Urban Renewal

What's going on in the studio?

For the nine years Queen Mother (invalid MIL) lived with us, my husband and I shared the basement -- Mr. Hillside for his architectural studio, and me for my quilting studio.  Poor Guy, he had to look at my mess all the time, but his side of the room wasn't much better.

I used the upstairs bridge for my "office," but also put a 10' quilting frame up there because it's the only place it would fit.  It's a long story why I didn't do anything with the frame for over 5 years.  My bad!

Now that QM is no longer with us, we have been plotting and planning how we can take over the master suite.  In the meantime, I suggested that since DH is recently retired and eventually we will no longer occupy the upstairs bedroom, he could move HIS office to the bridge and I could have the entire basement!  Don't you think that is a VERY logical (and fair) argument?

However, it's like rearranging dominoes.  You have to move something out in order to move something in, a maddeningly slow process.  We've also pulled all of the QM's things out of storage, trying to make decisions on what we will keep and what to part with.  That, in itself, is hard.

The whole house is a pile of clutter -- stacks and boxes for a yard sale, things waiting for SIL to choose what she wants to keep, items in transit from upstairs to basement and vice versa.

We ARE making progress, though.  The lift went to a pediatric neurological nurse, the hospital bed went to a 90+ woman aging at home, the push chair went to our church for emergencies, the potty chair and walker went to Goodwill, the stand-assist recliner went to Habitat Re-Store, the power wheelchair went back to a medical supply company for parts, and we have a buyer for the HC accessible van!

1-800-GOT-JUNK came to pick up the loveseat and console TV from the QM suite (plus some other junk from around the house); now the room is almost ready for repairs and redecorating.  Happy to report we have finally found a general contractor who will answer our calls and who can do all the little things we need done to get this house ready to sell.  Whew!

So, back to the studio.  The Koala table has been smalled down to its basic size, ready to roll across the room.

The quilt frame, resized to 5' will go where the Koala table has been. 

Grace Pinnacle Frame currently in master bedroom

I will be ordering a new Block Rockit 15 to go on the frame!  And I think the smaller size of the frame and larger size of the machine will make it more likely that I will use it -- that and justifying the extra cost ;-0

One oak book case has been placed on the left side of the fireplace.

All my extraneous bits and packages of batting have already been relocated so that they will be readily accessible to the quilt frame that will go next to it.  The matching bookcase is on the other side of the fireplace.

Right now it's just loaded with stuff, but this bookcase will eventually hold works in progress.  Hubby's old conference table has been moved in front of the windows.

There is room to work on both sides so that I can use it to trim quilts for binding or layer the sandwich for quilting.  The Koala table will go where Mr. H's workstation is now.

We're hoping the new floor mat will arrive Monday so that he can relocate his desk to the bridge, along with his computer, printer, and plotter.  Then I can finally settle back in and start sewing again.