Studio Set-up - Part 3

Hi everyone:


Another Monday, another video premiere! This is the third episode in the Studio Set-up series. In this video I'll be discussing the tools that you need in your studio: not all the fancy bells and whistles that you can buy, but the essential tools that you'll need. 

Studio Set-up - Episode 3 - Tools for your Studio

I hope you'll let me know if you have other tools that you consider essential to your quilting - and that you can't live work without.

Do You Have These in Your Studio?

Hi everyone:

It's Monday already and time for the premiere of another video episode from the Studio Set-up series. 


This video delves into the fascinating subjects of lighting, design walls and fabric and notion storage. If you've ever wondered what works for me in my studio, you'll have to watch this episode. 

Studio Set-up - Episode 2 - Studio Additions

As always, I'd love to hear your comments about the type of lighting and design wall that you have, as well as your storage ideas. I'm always interested to hear about all the different set-ups that quilters have in their studios.

Studio Set-up - new video series

Hi everyone:


I've finally gotten all the bugs and glitches out of the videos in my latest series. It's taken a little longer than I would've expected, but now Studio Set-up is ready for release. 


Whether you're quilting on your dining room table or have an entire room devoted to your hobby obsession, you'll find lots of helpful ideas in this series for setting up an efficient and organized quilt studio. 

If you have any specific questions about how to set up or improve your quilt studio, I hope you'll leave a comment for me. I do try to respond to everyone. If you're brave enough to send me a photo of your quilt studio, I'd love to see it. 


I'm also looking for comments on the ideal quilt studio. Please leave a comment letting me know what your perfect quilt studio would contain.


Happy quilting!

Back to Earth!

Hi everyone:


Wow! It's been almost a month since my last blog post and it's definitely time to get my head back to quilting.


As some of you know, I was away for the kids' spring break. This year we decided to try out cruising and spent a week on the Carnival Liberty, stopping at Cozumel, Belize, Roatan (Honduras) and Grand Cayman. Fortunately for us, we had amazing weather and smooth seas. 

Carnival Liberty - our home on the water for a week

A view of the pool area on the Lido deck

As we were first-time cruisers, we weren't sure what to expect, but I certainly didn't expect to be pampered as much as we were. I was a bit nervous about the cabin size, but found that our unit was very spacious and well appointed. I wish my house - and my quilt studio - were this well-organized and efficient! 

Relaxing in our room the first day.

There was ample room for our clothes and toiletry items in the bathroom as well as soft, luxurious bathrobes to wear. We had two rooms - one for my husband and I and one for our two kids. This turned out to be perfect! We had connecting balconies and were able to go back and forth between the rooms via the balcony. It provided us with a great view of the ports of call and allowed us to see the late stragglers coming back on-board! 

Our secret entry into the kids' room!

The only disappointment of the trip was that I didn't find any quilt shops at our stops. I'm sure my husband viewed this as a blessing as it helped to keep our expenditures down, but I was hoping to bring back at least a little bit of cotton. Oh well, I did find jewellery and other items to console myself :)

Ready for our first elegant night in the dining room.

I love embarrassing my teenagers!

Now that I'm back I am working on some more new patterns. I've just published my first AccuQuilt GO! and GO! Baby friendly table runner pattern called "Tweet-Heart". I had a lot of fun working on this one and it came together very quickly. As a matter of fact, I have several samples of this pattern as I couldn't stop at just one! I have to thank Ann Marie for helping me test this one out. I certainly appreciated her comments and quick reply to my request for testing out this pattern.

I've, I mean, my husband, has been putting the finishing touches on my next video series and I will be releasing the first part of it soon. We had a few more technical issues with the last video in this series, so it took a bit longer to complete, but it's now ready to go.

Before I get back to finishing more patterns and working on the video release, I'll leave you with a few final images of our Caribbean vacation.

Cozumel 

The beach at Mahogany Bay, Roatan Island

Time for a Pina Colada