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.    

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.

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!!!

Fall colors

 The backyard is full of color this fall.

  This photo shows the Hawthorne, Red Oak and Cottonwood.  The Red Oak seldom has this nice of color, another time was when we built the sun room on 17 years ago.  

 This might be the last year for the Hawthorne as half of it is dead.  I am in hopes it will come back, next spring will be the deciding factor.

  The Red Oak, again.  We also have Burr Oaks, but they generally have brown leaves.  There is a hint of color in them this fall, but a cold front is coming in next week so that will probably turn the leaves brown.  

  I feel like we didn't have much of a summer, dealing with all the building. And now we are half way through fall, speeding toward the cold months of winter. I am in hopes the windows will be fixed soon so that winter stays outside. 

 And on the window note, an engineer is coming all the way from Iowa next week to look at them. Some how I am suppose to be impressed with that "all the way from IA" part.  Heck, that was an easy drive last fall when we went to the quilt show in Des Moines.  All I have to say is that it is about time someone got out here.  

This last photo is of the Aspen.  I am the most thrilled to see it dressed in pale yellow as it is one of the two times they have been anything to look at in the fall.  Brown is their usual dress color.  

Hope to post a few photos of the studio this weekend.  It is finally coming together, I am hoping by the end of next week I have moved most everything from the studio and some of the items from the sewing room in the basement.    

New Windows

If I knew how to put a large red circle with a slash through it I would put it on these Eagle windows made by Andersen!  They are nothing but a piece of very expensive junk!!!!!  And if you are thinking of buying Andersen windows, think long and hard before throwing your money down the drain with all the dirt you will be cleaning out of them!!!

What you see on the INSIDE ledge of the window is dirt, not just dust, but dirt and other particles of debris and I cleaned it up once before this photo was taken.  And there was another one that was worse yet!!!

These windows are the brand new windows in the studio, office and bedroom.  There are twelve of them and every single one of them leaks air, therefore dirt, dust and whatever else is blowing around in the air, when the winds are blowing, comes right under the the window.  If we had a blizzard it would be snow coming in and ruining the windows.

We purchased them through our contractor who is building the studio from a local dealer here in town.  Of course I got the usual lip service of it being an easy fix with this and that, well guess what, that didn't work and it has been a couple of weeks now and the dirt has blown several more times since the initial big blow and there has been more dirt and dust.  

Andersen is suppose to be sending some replacement weather stripping.  If it is the same stuff that is in there now, it won't work.  It is a poorly designed window!!!!  That seems to be the name of the game these days, proclaim you have a high quality product and sell junk.  Two of the casements aren't even square.  One is over 3/8" out of square.  That is Eagle quality by Andersen!!!!  
We spent extra money on the insulation in order to help keep dirt and dust out of the studio, extra on the can lights to keep dirt and dust out of the studio to no avail because of the windows.  
  
The studio is coming along, but at this point in time, I wish we hadn't built it because of the issues with the windows.  

6.95" and Counting

 It is still raining this morning!!!  Not complaining, as we have been so dry, we were in dire need of rain.  I do not remember having this much rain over a 24 hour period ever and this time of the year!!!  We might get our wheat up, once it dries out and we can plant.
  This is Sandy Creek, which is south of us.  This one was running earlier this summer when we were all plastered with hail and rain about 5 weeks ago.  Normally this is a dry creek bed.    
  We brought the 'official' rain gauge in this morning and measured the rain in it.  We will have missed a little, as it was starting to rain hard again when we brought it in.  So we have received 6.95" of rain as of 8:45 this morning.  

The next photo is of the Smoky Hill River which is also a dry river bed the vast majority of the time.  Rivers and creeks around here are simply drainage areas when we do have large amounts of rain.  Like every river or creek in Colorado, it carries water out of the state to other states.  Even though it doesn't look very deep, it is probably 12' down to the river bed.  
  
 In the foreground is the Smoky River from another location.  In the background is a field, flooded with water.  I would say half of this field is flooded.  Hard to see how much water is actually out there, but there is a lot.  

  There is a small habitat area north of our home and draw is running through it.  Have no idea how long it has been since we saw that happen.  

  I hope friends and family along the Front Range are safe and their homes are safe.  Far worse up there than it is out here.  

I am finally back

I finally have my regular computer hooked back up to the internet.  I will have photos tomorrow of some interesting things with the studio and dragonflies.