Tuesday To Do #10: Studio Prep & Lucey Arrival Part 1

"Oooh Lucey, you're hoooome!" 

Lucey is finally here.

And I've been doing so much to make the perfect studio

for spending all of our time together that I chose to skip

last week's to-do.  But hopefully that's enough of that

behavior and from here on out, I'll be back to being a

dedicated, regular participator on Texas Quilt Gal's

Tuesday To-Do starting with today's Link Up!

With so much activity, it's hard to squeeze all of this

into one post so even though I can't wait to show you

my amazing new space, I'm doing this in two parts.

I guess I should start with some To-Do's since that's

what we're all here for today.  How about:

1) Buy a long arm--Done.

2) Build a studio--Done.

What a list, right?  And did I think I'd end up

with my dream studio?  Not at all.

I never got passed:  "Will it all fit okay?" but things just

kind of kept falling into place--with a lot of work!

Let's go back to the beginning.  If you recall, I needed

to move the cadet's things over into his brother's room.

(Other son is in the process of buying a home.)

Both rooms are upstairs, each off to opposite sides of

our open stairway so fortunately, this wasn't as difficult

as it could have been.  Now, you wanna something cool?
This room was actually mine when we built this home

back when I was in high school. Who'd have thought,

back in that day, that I'd be right back in it turning it

into a quilting studio!

Getting ready to paint, incl mudding holes in wall, etc.

So next was to paint.  It doesn't quite show in the above

pic, but that really was the prettiest blue.  But I'm sure you

can see how it had to go.  I needed neutral and bright.

Due to my own mistake, I ended up painting three times.

First, a wrong color, and then two more of the prettiest paint

a quilter could ever have.  I have always loved to paint but

I do believe this girl's painting days are done.  Sheesh.

It can be pretty darned rough on an older body!

Tint of Honey, btw.

Oh the brightness! I do wish you could see it in person.

Just gorgeous.  If my painting days are over, I'm

happy to be going out on this color!

Both upstairs rooms are large, each with a dormer,

two walk-in closets and their own vanity cabinet (with sink)

 off to the side with a bathroom shared between.  

The vanities in both rooms are pretty dated so we're

working on that but first things first, okay?

I had hubs help me draw up a layout of the room so

you could understand a little better here.   

My sketching isn't perfectly to scale but hopefully you

get the idea.  And yes, I am fully aware I have the worst

handwriting in existence.  I have finally come to terms

with this--and no longer care.  (How freeing!)

 So now you see I have a T-shape to try to figure out

where Lucey will fit best so what did I do?

I grabbed up an old roll of butcher paper and made out

the exact footprint of Lucey to move around the room

until I found the best place for her.

And done.  It took longer to make the footprint than it

did to get it all figured out!  A good thing because the next

day, I was set to be down at Red Barn Quilting at 9 am

so Brenda could show me how to take care of my new LA.

Road trip!

And I just realized that if you zoom, you might make out how

 fast I was driving.  Since I seem to be fessing up to things today,

you might as well know that I'm a little speedy on the highways.

 (Learning all about me today, aren't we?)

Random house being built up the road from Red Barn Quilts.

I just think it's pretty so I'm sharing.

The shop is to the far right here on their ranch.

After learning the low-down on everything, including

maintenance and plenty of other tidbits that I never knew

(like how humidity can affect your tension), I headed over

to meet hubs who had ridden down with his parents and

we spent the night at their little lake house. 

(Grateful for the time and gas this saved!)

The next day we set about loading her up.  Hubs is 

pretty savvy and in taking this thing down with Brenda's

help, he pretty much had it memorized for setting it back

up but we did take some pictures for help.

APQS makes some amazingly solid machines, and they

don't break down into shorter pieces like my old one.

On this cold and rainy day, we needed at least 12' of

covered space (cold & rainy!) to get her home.
So, a U-haul to the rescue.

I put complete trust in hubs and my FIL when it came

to loading her up.  They have skillz, and also understood

how just sensitive everything is.  (I did get the deluxe table

with that Bliss Track system and it has to be handled

with the utmost care!)   Again, grateful!

Lucey herself, of course, rode up with hubs and I.

Several hours later we were finally home and unpacked.

I was in no hurry; we were tired and had a weekend

 ahead of us still so after some initial set-up, we decided

to finish the next day.  

I was moving things up from my sewing room and it was

 taking an insane amount of thought and planning.

How did this happen?!?

I'd insisted on keeping my sewing room downstairs!

I didn't want to be tucked upstairs away from the activity.

Wait....what activity?

I guess sometimes I forget I'm an empty-nester!  Ha!

The great lighting, the open space and the idea of having

it all together was starting to sound very attractive.
Plus, the great hubs who helped make all this happen

really wanted my old room for his office.

The trick was how to organize it all.  After trying a couple

layouts I slept on it...and then tried more the next day. 

I have to sew in front of a window but this just

didn't feel right.  I felt like I was kind of down a tunnel.

And where did that leave space for my cutting table?

 Then it occurred to me to put my desk at the front of the

dormer.  From that angle, I could still see out of the arched

window.  This would also be great later when I get my

computer program so I can keep an eye on Lucey doing

 her thing while I sew away.   Hubs was also talking about

getting me a tv to mount on the wall that I could watch

from there.  Not a big tv-watcher but I do love tutorials

so I was definitely in on this plan.

I tried the cutting table several ways and ended up with this.

 It didn't look great at first but it felt good so I was willing

to give it a trial run.  You'll have to trust me on this one.

It starts coming together...

 Meanwhile, in the closet...

A daughter has her things in one closet but each are

plenty spacious.  In the above pic, all of my quilt tops

are piled on the floor but they'll soon be hanging and

the floor free.  Well, even better, they'll soon be quilted!!

While Chloe was rapidly making herself at home in the

new studio, I was rapidly seeing that I wanted a hutch

that coordinated with my fabric cabinet.  This one would

 be for books, precuts, and misc.

So, another road trip--this time to IKEA in Kansas City.

I spent two solid hours walking the show floor, looking

for ideas and thinking through my organizing needs

(and wants).  And if that wasn't enough fun, I stopped

by a quilt shop on the way home.
With that, this is "To be Continued...!"

Next week I'll share the purchases and do a little

tour of the entire studio.

Next week's to-do's

1) Give a tour of new studio

2) Keep practicing on Lucey

3) Make some blocks for the monthly challenge

Happy quilting!