Room to Move!!

Progress report:
The picture above is what the "quilt studio" looked like on May 27th. It was pretty crowded in there and that darn armoire was in the middle of the room. Not so much fun for working in there.
Well, after getting out boxes and boxes (I think I've lost count along the way) of fabric that's been folded and stored on the shelves, I could finally shift enough stuff to have DH move that armoire!

This is what the studio looks like today. Still messy and crowded, but I have room in the middle of the room to move around! Yay!! I even vacuumed the floor (some). You can see that I still have plenty of boxes to go through. And that pile of plastic bins needs something done with them. Some of them are projects, some are fat quarters awaiting a new home, and some of them are cut strips and squares, also needing new homes. You can see that the folding table that the sewing machine is on has become even more buried in stuff. It may be in danger of collapsing, except that the giant box of quilt batting, pillow forms etc. is under the table. Dunkle is mad at me. That was his favorite box to sleep on, and it was the highest box in the room. (You can see it behind the armoire in the first photo.) He could do the "king of all he surveys" routine while on top of it. Now he comes in the room and pouts.

Here is the left side of the fabric shelves. It's getting pretty full! The pile of boxes and bags in front of the shelves is fabric to be gotten rid of, fabric to cut into strips, squares and so on, and bags of other fabrics (non-quilting) that need a place to live.

Here is the right side of the fabric shelves. They're even more full! Those plastic bins on top of the shelves are, except for 3 bins of wool fabric, all full of fat quarters! I have a LOT MORE fat quarters than I would have guessed. I'm starting to suspect that I may have a problem in storing them. I'm not gonna panic yet, but the thought has crossed my mind. DH seems kind of stunned at the amount of fabric sitting on the shelves when he walks into the studio. Hah! I think I am too.

So, that's the latest on the Quilt Studio so far.

I have been wandering around the web, in between fabric folding bouts, and have found some fun stuff to share with you.

Over at Puget Sound Sewing and Crafts blog, they have a great tutorial on how to re-cover your ironing board. You can see that here.

On Lynette Anderson's blog, she is offering free stitchery patterns for a Noah's Ark Block of the Month. You can find that here. Check out her great blog too. I love her designs - they're cute and very country.

Bunny Hill Designs. I love their designs and have bought a few of their patterns.

Liberty Star has primitive folk art dolls, quilts and paper arts.

Barbara Brandeburg is one of my favorite designers and has written many books. I love her patterns, which she markets under the name Cabbage Rose. This is her blog. I haven't explored too much on it yet, but what I've seen, I've enjoyed.

Primitive Pieces by Lynda is an on-line store. She's got some great quilt patterns, and a very nice web site.

This next web site is something a little different. Boo Davis from Seattle has found a special niche for herself in the quilt world, called Quiltsryche. She makes "evil and offbeat" quilts for the heavy-metal music lover. Good for her!

And, saving the best for last, I found two online interviews with Gwen Marston. The first one was conducted on July 21st of 2007, by The Alliance for American Quilts S.O.S. (Save Our Stories). The second one is on Real Women Quilt, when Gwen was the Featured Quilter. Both interviews are very informative and entertaining.

Gwen has been a big influence on my quilting for many years, first through her columns in a quilting magazine (that I can't remember the name of! oops!) and then through her books. I was lucky enough to hear her speak at a local California quilt guild in 2006, and also to see her and Freddy Moran speak at a quilt show in Oakland, California and to see their quilts from their book "Collaborative Quilting". Through her collaboration with Freddy, Gwen is still influencing quilters! If you haven't seen this yet, Tonya is taking a survey to see how many quilters would be willing to pay something like $36 for a reprint of Gwen's book "Liberated Quiltmaking". (I just looked on Amazon for it, and it starts at $49.17 for a used book and $157.84 for a new copy!!) Gwen was the first quilter to "give permission" to be less than perfect, based on her study of antique quilts. My feeling is that this book deserves more exposure. I'd love to have a copy of it. So, if you agree, please let Tonya know!

Have a great quilt-y week!