Thread Shed........Making Progress

I am making some progress on the re-organization

of the Thread Shed...

I repurposed a hand-me-down TV cupboard

into a media center.

While I am creating I enjoy listening to audio books.

I also enjoy watching instructional DVDs.

Listening to relaxing music is the only way to go for free motion quilting.

Click Images to Enlarge:

I piled all of the video and audio equipment into this

big cupboard and it works!

The best part is, the doors close and hide all the clutter.

Brad built a shelf to hold the TV and speakers.

Underneath that is the stereo.

This light green cupboard was moved across the room to

its new location here as the Surface Design Cupboard.

(in its former life, it held all of the music and movies)

It holds textile paint, dyes, inks, screen printing supplies,

brayers, brushes, sponges, gels & mediums,

waxes, tools.....and lots more!

Again, the best part is, the doors close and hide the clutter !

Plus, everything inside is protected from the light and dust.

With the Design Wall all cleaned off,

I just had to put the Winding Ways/Wheel of Mystery

blocks up for a look see:

56 Blocks so far...

Sewn by hand.

This is one of my take-a-long quilts

I am realizing, as I work on the Thread Shed re-do,

that this is not a quickie, overnight project...

I have barely scratched the surface

with what I have accomplished so far...

I plan to get into all of my work areas

and tear them apart...

decide what will stay, what will go,

and then re-organize them so I can work more efficiently.

In the middle of this project...

we will begin mowing hay tomorrow.

I am also curating a quilt show that will go on exhibit August 1st,

so the Thread Shed is piled high with quilts this month.

I am gathering my own personal quilts and

finalizing my lecture notes

for a trunk show July 28th at the

Mary's River Quilt Guild

Philomath, Oregon

July 30th I am hosting a Fabric Painting workshop

here at our home for the quilt guild members.

I will continue with the Thread Shed project as time allows

and share my progress with you as I go.

As always, if you are inspired by any of my photography,

feel free to use it in your personal art work.

The dogs travel everywhere with us, even if it is just

to town shopping for groceries.

When we open up the back door of the pick up,

this is the view inside the back seat:

How is this for relaxed...

Gunnr and Suzy

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view: more Cupboards in the Thread Shed

CLICK HERE for the 2009 Thread Shed Tour

CLICK HERE to view: Organizing, a Fresh Start

CLICK HERE to view: Big Board Ironing Board

CLICK HERE to view: Life Through a Quilter's eyes

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Organizing Supplies...

You can make one of these word collages

CLICK HERE

Class Supplies are useless if you can't find what you need:

Click Images to Enlarge:

I keep them organized in the garage.

To date there are 32 labeled tote boxes

Our weather is cooling, so it was time to box up the sun dyeing supplies and store them away until next summer:

CLICK HERE to view Sun Dyeing

Warm weather is also best for Rust Dyeing:

Click Here to view Rust Dyeing

Last year I started embellishing textile art with metal objects:

It was time to put all of the metal objects into their own tote box, get it labeled and stacked in the garage.

Click Here to view Metal Embellished Horse Quilt

Click Here to view Metal Embellished Rust Quilt

Nearly every class requires these:

At the start of each class, the tables are covered with Drop Cloths

During class and at the end of class, we are cleaning up painting supplies, stencils, brushes, stamps, etc.

I never leave home without these two tote boxes

This year I started experimenting with Shiva Paintstiks and Neocolors II:

I have collected different objects for Rubbings

They create incredible texture on cloth

Click Here to view Paintstik Play Day

Click Here to view Neocolors Play Day

I even need containers to store containers!

I recycle food containers to hold paints, water, to dye in, etc.

With summer coming to a close, I have been picking and pressing botanicals:

This winter when I need a leaf, fern or flower...

they will be stored in this tote box ready to use.

Click Here to view Botanicals in Textile Art

I wasn't able to take the dogs for a ride today...

luckily they are happy to just be in the pick up:

I peeked inside, between organizing supplies, and found them napping together

Gunnr's head is bigger than Suzy's entire body

Simple Pleasures...

Napping in the Pick Up

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Storage.....Class Supplies

I am packing for a class on Saturday

This is how I store my class supplies

Click Images to Enlarge:

Storage

A few years ago I could no longer store supplies for all of the classes and techniques I use in my textile art out in the Thread Shed.

I began storing supplies by class or technique in these big Rubbermaid Totes.

They stack in the garage and no longer take up floor space in the Thread Shed.

Each tote is labeled by the class or technique: Shaving Cream Printing, Jello Printing, Foiling, Mixed Media, Paper Quilts, etc.

When it is time to teach a class or do a technique, I just grab the labeled tote and it contains everything I need.

Here are a few things I saw today...

Fence along the gravel road we live on...

Grass along the gravel road...

I plan to bring some of this to the Jello Printing Class on Saturday

Volunteer Pansies growing along the edge of the flowerbed

Tinkerbells in a hanging basket...

This is my favorite view...

Gunnr & Brad pulling down the driveway

I love the silhouette of Gunnr's ears through the windshield.

He just loves going to do morning chores with Brad each day.

CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts

CLICK HERE to view The Thread Shed

CLICK HERE to view Quilted Zipper Bag Tutorial

CLICK HERE to view Idaho Workshop Slideshow

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

Organizing.......A Fresh Start

It feels so good to get everything all cleaned up and in order after completing a big quilting project...

Click Images to Enlarge:

Textile Paints

I have been using textile paints the last couple of years.

It was about time they had their own storage area.

These blue bins from the Dollar Store work perfect.

I am able to sort the paints, brushes and mediums.

Fiber Storage Unit

I have also been using different fibers for couching on textiles.

This set of drawers from the thrift store was just right to sort out the fibers.

The top drawer holds the smaller finer fibers

The middle drawer holds the fuzzy fibers

The bottom drawer holds the big knotty fibers

Newly organized corner of the Thread Shed

Donation Fabrics

The best part of all this cleaning and organizing was culling out nearly 50 lbs of fabrics to donate to different groups I belong to.

Every few years go through your stash. Your skills and taste change over the years and you will find you have outgrown many of your earlier fabric choices.

Why not let someone else make good use of them.

I have now made room for newer fabrics, which were in piles here and there all over the room. They are all sorted and tucked away in the cupboards, and best of all so easy to find when I need them.

Tool Box

This came home with me from the thrift store last week.

I knew just exactly what it would be perfect for...

Hot Fix Crystals

It holds the hotfix crystal wands and all of the crystals.

Now you know why I haven't posted for 2 weeks.....all of this organizing takes time!

I hope I have inspired some of you to take a good long look around your creative area, and make some improvements to your working environment. When you work in an organized manner, you can find things quicker and keep those creative juices flowing. If I have to look around for something for an hour or two.....the moment of creation has passed and I am onto something else, and usually frustrated.

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE