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Originally posted by Corey

Hi Oma,

Thanks for sharing your studio. It is good to have a dedicated place for all your hobbies and room to play. You are one blessed lady.

Corey

Yes, Corey, I am truly blessed in so many ways. I thank God every day for all the blessings I have received.

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Ugh, I would rather spend my time piecing or quilting than cleaning and organizing

Me too. I used to remember where everything was then I decided I didn't have to if I just put a label on everything. LOL. There's a method to my madness.

I have found that the best way to get organized is to do a little at a time. Otherwise it's overwhelming. Decide to organize one thing at a time...like just your magazines or just your thread, etc. Seeing them pretty and organized will motivate you to organize the rest. When you're done with that then go sew a project or something until the next time you're either stuck on something or not wanting to sew then pick another "little" area to organize. Before you know it your whole area will be organized.

I try to "clean up and start fresh" after every quilt. Meaning I put my rulers and everything away where they belong and get out what I need again and make another big mess when I start a new quilt. BUT...I always try to start fresh. I tell myself it shows respect for the new quilt so things go better.

Buy little plastic containers or pretty little boxes when they are on sale or you have a coupon and sit them on the shelf empty if you must until you decide what should go in there.

I'm hesitant to use the big plastic bins because they take up a lot of room, they are not particularly attractive and they hold too much stuff so you still don't know what's in there or else you have to "unpack" it to get to what you wanted. I use a few here and there. Try to use smaller containers and see if it doesn't help.

Buy a label maker and keep it in your room then label, label, label. Especially if you are using boxes you can't see into. When I'm "procrastinating" or "pondering" on a project I will sit and make labels for things.

It would be nice to have a crew come in and do it for you, but the truth is you need to put your things where they make sense to you and near where you use them the most.

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Originally posted by chrisee

It is great to be able to visit your space. I am at the stage of deciding on the size of my cutting table and the best use of the space under neath. Thanks Oma for sharing.

Great storage under your Liberty. How do you check the tension on the back of your quilt while on your Liberty?

Usually at the start of a quilt I will sew a little on the extra fabric on the side to check tension. If I'm still thinking it might be off I reach under and feel. If it doesn't look or feel right to me I use a mirror to look by reaching under from either the front or the back. I have been truly blessed with my Liberty...she doesn't give me tension problems. If I were to have problems I could just advance the quilt then walk to the back and see what it was doing.

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Originally posted by VIVIANMABLE

Wonderful space..............you could hold up in there for years and not get bored..........haha Congratulations !

Thank you...I intend to try. LOL. As odd as this sounds...I have NEVER been bored a day in my life. My problem was always finding enough time to do all of the things I wanted to do.

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Originally posted by chermitch

That room must be very large!!!!You have a lot of wonderful stuff!!!!!

It's about 12' X 25'. It was suppose to be two bedrooms, but we left out the wall in between and one of the closets and made it a big bonus room so my quilting table would fit. 15 years ago I had a Juki with a 9" throat on a wooden 12' table. Thank you for your complement. It took a long time to get to this point, but it's been worth it.

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Originally posted by Littleshoes

Love, Love Love...... I'm going to go in and label my studio dies just like you did! Thanks for posting. I love seeing other ideas for storage. s

You'll be glad you did because it will save you so much time and effort. It made sense to me. The label on the dies seemed so small and it's only on one side...which always seemed to be the side not showing. Now I can see in a glance which one I want. If you look you will also see that some of them have a picture (like the triangle) and the size written. Just easier for me. Do you also outline your design on the foam and put placement markings? Very handy. And I will write on the foam part what size of fabric I need to cover that cut.

Use a silver marker...it works so well.

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Originally posted by KarenH

Oma, love your new space, you really can fit alot!! May I ask what you are using under your Liberty for storage? I will be soon in my new space, and there will not be alot of usable vertical space. So I am checking out everyone's fabulous sewing spaces for ideas!!

The black ones are from JoAnn's (use the 40% or 50% coupon) and the white ones are from Target online (on sale). They were very "reasonable" that way...under $30 a piece I think and that's including the plastic trays. They came with wheels, but I didn't want them on wheels plus I don't think they fit with the wheels. I bought a few at a time until I had enough. They weren't always under my table. They use to sit on my shelves (with one shelf removed) and under my sewing tables. I actually had too many when I remodeled so I gave a couple away. The little girls across the street were ecstatic.

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Originally posted by hmerrill

Nice room Oma and it sure looks like you have enough projects to keep you busy for some time! LOL I see you have Go! dies but you have the studio. Do you have both cutters or do you use your studio to use the Go! dies?

I have the GO BABY and the Studio. This was my thinking on that...

1. I wanted to do a "few" applique type things. Not badly enough to pay upwards of $100 for a die though.

2. The Studio dies are a lot more expensive than the GO dies and they should be because they are heavier and nicer.

3. I wanted to be able to cut at least 10 layers of fabric at a time...the GO just wasn't going to do that for me. It cuts 4-6 I think. Plus it was expensive ($399 at the time).

4. I bought the Studio, which I LOVE for the bulk of my cutting...all my strips and blocks, etc.

5. And when the GO BABY came out I bought it for under $100 then bought some GO applique dies cheaper and on sale online and using coupons at JoAnn's and other places.

Therefore, the GO BABY and ALL my dies were cheaper than if I had purchased the GO without any dies or just a couple of the Studio dies.

I also bought the adaptor for the Studio so I can use the GO dies or Sizzix dies, etc. if I need or want to.

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Originally posted by LadyLake

Wow, Oma! It is so fun to see your space. I'm envious of your quality cabinets. I love your floor. And, I like the curved track lights, plus everthing else, of course. Thanks for sharing -- looks like you are a seriously creative person!

The two Koala cabinets were by far the most expensive thing I purchased for my room in the remodel. I was a little stressed about the cost of them, however, having said that I have to add that they are the BEST, BEST, BEST thing I did. They are truly quality built. They have so much storage in them. I had these made taller so I could stand at either of them and use them as a cutting table. A sales person told me to get the taller cabinets because your neck and back don't bother you as much when you do a lot of sewing. I'm not sure I believed that at the time, but it seems to be true. I have a back and neck injury and I can adjust my chair in so many ways now to relieve some of that pain. I'm VERY happy with my cabinets. They are beautiful.

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Originally posted by Linda S

Oh, it's WONDERFUL!! But, you obviously have no idea what a mess is. I see that you also have accumulated a large stock of toys with which to play. I'm so glad I have finally retired - I may get to use some of mine!

I bought many of my toys while I was still working and I am enjoying them now for sure. You are definitely on the right track. Your time is coming. I haven't told you that I have a "computer/office" room that houses a bunch of my other toys. Ssshhhhh...it's a secret. LOL.

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Originally posted by Mrs.A

Love your studio, Oma! Thanks so much for sharing all those pictures. One thing you didn't show us is how you store your thread. It doesn't look like it's in the storage under your machine. I would LOVE to have your rubber stamp shelves for my thread collection. Where do you keep yours?

I'll have to see if I have a picture. The quilting thread is in pretty little boxes on the shelf behind the quilting machine. I don't keep a lot of it on hand because I don't quilt for anybody but myself and I like to use neutral colors or golds. So I only have about twenty or so spools (I think).

I have a lot of embroidery thread and I keep it in special little containers made for holding those types of spools and those containers are on a shelf. My sewing thread is in plastic containers that came with my cabinet and fit in one of the drawers in my sewing cabinet.

I really only use Aurafil thread for piecing. I keep several spools of neutral colors on a shelf in my sewing cabinet near the sewing machine.

I try not to have a lot of thread stored anymore because I found that it really does get "old" and then it wants to act funky and break all the time. I was told to keep it in the freezer. I've decided to let the stores keep it until I want or need it then I'll go buy some. I do keep a back up supply of my favorite or most used ones.

I found this pic, but it was before I put labels on all of the boxes, but you get the idea. This is the shelf behind the Liberty.

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Originally posted by srichardson

Wow, what a wonderful space. It is like having your own quilt retreat, go in, close the door and forget the world outside!

Sue

Thank you for your complements. You're right about it being a nice retreat. It doesn't have a door. It's upstairs and at one end of the house, so everytime I go upstairs it's constantly beckoning me to just come on in.

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From the door. There really is a lot of room for moving around still considering how much stuff I have in there.

I was gone the first three weeks in August so I've really only been in there to play for less than a week, but I'm enjoying my room very much.

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My view when I'm sewing. Wow...that really looks messy. Sorry.

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All the AccuQuit GO dies fit so nicely here in this little plastic container. It slides into a shelf on the cutting table. And...I was always tripping over my trash can, but I have to have it next to me when I'm cutting so I slipped it in the little center cubby spot. Fits perfectly. I think that spot was to put tall rulers and cutting mats or something, but I repurposed it.

I actually have three trash containers in my room. One by my sewing chair for when I'm sewing which I move over by the Studio Cutter if I'm using it, one by the cutting cabinet and one big one over by the ironing board. Saves me so many steps each day and I keep my area cleaner.

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The closet shelves. This is mostly painting stuff and scrapbooking stuff.

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The organized magazines up closer. I like being able to go find a certain magazine this easily. I also have a little foot stool I sit on when I'm looking through them. No one looks through just one.

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another

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The lights and the fan. They are working well. I have them over the top of the quilting table, the cutting table, and my sewing table. The ceiling fan light fills in the middle.

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I LOVE that big screen tv. You can see my CL boards. Later I may find a different place for them.

To the left is a 12 foot long wall of shelves also. I have most of the stuff in plastic containers separated out. Probably 10 -12 quilts with all the fabric for them in each container so all I have to do is pull out the container and there is my pattern and fabric all ready to go.

All my longarm supplies are on those shelves. And batting and over flow fabric and bunches of other stuff.

I still have the yellow cabinet liner on the table bed because I had a quilt on the machine. Some of you may remember my story about the CL boards and the carpet tape. OMG! Well, this has fixed everything and is working well. If all else fails...read the instructions again!

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Under my Liberty. Love that storage.

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Now I'm swinging across to the cutting table, ironing board and fabric wall.

I went through a bunch of my fabric and sent it to my DIL along with my older Janome embroidering/sewing machine. She needed something to play with and I needed to lose some of it. I still have several shelves of fabric on the wall behind the Liberty. This is enough to keep me busy for a while anyway.

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Here's a pic showing the rubber stamp wall. Those would make great thread shelves if I had that much thread. The shelf looks like it is leaning, but it isn't...it's attached to a wall and the wall is straight.

There are a lot of little plastic containers behind that design wall too. All my scrapbooking and paper crafting supplies are there.

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This is all three cabinets. I like that the sewing cabinet has the shelves on the side that swing out (under the serger). I can pull it up close if I'm using the serger or push it out of the way when I'm not without having to lift it out of the way.

There is a bullitin board to the right of the window that I used thumbtacks to attach patterns of my NEXT projects or at least the ones I REALLY want to do. Keeps me motivated.

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This is the other Koala cabinet. Try to see past the mess. I'm working on a quilt so I don't want to move stuff. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. LOL.

You can see the peg board in this pic too.