My Student, My Solution & My Studio

This is Beth. She has taken several of my classes now. Friday she came into my Basic Threadplay class with this piece of art in hand. She told me I had inspired her to do this after the ABC's of Embellishment series that she took with me. I was thrilled to see her beautiful work, & flattered that I could help her find her inner muse. She obviously has found here creativity. I doubt I had that much to do with it, but it made me feel good to hear it from her.

It was even better in person. The Threadplay class went well. It was full, & fun. I love teaching free-motion work.

I think I solved the problem with the threads from this top popping through to the back as I quilt. It was the stray strings from the patch edges that were the problem. The Hobbs Wool is behaving beautifully, & has had NO BEARDING what-so-ever! I am Loving it!

I simply have to take an extra 15 or 20 minutes each time I advance the quilt to trim, & pick , & sticky roller all of the excess threads from under the top, before I start quilting it. This is the first quilt I've done that these threads seemed to matter. It seems like there is a different issue with each quilt I work on. Good thing I enjoy problem solving!

The back is looking good now that I'm spending the extra time thread picking!

I've had an nice side effect from the steroids that I've been on for the pneumonia. It has left me feeling a bit wired, & I've channeled that extra burst of energy into putting my studio back in order, & getting ready for winter. My house is the tidiest that it's been in months, thanks to Prednisone.

I am the Queen of clutter. Nothing Feng-Shue about our house. I have collections of stuff, that I just love to look at, & think about the nice associations that these things bring to mind. Pictures & quilts made by friends & family surround me. I have art from each one of my kids hanging in my room. This is what you see when you walk into my room.

Looking from the closet you can see my shelf full of antique sewing machines. I bought one on a whim, & suddenly people (mostly my DH, but others too), started giving me old machines. Now I have a collection. Shelves against the back wall are full of the old movies I like to listen to, over & over as I quilt.

Storage containers under Lily hold projects, & class materials. From inside the far corner of the room, you can look back toward the closet door & the design wall. The big white paper has a pencil drawing of my next "BIG" project. It's been there for several years now, waiting for me to find the right time to get going on it. The vertical bulletin board just to the left of the closet door is covered with ATCs from several of you bloggers.

My newest addition to the sewing machine collection came home with us from Massachusetts.

Niece Lynne's hubby, Kevin lost his grandmother recently. She was the only seamstress in the family. Kevin decided I should take Grandma's Bernina, & since I am a Bernina girl, I was thrilled to have it. It was quite an adventure carrying this cast-iron machine across the continent. I felt bad every time Warren had to lift it into the over-head compartment on the plane, but love how it looks on my map-case, in my studio. I also kept a little wicker box of trims & notions, & put them by the antique bust I bought

2 1/2 years ago when I was in Maryland.

There were several old wooden spools of thread. The thread is too rotten to use, but looks cute up on the shelf by my pin cusion collection. Woody & Jessie don't seem to mind it.

The bunny is still waiting patiently by the door, for me to get her clothes made. Maybe in time for next Easter!

Tomorrow I work at the hospital. It's been another 2 weeks since I was there. I really enjoy staying home, but it'll be good to get out & see other people again.