Thursday, July 9, 2015

What Do You Like About Your Space?

I finally got this one back on the frame and have been enjoying a morning of quilting.

I was so happy to have found a pantograph that matches the Mary Englebright flowers:

Our unseasonal heat has gone away, replaced with 66-70 degrees temperatures. Our skys are filled with an overcast of clouds along with intermindent sprinkles. I love that since moving the long-arm to this side of the room I can open the windows and enjoy the fresh air! I am conforted my the smell of  summer rain  and the sounds of summer lawns being mowed and birds busy tending their nests. 
As with any sewing space, there's always those pros and cons aren't there? Mine being in a basement, it is definitely one of my favorite things to throw open the windows and enjoy a day of sewing with fresh air at my back.  So, being the curious Nelly that I am, I know we all have different sewing spaces. Some in attics, some in bedrooms, some in basements. They all have their pros and cons don't they?  So I ask: "What is the favorite thing about your sewing space?" 

Val's Quilting Studio
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25 comments:

  1. I'm set up in our spare bedroom and my favorite thing is the window my sewing table is butted against. The natural light is so nice and cheery! And it makes it easy to hear the rain while I work too. :)

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  2. My sewing space is my livingroom/diningroom - great large space is the pro. BUT I would love to move it all into one of the huge upstairs bedrooms - so I can have my other rooms back. Con - the stairs.

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  3. For several years I sewed in the laundry room, but since my youngest son got married, I took over his bedroom. It is upstairs, and I've situated my machine by the window. Not any kind of amazing view, but I love the light that pours in. I also love that I have a closet that I've filled with fabric, quilting books, and am able to hang some of the projects in the works on hangers.

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    1. I can appreciate everyone's love of natural light...as that is a con of a basement studio for sure.

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  4. "Summer rains and lawns being mowed and birds tending their nests"... I love the picture you painted Val.
    I like the light and an open window with a breeze, even in the winter time I often have the window open... It helps with the hot flashes, LOL.

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  5. I love a cool summer, and 60's to 70's is my ideal temperature and all too infrequent where I live, but this summer we hit the jackpot. (So far anyway.) My sewing space is all over the house. I cut and piece in my living room, hand sew in my family room (by the TV) and quilt in my daughter's old bedroom (aka the guest room). My favorite space is the living room. I can work there, see the TV in the family room, and stay in touch with my husband. The guest room is enjoyable with the window open, but it's really too isolating to be up there for long stretches of time.

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  6. My sewing room is the bonus room over a 3 car garage, so it is 20X30. Large enough for all of my toys and a window looking out onto the street. Love it!!

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  7. My sewing space is huge, in the walk-out basement with lots of windows, and my gorgeous view. I love the space, lots of storage (probably too much storage, LOL!!), and all my machines are set up all the time. Plus I have space to leave up the ironing board and cutting table, with a kitchen table and four chairs to have friends over to sew. I am very spoiled, and I know it, LOL!! But I've earned it!

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  8. I like having the windows open, too and this week has been unseasonably cool, so I have had them open! I like that my sewing space is at the front of the house so I can see what's happening out on the street.

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  9. Favorite thing is the size. Just about all of our lower level is my sewing studio.... And the Pergo flooring! Perfect for a sewing room. Cons - walk out basement without enough natural light. But it's the best room I have had so far!

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  10. What a great topic, I loved seeing all the responses. I've taken over the in law space for my sewing and long arm rooms. It's a great space with a room that over looks a garden for the long arm. The sewing area has my huge table for the machine, a cutting table that is counter height and seven feet x three feet, an ironing table the same size. I even have a kitchen and a bathroom. The sewing room has a walk out to the patio and gardens. It is a great space but I would give it all up to have my dear mother in law back in that space. It took a couple of years after she was gone for me to move in. But now when I'm there I feel like she's with me.

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  11. Val, I absolutely love my unfinished basement space. It seems to fit in with my unfinished projects (ha ha). No, honestly, it is the perfect size for me. I machine quilt in one area of it and piece in the other. I figure that I can never have more stash than what fits in that space, so it limits me on the $$ spending.

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  12. I love that I have a large space to do all my sewing in. My husband gave up his "man room" so that I could have my long arm and sewing table in the same room. It still needs a lot more organization, but who has time to organize when there's sewing to be done!!

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  13. My sewing room is called the Creative Room and has a large door opening into the living-room. I have windows on three sides and I can watch the activities on the street (if any) and watch the wind, rain and sun patterns. I have everything within 4 feet. I designed this space when we were renovating the house. I love my room and enjoy working in it.

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  14. My sewing space is in what amounts to a long hallway with their being doors at each end of the room. Pros: I get to see my family coming and going. Cons: I get interrupted by my family coming and going, Hahahaha!

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  15. I sew in the kitchen good as it is warm in the winter and the tv and radio are there (I live in the kitchen) another advantage is it is a tiled floor so easy to sweep up the rubbish, would be much harder in the lounge with a carpet but a pain that I have to clear everything away at mealtimes etc and bedtime as I do not like seeing the mess!! Just as well I live on my own, would love to have a sewing room

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  16. My favorite thing for me is that I have my own little room just for my creative adventures and although small it has 3 big windows in it-one overlooks one of our ponds itis also close to the kitchen and off the living room-which I have pretty much taken over too as my space lol

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  17. I have a great view up the canyon in my sewing space in a spare bedroom of our home. And everything is right at hand, easy to find, only a few steps away. Perfect for me.

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  18. I can watch my kids in the backyard playing while I sew. My sewing machine faces the window.

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  19. My sewing space (or "The Quilt Cove" as I have dubbed it), is our dining room, the front of which is right next to and opens out to our living room (what they now call "open concept" but our complex was built back in the late 60's). A doorway in the back end leads to our kitchen. Our home "office" (a desk with wall shelves) also occupies this space along with most of my quilt supplies and dining room storage (china and glassware).

    Pros: it's fairly well lit during the day since the back faces east and the living room faces west so the light moves through all day. With the livingroom and the "office" around me, I'm always in the midst of my family while I'm sewing, the TV is in view when I need entertainment playing in the background, I can use the dining table as an extra work/organizing surface and can pop in and out of the kitchen to work on meals between sewing sets of seams. Limits to the space mean I have to try to limit the stash of projects on hand. The Cons: there are times when I'd prefer to have a door to close when I'm working on something but usually accomplish that by doing any complicated sewing while everyone else is out of the house during the day. Because it may need to be a "formal" dining room at times (usually, only during the holidays), I try to be mindful of how I display, organize and store things for easy transition to that function.

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  20. Do you know how you can "like" or "thumbs up" things? I'd like to do that to so many of the responses!

    I think the best thing about my sewing space is it's all mine. For many years, I sewed in the guest room/office/holiday storage/etc. room. It was a decent sized bedroom, but it served too many purposes! Four years ago, we had to do some work on the house -- new windows and siding. We decided to put a shed roof addition on the back of the house -- this added a dining room (since computers and office stuff had taken over the old dining room) and an expanded family room.

    There was one part of our house, off the kitchen, that was just one story. I had the brilliant idea that we could go up another story in that area, which would be accessed by a new door from the master bedroom. We would have workers here anyway, and we already needed flooring, plastering, etc. An additional room, used for sewing, wouldn't require plumbing or a foundation, so the extra cost of adding the room wouldn't be ridiculous. I could have my own dedicated sewing room, and if I didn't take this opportunity, I'd have to wait until we had a much emptier nest. I was able to convince my husband to go for it.

    We were limited to the size of the 1st story space, so it's about 9.5' by 13.5' (4.6 times smaller than the very lucky lady with the 3-car-garage bonus room!) I was able to design it with my fabric stash and quilting needs in mind.

    We gave it a higher ceiling (sloped sides but then flat at the top), which helps it seem roomier. We had them put in the wiring for a fan & light, which my husband and son put in later. We don't have air conditioning, so the fan is an absolute necessity on hot days. There's also track lighting, which we're going to add some more lights to at some point -- it was a flexible option!

    On the wall where you enter, I had the builders place a heavy duty shelf right over the door for the whole length of the room. I have many plastic containers up there, holding my less-often accessed stash as well as some holiday things. You don't really notice the shelf when you come in, but when you look back and up, it's an amazing amount of storage space which still looks good.

    We put in 8 double electrical plugs (so I could plug in 16 things...but sometimes the iron trips the circuit breaker!) and a computer hookup so I can watch Netflix up there. My husband got me a nice flatscreen TV; it's not that big, but just right for the room. Occasionally one of the kids wants to watch something that no one else wants to watch downstairs, or they just need some alone time. I can send them up to the sewing room to watch their special thing, which makes everyone happy.

    I picked a color I loved for the walls (Behr Celtic Gray) and a really pretty and deep purple (Behr Stained Glass, I think) for the trim. I furnished the room with items I found at the "give and take" area of our dump as well as things I found on the side of the road. Most things that needed painting, I used the purple.

    Again, the very best thing about it is that it's all mine. I can leave it a mess; I can leave it tidy. When I come back to it, everything's going to be where it was. I love having a dedicated space and I feel really lucky to have it.

    Here's a picture of my sewing room from a few years back: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/143200463125112874/
    It's changed since then, but it gives you the general idea.

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  21. How could I have left such a long comment, and then still have forgotten something? Adding the sewing room meant my two sons, 9 and 13 at that time, could have their own rooms. The older one moved into the "too many purposes" room. He has to move back in with his brother when guests come, but that's pretty rare. Not having to share a room made a huge difference for my two boys.

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  22. My sewing room is about 10' x 20' with a cathedral ceiling. It has 13 windows in it. When we built my sewing room, I fought for every single one of those windows. I have the most marvelous natural light. I spend most of my time in there. :-)

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  23. When we lived in Texas, my sewing room was also My Guy's music room. In the new house, I have a sewing room that is 100% my space. That's my favorite thing about the space, I don't have to share.

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  24. My favorite thing is having ALL of my sewing, quilting, crafting stuff in ONE place. And it is big enough that it never feels crowded,. even with a long arm and 12 foot table in there!

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I have to admit, your comments make me smile! Thanks for sharing and for letting me know you stopped by. I Hope your day is awesome!

Val:)

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