Sewing Studio Tour

I've been following the Sewing Studio tour over at Ellison Lane Quilts and felt inspired to clean up and organize my little sewing space. Those who have followed my blog for many years know I used to have a whole room for quilting and sewing, including a quilt frame set up to the King size. Last summer when I found out I was pregnant with our second child, I knew we needed the space for the kids, so I put my quilt frame down to the crib size and sold off/donated 12 huge totes full of sewing and craft supplies. I am now down to my UFO's, some background fabric, a small bit of sewing themed fabric, and lots of pink ribbon fabric. I inherited a lot of sewing supplies when my mother passed away two years ago, but I had my own full sewing studio already, so I consolidated. 
The quilt frame is in the kids room and I quilt when my amazing husband Paul watches the kids during races or while watching TV, usually on weekends. I sew in the corner of our bedroom. This is my little space at the end of the bed. It's about a 3'x5' space.

I have a Janome 6600 and table which I normally use, but recently was given my mom's Bernina 730 and I am trying to bond with it. I've sewn for 25 years, but adjusting to a new machine brand is a bit of a challenge. I do love the option of doing machine embroidery though, so that is the big plus. I need to figure out a better table, but for now I am making this work. I will have a big cutting table once we get it moved back from my dad's in the next few months. The pack and play in our room will be put up to make room since we no longer have a new baby sleeping in it. Mathew is 8 months and has moved in to the crib in the other room. The blocks to the left of the ruler rack are from a friendship block swap we are doing this year. I have about 8 of the 16 I will receive, so I have them hanging there for inspiration as to how I will set them.

I keep my rulers on this ruler rack my little brother Ed gave me for Christmas one year. I absolutely love it. It's over flowing and I even got rid of quite a few. At one point I had 100 plus rulers. I probably have 6-8 at work, several in my travel bags, some in the closet, and I still have this one over flowing. I'm a huge Creative Grids fan and am slowly replacing my older ones. The "Create" sign on top was a sale purchase that inspires my creativity. The Aurifil empty thread spools are from quilt retreat. My friends and I finished these at retreat and we're collecting this year to see how many we can acquire. The quilters picture on the bottom right is a mug rug I have hanging up. I made my friends these from a panel for quilt retreat one year. My knee lift hangs from the rack for quick access, since it doesn't fit with my chair under the table.

My ironing board is a covered piece of wood that has semi-naked firemen on it. I covered it with cotton batting and thinsulate fabric before putting the cotton on top. It's all stapled to the back for easy removal for washing. I also have a small fan on it to keep me cool while I work. Since I work mostly after Paul goes to bed the bright Ott Lite is essential. It's the perfect amount of light without keeping him up. I also have a couple other smaller ones when I don't need it quite so bright. The end of the ironing board holds my purple notions bag that Jen B. made for me when attended quilt retreat in 2009. Jen and I have known each other since 2005 when we met through blogging and we've had a chance to meet a couple time since then. She lives in Milwaukee, WI. This bag holds all my "gotta have" notions for sewing. I know if I'm going to sew somewhere I can grab the bag and it has everything I need.

The wall hanging is one I made for 6 close quilting friends. It says, "Good friends are like quilts, they grow with you, yet never loose their warmth". The bottom one is the excess HST's I had after making all the wall hangings from my Buggy Barn scraps. Hanging off of the light are the 2 name tags Jen B. made for me. One was for the retreat and the other was just because. I love seeing them as they remind me of her daily.

To the left of my machine, under the TV is a wall hanging I made after attending the bloggers retreat in 2009. It's made from fabric I bought while we shop hopped around Ohio. We met in Cincinatti and there were 11 bloggers and 8 friends who came to the retreat. It was the first time we had met and was such an amazing experience. This quilt became a siggy quilt for my local quilting friends. I have a much larger one that all the blogging ladies signed. It's in my office at work. Next to it is the granny square quilt Emilee made me for our Christmas swap exchange last year. We each brought a bag of scraps, swapped them and made something for the person out of their scraps. It was so much fun and we are doing it again this summer. I also have a ribbon I won at the fair and my name tag that my friend Jenn from Rapid City made me. She made them for our local quilting friends when we attended a retreat in May. The Bernina feet box sits behind the machine.

This is my "WIP" cupboard. I allow myself to work on the projects in here and limit myself to these. If I start working on something else, I have to make room for it to fit. This keeps me controled and the room stays cleaner. With a 2.5 year old, everything has to be put away or out of reach at night. My grandpa build this for me in college so I had a place to store my food. It reminds me of him and I wish he was still around to do such amazing woodwork.

Inside I have a few boxes of thread. These are approximately the size of fishing tackle boxes and they hold my Aurifil and King Tut. They are within easy reach. I also have the bag to the right with Aurifil thread that is ready for travel. The next shelf holds the fabric for my Swoon, my scrappy swoon that needs a few seams fixed, and my pink box with my "Ahhhh's" fabric. This is the fabric I have pulled to make them all and I use this to make up the "kits" for my prepped ahhhh's so I can work on them when travelling. To the right is fabric for a tumbler quilt. I found an inspiring pattern on pinterest, so I may just finish making this quilt after all. On the bottom self are books, a Happy Hour quilt for a friend, and the fabric kit for my Rubic Star quilt. I also have a B/W/Pink quilt I am working on.

This wall hanging was made by my Aunt Jane for a quilt retreat I planned in 2012. Everyone who attended signed the back. The blocks hanging from it are my "orphan" blocks. I didn't think I had any, but once I started finishing some UFO's this year I have a ton! Not sure what they will become, but it's fun to see them.


This wall hanging was made by my college roommate and friend Angie after my mom passed away in 2011. It's so very special to me and reminds me of my mom. Mom and I quilted, sewed, shop hopped, taught, and spent a lot of time discussion quilting. She was my best friend and I miss her so much. Everything I do with quilting reminds me of her in some way.

This is my awards box from high school. It's all the pins and letters and different medals I won in high school. My grandpa Jim made the shadow box. It's been 15 years since I graduated, but I still love to be reminded of all I did back then. On top is a little sewing sign that reminds me of Jen and one of my Willow Tree collection given to me by mom. There is also a mold of my daughters hand from when she was 7 weeks old. The sheep was given to mom by a close quilting friend, so I keep it there to remind me of moms friends as well.

A close up of the pieced sewing machine for my name tag. I'm a purple girl through and through and my friends know that about me.

To the left of the sewing area is a big 2" piece of foam with grided flannel. I use it for a design wall. The TV is up there too. I never actually watch it, but have it on more for noise than anything else. Last week I made my 6th Swoon block. Slowly I will get them done.

So that's my sewing space in a nut shell. Eventually I would like to have a larger space, but for now this works and I am able to sew each and every day. I work full time, teach 1 night a week, and am working on my masters degree, so sewing is my stress reliever after some very long days! Thanks for stopping by my sewing space. It's been fun to organize and show my "new" space.