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It’s taken a few weeks, but I finally got all the fabric that was in the cubes rolled up, put into a basket (if it was too small for rolling), or hung up (if it was too big or had a large motif that was hidden when rolled).
As you can see, I have some more storage space, but that’s good, because this actually isn’t all of the fabric. I have several large boxes of fabric that are set aside for specific projects and when those projects are finished, I’ll be adding what’s left of those fabrics back to the stash. So a little empty space is good.
My worktable has remained manageable, which is fortunate, because I have been busy making cards for friends.
(OK, it’s hard to tell, but really, there’s enough room there for me to sit down with a sheet of paper and draw, paint, glue, whatever.)
And I’m still making mattresses for The Gift of Sensitivity, although mostly I’ve been collecting materials for the next batch.
Now that the weather is getting more summer like (more sun, less rain), I don’t have quite as much time for sewing as I did.
Next to do in the studio:??? I’ve been collecting little display shelves for one of the walls and it may be time to put those up in order to get some of my inspirational things, as well as finished projects, on display and off my work surfaces. Either that, or I need to start going through the boxes in the closet and on the shelves and really organizing things. For example, the majority of my doll-making supplies are in a single box, which means lots of different things thrown together. As I learned a few years ago when I took the time to sort all my beads into separate containers, organized supplies get used. Unorganized ones do not.
The makeover is taking a while because I keep spending the majority of my time working on projects I’ve uncovered. I finished a needle work project over the weekend and have launched into work on a piece that I’ve been dying to make for almost five years.
I continue to roll fabrics when I can (soothing, mindless, color therapy), and I’ve collected a number of baskets, boxes, and tins, all ready to store things when I decide I need to organize something that isn’t currently organized.
Shelves with more rolled fabric
But mostly, I’ve been messing things back up. My current passion is “The Gift of Sensitivity” which is going to be soft sculpture/mixed media illustration for The Princess and The Pea. Currently, I’m making mattresses. I still have to decide how many total I’ll be doing. I originally intended on making the traditional 40, but I’m not sure I’m going to do that now. I have twelve mattresses so far, some finished, some still being embellished to make them look more mattressy, but that doesn’t seem like enough. I suppose if I’m going to really make a lot more, I’ll need to buy more foam (which is my currently filler of choice). The big breakthrough was finding a simpler way to put the mattresses together. They’re small enough that simple construction is key.
Mattresses for The Gift of Sensitivity
As promised, an update regarding my studio makeover. I found a paper towel holder at the thrift store and was lucky: the holes for the screws lined up with holes in the support bar on my shelving unit. So I was able to hang the paper towels using bolts instead of screws. No holes in the wall, and my paper towels are within easy reach.
I’ve also been working in stages on my fabric storage. Whenever I’m on the phone for a while, I roll up my fabric. I think it’s going to work better than having it folded did. First, you can see all of the fabric at once (lots was getting lost in the stacks I had before), and it seems to take up less space, so I’ll have more room to play with. I’ve decided I need to find a way to hang my large scale Japanese print fabrics, though. When they’re rolled up, you can’t really tell what they look like.
I’ve also been collecting wire bins (at the thrift store) that will fit on the shelves to hold the scraps that are too small to roll. I think my favorite container so far is a recycled zippered plastic bag that a set of sheets came in. Not only can you see what is in it, but is boxed-shaped so it sits up. (It’s in the cube above the yellow and brown fabrics.)
I haven’t made any more progress than this because most of my studio time this week went to machine quilting a piece that I hope to put in our family’s art show this November. It’s a baby quilt for an inner child, and I’m having an interesting time figuring out how to hang the sucker. The obvious thing would be to just attach it to a larger square of fabric, but I’m not sure I’ll like how that would look…
Quilt for an Inner Child
The studio clean-up/reorganization will continue and I’ll keep you posted as I go.
I am fortunate enough to have an entire room (with a view) to devote to my many creative interests, which include quilting, soft sculpture, collage, and painting. I had a clear plan for everything when we moved in last January, and for quite a while my studio worked well. I used the book Organizing Your Craft Space by Jo Packham to think about what I wanted. Then I worked out a scale floor plan that included locations for my many plastic bins. Was I organized when we moved in!
While in many ways my new studio has been great, I have continued to read about studios and storage solutions in search of more ideas for my own creative space. My main source has been the special Studios issues put out by Cloth Paper Scissors over the last two years.
Fast forward to Tuesday (or really, the last few months). Things got out of control and I haven’t been able to look at the room let alone set foot in it. Here’s what it looked like Tuesday morning:
My sister, who makes glass beads, was just here visiting and we talked about the fact that we both needed to overhaul our studios. We’ve agreed to go through this process together, and I loaned her my magazines to read. I have already implemented some of the wise things she and my brother-in-law suggested to me while they were here.
The suggestion that surprised me the most was: get the books out of the room. The pictures of the many studios I’ve read about always have shelves and shelves of books in them, so I was keeping all my art/craft/inspirational books and magazines in my studio as well. When I was planning, I kept hoping to squeeze a chair in next to my shelves so I would have the cozy reading corner so many large studios have, but the chair wouldn’t fit.
Once my sister mentioned it, however, I realized I almost never use my books in my studio. I curl up on my sofa to read them for fun, when I am so tired that vicarious creating beats not creating at all. Once in a while, I need to look up the instructions for a specific technique while I’m actually working on something, but that is a rare event.
So, I have already moved almost all of my books onto a book shelf in my guest room, which just happens to have a comfy arm chair next to it already; my reading nook finally exists.
In the process of moving the books, I also did some picking up and putting away. Already, the floor is clear again, there is more space on my shelves, and my work table is (mostly) open. So I can finish pieces I’m working on for our family show in November, although I still have some decisions and changes to make to my studio. My goal is to post an update weekly, so there should be more studio news this time next week.
