Back in the Studio Again!

Thanks to a web hosting move, the first version of this post was lost… A backup wasn’t done between my posting and the move, so here goes again. …   The last post from about 3 weeks ago showed the studio upheaval from the main electrical panel having to be replaced that left my fabric, machine, and so much  more scattered here and there, making even small ATC projects a challenge.

Thankfully, the studio is back in order again!  The new electric breaker box is in, the shelves back in place and everything that used to live in the space is back home.

The studio looked a lot different with all those empty shelves. I did lose one shelf since the new breaker box is taller than the old one, but no other modifications were needed and the panel doors are easily accessible for resetting blown breakers or shutting off circuits for other repairs. In the past I had a plywood design wall mounted to the back wall shelf unit with hinges. That made things really hard to get to the electrical boxes, and since I had been using a 4×8′ piece of 2″ thick foam as my main design wall, the plywood one is not returning…

Getting all the fabrics and what-not back into the studio took much longer than hauling it out.  The shelves on the back wall don’t look too tidy in the photo above, but the foam design wall will hide what is there while still allowing me to quickly and easily move it out of the way to access the breaker boxes and the crawl space under the main part of the trailer home we live in. Since I have sold off most of my commercial fabrics, the bulk of what is on the shelves now is my collection of fabrics I have painted or dyed. They make for a pretty wall!

Since I spent much of my time after getting the shelves filled again working outdoors painting and sunprinting fabrics, I didn’t get the design wall back in for quite a while. I cut the foam shorter to just under 7ft high to make it easier to move out of the way since the ceiling slopes down from the back wall. I really have no idea how I originally got the 8’high piece in there in the first place… I needed to cut it to get it out!  The foam also has a new cover of a double layer of poly batting that I pinned on more neatly than the first time it was in here.  Another thing I did was to cut little slits into the foam on the bottom to fit into small flower pots that make little “legs” that will keep the foam off the floor in case of new water leaks if we have heavy rains or snow melts.

The first piece to grace the new wall is one I did for a challenge put out by Karen Musgrave that I called “Funky Flowers”. I have had the top waiting for quilting for quite some time now…  The photo above shows it after quilting was done, and the one below shows it with yarns pinned around it trialing it’s binding.

Since I tend to be a major procrastinator, I needed to quickly finish up 3 more pieces that I had entered into my local guild’s quilt show that was last weekend. Two are shown in the photo above, below “Funky Flowers”   The Wisteria piece was done all but the flowers and leaves, but the stone wall piece above was started less than a week before it was due to be delivered for the show.  I seem to need deadlines to get the creativity flowing, but I really wish I could create more without the rush to meet those deadlines.

The photo above shows the wall with the 3 pieces in addition to “Funky Flowers that I finished last minute for the show.  The biggest problem with finishing quilts so close to a deadline is that when they get “done” I always seem to find something that isn’t working or needs some more to make them better.  The top piece, “A Walk in the Woods” ended up really close to what I had envisioned when I started it over 2 years ago, but once I got it on the wall at the end, you can see a dark rock that really stands out too much…. It went into the show that way, but I need to tone it down with paint or something…  The “Stone Wall” piece lower right still bothers me too, with very little value change on the right side with the chair. I am thinking that lightening the chair a bit will help. Amazingly, this piece was the one that I heard about the most during the show while I was manning  my booth I had set up there.  I guess even with it’s artistic problems, it still grabbed eyes…

This post is also being linked to Nina Marie’s blog for “Off the Wall Fridays”

The last photo for this post is of my booth at the show where  I was selling my patterns, fabrics and some finished gift items.  The photo was taken near the end of the show when things were calm. The day before, every flat surface was covered with various fabrics and sunprints being looked through by many customers.  I sold many of my newest brights and some older, softer colored pieces. It was such fun! The first show I have done in a Lonnnnggg time, but it let me know that it will be a while before I get brave enough to do another.  Ken was great helping me with setup and take-down lugging, but a week later my body is still complaining… I miss the interaction with the customers so much, but spending much of a week in bed afterward is no fun….

My next project is using the little group of fabrics, painted coffee filter and papers that were hanging on the design wall in the second wall photo for this month’s “Arts in the Cards” theme of “Pear as a Color”. the rusty colors remind me of the wild winter pears that grow on our property.  I’ll probably show them in my next post along with my “Cool Cucumbers” from August.