A View From My Machine

 Good evening ya'll.  It was a chilly 19 degrees here in the mountains of Western North Carolina this morning.  We didn't get much snow here yesterday, but some parts of the mountains did.  As I continue with Cheryl Sleboda's 31 day blog writing challenge, I wanted to show you a bit of what I see from my machine each day.

My studio as I like to lovingly refer to it is actually just a part of my bedroom.  However, I have had some tell me that I should just say I sleep in my studio, because the only bedroom parts are a bed and a closet which is half full of quilting supplies, haha.

When I began quilting 15 years ago I purchased myself a Brother sewing machine at Walmart.  I always joked that since God nor my parents gave me a brother I would just buy my own (sorry, only child humor there.)  That machine served me well for a number of years, but several years ago I was offered a Baby Lock.  My Baby Lock is one of my 13 machines.  I wish I could show you all of them, but several are in storage right now because I simply don't have room for them all.  I also love to use my 1941 Blackside Featherweight machine.  My aunt Teresa gave me this machine about a year and a half ago.  She wasn't sure at the time if it even ran or what work it would take, but this little baby only needed some minor things and off we went!

My sewing table is a converted 4 seat dining table that I sanded and stained and cut a recess for my machine to fit into.  I had my dad to create the plexiglass insert to fill the hole.  I need to re-stain the table, but that's a project for another day.

After stumbling across Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville during her annual mystery in 2013 (wow it has been that long) I learned of her method for scraps and having pieces ready to go when the scrap mood hits.  She's currently in the middle of this year's mystery called "Grassy Creek".  Click the link to check out the mystery and get started.  I have my paint chips for color reference, but I haven't gotten anywhere with that  (too many Christmas projects calling my name).  If you haven't heard of Bonnie's Scrap User's System, check that out too!

My yardage is contained on this shelf which is one of the cube organizers from Walmart.  I wrap each piece around a 6 inch ruler then fold in half so they fit on this shelf in two neat stacks.  It's amazing how much yardage you can fit in a small space if folded neatly!  Trust me though, my studio doesn't always look like this, I did tidy up a bit before taking pictures.

I have been a fan of Oliso irons for some time.  For me, where my ironing table is located, I was forever knocking irons off the table by bumping into it.  I was going through sometimes 5 a year.  Since my Oliso can stay in the horizontal position I never knock it off!

My cutting station is always messy but it's always a work in progress.  You'll notice that I have my Martelli cutter handy as well as my collection of Quilter's Select and Creative Grids rulers.  My rulers hang on a cafe curtain rod with clip rings.  This has been my absolute favorite way of organizing the rulers.

I also have a design wall which right now is empty.  My Christmas projects are all waiting quilting or binding so I haven't gotten anything new up yet.  The design wall is made of the rigid foam insulation wrapped with batting.  I have had this setup for 5 or 6 years now and it has always worked.  The only thing I don't really like is the threads stick like crazy to the batting and you can't remove them.  The lint roller tries to roll up the batting too and the vacuum just sucks it all up.  Oh well, it's color!

I hope you've enjoyed this quick view of my sewing space.  It's not large, but it's pretty efficient.  I'm always rearranging what I can in order to make more room and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but I still keep trying!

Today has also been filled with Christmas decorating.  The inside of the house is finished.  The outside was begun last week, but will wait until the weather warms just a little, hopefully this weekend.  I'll share more of that tomorrow.  Until next time, quilt on!