Slow

The old house is finally empty (except for the Goodwill pile), and everything is now in the new house.  It took the whole three days of the long weekend and the rest of this week to get to this point.  Now there are boxes to be unpacked everywhere.  I'm a little discouraged, because it seems like there is a very long way to go with unpacking before I'll feel comfortable sitting and sewing.   Getting the broadband hooked up and operating was yesterday's project.  Now if I could only find the camera I'd share some pictures of piles of boxes with you.

Current Studio

Here are a few photos to show the current situation... or what was the current situation until last week.  Much of this stuff's already gone.  The photographer is slacking off.

Standing in the kitchen, looking left.  Note the second storage cabinet conveniently located over behind the bird cage.  There are other piles of "stuff" - fabric and supplies piles in the space leading to the living room, so that there is barely room to climb through.

Same vantage point - looking right.  the design wall is wonderful and very  useful, but it is also located in  most highly traveled path, from living room to kitchen... Anything not securely pinned can be knocked down, and occasionally falls into the dog food or water bowls.  And when I'm sewing my chair blocks the path, as well.

Transformation. Basement to Studio

I know I promised to document how an ugly basement is to become a fantastic studio, and I've been so busy packing and hauling boxes that I forget to take many pictures, but here's a little photo-essay of what I have photographed so far...

This lovely mess of plumbing has since been all closed in and painted white.  But I still harbor a secret plan to encrust it with "jewels" and other random found objects that I have already collected, and continuing to add miscellaneous stuff that I seem to pick up wherever I go.   It will be my "Memory Sewer Pipe." 

Close up of the lovely plywood shelving the previous owners kindly left for us.  I'm pretty sure they bought all their paint from the clearance/mistake shelf.  the yellow looks almost pretty in this shot, but believe me, reality was more like the above. 

The transformation begins.  Yes, it IS always him doing the work and me photographing.

Here is a blurry picture of the rug, retrieved from storage, and laid out temporarily. 

Everything that wasn't moving or brick was painted white. The shelves are nicely set up by dh for ME to paint.  The white floor is not quite what I was hoping for.  I envisioned a shiny gloss like you see in a muffler shop or something.

I do not know why Blogger won't let me insert photos at the END of my post, but it insists I want them at the top.  or at least somewhere other than the bottom.  Rather than fight I guess I'll start a second post to show my current studio/dining room for comparison.

And now for something completely different!

I won't be finishing (or starting, for that matter) any quilts for quite awhile. I'm traveling in Thailand and Cambodia for the next couple weeks, and then when I get back there will be only three weeks until the new tenants move into our current home, and we move to the new house - ready or not. We agreed to the "deadline" because these are great tenants and friends of our neighbors, and I knew that I'd procrastinate forever otherwise! The studio is close to ready for move-in, so who cares about the rest of the house, right? No design wall installed yet, though. I will be posting some before and after pictures - when I can, but I've been overwhelmed with work and moving and remodeling and gardening, and now traveling. My goals while I'm traveling are to meet interesting people, to be open and observant and soak up as many images and ideas as I can. And of course take a lot of pictures. I'm working from my ipad, so I don't know how many pictures I'll post. In fact I'm not sure if I can upload them from here.