New Sewing Studio - Moving forward!!!

After a few delays, I am SO happy to report that the electricians are here!!!!  I can't wait to see how everything looks with LED CAM lights all over!!!!  There is SO much room - it is a full three quarter the size of the house footprint!!!  Oh My!!!

So, what have I been doing while waiting on the electricians?  Sewing of course - back on the kitchen table and counter and floor!!!!  Living on Toast and Coffee because there just is no room to cook while doing these blocks! 

Here is block Number 3!  They just get better and better!  Judy Nowicki - beautiful creation!!!!  I took a sneak peak ahead hoping that the center block is coming up soon, but No indeed! It will be the last block in the quilt to be completed.  Oh well.  One block at a time!

Oh, and I made my first big boo -boo and selected the wrong file to stitch first, so all that stabilizer and fabric just went into the scrap heap for Block 4 and I'm starting over!  And keep watching for the Class Listing from Cowles Quilting. These classes will be held at 268 N. Main Street in St. Albans.

Happy Stitching everyone!

Step 3 - Lights and Action!!!!

I know it has been a while, but as you can imagine, there is always the possibility of delay when construction of any kind is in the mix.  But, I have been assured there will be electricity by the end of the day Wednesday this week!!!! Woo! Hoo!!!  With that behind us, then on to setting everything in its proper place!

But in the meantime, I have been painting new shelving, mapping out where everything goes and just having a good time making decisions, and changing my mind, oh yeah, making decisions over again!!! But that is the fun stuff!!!!

To keep my sanity while waiting on the electrician, I have been preparing for a new embroidery club series.  This one is going to be fun!!!  I saw this quilt made up several years ago and have had it on my list of to-do's for the past 5 or 6 years!!!!  Here are some pictures for you.  I have Block 1 and 2 Completed!!!

Step 2 - Fresh Coat of Paint

Well, I am well into the second step of transforming a very open basement into a new Sewing Studio!  The difference is amazing!  It looks even bigger now that the ugly gray is covered with a pretty sort of antique white!!!

As with most projects, you think you want to go from A to B, but then there is always going from A to B to C in the back of your mind.  This project is no different.  A to B means that just the Sewing studio portion of the basement would get a fresh coat of paint, A to C means the entire basement gets a fresh coat of paint.  So, you guessed it - I just can't stop!!!!  I must do the other walls and the bathroom while I am at it!!!! So, it will be a few more days before I can post a true "Done Step 2" update!!!

In the meantime, I was able to put music in the space and so now I'm just hopping while working to some great XM Radio!  How cool this is!    See it dangling there??? :-)




And below is the nice toasty fire!!!!  And check out that Chimney!!!  No more dark gray and black!

 















And take a look here. See??? There is no way I can just stop in the middle of the wall just because it won't be a part of the sewing studio!!!   

Have a great day and thanks for following me during this fun project!!!!! 

Step 1 on New Studio - Complete!!!

Woo, Hoo!!!!

What a TREAT to have such a toasty, warm and very spacious place to work in!!!!  I'm very happy for the great job Allen Hulbert's Plumbing and Heating of St. Albans did!!!  They made quick work of it, very professional - left everything so clean and neat it was hard to see anyone had been there, but for the new Heater installed and some fixed plumbing!!!!  A big shout out to anyone in St. Albans looking for a plumber - you can't go wrong!!!!

So, here it is!!!!

 

Next Step - painting the walls!!!! 

 



New Sewing Studio???? Oh My!!!

Today, March 23rd, 2016 marks a monumental occasion in the history of CaDi Corners, LLC in St. Albans Vermont.

Up until now, all the shipping for CaDi Corners LLC has been in a very small room in the house.  But today, (and the noise is quite the testament!) a new studio is beginning to take shape!  Step 1 is the installation of a gas heater that looks very much like a fireplace in the location I have been encouraged to use for CaDi Corners studio. 

I have a great big open basement with outside entrance and everything!!!  Soon, it will be transformed!  I even have before pictures to share - soon!  Step 2 will be painting - and yes, it is sitting here on the floor waiting until the plumbing is completed!!!!

So, what I wanted to share with you all today, is that within a not yet determined number of weeks, we will be in full swing.  And I hope you will join me on this very exciting journey.

One of the neat things that happened today is that my plumber (yep, I needed to get some of that done first!) told me his mom, who recently passed, has a bunch of fabric that he would like to donate to CaDi Corners!!!  What this means is that during our grand opening and beyond, we will have some opportunities for ladies to make up quilts, blankets, pillow cases and more that will be donated to several different charities!!! I'm so excited to be able to honor his mom in this way and know it will be a fun time to boot!!!!

So, that is it for today!  I suspect you will hear more in the days and weeks ahead!  Thank you in advance for joining this journey with me. I hope you will leave a comment or two letting me know what you might like to see in this space!

The wall where a fireplace will be!!!
And Future Home of Little Miss Lovey - our Gammill Longarm

Home of the Future Fabric Corners and Workroom!

Holiday Table Runner

Such a Fun time of year!!! I'm jamming in as much sewing as I can before the snow flies, because once the snow is here I'm off to the trails!!!! How I LOVE to snowmobile!!!!  Can't wait!!!  And this year, I must, must, must get my grandsons Paul and Kevin on them!!!

But, since there is no snow in Vermont just yet (except of course there is some on some of the very tops of the mountains)  I decided to do a little more digitizing.   I learned a BIG lesson on this one because I used it in our embroidery club that meets at Cowles Quilting in St. Albans the first Saturday of each month.  Everyone has a different type of embroidery machine and well, I will explain that one later. :-)

So, this is an applique file that I have in 2 sizes.  It was making it for the 4" hoop that caused me some challenges, but I do believe I've got it!!!

Here is my first stitch out:

 

I wanted a little more definition at the top of the candle and I wanted a little shine on the balls, so I made those little adjustments.  Here is the final on the Longarm machine and in metallic thread.  I love how it glitters!!!

 



So the big digitizing lesson I learned was that even though a digitizing software says it can export your file in a different format, for example, bring a .VP3 file in and save it as a .EXP format, it really does not do a good job of it.  You must always go back to the raw file to export.  This means that if you intend to do some tweaking of stitches AFTER you export, you will need to tweak each format exactly the same.  To avoid this, take advantage of doing all the tweaking before the export.  It causes you to have to plan more, that's for sure!!!!

Happy Digitizing!!!!

My Digitized Owl - Update

Wow! I have received some great feedback on the Riley Blake Inspiration - Part 1 and Part 2! Thank you so much!!! 

With that, the consensus is, figure out how to get the eye lashes to look more sweepy!!!!  So, that is what I am up to now!  I would like to thank those people who have volunteered to help me test this Digitized Applique!  You should see the file in your inbox this morning.  Here is what it looks like in the software package I use:

 

 

I can't wait to see the fabric choices my testers make!!!!