Basement Studio Progress

A lot has happened to the basement area of our mountain cabin...which will become my sewing/art studio!  It now has drywall, electricity, and heat.  Charlie and I painted a primer coat on Wednesday until we ran out of both paint and energy, and our family arrived for Thanksgiving.  Besides painting, it will need a ceiling, floor, and light fixtures.  I ordered the bathroom vanity, faucets, cabinet and lights already.

If you want a preview, here is the laundry area just at the base of the stairs.

 We are going to add a utility sink in this area with the furnace.  That will be great for rinsing dyes or cleaning paintbrushes.

Under the stairs will be a closet.

The front room is the whole length of the cabin.  Right now it has my Gammill machine in there, which we have just been working around.

I am looking forward to having these beautiful views when I sew or paint.

You can see the Christmas tree farm across the street from the corner windows.

Here is the door to the bathroom.

The tub is in place, but nothing else.  But walls and a door are good!

After we finish painting, my brother-in-law says he will help us put in the suspended ceiling.  He has done one in his own basement room.

Once we get the sewing room/studio done, we will be making the move to the mountains full time.

And here is your reward for reading to the end...my two precious little turkeys who were here with us for Thanksgiving!

Layla was a good mountain baby, and Charlotte is a great big sister!  We have much to be thankful for.

Yesterday I trimmed Debbie's butterflies quilt- losing some of the quilting in the process. The floral fabric used by her grandmother for the sashing is a rather loosely woven cotton that has frayed badly at the edges over the forty years or so since she started this project. I had to trim a quarter to a half inch off the edge to get to the intact border fabric. One strip had frayed at least an inch, so I made an applique "band-aid" from a strip of folded muslin. Then I did a very tight stitch around the whole outer edge to keep "our" quilting stitches from unsewing themselves.

I went up to my sewing room to audition binding fabrics. I liked both a sage green and a rich brown that matches the butterfly torsos, but don't have enough of either. Getting ready to go shopping! Always a good thing.

Here is a heart-warming note from my sister-in-law Debbie: "When I see (my quilt), I'm reminded of pajamas, dresses, shirts and stuff my Grandma used to sew for us. She always saved every scrap and used them in her quilts.I like the idea of "kisses from Grandma" too." This is what it's all about!

I also rummaged around and found a perfect already-made hanging sleeve for niece Amy's butterfly quilt. I had made a white-on-white sleeve to hang one of my quilts in a show, and then took it off later. Last night I got the top half of it sewn on while we watched an old movie on TV called Bridge to the Sun, about an American woman married to a Japanese man who was deported with him to Japan at the outbreak of the war. Quite a good flick.

Unfortunately, my sewing room is such a wreck that I spent at least two hours putting things away so I could find my cutting table. (LOL) I started a studio transformation last February that got stalled when I went back to work teaching school from February to June. I need to get rid of lots of stuff that I don't use or need. Yesterday I went through ONE of my scrap drawers and cut triangles and squares for scrap quilts. These were just the dark blue ones. I actually threw out a LOT of little scrap pieces. Now on to the rest of the color wheel. This could take awhile!