All over the map
Note: I’ll have a separate post on Friday about the Give-Away, so be sure to check back!
This has not been a week that tidily fits into a focused blog post. I’m working on several projects that are longer term, so there may not be a lot to show from week-to-week.
I am soooo excited about my upcoming new studio!
It’s probably going to end up somewhere between this….
And this…oh wait, that’s my current “studio”!
I need to do some planning and dreaming for this new studio:
I’ve inventoried my current spaces and their dimensions.
I’ve created a wish list of what I want.
I’ve begun to think about my surfaces and storage solutions-not that I have much stuff….
I’ve thought about what art work I will put up in there.
I’ve been researching colors for the walls and my design wall.
I’m dreaming about what Life will be like After The New Studio. Hah-new acronym-Life After The New Studio-LATNS! It surely will be easier to create-everything will be in one room. Do I even need to leave? I plan to have a bed, comfy chair and half bath-I may just live there! And imagine, if I can’t sleep, I can just slip into my studio and create! I’ll even bet my thighs will be thinner, I’ll lose weight and world peace will ensue!!
And I did something absolutely shameless this week-I submitted a piece to Houston for consideration into the World of Beauty (the juried show). I won’t give it away, but after July 16 when the Finalists are announced, I will show you what I entered and WHY it is absolutely shameless that I entered that! And if I jury in, I will have a story to tell. Is that a tease or what?
I’m also in the midst of a longer term project that needs to be completed and photographed by the end of July. I’m really excited about this piece! I won’t reveal it until it shows in……Brazil! You can see a video of the 2013 show here to give you an idea. I’m really excited to be invited by Deda Maldonado to be a part of the show.
This piece is part of my black and white drought-tolerant plant series. So I’ll start out with white sateen on front and black sateen on the back. I’ll prepare the background with the intense wavy quilting I’ve done on my previous pieces. This one is much larger-30″ x 60″.
Yes, I know this does not look exciting. But, after living in this home for 15 years, we finally fixed the air conditioning system so that the “upstairs room” is actually comfortable. Our home is single-story except for this one small room upstairs. The air conditioning system was never properly designed for this space so it could be 90 degrees up here before the a/c would kick in.
After looking at all kinds of solutions, we decided to bite the bullet. We had the system redesigned to properly heat and cool this room. And as I write this, in the late afternoon, I am actually NOT sweating a river! Sometimes it’s the small things….
And lastly, our little Basset Boy did pass on May 21st. He had a wonderful life. I keep hearing this song in my head. Remember this one? Check out this 1972 video from Soul Train:
I’ll be hooking up with Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Friday. And don’t forget to check back in tomorrow for the winner of Sherri L. Wood’s The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters: A Guide to Creating, Quilting, and Living Courageously.
Love your humorous take on the new studio which will solve the world’s problems and leave you to work skinny and young, truly lol. But I do know that having a great space in which to work does make you happier and it makes life easier, so congrats and have fun planning. I have a comfy sofa in mine for lounging with hand work. And yes, sometimes for sleeping when I don’t want to leave.
I am so sorry about your Fur Baby. Oh, that song did make me cry.
Well then, I can’t wait for The New Studio Nancy!
Jenny, I am so sorry about Basset Boy……but as you say, he had a wonderful life and you have wonderful memories. And now you have so many new things to look forward to…..thanks in advance for sharing them with us!
You’re welcome Dee-it really is my pleasure to share them!
So sorry to hear about Basset Boy, Jenny! I know how difficult it is to lose our precious pups.
It is harder than I remembered. But life does go on. He had a great life and lived it fully until his last week. I hope the same can be said of me!
Jenny: the single best thing I did when planning my studio…geez, can’t even type the sentence and make that two best things:
1. enough storage –well, OK, I sorta ran out (and it is a closet 27″ deep by 20 feet long!) but it’s almost enough, and the light stands for photographing quilts are in a nearby store-room.
2. one-place ONLY for a given thing:
all paint in ONE place
all thread in ONE place
all fabric in ONE place
all teaching c-r-a-junk in one place
all filing in one place
beads and embellishments in one place
Basically, I applied the kitchen planning method: hot-cold-wet zones.
I have sewing machine zone, cutting zone, fusing zone next to cutting zone, relaxing/handwork zone, behind-closed-design-wall-doors storage, visible (fabric) storage. And stuff is stored where it is used, so fusible under the work table, fabric nearby, thread over by the sewing machine, etc.
When it turns into a disaster zone, I just have to put stuff away. Then I have only ONE place to look for stuff. Really helped. I have a bunch of blogposts, mostly 2011, on my blog about re-doing my studio. If you stick “State of the Studio” in the search box, it will pull them all up. I’m glad to share what I did if you want–a couple folks have copied my Design Wall-closet doors and LOVE them by the way!
Ohhh thank youi! I’ve perused your posts already and my head is brimming!
I am really sorry to hear about Bassett Boy. What goo memories you have. I will be planning a sewing room “studio” in a few months. These ideas are what I need. Thanks. I am on pins and needles to hear what happens in Houston.
Oh how fun-you get a studio too! I can’t wait to hear back from Houston but that is such a loooong time from now.
While I wait patiently for my own real studio to be finished, I can only tell you Jenny that it gets more and more exciting. I can now actually walk in mine and visualize. Hope that yours will be all you wish for!
And I hope the same for you too Judy. I hope to see details on your blog-I learn a lot from seeing the spaces of other artists.
Lots of changes in your life – many good, at least one bad. So, is this new studio to be a separate building? I have visions of a 2 story affair, with a sleeping loft. And it will have good air conditioning, I’m sure. Best of luck on your Houston show entry. It would be great if you had a piece in the show at the same time you taught there.
Oh silly girl! Two stories? Not! Sleeping loft? Not! It is two good sized bedrooms together with a full bath and 2 small walk-in closets. I haven’t measured yet but it’s decent sized. I’m soooo excited!
I am so sorry to here about your big baby boy, Jenny! He had a wonderful life with you!
It will be exciting to watch your new studio come together!
Thank you Laura-I still miss him but….onward! I can’t WAIT for this studio but it will be a long time from now.
Hey Jenny,
Nice to catch up with your news by viewing your blog. Congrats on the new studio space. I know you have been craving this for some time. Did my comments get back to you on FB?
Linda
Oh it’s sad that it takes a blog to catch up! Yup, got your comments!
Jenny, consider a pegboard for your studio. In my huge Victorian house in New York, I had a four feet by eight feet pegboard mounted with three quarter round molding. I could see everything at a glance. I cannot have pegboard here and I miss it a lot.
Great idea Susan! I haven’t gotten to the details of planning yet. I was just in there dreaming about my studio…..
So having a studio makes you skinny. I need one. I need one.
Looks like you have some great ideas. Good luck as you move forward with this project. Can’t wait to see it.
So sorry about BB, good that he did not suffer long.
We’ll call it The Studio Diet Helen! Basset Boy had a good life with Mean Mom!
A new studio is beyond exciting! I’m glad you have the planning and dreaming going on now – it will help you get through the morning period of loss. I’m also glad that basset boy was in relatively good health until the end. That’s all any of us can hope for.
Looking forward to seeing the quilts :-)
Oh we’ll see how the new studio affects the quilts Carol! If a new studio can make me skinny, imagine what it will do to my quilts!
we’re house hunting and around here it’s all about the colonial… eww. No space for a studio. I covet the first pic studio. Dreaming!
Overly hugging the basset. Well the poodle doesn’t tolerate my hugs well. He told me I’m smothering him. hmph. LeeAnna at not afraid of color
I’m sorry for your loss… I went back and reread the last bit I had missed. LeeAnna
House hunting? Oh, you gotta have a studio! Colonials can have a studio, no? Hug your Cole for m e!
I am so sorry about your basset boy. I have one old one and two young idiot children we call the basset boyz. All rescues. All ears.
The space they take up is so empty when we lose them. May your heart heal.
glen
Enjoyed your comment Glen! What a beautiful sentiment about the space they leave. My heart is healing…slowly.
How exciting! Building a studio to fit your needs – heaven.
Sorry to here about basset boy, pets become so much a part of the family.
I hope it’s the studio of my dreams Linda! Thank you Linda-I’m getting better each day.
Your current studio looks pristine compared to mine most of the time. And mine is truly my dream studio (other than the mess. I should have requested it come with a maid…) Can hardly wait to see your new digs!
A maid with the studio? Great idea! I can’t wait til mine is done!
That Nautilus studio is so cool looking!
I love that picture of you and Bassett Boy.
YES! I want that studio!
What a great studio recap. I love the way your minds works… that first studio picture is awesome! You’ll get there I’m sure. haha… and the arms spread wide in the new open space photo is soon to come, I’m sure. Lovely photo of your Bassett to remember him by. I’m sure he had a great life living with you.
So we’ll have to keep track of each other’s studio plans! I am so excited but also nervous about spending so much money.