Monday, August 12, 2013

Studio Spotlight

So glad you stopped by to visit!
 It is always fun to see where someone else creates, dreams, designs, sews and.....stores their fabric. I hope you enjoy my little studio tour, welcome to the Pacific Northwest! 


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Greetings from Seattle!
 I had all good intentions of having the gardening done before you all arrived, but it started getting dark out and that bag of soil was way too heavy to get out of the picture. So here you have it.  My studio is in a space detached from the house with a door leading in from the backyard. I have 300 square feet to house my Gammill longarm quilting machine, my Bernina domestic machine, a Singer featherweight, my modest but growing fabric stash, my thread wall, my design wall, and a lot of batting.
Yes, I have a palm tree, yes it is out of place in Seattle. Yes, I love California with every part of my heart, what else can I say?
 Hi Victor!





















This is my view from the door. The space sits behind our garage. When we moved in it was a very rough storage room with tacky shelving and concrete floors. A lot of love and work has gone into this space, it continues to be an ongoing WIP
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For those of you who have never seen a longarm it is quite an impressive machine. My Gammill is cast iron and sits atop a 12 foot table. I have it pictured here alongside my featherweight for scale. Impressive, no?

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This is the area behind where I stand while quilting, I seem to have a thing for a good pair of scissors..or two.. or eight. The plexiglass you see on the floor is a tool I use for planning quilting designs.

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Pictured below is a gorgeous quilt made by Jules, I quilted spirals on it with the help of my IQ and quickly became once again obsessed by the elusive selvage spiderweb. I store my batting on rolls above the area where I hang customer quilts I have two additional rolls stored under my gammill. Storage in a 300 Sq Ft space with such a large machine is a continual work in progress.
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This is my design wall, it is a nice large wall that I constructed using insulation board and covered with batting. My thread storage is quickly being infringed upon by fabric overflow in need of a place to stay. I love color order and am smitten with my Value quilt WIP. I have completely crushed on value quilts thanks to Katie after taking her value quilt class at Drygoods.


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Here is a view from my studio looking out to the backyard, my husband just put screens on my window and a new door, I am lucky to have so much natural and very little direct sunlight coming into the space. 
My cutting table is in a constant state of being a disaster area. All of those trimmings and thread will make their way out to birds nests in the yard. There are a ridiculous number of birds living in our backyard. With all the thread and fabric scraps available for nesting material I get the feeling that my backyard is like the Hamptons of the bird world.

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I have somehow managed to collect a few vintage sewing machines. The one pictured below is a before and after shot of an industrial Singer sewing machine dated to 1911 that my step dad found and brought back to life for me. It currently resides in the garage, but we aren't talking about how I am slowly but surely taking over the garage for additional sewing space are we?
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 Here is my sewing table and some of the fun stuff that inspires me hanging on the walls.  I love mini quilts and I love to paint and draw. I am in the process of cutting and trading many MANY 6" squares for value quilts. I have amassed enough squares to make value quilts to roughly cover the entire city of Seattle.
 It does rain here a lot.

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 I searched and searched AND searched for this IKEA table on Craigslist and finally just caved and bought one new. It was worth every cent. I covered it with a layer of batting and fabric, it is a fantastic ironing/work surface.
I am inspired by so many things and love to surround myself and fill my space with treasures.


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Its been my pleasure to have you visit my studio on this virtual tour.
Enjoy all of the other studio and crafting spaces featured,  I would love to see where you create too!
 Where ever you create big or small, living room, dining room, extra room...err...garage.... studio, our sewing/crafting spaces are such special, important places where we can escape to, express ourselves and create beautiful things. I have enjoyed sharing mine with you. As always thank you for visiting and have a wonderful week. xoxo

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32 comments:

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  2. Thank you for your studio tour. I love seeing a quilter's workspace.

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  3. What an incredible space, surrounded by a lovely yard/view! Very clever use of space and nice that you had the extra bldg onsite to use as a sewing haven!

    I have my stash sorted on an Ikea furniture wall - floor to ceiling - and it is an inspirational rainbow for those times when the grey MI weather has me in a rut. You can see photos on the "stash" link of my blog.

    Thanks for this post, Krista - it was fun and enlightening. Hoping to some day be able to buy and house a long arm, just so I can work on quilts larger than queen size. :)

    Best regards,
    Beth

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  4. Wow, Wow, WOW! There is so much eye candy here! I am not sure what I am enjoying more - Victor saying hello or peeking in from the window! Thank you so much for sharing your space with us today.
    ps- I am diggin' the mini spool block above your work table. Might need to make one of those for my wall.
    ~Heather

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  5. It's nice to see studio spaces that aren't "Picture perfect" and look real! I'm always beating myself up over my space, but it's really not that bad. I like your creative storage ideas too.

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  6. It is just gorgeous! I really need to clean up my space because I wanted to start taking customers for long arm quilting so it really helped to see yours and how you set it up. However, I don't and never will have the natural light you do since I am down in the basement! Beautiful space! You have done a nice job with it!

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  7. Very interesting (said with my Nosey Parker hat on!) Did you get my email?!

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  8. Thanks for sharing your place where all your stunning quilts are made.

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  9. Your space is great! I've seen already some pics of it, but never so much at once. I love your rainbows (fabrics, threads) and the WIP on the design board! I'm always amazed how you can make such a wonderful works having limited stash. Well, you're genius - that's the point:)

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  10. What a lovely place to spend time with the things that make you happy! I am a garment sewer, but can appreciate your treasured things!
    Sew Beautiful! ♥

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  11. I am interested in your Ikea table for ironing and work table. I live 2 hours away from Ikea, but would like to know what you bought. I have found that I get overwhelmed when I go there. I am always looking for more storage.

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    1. It is called Varde base cabinet with drawers. It is a kitchen cabinet. I love mine! Ikea can be overwhelming.

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  12. Thanks for the fabulous tour....I love seeing other quilters' studios. Since i've taken over my husbands pool table I totally understand not mentioning the garage takeover!!

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  13. I feel like I've had a lovely visit with you, Krista! Thanks for sharing your space!

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  14. Oh wow, lots of wonderful things, thanks for sharing. We have just finished (almost) a house extension and I have a sewing space so I'm loving seeing what everyone else has and thinking about how I can use those ideas!

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  15. Krista, thank you for sharing your amazing space with us. I love that you showed us the inside and the outside of your space. I love your value quilt too! I could look at your pictures for days, taking in every detail. I'm fascinated by where people create and what inspires them and you have inspired me for sure. Thank you so much for being part of our tour!

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  16. Nice!! Thank you for sharing!!!

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  17. Oh Yeah. Been there, Love it! Hi to the Family, hope to see you all again soon, Rob

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  18. I wish I could drink coffee & fondle fabric with you there in the mornings! LOVE, LOVE the new door. That husband is sure handy ;)

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  19. Thank you so much for sharing your space with us. I am in the process of acquiring a longarm and, by necessity, rearranging my space. This offers great guidance. What a welcoming, nurturing, creative space. Enjoy!

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  20. What a beautiful spot for creating and I love the palm tree!

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  21. Such a beautiful space to create! I love that you showed the featherweight against the long arm for purposes of scale. And it's fun to see the industrial machine in its glory, after having seen it in person!

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  22. i love love love your dutch door!!! I want one so bad for our back door. <# love your space. there's a lot of treasures in there.

    we're making a similar ironing table to yours. :) I saw it on a blog recently. my hubbs is renovating our first floor (living, dining, office, studio, guest bath and eventually the kitchen...) and my studio will now be a private space with a DOOR and i'm VERY excited!

    taking notes from this tour to pin pictures I want him to be inspired by as he's working and getting me optimal fabric storage!

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  23. I would sure love to have space big enough for a longarm. And your machine collection is wonderful.

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  24. I stumbled upon your blog some time ago after following Jacquie at Tallgrass, I too am a Chicago girl at heart as I lived there the first 22 years of my life. Now to find you have a beautiful Gammill longarm, I drool over them. I have lived in West Plains, Missouri for the past 16 years....the home of Gammill longarm machines and drive past the showroom many times each week. I also had my 2 sons work at a machine shop that makes the frames for Gammill longarm.............do I have a machine?? NO!! One of these days I will have one of my own, hopefully before I get too old to use one. In the meantime I enjoy all your beautiful quilts....Lisa

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  25. I am intrigued by how you do those designs on that monster of a machine! Really want to go and see one in action now!

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  26. Nice wall full of quilts! It must have taken ages to finish all of them.

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  27. your studio is FABULOUS!!! i'm wondering about your sewing machine cabinet that your BERNINA sits in. what brand is it? where did you purchase it? or, is it perhaps a table that you DIY'd the insert? i've never seen that brand/particular table.. it's lovely! thanks~

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