Working in the Studio

I have been working very hard in my studio for the last several weeks.  But not in the way you would think.

The weekend before I went to Arkansas, my studio looked like this:

There is a sewing machine under there somewhere....

...and a 12' Gammill table under these piles.  And a shelving unit under those  small bins on the left wall.

It didn't always look like that, not quite so messy, but I had decided to clean out my clothes closet. Which happens to be in my studio.  It was time to cull through and donate the clothing I no longer wear.  And to sort all of the other myriad things which had ended up in there.  I won't show a before picture of the closet, because I am too ashamed.  It was jammed full of fabric, yarn, art supplies, stuffed animals (?), blankets and clothing.  A total mess.

So, as I said, I decided to clean out the closet.  But I had to put all of the stuff I pulled out of it, at least the stuff I wanted to keep, somewhere.  Which means something else had to go.

Well, to be completely honest, I had fabric bins, sorted by color, that I hadn't opened in years.  Novelty fabrics, big prints, all kinds of stuff that I just don't use.  Many many many bins.  Why did I buy all of it?  

So it was a great time for to sort through all of the fabrics and art supplies.  And like that my simple closet cleanup turned into a total studio reorganization. 

It took me two weeks, but it's done.  I gave all of the fabric I was never going to use away.  It was easier than I thought.  I contacted several churches and they were glad to have it.  I gave some to a neighbor who is just learning to quilt. And some to a friend who is making quilts for policemen.  I sorted through all of the supplies, got rid of the junk and organized everything.  With the excess fabric gone I had enough shelf space left to store my rolled finished quilts.  Wow!  I'll actually be able to find them easily.  I cleaned and scrubbed parts of the floor that I hadn't seen in ten years.  And, finally, I'm done!

So a few pictures of my cleaned and organized studio:

Cutting table. 

Behind the Gammill.  The shelves are on the left.  The green bags contain Christmas gifts waiting to be wrapped. 

Standing next to the bookcase looking towards the cutting table and design wall.

Design wall and ironing station.

Sewing table. 

Looking over the Gammill towards the shelves.

I am so ready to get back to work and to mess things up again.  This time in an organized fashion...

The closet that started it all.  Nothing but clothing!