Showing posts with label barn doors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barn doors. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Studio Tour

I actually started working in the new studio mid-November when I made our niece's quilt for her wedding, but it was a mess!!  There were items from the old sewing room and the old studio piled under and on top of the longarm and under the sewing tables and any place else there was room.  I finally have it picked up and everything is in its place now.  
I need to make the cover that goes on the cushion in the thread nook.  It was a chore to dye and the color is not exactly what I wanted, but it will work.  There will be some bright pillows in there eventually.  
Just about all the drawers are full of thread, which didn't surprise me.  It takes a lot of thread to quilt.  The nook is one of my favorite places in the room and the bench is perfect to sit down and put ones feet up.


This is another favorite place to sit.  It is the table that my husband made for me to pound on or at least that was the original request.  But it is too beautiful to pound on.  It is made of reclaimed wood.  The legs of the table are from wooden legs from an old windmill and the top is made from boards off the corral.  The light hangs from a pulley I picked up on ebay.


 This area is where most of the storage is located.   I store books, notions and fabric in the storage area.  This is some of the hand dyed fabric I have.  And you got it, my husband built those little cubies. 

 This is the center of the studio where the HQ Sweet 16 and my regular sewing machine are located, along with the design wall.  Hope to get some of those things off of there by the end of the year.   One needs to be completed right away so I need to get on that as soon as I get all those pesky tax forms completed.  Joedy built the sewing cabinet over 10 years ago.  Did I mention that he built the doors for the storage area, along with the awesome thread cabinet.


This is the other end of the studio and these cabinets were built by my husband as well.  They use to be in the old sewing room.  The drawers are full extension and deep.  They hold some items that need to be finished as well or just started.  

The cutting table can be seen in the corner of this photo and below.  I love this table!! I have had it for 14 years and it was in the old studio.  It is 6'x8' and rolls.

 It has storage on both sides and holds PFD fabric, other types, batting and bags.  I don't know what I would do without this table!!  It also has a large cutting mat on top.  It has electrical outlets on either end as well.  Comes in handy.
I dye fabric on it when I am doing the large pour pieces that I use sometimes.  It also works well when ice dyeing.  I will have to be a little more careful now when using it.



 This is the inside of the large cabinet.  And yes, my husband made it as well.  The top use to sit on the cabinets in the old sewing room and we had to redesign it.  He built a bottom and used the two drawers that had been previously built and incorporated them into the lower part.  Then he made the pulls where the rulers, cutting tools and whatever else I have that use to hang on the peg board in the old sewing room.  I didn't want peg board on the walls in the new studio and there wasn't a good place to have it either.  I much prefer the buttons and other items hanging on the walls.   The inside of the cabinet holds embroidery supplies and more books.  I have learned a great deal from books, one of the few sources I had before the internet.  

This door leads to the fabric dyeing room.  It was in the house my husband grew up in here on the farm.  When his parents remodeled the old farm house 33 years ago, they removed the door.  It was in the top of the garage for many years then moved to an old pump house where he found it and thought it would work in the studio. So glad he did!!!  We stripped the old finish off of it and stained it.  It has all of the original hardware on it with the exception of half a hinge on the top and bottom. I found those on ebay as well.  They are a perfect match.



 This is the fabric dyeing room.  I wanted it closed off from the rest of the studio to prevent any stray dye from attaching itself to other pieces of fabric.  And here again, my husband built these cabinets as well.  They are full too.  It is absolutely wonderful to have more than 17" of counter space and something other than the toilet to hold the containers of dyed fabric while they are batching.  
And a double sink so that I can rinse out in one side while opening bags in the other one and dumping dye.  This area was commonly referred to as the kitchen by the builders, electricians and anyone else who worked on the project.
The cabinet to the right holds the dye powders, chemicals, soda ash, etc. used when dyeing.
On the left is the old ice box that belonged to my sister, it is one of my treasures.   Thanks Jim for giving it to me.
  
The farmhouse vanity on the right is in the bathroom that I share with the guest room.  Joedy made it with the left over wood from the two large storage doors that are made of knotty alder.  

So that is the tour.  I would like to thank my husband for making it all possible and building so many of the things that make it the special place that it is.    


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.