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Showing posts with label painting my studio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painting my studio. Show all posts

Friday, December 2, 2011

This Really is the Good Life!

I have just finished the last of the studio polishing.  The white flannel is pinned on my design wall and I am vacuuming one last time.  At 4:00 today, I sat down, with a chocolate chip cookie, tea and watched Dr. Oz. And I thought, "Life is really good today, my studio is ready for me!"  It has never been so clean.
Looking at my communications center and newly covered design wall.

The pink Styrofoam design wall is covered and usable, a beautiful quilt is hanging on it, and my walls have  quilts and other special items that surround me that I love.  My printer which conked out this week, is now working, thanks to HP tech support.  The baseboard heaters are painted a beautiful white and trim is too. The dark 70's paneling is gone. It is time to work on my newest Egyptian quilt again, it needs lots of embroidery before it can be quilted.  There is my collage which you've seen, which is ready for basting and quilting.  Lots to do.

Before I begin my embroidery and quilting, I will give you a quick tour of my studio.  This wall is my communications center and design wall which is 8 x 8 feet. It is shoved into the corner, but if I need the full width, I can scoot is to the left, covering up the clock.  Egyptian Water Garden II is hanging on it right now.  I love this quilt, when I look at it, it makes me feel good. 
Check out the fresh white walls! My cutting table is half a ping pong table, & rulers hanging on the wall.  Notice the outlet on the wall where the pencil sharpener is plugged in.

Around the corner is the long wall with my TV, cutting table and windows.  I have hung up Line Dancing Under the Stars, Tragedy on Esplanade, Black Eyed Susans on Purple and A July to Remember.  It is good to live with your quilts surrounding you. My studio gets lots of light in the morning, so I rotate the quilts to reduce fading.
This is a very long wall, so I'm showing it to you in 2 parts.

Around the next corner is my short wall with all my products that I sell online: books, patterns, booklets etc. My stereo keeps my quilting smooth and there is an assortment of Winona Lake items on the wall. My postage stamp piece honoring Winona, a historic painting on grass cloth, a water color by local artist Jean Thielen, a Japanese figure I've had since the age of 12, a poster of Winona, and two black eyed susan pieces. The little one was a gift from Emily Parson, and the Purple Eyed Susans was a demo in my book Dancing with Thread.  It really sings on the bright white wall.
This is the part of the room where the embroidery and quilting happen!
 Last of all Oreo is thrilled with the new look.  She can walk along the ledge that is 4 feet up from the floor and watch over all my creative activities and the critters outside. Another bonus, I found an electric outlet, that I didn't know was there, on the long wall. It had been piled up with assorted treasures and junk for years.
The drawers facing out, under the machine cabinets are where I store my thread--by color.  They are on wheels and can be moved around.
Well, I'm ready to sew now.  This major cleaning will never happen again. Once every 35 years is enough. I'm good to go sew.

Have a good weekend.

Ann Fahl

Monday, November 28, 2011

The Glamorous Life Continues!

On the 10th day of patching and painting my studio, I finished the job at 7:30 pm! Wow, it's finally done.

Day 11, is "put it back together" day.  Well, I was so tired after all the painting I decided I needed a break--so I took a nap instead. Eventually I did work at getting parts of the room back in place. The work is slow as I cleaned everything, tossed out stuff and tried to find all my rulers!  I reorganized all my patterns and book stock, so it is easier to fill orders, hooked up the TV and DVD player. My great grandmother's tea cart holds my phone, phone books, paper and pencils.  It took a long time to gently dust all the surfaces, clean the glass tray on the top and hook up the phone and answering machine. This is stuff I'm not good at: cleaning and organizing stuff. "Where did I put those rulers?"

Great grandma's tea cart, is now my communications center! This cart was formerly painted white and sat on the porch at Winona Lake--almost as long as I have been alive.  I am now its caretaker, a job I take seriously!
It was time to start dinner, so I went to the basement and got one more load of stuff to put away, and there they were. All the rulers were sitting under a huge stack of old drawings and notebooks!  I was afraid something had happened to the rulers.  Now the rulers are back in their corner stored above my cutting table.

My rulers have always been on the ledge near my cutting table.  Nothing felt "right" in my new studio until they were back in their place.

Now I can relax, I've found the rulers.  Tomorrow I will begin to hang my quilts and other artwork on my freshly painted walls. On Day 12 I'll give you a quilters tour of my studio next time.  Soon I will be back at my quilting.

Ann Fahl