Finally, As Promised, Studio Pics... and An Extra Bonus

Well, it's not as pretty as I'd like yet but I promised that I'd post some "whole room" studio photos so...

For some reason, I can't seem to get a really good picture of my new space--it looks much better in person.  :) 

I still have to make curtains, chair covers and covers for the white shelf baskets so that I'll have a bit more color in the room but it is so nice to be in here and working on stuff!  It will take some time to get used to how things are set up though.  Last night I did some work on a costume I'm making for Hannah and it was weird because the sewing machine scissors and garbage can and everything are not where I'm used to having them so it made sewing a little awkward.  :)  Hope it doesn't take long to adjust.  :)

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I spent a good part of this afternoon in the studio, working on my daily drawing and getting ready totry painting a full size watercolor.  I decided to look through the pictures I took of our trip to Italy, hoping to find some inspiration.  I found a few things that I thought would be easy enough to start with and picked a sunset photo.  After doing a small watercolor study in my journal, I decided I liked it enough to try to do it full size.  I had fun doing it and learned some new stuff so I consider it a success.  :)

This is a view from the medieval city wall of the town of Pienza, in Tuscany.  It was an absolutely beautiful evening in one of my favorite places we visited on our trip to Italy.



Almost Done...

I am sooooooo close to having everything organized and put away in the studio.  I know, I know, I keep saying that but it's true.  The washer and dryer went in today and tomorrow I go into town to get a utility sink.  My vintage cameras are out of their cases and on the shelf and the only thing left to do is clean up the last dregs of stuff off the cutting table.  Yippie Skippie is all I've got to say.  :)

I took some fun photos to give you a little glimpse of what it looks like.  Hope you like.  :)

Studio Peek

I've been hard at work this last week trying to get all my crap studio stuff out of boxes and onto shelves.  The knitting and spinning stuff went pretty fast but the fabric has taken forever!  Of course, I decided to iron it all and put it on mini bolts on the shelves instead of just folding it so that's part of why it took so long.  I got the idea from various sewing blogs when I was trying to figure out how best to arrange stuff in the new studio space.  I love how creative people are!  The smaller mini bolts are comic book boards that I got at my local comic book store.  You can see the blog where I got the idea here.  

My fabric for sewing clothes is on pieces of foam core board that I cut into pieces 15" tall by 6 5/8" wide (a 20 x 30 sheet of foam core cut this way gives you 6 mini bolts).  I got the idea from this blog but had to change the size of the pieces because a lot of my apparel fabric is 60" wide.   

The sewing area is 99% done though.  Tomorrow I'll go through the last of the trims and odds and ends that are left and find homes for them.  Then it's on to the art and jewelry areas...sigh.  I think I might have to take a break to clean house; it's looking pretty messy right now.  :)

Here are the shelves in all their loveliness!

Here they are with the pretty doors closed.  I love that I can still see all the colors of my fabric!

Here's a close-up of the many, many small pieces of quilting fabric I have...I really didn't realize just how many until I started putting them on the mini-bolts.



Awaiting the Final Signature...

New boxes of IKEA shelves, old boxes of precious stuff I packed away almost 8 months ago...

All waiting for the final inspection signature that will mean that this project is finally finished--at least the construction part.  :)  There are still shelves to put together and shelves to attach to walls, and desks to paint, and loads and loads of stuff to find homes for.

Friday, projectman and I spent all day at IKEA loading up 3 carts full of shelves and other stuff.  Here's what the back of the truck looked like when we had it all loaded.  It was pretty full--we even had one long shelf in-between the two front seats becasue it was too long to fit anywhere else.  

 

Saturday, I had to get most of my boxed up stuff out of the garage so projectman could drywall the ceiling. So with some help from my dd and some of the neighbor boys, we moved all the boxes and stuff either back into the studio or onto the front porch. 

Sigh...I wonder if I'll ever have a front porch that doesn't scream "white trash"...

Whoo Hoo! It's Finished...Sort Of

Yes, at long last, the studio is finished.  I can't move in until the smoke detectors are installed and drywall hung and taped on the garage ceiling (which, God willing, will happen next weekend), but the room itself is finished.  We spent last weekend finishing the floor and painting trim and filling nail holes and I've been working on getting the doors all painted.  I am so very excited!   I have an awesome husband!  He's worked his butt off to make this room for me and I can't even find words to say how much I appreciate it.  :) 

So without further ado, here's my new empty studio--just waiting to be filled...

Isn't it pretty?