Studio spaces

Nina - Marie is hosting a link party to show where we create

I decided to join in. So this is where I create.

Keep in mind that I have been creating / quilting in a spare bed room 

or where ever I could make space.

 My last space was a old  single wide trailer house..

or part of it at least I had about 500 square feet.

 It was outside my home and I thought I was in heaven.

Then almost a year and a half ago I moved into this space.

 As you can see not in my home but it is walking distance

so on nice weather days I can get a bit of exercise.

 The building.. It is actually a duplex
I have the front space, the other half is rented to a nice young family.
I have a lot of space  about 1200 square feet or so.
Almost more than I know what to do with sometimes.
It is nice to have the space to have stitching buddies over for a stitching day. 

As you enter the building there is a nice little porch.

I really love the porch even if I don't use it a lot.

The neighbor kids wait for the school bus in the mornings on my porch

it is not heated but it is warmer than waiting outside.

My dad made this bench out of a old broken futon 
I love it.!!!
We like to reuse or re purpose  things....

This is the view from the door.
As you can see this used to be a kitchen living space
Lots of cabinets for storage.
Sometimes I loose stuff in there...

The large table is a pressing table that I also put a cutting mat on top of

The bench you see was salvaged from a church in the Joplin MO. tornado last year.
My dad was given pieces of the pews and he made the 
rest of what was needed to put them back together.
The little table in front of it my son made from a red cedar log he salvaged.

I use this room for different things, cutting, and pressing large pieces.
Sometimes I just set there and mull over a project.  

Just a view from the other side of the room.

This is where I do some of my machine piecing..
I have several sewing machines but I love my old 99K for piecing.
Behind the door you see here is fabric storage.

This room used to be a bed room.

A view from the other side of the room.

Here you can see my 99K and a portable design wall
a piece of foam board that is covered with batting pieces.
I have thought about attaching it to the wall but
once in a while I like to move it into the larger room
where I am pressing.

This is the longarm room

I spend most of my time in this room.
I do machine quilting for hire in my spare time.
This room was actually two bed rooms
and we knocked out the adjoining wall to make 
room for the machine.
I have two closets in this room.
One for thread storage and other stuff and one for hanging the quilts on hangers
waiting to be quilted. 

A different view.
This shows how I store my large rolls of batting.

Again a different view form the other end of the room.
The large wall is all design wall and it is attached.
I call it my wall of inspiration.. LOL 
I can lay out a queen size quilt here if I want to, I have to use a step stool to
 reach the top but it can be done.
Sometimes I place several small pieces there to look at and think about 
while I am quilting on the machine..Sometimes 
my best ideas come to me while I am doing something else
thinking about it in the back of my mind.

This is a photo of the thread storage for the longarm.

This ugly space is where the washer and dryer would be.
The studio also has a very small full bathroom complete 
with a tub and shower combo and a small powder room
 off the room that I now use for a piecing room.

I decided you probably did not want to see photos of the powder rooms.

One of the things I like best about having my studio
outside of my home it throwing all my thread on the floor
 I can generate a lot of thread on the floor!
I have a handy dandy wet dry vac to pick it all up with when I am ready.

Before I end this studio tour I would like to share a bit of history.

My dad bought this property in 1952
At the time it had a tiny one room building on it that he used to stay in when he was here on weekends and such. He worked in a town about 150 miles away and spent a lot of time there.
Until his job ended. Then my parents  moved  to this property,
and opened a small mechanic shop about 4 miles away. 
When I was about 3 years old or so he sold that property
with the shop on it, but the people that bought the property did not want the 
building his shop was in so he moved the building here. 

Which  became a wood working business. 
The original mechanic building eventually became the kitchen / living area of the duplex.

Dad  built on to the tiny one room building making it into a home for us.
 He also added onto the business building over time as his business and its needs grew. 

 Mom and dad only had girls and us girls did not want to keep the wood working and furniture business so when dad retired he turned it into the duplex and it became a rental property.
 It had been a rental property for over 15 years when I moved my studio in.

So my studio / part time business has a lot of special memories for myself and my family
I have watched it grow and even helped build it over the years.
It is home..!!!!

Having such a large studio does have a down side  or two..

Like cleaning...It  is like keeping two houses clean except that
 the studio is so much more fun to clean than the house.
And having two light bills...but the studio has a separate heater in each room
so I can just heat the room I am using at the time if I like.
The outside walls are double walls six inches thick and insulated very well
so it is easy to heat and cool.
 In fact even with out any heat on the temperature stays
 about 15 degrees cooler (or warmer) 
than outside, that is good..

When I first moved in I kept loosing things..
like my thread nippers, and measuring tape..things like that.
I had to buy one for every room and remember to leave it in that room. 
I have 5 sewing machines plus the longarm
 but I don't have them all set up at the moment,
but I have the space to if I want to set them up.

One of my favorite things about having my studio out side my home
is being able to just leave everything.... lock the door and go home
it is also one of the things I am not as fond of,  
because when you get that really great idea at 3 am and want to work on it...
it is not as convenient as having your studio in you home.
Then again...it is a rural area and the renters have become accustomed to me
wandering about at odd hours...

Now that you have seen my studio and learned
 way more about me than you wanted to know.

Stop on over at Nina - Marie's and check out other studios.