job we had to finish this morning.  

  We had to finish the design wall.  We started it last night, but didn't want to wait until the fabric was dry.  I dyed it a light grey.  What a mess!!  It took forever to remove the fuzzy bits of flannel from the main fabric before it could go on the builder board and then up on the wall.  

We had taped the pieces together last night and placed batting over the board as well.  
  To the right is the old door from my mother and father in law's original home when they moved to the farm.  We striped it of old varnish and stain and re-stained it.  I am so pleased it is a part of the studio.

barn doors--storage area & long arm
  A couple of other things on my list were barn doors and a brick wall. Now I have both of them.  

  There are two storage areas, one is for books, rolling carts that hold various items, cabinets that hold items for dyeing, batting, etc.  The one on the far end will hold the fabric once the units are built. I love the rolling barn doors made of knotty alder, thanks to my husband.  
  This is the barn door on the west end of the room and the long arm.  This is where the cubbies will be built to hold the fabric.  I did some calculation and it will be slightly bigger than what I have now, but not much.  
  The longarm is something I decided not to part with.  I think it will be much easier to use it since it will be close by now.  


South end and middle area of studio
The beams turned out great!!  Erin and George Grinnan did a fabulous job in turning sheet rock into wood. The beams help pull everything together.  

  Now I need to start using that cutting table, those machines to piece things, the drafting table to design and get everything cleaned out again after stashing stuff here, there and everywhere getting ready for company this past weekend.  

Table
First I have to use the design wall and the machine to make that quilt for Kali.  The table that Joedy built out of the coral boards and the old wooden windmill legs is quite useful as a desk as well.  Always needed something more than the corner of the sewing machine cabinet to figure things out.

This little table was suppose to be a work table where I could do a little pounding too.  It is too beautiful to pound on, but it is sturdy enough to do that.

Fabric for quilt in new sink
The fabric is batching in the sink.  It was so nice to walk out of the dyeing room, around the corner, into the hall and be at home!!!  And it is really nice to have more than 17" of space to dye fabric in as well!!  That is such a bonus!!!   I hope one of these colors will work for the quilt so I can get started on it.    

It was nice to walk out this evening and shut those French doors too.







Sunday, November 3, 2013

The End Might be in Sight!!!!!

The Vanity

The vanity is in, it is plumbed and it doesn't leak!!!!   My husband is always happy when that happens with plumbing projects, not one of his favorite things to do.  
We found a vanity design online that we liked and built it around two drawers he had previously made. He made this out of knotty alder.  I am very pleased with it.  Need to find a basket or two to sit on the shelf.   

New steps
The new steps and landing area were poured this last week.  They have not washed the powder off yet, but will tomorrow.  I am anxious to see the color under it.  Looks very purple right now.  

It was stamped with a texture stamp and I can't remember the name of it. We will put a rail on the west end and have a little table out there.  We can have coffee and cherry Dr. Pepper out there in the summer time when it is hot on the east side.


The storage doors
I finally found a color I like for the doors on the storage area.  I thinned the paint I used on the dyeing room wall 1 part water to 1 part paint and washed the doors with it.  I can still see the knot holes and all those character marks in the wood.  I was pleased with the color.  Had a hard time deciding what to use on those things.
The cutting table????




Most of the studio is in chaos at the moment.  The cutting table is doubling as a saw horse for the doors that are being finished.  We did manage to get the two sets of closet doors out of there today.  Even the drafting table was drafted to do double duty.  

Great ebay find
One of my favorite things in the room.  Found this on ebay.  

  And the bathroom floor, turned out great.  Had an expert laying the tile and he did a wonderful job.  And there is carpet butting up against that tile!!!!

Bathroom Floor
 That is it for now on things going on.  I will post more of the finished studio when the thing is together.  I do have one side of the storage unit put together and it is filling up fast.  Still lots more to bring up and over though.  

And since we will have a house full of people for hunting season next weekend, it is a good thing we are almost done and I need to make a quilt!!!