Studio Day 8! Meet Diane!

Basements are the bomb!
 
I’ve lived places where there were no basements.  Our house in Texas, and our house in South Carolina could not have basements because of the water tables and the land.
 
But when we moved to North Carolina, and found there ARE basements, that became my #1 requirement for the right house to buy.  I wanted my studio DOWN.  I wanted to be able to close it off from the rest of the house.
 
I wanted to hermit myself in a place that felt separate from the house – and I think that Diane understands just what I mean!

She writes:
 

Bonnie,

I have been a fan and follower of yours for years.  I heard you speak in Grand Rapids, Michigan  a few years ago.  I’m really excited that you will be coming to the Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilters in March of 2016.

In one of your recent posts, you invited quilters to send you pictures of their studios, stash and current project(s).  Here is a little background into my studio.  It is in the basement and is 17’ x 36’, a fantastic 612 square feet. 
 

 
It is such a wonderful space, very inviting to create something new!  My husband and I both love to go to estate and garage sales.  We have collected several cupboards, etc. that provide storage for the many things that need to be stored in the studio.
 

Overview pictures of my studio from different angles. 

 

 

These pictures are stash/storage cupboards. 

 

 

The small Sterilite drawers are the perfect size for fat quarters.  You can even stack the units on top of each other.  When you want to go through the drawers, you can just remove the entire drawer and set it on the table.

Here are pictures of my sewing machine table and ironing station.  We bought a 36” x 60” table from K Mart.  My husband cut a hole in the top and built a shelf for my machine to set on. 

 

We bought an insert to go around the machine.  This makes a nice flat surface.  It is great for putting quilts together and putting binding on larger projects. 

 

The medium Sterilite drawers fit under the table and hold my ‘Bonnie Hunter’ scrap pieces.  The shoe cubby behind the machine keeps my supplies handy when sewing.  The ironing station is on top of 2) 9 cubby units and 1) 6 cubby unit.  This is topped with this great, heavy piece of wood.  Finally, it is topped with a ‘big’ ironing board that my dad made to go on top of a regular ironing board. It is very convenient to the sewing machine.  My design wall is behind the ironing station.

 

These pictures are my Gammill longarm machine and storage under and behind it.  More ‘Bonnie Hunter’ scraps stored in Sterilite drawers.  The white plastic unit (behind the longarm) made by Yaffa, holds my Artbin 12” x 12” project boxes.  One of the neighbors was throwing it away and I felt the need to rescue it!  The big armoire was made by my Grandpa Miller for a room that didn’t have a closet.  I asked for it when they were cleaning out the house and now store quilts on hangers that need to be quilted.  I can put the top and back on the same hanger and they are ready to go.

 

My dad made me this cutting table.  It is 40” x 80”.  I found the ‘Winsome’ wood drawer storage carts on Amazon.  They fit perfectly under the cutting table and add additional storage space.  Behind the cutting table is another table where I stack fabric that hasn’t found its proper home. 

On the wall there are a couple of ruler racks, thread rack for longarm thread and another unique thread holder.  Also, there are 2 bookcases with quilting books and longarm books.

When we replaced our bed, I told my husband that I wanted to put the old double bed in my studio.  Why?  It’s great storage of my quilts that aren’t being used.  There are about 50 quilts on this bed.  Our 3 cats think that it is their own personal, cozy, cushy bed.

This is a picture of my design wall.  Currently, it has blocks from the Michigan row by row.  This is one of my current projects.

This quilt is called Lattice View.  I made the top in October, 2001.  I was fairly new to quilting and made this quilt exactly as the pattern said to make it for a double bed.  We no longer have a double bed, instead we have a queen bed with a tall mattress and bed topper. The 78” x 88” quilt top doesn’t come close to fitting on the bed.  So, I decided to make the quilt bigger, adding 12” borders to each side. 

I looked through books and found ‘Texas Braid’ in Adventures with Leaders and Enders.   So, I’m adding borders to each side with one of the borders being the braid. 

My quilt guild offered us up a ‘UFO Challenge for 2014’.  We had to pick 5 UFO’s to finish and pay $5.00.  Each time you showed a completed project, you could get $1.00 back.  The above project is my November UFO.
 

Thank you for letting me share with you and for everything you offer the quilting community.

Thank you for sharing your space, Diane!  It looks like you have everything that you need in there to withstand a major Michigan Snow-In and come out with still more to sew on the other side!
 
I’ve really enjoyed sharing everyone’s studio spaces with you!
 
I’m home today.  At least I hope I’m home today!  Writing this more than a week ahead, who knows what’s in the cards, but at least by now I should be back connected to live-in-real-time internet!

I also want to wish a very happy 31st birthday to my wonderful son Jason.  Have a wonderful day, sweetie!  Love you to bits!
 
I’ve got two more guild visits this year, and I’m DONE with 2014!  What a whirlwind year it has been…and soon we’ll be deep in Grand Illusion Mystery Fun!
 
I think I’m going to need a nap!


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