Tour The Studio

I picked up my machine just after noon yesterday, thanked Chris (the repairman) profusely, and came home and finished all the make busy projects I'd started while waiting so I could get back to sewing without mental distractions or guilt. The machine - "she" purred and hummed. The hand wheel turned smoothly. The light shone brightly. The surfaces are clean and dust free. Perhaps, just maybe, I've been a bad machine owner. While I regularly dust the outside and clean and oil the bobbin case, I think I slipped into complacency and while she was slowly getting sicker and sicker, I was not paying sufficient attention. Just the sound alone is vastly different never mind the rhythm of the stitch. It seems that servicing is like a mammogram and a pap test. Once a year. Every year. Sometime around your birthday just so you remember. 

The studio is not finished and it's not progressing. I'm waiting for some store in town to have white flannel sheets in stock so I can cover the design wall and hang it up. Apparently, it's not cold enough yet for flannel. The stores are still focused on back-to-school and since it's taking forever - and since I didn't do anything yesterday worth talking about - I thought we'd tour the studio.

The walls are yellow because this room was originally the guest room and because it took six cutting ins and four coats of paint to cover the previous color and I wasn't repainting it until I knew for sure the space was going to work. If you've been reading my blog since we moved to this condo in May, you'll know that this is the third - and smallest - studio space. Thankfully, it works. The guys were afraid that if it didn't, we'd be moving again.

The door is just to the right of Millicent above. That white rectangle is the Styrofoam of the design wall waiting to be covered. The yellow wall is about 9'8" plus the doorway. I can't remember exactly. On the other side of the wall is the entrance closet and the entry way. A short hallway runs from the entrance past the sewing room to the main bathroom at the end of the hall. Across from the sewing room is an extra deep closet originally for the washer and dryer. We moved them downstairs into a bigger laundry room and the upstairs closet became first a linen closet and then my stash closet.

Directly ahead is a short wall from the right corner to the bay window. It's just wide enough for the button shelves and a bit of decor. There's enough space on the floor to the right of the sewing desk to put the serger down and utilize the desk top for other activities. It works great when a friend is over to sew.

The window is 8' wide and 2' deep. Having that bay is what saves the room. It allows me to angle' deep and 4' wide so they make a 4' square when placed together. Below...

... is a view from the opposite direction. The baskets to the forefront extend the surface space and provide additional storage. There are two that hold most of my lingerie supplies. On the far side, there's enough room between the desk and the window for another large basket. It holds work in progress.

In this image, you can see how the desks fit into the shape of the window leaving room to push my chair back and swivel to the garbage can or move to the working counter. The room is just over 12' long - I think - I'm guessing again - it's close. The room is big enough to sew in comfortably but there's no extra space and no step back space for picture taking.

The working counter was reconfigured from my previous island and computer desk. We had the two white cabinets upper left and the two brown ones directly below. The brown upper cabinet was originally a lower cabinet and Howard rebuilt it to fit the space. I'll eventually paint the edges white. The lower cabinet to the far right is new and replaced my pattern cabinet. The bottom drawer holds patterns. The two upper ones hold beads and jewelry and purse supplies. You can see those in this posting. I found the perfect baskets to fill the drawer space.



The computer is in the closet. When I'm not using it, the doors are closed. This is another space that needs more work. We just cut up the original, narrower, countertop that came with the kitchen island to use as shelves (we'd bought a wider one for the kitchen) because the shelves that were there before were pressboard and bowed under the weight of the books BUT... they will be good for lighter items so I want to install one, possibly two, between the monitor and the first shelf. The dowel isn't needed. It's just hanging around.

This studio space is working really well which is really good considering how much time I spend in this room. I still miss my large curl-up chair but that's life. I preferred the lime green color of the previous studio and may eventually repaint. I don't know. This is good for now. I'd rather be creating.

I'm very aware of the window. It's about five feet from one of the main roads in the complex and I've never been so visible. If they look, anyone driving by can see what I'm doing. Not that I wouldn't tell them if they asked but it's rather strange. I'm adjusting. Being on the main floor is different too. The last time I had a studio upstairs was before children. My daughter will be twenty-six this year. It's amazing how far thread can travel - LOL.

Until yesterday, this was the hottest room in the house. There seemed to be no air flow. Howard cleaned the vent from the studio side and found candy wrappers and shopping tags and paperwork and stuff he wouldn't talk about in the vent. Someone previous was using it as a garbage can. That's beyond my comprehension. Cleaning improved things slightly but not significantly so he looked at it from the furnace end and found that the venting was detached from the furnace and the ends were separated by a few inches and not square to each other. He screwed and taped them together and there was more flow so hopefully it'll be cooler now. I appreciate that he is able to do these kinds of things and that we don't have to call a repairman all the time.

On Thursday, I responded to Jean's earlier comment with a question and she answered with - It's hard to explain the difference between "finding" and "creating" a tribe ... perhaps it's more of a matter of intent. Remember, in the old days, when our 20-something girlfriends were rabidly dating, looking for that special guy? Nothing happened. It was when they let go that someone appeared. At least, that was how it was among my friends. And I've had the same experience when trying to find midlife friends, creative partners, etc. It's when I am not looking that interesting people appear. So for me, it's a combination of not pushing to make something happen plus being receptive when new people or opportunities present themselves.

Thanks for answering my question in more detail. I thought we might be on the same wave length. That's what I meant by accepting that what is, is and finding peace and joy in the here and now,  being open to possibilities while realizing there are no guarantees, and attempting to become more visible. Definitely, this approach has been more positive... and more peaceful.

Acupuncture this morning and then back to sewing the t-shirt.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - to have my sewing machine back and working well without any major or expensive repairs