Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Dirty Little Secret

May 23 2012,

Here's a sneak peak of my next quilt and my quilting work area.

Most quilter's usually have a room that they can call their quilting room. In my situation, yes we do have an extra room - but I prefer to quilt in the living room instead of being cooped up in a room.


Legend for picture below:
  1. A pile of fabric scraps that will eventually be used for something that is useful (cushioning for packing, confetti for god knows what).
  2. Small cutting mat for smaller pieces of blocks
  3. A box to throw everything into at the last minute or when we are expecting company


Legend for picture below:
  1. Ironing station - consisting of a $4 used Rowenta iron stolen at a yard sale ($4 was a steal), a small ironing board for smaller pieces. The ironing board has a towel on it. The board is so torn up that I need to put a towel on it so that I am not ironing on the wood. Why don't I get another ironing board? I have tried, but this one is still my favorite. Next to the board is a small water bottle to refill the steam iron.
  2. Larger cutting mat for the larger pieces of blocks.
  3. 2 cordless phones
  4. The all important remote control
  5. Sock, I wonder where the other one is.


Legend for below picture:
  1. The all important equipment in the room, the television
  2. My sewing station, which is the living room coffee table with a foot stool that doubles up the chair I sit on when I sew. You might ask why I don't face the television. It's because there's more space for me, and I don't mind not watching the t.v., I tend to only listen to the television when quilting.
  3. Left over lunch that has been sitting for 5 hours; my bring everywhere Nalgene green water bottle


Legend for below:
  1. Kenmore sewing machine - I have two machines, but when I piece I use the Kenmore, the cheaper one. The other machine is a Pfaff, which is very finicky and I it is a lemon. So I tend to only use it for quilting purposes only. The Kenmore is clunky, but with piecing, it does the job very well.
  2. On the floor is my summer lap quilt blanket. This quilt was my first attempt in machine quilting
  3. A dirty napkin
  4. Another green water bottle that leaks when it is is horizontal. That is why it is under the table so that I don't kick it. Note that I use water bottles even at home. I don't do glasses. Whenever I drink out a glass, it never fails to spill.

Legend for below:
A bird's view of the coffee table.
  1. A chocolate bar from France that our friend gave. It's half way done and I had just opened it the day before.
  2. My bobbin container
  3. Magnetic pin holder
  4. My feet


As you can observe, I do most of my work on the hard wood floor. I prefer to work on the floor instead of a table. It does not bother my knees, and I tend to squat a lot (Asians are generally good at squatting).

Now that you have seen my so called work space, stay tuned for the finished quilt.

Quilt & Bitch

8 comments:

Kathy said...

Hi. You are my kind of Quilter. My sewing room is in the living room/great room. And I scoop everything into cupboards to clean up, but my stuff stays out for the world to see. It was actually my husbands idea, he said he never saw me cuz I was camped out in the sewing room. ;)

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi Kathy, Thanks for stopping by. I think my husband would agree with your husband too. I think the real reason why husband's think that is that we are still accessible to them. :)

p00lriah said...

a lot of quilting lately. fun stuff.

Peg said...

Ahh those long lost days when I too could kneel down or sit crossed leg on the floor. It was my favourite place to be, now age and 2 replacement knee joints have caught up with me so I can no longer sit, kneel or squat down. I love your little sewing section as you say you're in the middle of your home and accessable.

The thing I love most is your box, it gave me a chuckle imagining you quickly tossing things into it when spying visitors walking up the path to your door. A brilliant idea :o)

Peg x

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hey p00lriah, just doing a little bit of quilting while it is quiet at work. Yes, it's fun - it's better than dealing with cranky clients.

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi Peg, Thanks for visiting. The box works really well. I've only started doing it, because I threw a baby shower in the middle of starting this quilt. And the nice thing about the box was that I did not have to look for where I threw all the pieces of fabrics when I was cleaning up. If only I can just wave a wand and everything would clean by itself in a second. ;)

quiltmom anna said...

Like you, I quilt in the main part of the house. I do have a sewing room but only go there to machine quilt my big quilts. I like to piece where I can see the main TV and be in contact with my husband.
Your right about stealing the Rowenta iron- lucky you. The older ones are particularly nice- have such a nice weight to them.
A friend has made an ironing station from the cut out of a kitchen counter top ( the space where the sink goes) She puts a layer of old flannel sheeting or other similar materials and then staples down fabric as a cover. To elevate it she used some old bits of 2X4 wood on both ends of the top, and nails the two X fours to the bottom. It makes a great pressing board- very sturdy and easy to press on.
Regards from Western Canada,
Anna

Quilt+Bitch said...

Hi Quiltmom, Thanks for visiting. Thanks for the tip on the ironing board. I might get some flannel and staple down the ironing board instead of using the towel.