I mentioned in my last post that I had an interview with the editor of KC Studio magazine. At the end of our lunch, she asked if I would be willing to let her take pictures of me and my quilting studio. Ummm….yes! I clarified for her that even though I call it a “studio” it is just a room in my basement. Surprisingly, she still wants to come over next week. I suppose that means I should clean and organize my studio. You see, I am of the mindset that creative people are supposed to be unorganized, but that excuse can only get me so far.
In the interest of transparency and truthfulness, I am going to show pictures of my quilt studio before I clean it up.
Here goes……remember, don’t judge!
This is the first thing you see when you walk into my quilting room. A storage closet turned into a snake cage turned back into a storage closet. It has a door, it’s just not on it right now.
My sewing space, wow this looks worse in pictures.
My husband built me these shelves and they are so handy. The problem is that I am not the best about keeping them organized. Of course, the fact that the closet doors are blocking it doesn’t help either.
My thread space doesn’t look so bad, but I really hate the green shelf that they are on. I have been meaning to get a new one for years.
Once upon a time, I had some quilts hanging on this wall. They gave me something interesting to look at while I was quilting. Now I just look at stencils.
Behind and underneath my quilting machine is a mess of stuff that doesn’t even belong in the room, don’t know why I have put off putting it all away for so long.
This is the worst part. The front door to my room, of course it’s not installed so my quilting room is wide open. And in front of the door is a mini-fridge (you can’t see it because it’s covered with quilts) I begged my husband to get this for me 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t set it up. I better get that done.
But this is the best thing about my quilting room. A picture of me and Grandpa Ford sits right above where I sew. I know that I wouldn’t be where I am without him
Now my mission is to get the room cleaned up before Kellie comes to take pictures. I will definitely post the after pictures and I promise that they will look a lot better!
Thanks for looking and remember “quilting isn’t a craft, it’s an art!”
Quiltingismytherapy's Blog 
Not so bad at all…and I like the idea of a snake cage in the artist’s studio, keeps others at bay! Can’t wait to see the “after” and read the article in the star!
I agree with Paula – it’s not bad at all, and looks a lot like mine (only mine’s smaller and doesn’t have a longarm in it). My sewing room is the catch-all for everyone’s “stuff” including mine which is mostly fabric. You can’t even see the quilt on the twin bed because it is completely covered in project in various stages of incompleteness. Good luck with the cleaning, but I think your sewing studio looks about the same as most of our 🙂
I loved your post! My quilting ‘studio’ is a upstairs bonus room that measures about 12ft X 15ft. Keep in mind, there are knee walls, so that means that my machine has to sit out enough to keep me from hitting my head on the ceiling when doing quilting with pantos. I am only 5ft4in!! So my ‘studio’ is very small and my closet is only 3ft, was contracted to be 6ft when we built the house but the builder goofed and we did not have time to argue about it! Everytime I need something out of the closet, I have to drag all the stuff out that is on top of it and back again! It is just a nightmare, there is no solution, but to get rid of all the stuff, and I don’t see that happening. Oh, I also have stuff stashed under my machine too, gotta use every inch. So no matter how I try, it is just a mess! I sew at my kitchen table, don’t even have room upstairs to sew!! So my kitchen is usually a mess too! Sometimes it drives me nuts and I will get all organized, then, as soon as I am working on a project, well, again we go around in a circle! So I FEEL your pain! Somehow, we do it anyway! AND I totally agree, that quilting is an art, I do know that to be true!!! Nice to know I am not the only one with space issues! We have been trying to sell our house for a year, already have the new house picked out that we will build, that studio will be much more functional, first we gotta sell this one and frankly, no one is looking and we are practically trying to give it away! Nice to comment, happy quilting!!! Maybe I will post pictures of my crazy studio, though I may not be as brave as you!
You should post some pics of your studio. It’s kinda like peeking into someones life a little. 🙂 Good luck on selling your house.
you know we’ve all had worse messes in our sewing spaces. Good luck cleaning up!
Great photos mate!
Hey, how would I get a copy of this mag? Will you have any extras that I could get you to add the quilt when it gets sent back? I’d love to see it!
Hi, I have just discovered your great blog through kelli’s Pieces and I love it. I love your longarm work. Quilting is an art sounds good to me. I have recently bought a longarm (about 2 months ago) and I am so new to it all. Your quilting is such an inspiration. I can’t wait to see your after shots! I don’t know about you but anything that has after shots for me only last a day or two and then it’s back to the same ol’ same ol’! Congrats on the article.
Aw thanks! I know my room will be a mess withing 24 hrs after her coming. But at least I can enjoy it for a little bit. Best of luck to you with your longarm!!
I don’t think it is that bad! My craft room is always a disaster and I don’t spend near as much time in there as I am sure you do and therefore much less time to make messes.
Hey I didn’t know you like to quilt!! Me too!!! My space looks a lot like yours!!LOL!! Good luck with the organizing!!
About time you cleaned it up! Just kidding! If you need help with the organizing or cleaning up let me know! I rock at cleaning!
Love you!
you don’t know how happy this post made me! it’s so good to see others’ messes—makes me not feel so bad about my house!! so after reading this i’ve come to the conclusion that my art is being a mom, and my studio is my house!!
and i love the pic of you and grandpa. how special!
Your art is being a mom AND your photography, speaking of, you need to shoot my mug sometime 🙂
wow angela i am going to start keepin up with this blog of yours its very intriguing… i miss knowing angela