Studio Reveal...Revealed Again

Somehow, some way this post got hijacked...simply disappeared from my blog.  It's over on Google Reader, so I know I posted it.  I recreated it, but know that if you pinned pictures the link is broken.  
Many of you had questions in the comments that I was planning to answer, so if you have questions, please ask again.  

Thanks for all the kind comments about our housing struggle. Who knew so many people have experienced the same thing or worse!

I discovered it takes me longer to unpack than pack. I am a speed packer, but when it comes to unpacking I'm a "place for everything, everything in its place" kinda gal. I still have art to hang, but I'm just about done in the rest of the apartment and the studio is finally ready to sew. It was harder than I thought to arrange with a little more space. I still have some lighting issues to figure out. The sun blazes in during the day and right now I only have my two swing arm lamps for the evening, but here's my new studio ready for me to get to work!

My ironing station and solid fabric storage.

Old school pinterest.

The sewing quilting area.

A small desk for office work.

The new fabric storage shelves compliments of my hubby!

More shelves for books and fabric and a colorwheel for inspiration.

My cutting table which I'm working on getting to the correct height.

My dad's thread cabinet with a thread rainbow.

Ruler storage.

The design wall all clean, restretched and ready for use.

Now, to get to work!

Scrap Potential

Don't you love the potential of a pile of scraps?

This is going on the back for a quilt top I just finished. I think I'm going to like the back as much as the front!

I cleaned and organized the studio for a full weekend of sewing.  I did something a little different this time.  I sorted all my prints by color and by value.

 Sorting by value didn't take that long and it's not really scientific or exact.  I simply made three stacks, light, medium and dark and put each fabric in a stack based on a quick glance.

 It was interesting to find out that I buy pretty evenly between values.  I thought there would be an abundance of medium value fabrics.

 The advantage to sorting this way is when pulling fabrics for a project.  It's much easier to "think" about value when choosing fabrics.  I'm going to sort my solids this way as well, but that's a task for another day.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I'm going to try to get all those backs made so I can baste and quilt this weekend.

A New Look Deserves a Giveaway!

On Saturday I cleaned the house and the studio needed some serious cleaning.  Dust dinosaurs had taken over the room.  Deep cleaning means moving furniture and since I created chaos with my cleaning I decided to rearrange a bit.  You wouldn't think there would be many possible arrangements in such a small room, but I was bound and determined to try something new.  I also needed to create some wall space for this new quilt, so moving my bulletin board turned into a whole new look.

 First I had to get some quilting done.  Around and around I quilted!

I quilted echoed wedges in the center and then quilted concentric circles on the colorwheel itself and out to the edges of the quilt.  That is some dizzying quilting!  The quilt finished at 60" x 60".

 I chose to do a ROYGBIV binding from shot cotttons and crossweaves.  I think the binding makes this quilt!

I think it's perfect hanging in the studio.  So inspirational!  Makes me never want to leave!!  Do you see my orange desk?  Yup, orange!  It's a steelcase desk that I found in a vintage store in my neighborhood and it makes a perfect cutting table. 

I think I can sew in this room!

So, let's have a little fun with this giveaway.  Kristin, of Sew Mama Sew, is offering a $20 gift certificate to one of my readers.  Sew Mama Sew has done so much for the sewing, quilting community with its fabulous blog and forum.  Thanks Sew Mama Sew!

I've made a lot of quilts in the four years since I started this blog.  I've given loads of quilts away, but I've kept some too.  Your job is to guess how many quilts I have in my apartment as of today.  Finished quilts only, tops don't count.  Only quilts made by me count and to qualify it has to be larger than 12 x 12!
First person who guesses the right number or comes the closest wins!

Have a great week everyone!
PS...I'll announce the winner on Wednesday.

A New Look...A New Life

New digs means a new look...no I didn't color my hair...I've got a new studio and in honor of Chicago, my new home...a new look for the blog. I'll always be Tallgrass Prairie Studio, but I wanted a sophisticated, modern, city look and my friend Sarah took on the challenge. (and I mean challenge...I struggled making choices on this one!) I love what Sarah did. It's so me and it's so inspirational. Perfect, simply perfect! I hope you all like it too.

The studio is about ready!  It's a tiny bedroom, so I pulled out every organizational trick I had to fit everything and still make it work as a place to sew.  The ceilings are very high so whenever I could I went vertical.  For a short gal, that's a challenge, but with stepstool at the ready, I can do anything!

My sewing table fit perfectly (with mm to spare) into this alcove.  Yoda is there as always to watch over me.

I covered two 4 x 8 sheets of foam insulation board for a design wall.  Gotta have it!

The closet is for fabric and project storage.  Again, I went vertical.

The 5 shelf industrial shelving units aren't really pretty, but they were only 39 bucks and they are tall and give me lots of extra storage.  Where did I get all this stuff?

I repurposed things from the old house for new jobs.  This magazine rack is now holding my rulers.

It's nice to have familiar things like my dad's thread cabinet and things from the old studio to make me feel at home.

Kajsa's tomtar are there to remind me of my blog friends and how blessed I am to be a part of the quilting community!

I will miss my big orange cutting table, but you make do with what you've got, so it's time to fire up the machine and get sewing!
Have a great weekend and I hope you get some sewing done too!
I'm a happy city girl!

A Little Sprucing Up

I decided to use my new Jessica Jones fabric to spruce up the studio a bit. A cheery place to work does wonders for the attitude!
I made a new sewing machine cover, new curtains and recovered my sewing stool.
For the sewing machine cover I made up a pattern. I need a cover that only has one side on it because I don't like to mess up the threading of my machine with a cover and I like to cover it all the time it's not in use. This one slips off and on in a snap!
For the curtains I used my own "Uncurtain" tutorial, but this time I made two larger panels instead of four smaller ones. I also pieced a simple log cabin block so I could make the best use of the fabric I had left over.
I'm going to clean today too. Then back to work!

Selvages in the House

It's finally done and hanging in the studio.

It's so inspiring to have it right in front of me when I'm at my desk. This is where I sit and sketch.

I'm working hard to get things done. I thought I had a free week, but now the calendar is packed again. How does that happen?

Spiffing Up!

I want, well, I need my studio to be an inspiring place. I spend most of my day there, so I want it to be happy, bright, and inspirational. I added a few things this week to spiff up the place just a bit.
First I purchased this hand painted cabinet from Betsy at BonBon Atelier in Kansas City. Betsy's mom hand painted it. I happened to ask Betsy a few visits ago about it and she told me it was for sale. It didn't take me long to go back and take it home with me.
It's the perfect place for my collection of solids to hang out.
I had this old ladder in another part of the house. It's actually a piece from a very large ladder. The big part is the handrail on the basement stairs. This is the leftover that I had to cut off. I plopped it in the corner with a few mini quilts and my tomtar guards. I love having it in the studio.
I'm working on my selvage spools again....I have some wall space reserved for that quilt. I can't wait to finish and get it hung. Things are shaping up around here!

Studio Reorganization...Again

My studio space and my fabric seems to be in a constant state of reorganization. I did some late night rearranging and cleaning. (There seems to be a late night activity theme on the blog lately.) I'm glad I'm not the only one who does the late night/wee hours of the morning thing. My friend Amandajean of Crazy Mom Quilts, let me know that she does the same thing.

I tackled my solids. They were on the lower shelves of my fabric tower and hard to get to. Now they are on their own shelves and very accessible.

I used these containers I got a couple of years ago at Target. I love when students go back to school and all the new storage ideas appear in stores. The great thing about these is that I can simply grab the whole box and bring it to my cutting table. I set it on the bottom and then the fabrics are easy to grab and put away.
I also tackled my quilt closet. I had an extra curtain rod hanging around so I put it to good use. I love to hang my projects. Keeps them from getting wrinkled and stuffed like lumps into boxes. Pants hangars are fabulous for hanging projects.
I'm an "everything goes into a container" kinda gal. I organized and started to get these baskets labeled. It makes it easier for my feeble brain to remember what I've put where.
I got all the quilts in progress hung and ready to be tackled when I can get to them.
Now all I have to do is get to them.