Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio

It’s the 3rd and final week of the REAL Studio Tour hosted by Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.   This week we’re sharing photos of our studios as they really look in mid-project.

So here’s mine.  My studio is located in our second bedroom, an awkwardly-shaped room of approximately 220 square feet, which also houses our exercise bike and treadmill.  So it’s quite a small area, and I’ve squeezed a lot of functionality into it.  Here’s what it looks like from the doorway.  I’m not currently in the sewing phase of a project, so the sewing machine table is covered with piles of magazines, miscellaneous paperwork, Christmas wrapping and sewing tools.

Right now, the counter is covered with bits and pieces relating to my current project – the portrait quilt on the design wall.  Everything really does have a designated place, and will get put away when I’m finished this project, before I start the next one.

Hidden behind my design wall are boxes full of large ziploc bags of scraps.  (I love ziploc bags – I also use them to store my spools of thread, also sorted by color.)   In theory each bag of scraps should have a separate color, but I can see at least 2 bags that need to be sorted into colors.

If you’d like to see more about my quilt studio (and what it looks like when it’s all cleaned up), click here and here and here.

Check out the links on Vicki’s blog to see Vicki’s 4(!) studio rooms, and the sewing spaces of at least 33 others.  The link is open until Thursday, so there will likely be even more people linking up in the next few days.

This is week 2 for the REAL Studio Tour hosted by Vicki at Field Trips in Fiber.  This week we’re sharing our favorite storage solutions.

I’m going to share two of my favorite storage ideas.

First, there’s fabric storage.  Most of my fabric is relatively small pieces – ¼ to ½ yard.  At one point I tried stacking it on shelves, but I always seemed to need the fabric in the middle of the stack.  I bought these wire baskets a few years ago from IKEA, and found this the best way for me to organize my fabric. I sort it by color and place it vertically/standing upright in the baskets so I can pull out what I need without disturbing the other fabric.  I can easily pull out a whole basket if needed, then slide it back into its slots.

Secondly, I love these little plastic bins for keeping my tools and notions organized.  They fit perfectly in the cupboards above my work area.

Check out the links on Vicki’s blog to see many other great storage ideas.  And don’t forget to come back next week for week 3 of the studio tour.

Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber is hosting a 3 week REAL studio tour.  Read more about it here.  This is week 1, and we’re sharing our favorite non-traditional tools.  Next week the topic will be favorite storage methods.  The final week will be the big reveal, where we will share photos of our studios as they really look in mid-project.

My very favorite non-traditional tool is my repurposed magnetic magazine rack.  I use it to hold my acrylic quilting rulers up off the work surface where I can find them.  Before I had this, I was constantly misplacing my rulers under the files of fabric on my work surface!  Because it’s magnetic, I can also use it to hold little notes, small pieces of fusible web and other little things that easily get lost.  And, it’s my favorite color, so I just enjoy looking at it!

So hop over to Vicki’s blog to tour the other studios, and see their very interesting non-traditional tools.  And don’t forget to come back next week for the tour of storage ideas.