Welcome to My Studio

It’s been a while since I shared my space. I’ve been waiting until it is all set up, but I’m never going to be fully set up. There is always something else I want to add.

My studio space is in my basement. My husband likes to have a staircase between my chaos and our living space. I do tend to track thread and scraps all over the place. Our basement is finished, so it is a really nice space.

I hang all of my mini quilts on the staircase wall. I like having my mini gallery welcome me into my space.

The space at the bottom of the stairs is a little narrow. I decided it was the perfect place for my design wall. It’s tough to get a straight angle for photography, but it is big enough to allow me to step back and get perspective on my projects. It also wraps around a corner, because bare wall doesn’t stay empty for long with me. The green part is a sign of my laziness – batting hasn’t been put up yet, although the insulation board has been up for more than a year.

I share my space with my Mom. She uses more sewing machines than I do. We have matching desks – I have my Bernina 570 and a light box on mine, while she has a Singer Featherweight, A Brother embroidery machine, and a serger on hers. (She’s a clutter-bug, too, so our space is fairly messy.)

In between our desks we have an old dresser with a wool pressing mat on top. The cutting station is set up at the end. It works really nicely with my large cutting mat.

The star of the studio is off to the side. My Gammill takes up a lot of my space, and is totally worth it. Right now I’m working on Amy’s quilt. Isn’t it lovely?

I have three rolls of batting mounted on my wall. The rolled batting is how I know how serious this operation is.

My shelves are supposed to be organized, minimalist, and beautiful. Instead, they usually look like this. I’m not a naturally organized person. I love bins and shelves, and especially drawers and closets. That’s where I hide my insanity.

So, there you have it. My quilt studio. It’s usually a mess, because I jump from one project to another without pausing to clean up in between. I usually wait for a “better time” to take photos, but there is never a better time to take pictures than right now. I can’t make myself spend more than an hour cleaning, and rarely do I do that much. I attempt to tidy by making quilts faster and faster, but that isn’t working out very well.

How about you? What does your sewing space look like?