Come see where I quilt!

Ok, so now that you have seen some of my quilts, take a look at where I quilt.... Wait a minute. maybe I should say, where I have been quilting for the last 1 1/2 yrs. I think like many of you, I had to carve out a place to quilt initially. Some use the kitchen table, some an old desk no longer needed by their kids, others it is a card table put up and taken down as required. For me it was my dining room table. At first my husband was a little surprised to see me set up shop right in the middle of our formal dining room. A room we used quite frequently as I like to entertain and have a large family. So as you can imagine, it meant I was always packing my stuff away and taking it out whenever I wanted to sew. But believe me, someone always noticed a thread in the corner or on the chair cushion! It was also a chore selecting fabrics for a project, because my stash was in boxes and crates in the basement... so the steps became my friend... at least when I wasn't too tired and decided to use whatever was upstairs and out in the open. Believe me, I got good at finding innovative places to store fabric and my quilting tools..... the cutting mat went behind the china cabinet, the rulers went on the top shelf of my buffet server... you get the picture!

So after a few years I began talking about fixing up the basement so I could at least sew down there and have everything in one room. My house is 104 yrs old and the basement was dark, dingy and damp... not the best environment for making inspiring fabric art! So, for a good 5 years I talked about it. My husband would shake his head and ask why spend money on a place to sew... but then he would add... if that's what you want, go ahead. So I finally did it, I saved my pennies, and now I have a great quilting space... oh yeah, we turned the front half into a TV room, so the whole family benefited and my husband and I can be in the same room while I quilt and he watches his big screen TV. Anyway, take a peak at my pictures and see where I spend my time (I even work from home a lot, so the desk is a great spot for my laptop).


Here is an overview, so you can see how I have created a sewing triangle.... sewing table, ironing board and cutting island all in one area. The son of one of my Pelham Quilters quild members made all the quilting furniture to size to fit the space. Am I lucky, or what! Notice, that the quilting table has a large space to the left of the machine and behind for quilting large projects, without having it falling on the floor. The sewing machine is set in the table (with a custom inset) so that the quilt doesn't get caught on the edge of the machine when I free motion quilt.

With the swirl of my chair I can easily iron as I work, without getting up.




Then behind my chair is my cutting island. I love this piece! It is on wheels and just the right height so that I don't have back pains when I am cutting a large amount of fabric. The island is 48" x 36", so I have an oversize cutting mat and keep my rulers in a wood stand right on top. All the shelves hold two large baskets where I keep my fabric, each drawer is color coordinated, so my blues are with my blues, greens with greens, etc... It even has an opening in the center. On one side, I keep my thread boxes and odd shape tools, and on the other side I can stand up bolts of fabric. I get empty bolts from the quilt shops so I can keep any piece that is 3 yds or more. Oh yeah, the drawers in the table hold all my gadgets, batting and patterns.














Then on the wall to the left of the cutting table is my storage bench. You can see all my books in the middle and the smaller baskets hold my fat qtr collection. I made a cushion for the top and it adds a nice seating area in my space.
On the next wall going around the room (opposite my sewing table) is my desk. I made this myself out of a file cabinet from Staples, two table legs from my local lumber store and a slab of granite from the local stone and marble yard... I couldn't be picky about the color or size as it was an end piece at a great discounted price :-).


So that is where I quilt. Maybe my next post will be some more recent quilts made in my new space. Hope you enjoyed the visit!


Cheers!

Renee
a.k.a. Ranunculas