My So Called Quilt Studio

One of the reasons I feel so enthusiastic about this project is that I am firmly resolved to use up more stash this year. Over the past two years I've been in "no buy" mode, but my stash is still as large as ever -- which is not surprising since I haven't done much sewing.

Not that I didn't want to! But these past few years have been a tumultous time in our family as I nursed my husband through his final illness; dealt with the paperwork that widows are heir to; and then moved to a much smaller house in order to be near my elderly parents. I've been in the new house for nine months now, and my sewing room is only now being unpacked and set in order.

Actually, to say that I have a sewing room is a bit of an overstatement. I'd hoped that the second downstairs bedroom would be my sewing room, but it's become the library annex. it also houses my quilting stash, my quilting books, and a flock of rolling, plastic chest of drawers which are filled with scraps and quilting supplies. I can barely sidle around the cutting table, so my quilting studio has had to overflow into the living room.

That's okay. I own neither a couch nor a TV, so there's plenty of room for my 6 foot banquet table where the two Berninas and the serger live. Well, only one Bernina, now that the 1090 is in the shop. (In case you've never been to my other blog, I'll just briefly mention that the main portion of my library resides in what was originally suposed to be a master bedroom. You can see a picture of it here.)

My stash is stored in stacking baskets sorted according to color or special collection (such as '30s repro prints, plaids, or Christmas fabrics). Scraps (i.e. anything smaller than a 10 inch square) are sorted by color and stored in some of plastic chest of drawers.

Anyway, the really great thing about making one of Bonnie's scrap quilts is that you never have to worry about running out of fabric. When you run out of one blue, all you have to do is grab another one from your stash. If there are enough blues in a quilt, they'll all go together nicely.