Moving to the New Studio

After 3 and a half years years I am finally in my new studio. I went back and checked, it was March of 2021 that I first spoke about getting this studio space. It was a much delayed renovation (for so many reasons) but we are in the space. Big sigh! Not sure if it is a sigh of relief for me just yet, but it will come.

Over the years I have sewn at 3 different dining room tables, in my bedroom, in a few different basements in various states of being, in a closet once, and most recently (for the last decade) in a dedicated sewing room at home. Every single space has been a place of creativity and challenge. All I really cared about was that I could sew and I made any space work. What all those spots had in common, though, was that they were at home. This is my first time with a space outside of the home.

The goal for this space is twofold. One, I will have my own creative space for sewing and creating. It is much larger than anything I’ve had before with excellent storage and good lighting. Two, I will be able to both host small classes and film classes here. So, personal and professional opportunities.

My personal space is quite lovely. Open with a lot of room. I’m still missing an actual desk, but it is coming. Of course I set up my sewing table first! After a few days of moving and not sewing I was getting antsy. I’ve more or less set it up exactly as I did at home. It works well for me, this standing configuration.

It is a treat to set up a little sitting area. Technically, I had this in my sewing room at home because it was also our guest room and there was a couch in it. Not surprisingly, it was covered with stuff (quilts, quilt tops, blocks, fabric) most of the time so sitting on it wasn’t always an option. I’m hoping for generous cups of tea and visit with friends here. The chairs themselves came from a friend of mine. She and her family were moving away and leaving furniture behind. These chairs were her grandmother’s. I got new cushions made for them from fabric collected over the years (like hemming pants, cushion covers are not in my wheel house most of the time.)

Since the initial planning I knew I was saving this blank wall to be a giant design wall. I’m nearly finished making it and just have to install it. Folks, it is massive. I am so excited. For me, yes, but also when I am teaching. Having been in so many spaces for classes over the years I know how creative we quilters have to get when it comes to design walls. This is going to help so much.

As much as I am thrilled to have this new space for me, let’s be honest, it isn’t just for me. My son is doing online school in the mornings here. He is transitioning to full time school after missing most of the last 2 years with Long Covid. Then, because the house is now empty in the mornings the dog also comes with us. I won’t lie, this presents a challenge. It isn’t exactly the quiet space I would have hoped for. At least not in the mornings! Maybe that actually helps me with the transition out of the home though? Bring some more of home here so it doesn’t feel weird?

True confession time: this is weird. I am feeling rather discombobulated still. There was the stress of all the moving (and the resulting chaos left at home) and adjusting to change. That’s going to take some time to resolve, I think. Then there is the impact on my schedule. I haven’t had to be up and out of the house in a long time. Plus, I am used to throwing a load of laundry in or getting dinner started in the middle of the day. I had my multitasking game down pat! Truthfully, though, I was doing more of the home/mother stuff and very little of the work stuff these last few years. It was what was required for our family but it sure was frustrating for me. Finally, I’ve worked hard to compartmentalize my life since joining the family business. This new studio space is connected to our office/workshop space. That means I can be interrupted at any time with accounting or strategy questions. I can also pop back and forth between my own quilting work or writing and the family business. My head is spinning somedays! I really liked home is home and work is work. Now it is all jumbled.

Time, I need time. Change isn’t always easy, even if it is the right thing to do. I miss hearing the birds in the background or the noises of residential life. Now I have trains on the regular, power tools, and our employees on their lunch break. That being said, I have the wide open space and opportunity plus excellent storage (as soon as all the shelves are up). Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but it sure can be good.

Wren - A Scrap Quilt of Happiness

Wren

78” x 80”

She’s the joyous girl of sunshine. She grew up in a hippie community on an island. It’s easy to be easy going when you grow up surrounded by peace and love. Sure, there is always an underbelly to that and life is always far from perfect. She chooses to move forward with love, however, no matter what happens. As a result, she spreads that calm and joyous nature to the people around her. At night, she retreats and regroups, a little bit alone in her personal sorrow. But without pain you can’t feel joy, right?

This quilt was a wonderful bit of therapy. I mean that both in the making and the end result. She started from a literal pile of scraps that my son threw on the floor as a toddler. Rather than put them away I started sewing them together right from the floor! Fast forward a decade and I pulled it out to make it bigger through some play.

You see, a few eyers ago I faced a rather deep hole of depression. No specific trigger or anything, but life was hard and I turtled. It happens and I am grateful for the support of family and friends and therapy and medication that helped me through. But there I was laying in bed one day, the quilt over me reflected in the light fixture above. The pinks in the chrome with the spots of crystal struck something in me. At that moment I decided to pull out some pink fabrics and play. Why pink? It’s simply a happy colour to me. I made one quilt top, then I decided to play with another. The first one I am in the midst of hand quilting, the second took a trip to the long arm rental with me. She’s done now.

That light fixture has seen some things! It was such a splurge for a light that we don’t actually turn on much (I am one of those people who doesn’t like to be in a room with overhead lights on.) Despite that, she brings me joy every day, reflecting the room around her and the light itself.

After making the initial quilt top a functional size, I set out to make a back that gave me as much joy as the front. I used some precious, favourite fabric from Denise Schmidt I’d been holding on to plus a few others from the stash. Life’s too short for an ugly quilt back!

This was not the quilt for fancy quilting. It is essentially one giant slab quilt with a riotous mix of fabrics. Quilting is for texture here more than anything. That being said, I ended up getting a bit fancy! I started with wavy lines across the quilt in pink, peach, and yellow. Sometimes they overlap, mostly they don’t. It wasn’t until I was off the long arm that I decided on some additions. My first thought was the odd line of hand quilting in waves, just for fun. Then I decided on some words. If this was the quilt that helped me through my depression, then I wanted some reminders to keep my mental health in a good state. So I started stitching words right in to the quilt. Both embroidery and quilting in one.

Connect

Relax

Laugh

Walk

Make Love

These are the actions I need to remember moving forward. As I healed, I learned that I need these things (plus creating, but that is a given) to help me on a regular basis. If I do these things, I can make it through anything. Stitching them through the quilt was a good moment of reflection, and their subtlety in the quilt is like a little message for me - or anyone else - using the quilt.

Of course I wasn’t quite done with the hand stitching. After finding the perfect pink binding (an old favourite from Emma Jean Jansen) in my stash, I went with the big stitch for closing the binding. Yes, this works well and holds up to washing, in case you were wondering. It’s a rather nice way to put a finishing touch on a quilt full of love and joy.

Braided Rug Quilt Top

When in doubt, go bigger. Sometimes I like to say #gokingorgohome. Maybe not quite that big here. But once I had done a certain number of blocks it was clear this needed to be a bigger quilt, so I made more blocks. And a quilt that started, in part, because I needed to be able to close the bin of scrap strips is now ready for next steps. It finishes at 77” square.

The blocks themselves began life as a sample for the Scraptastic class that I teach. Every time I taught the class I made a block. Well, a few months back, I was teaching the class again and we also started playing with layouts of the blocks. That moment sparked something and I raced to make more and more blocks. It was a creative pull that spurred the action, but it was fuelled by that desire to clean up the scrap strips.

Did I use all the scrap strips? Nope! But I would say I used about 3/4 of what was in the bin. Great progress! Of course, I’ve already added back in to the bin. That’s how it goes with scraps. Unless you stop making any new quilts, you are going to make scraps. Just makes for greater opportunities in your quilts!

I know, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the scraps, or feel like using them is a futile effort. I totally get that. There are only two ways out of that:

1. Changing your mindset. Seeing scraps as a burden rather than an opportunity is very negative. I prefer to apply some girl math and think of it all as free fabric to play with!

2. Just use them. Kind of like writing a to-do list with tasks on it you’ve already completed just so you get the satisfaction of crossing them off, using scraps when they overwhelm you is the best way to quell the overwhelm.

That doesn’t mean you have to finish a whole quilt either. Just starting something with the scraps might be enough. So long as starting and not finishing a quilt right away isn’t another source of anxiety! Making a few blocks today may be just enough to calm down. And when the bin gets some more additions, you can always make more blocks. In time, enough blocks will be around to make a whole quilt. No rush. They are scraps, they will always be there!

My plan for finishing this quilt is to tie it. I’ve never done it before! I haven’t decided yet if I will use the bin of scrap yarn that seems to be hanging around or if I will purchase a single colour. I’m just going to let this marinade a bit while I play on some other things. The itch has already been scratched, the bin closes again, and the rest of my stash is calling!

Virginia - Maple Leaves for a Unexpected Fall Quilt

Virginia

60” x 60”

She is a crafty girl, taking her knitting with her everywhere. At this time of year she is buried in yarn and apple cider and cat cuddles. She wants to jump in a pile of leaves, take her girlfriend to a sunflower maze, and totally watch Gilmore Girls even though it is terribly problematic. She’s wearing layers at the first sign of a chill and refuses to take them off when the sun warms her on a walk. She may come across as basic, but she is anything but.

More than a year ago I made a single block. Just one maple leaf to show some folks in a Playdate that you can find use for the ugly fabric hiding around corners in your stash. Ugly, after all, is just like beauty - it’s all in the eye of the beholder.

Of course, of course, I put that first block dead centre in my finished quilt top. That so not me leaf fabric was paired, unexpectedly, with a ikat butterfly print from Tula Pink. From those two fabrics the rest of the quilt came to be. I shopped from my stash and had a blast putting together different combinations. The end result was a fall inspired quilt like no other.

The quilting is there merely to add texture. Each block was quilted with wavy lines crossing the block on the diagonal. Because the leaves themselves change direction across the quilt, I carried the direction of the waves with each leaf. For thread I chose a teal blue Superior at the long arm rental spot. (My preference is for 100% cotton, but this works well with their machines and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.) I wanted the quilt to be extra squishy so an allover design versus outlining each leaf was preferred.

I broke my fabric shopping fast (I have sooooo much fabric) to pick up a binding choice from the clearance section at My Sewing Room. As I was taking the quilt off the long arm I realized that a rosy binding was going to be the perfect choice. Now, I know my stash, there is not a single rose coloured fabric in any value in there. I am a hot pink girl! Keeping with the theme of the quilt as a whole - starting with ugly fabric - I chose a print very much out of character for me. Turns out it was perfect. It binds the quilt so well and is a great complement to the colour scheme.

In the end, this quilt is another unconventional fall quilt. They don’t all have to be reds and oranges folks! And as I was stitching the binding I also realized that it goes perfectly in our living room with its chartreuse sofa on one side and the blue/brown one on the other. I guess it was just all meant to be!