Stitchin’ Heaven Howdy

A retreat in your own home! Mona says her 3 year old looks here first when she can’t find her.

Friends tell her she is an organizer freak! She can’t work in clutter and organization helps keep her focused.  This room measures approximately 11′ X 11′ and was originally intended on being a mother-in-law suite.  With having 4 children, Mona stays plenty busy in her creative studio that she also shares with them for arts, crafts, school projects, etc..

“I have a great hutch that I keep my “stash” and other sewing tools.  My peg board is great to hold my small ironing board, sewing machine feet in little baggies, scissors, ribbon, etc. that I can grab conveniently as needed.  I have also built a computer hutch that stores my computer/office equipment and has great storage above (located behind the roman shade).  The PC is stored below the desktop along with the printer.  This allows me more space for my paperwork.  Inside the hutch are a cork board and magnetic board with tins for paperclips ins, etc.”

Shabby Chic and Vintage inspired, this room is simple, yet very functional! You can view Mona’s room at HGTV’s Rate My Space, as well! Please take a minute to go and take a closer look at some of these images and many more, then vote for her! We did!!

Hope you are still having fun with all of the sewing rooms! Will have more to post this weekend! Please show some love and leave a comment or two! Have a great weekend!

I’m having so much fun with the sewing rooms this month, aren’t you??!! I have gotten a ton of inspiration for design, storage & organization and even to clean up my sadly neglected sewing room….Although, not so much on the cleaning part.

Ok, so our room today is for the contemporary. Tristan Robin Blakeman’s room is simple, chic and represents clean lines.  His quilting style and collage art are  just  marvelous yet so  different from one another.

Seriously, looking at his work and collages, I imagine his decor style more Victorian with doilies on the tables and huge brocade drapes…But nope….His creative eye is very versitile.  Instead, the chartreuse walls, light colored wood storage and glass showcases for his contemporary pottery collection resemble Tristan’s sleek style.

Located in the front of the house Tristan’s room is 20′ X 24′ and has a wall of windows that face the park he lives right in front of.  Right now, he is doing a little remodel and getting new floors, so that’s why we only have one shot of his room. But, I’m glad we are able to share this one, anyway!

Keep in touch with us, we love to hear your suggestions for topics you’d like to hear about and how you feel about the topics we do post.  Stay tuned, though, I have a couple more sewing rooms to feature before Monday!!

Yay! We got another sewing room to add this month! This sewing room belongs to Sharni Vaughn.  She has her room posted on Facebook and says she just got finished rearranging it.  Think she did it just for us?….I don’t know, but I’m so glad she decided to share with us!

Sharni makes excellent use of her small space. The use of storage under her table and shelves couldn’t be a better way to make the most of what space she has to work with!

She even has room for both her sewing machine and her serger!

Thanks so much for sharing, Sharni!

Thanks to everyone who has submitted their sewing room this month to be featured on the blog. The month isn’t over yet, so please, don’t be shy, send us those photos and don’t forget to comment! We’d love to feature your sewing room! Thank you ALL!

Deb sent me the link to these pictures and we just couldn’t resist sharing!  These quilts are fabulous! All carved from wood!

All of Mr. Smith’s work is carved out of wood and stained, either with water colors or oil-based pigments. When you first see these images you can be sure they are quilts made from fabric, but looks can be decieving. Fraser Smith creates the illusions of reality with his extremely intricate wood carving skills.  He believes that art is magic. And surely with his work, it’s obvious.  Hope you all enjoy these wonderful quilts. Please check out his website for more art pieces and a closer look at the details.

Did you guys forget about me??!! I haven’t gotten any new sewing rooms? (sniffle sniffle) We’d really love to share your sewing room big or small….Please send me your pictures!

You can send them to nichole@stitchinheaven.com

Hope you all enjoyed these wooden quilts and be sure to visit his site for more amazing work! Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!!

So, Deb just back yesterday from Market in PA! She brought back tons of pictures & ordered us some neat stuff!

Of course, I’m anxious, awaiting her call the whole time, since she was the only one who attended and then of course when she calls its just to ask if we want or need something, it was always a quick conversation. I wanted the scoop on who she saw and all the good stuff! But, I had to wait!

She came back dishing about all her friends she gets to see pretty much only at market and the about meeting Mark Lipinski, Pat Sloan and she ran into Vicky from Willowberry Lane and Eleanor Burns who have both been guest teachers at our shop and retreats! Good times!

She found some neat-o gadgets and pickedup some new rotary cutters and mats she picked up at Martelli and guess what??!! We are officially an Aurifill retailer!! Woo Hoo!! We’re getting the newest flavors of Bali Pops ..Hmm….New charm packs for Charm School some bag ideas for Perse Anality some pretty fabrics from Moda……Sooo….much!     

You can see more pics of Market at Flickr or just click on our photo badge to the left of the blog!

We’re having a ton of fun this month with the sewing rooms! Thanks so much! If you want to share your room, don’t be shy, send me your pics to nichole@stitchinheaven.com!

Ok…You can pick up your jaw now or Carol Campbell, owner of this awesome room, tells me she has plenty of tissue at the door to wipe the drool!  Isn’t his room just amazing!? It seriously looks like a showroom model! Carol tells us that much of her organizing elements are from IKEA (love this place) and that she actually had an architect design this room for her!

In her words: ( she is so good at giving “the tour” of her room) “It is a 20×22 room with great lighting for sewing anytime of day or night.  Deep Ikea 16″ bookcases make fabric folding and organization a breeze.  Huge 8′x8′ design wall is perfect for any project large or small–foam core board covered in gridded flannel.  The free standing cutting table is another piece from Ikea, a kitchen base cabinet (both IKEA pieces recommended in the book Creating Your Perfect Sewing Space), perfect for a cutting mat and much storage underneath in drawers as well as open shelves–for porjects I am working on or should be!!!  The wall that adjoins our house is all storage, a 10′ closet with plenty of shelves and upper and lower cabinets with a counter top and under cabinet lighting for more storage.  The room overlooks our backyard and pool for lots of relaxing stitching or perusing patterns and books and planning that next project.  A dream come true as I have been sewing for 50 years and this is “stitchin’ heaven!”

She also gushes that “Adding this room was the idea of my daughter-in-law and my husband thought it was a great idea….and we called an architect, got a builder who had recently built a retreat house so knew what I was wanting and the rest is history!  My grandchildren, 6 and 4, have been sewing for a few years and ask me most every visit, ‘Can we sew today, Granna?’  I pull out 5″ accumulated squares and away we go.”

I can still only imagine that some day I can have a room like this one….with the pool outside the window! Thanks so much for sharing with us, Carol! Your room is truly inspiring!!

If any of you out there want to share your room with us, (dirty or clean, we’re not picky) please send them to us at nichole@stitchinheaven.com. I’m getting ready to post the scoop on Market that Deb went to last week and all the fun stuff she found and people she posed with! Fun stuff so, please come back….and again, Comment! Comment!  Thanks!

This room is awesome! Looks like it’s a second story room looking out through a wall of windows. Clouds are painted on the wall over a soothing blue wall. The painted furniture just make this room fun!

Cynthia Sharp, owns this wonderful room! She has tons of storage and huge amount of space, even with her long arm quilting machine! The lighting is set to capture all angles and her organization is impressive. I wonder if she gives lessons?

With plenty of room to move around and enjoy the space, I’m sure Cynthia’s creative juices are constantly flowing.

If you want to share your sewing room with all of us, please send your pictures and a brief description to nichole@stitchinheaven.com…

We’d be so excited to feature you! Some of you have commented that your room is messy…..Well, so is mine! So, tidy it up girls and take some pictures to share! I plan to feature mine for ya later this month! And as always…please show some love and leave us a comment  or two!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and hope my email floods with sewing room pictures!

My Paducah experience last month just leaves me searching for words! It took a couple of weeks at a slower pace to get over all the walking and talking and drooling!

Shout out to Mary, Cindy, Shana, and Barbara, all fun Perse Anality’s Tote Club Members who were modeling their Mini Maranda bags with Posh fabric at Paducah!! I did spot other people carrying the same bag in that fabric, but I was not able to get close enough to talk to them. I’m sure they were Tote Club members, though.

Now for May. It is the Moda Learn to Sew Bag & Accessories Kit. The fabrics are so happy and summery.

This month, I’m house-sitting in Milwaulkee, Wisconsin, for some friends who will be staying at my place in France for the month. We will see each other for a few days this weekend before they fly out. I’ve made several of this month’s bags for house-warming gifts for Sally and her beautiful daughter Selene.

This month’s kit includes instructions for a tote bag and a belt, lining fabric for the tote, two d-rings, and a Moda 20 strip Sweet Roll. Kit comes packaged. I love the little drawstring tote in which this kit comes packaged! You can use it to hold sewing notions or use as a separate gift bag. I put little samples of different French bath and body lotions in the drawstring tote to include with the Bon Voyage gifts for my house-sitting friends.

In my travels around the country so far, I have been struck by how many people are learning to sew right now, both men and women! From what I am seeing and observing, people are coming to sewing and crafting in these uncertain times!  That is why I chose this Learn to Sew Bag & Accessory Kit for our project this month. It is a great confidence-builder for those who have not made many bags or any bags before!

While I am house-sitting in Milwaulee, I’ll head over to Cedarburg to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. They have an exhibit of quilts by Marti Michell and Stacy Michell, including a display of pieced quilts, hand-dyed fabrics, Hawaiian appliqué and Baltimore album quilts. That exhibit continues until June 19th, so you have time to plan a visit also. The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, with special hours, so check their website before you visit: www.wiquiltmuseum.com

I’ve prattled along in this blog post, so to wrap up quickly, there are some very active quilt guilds here in Wisconsin!  I may call a couple and ask to just come visit a meeting to see what everyone brings to show-and-tell.

Sadly, I will miss the next Quilt Expo in Madison, is scheduled for September 10-12 in the Alliant Energy Center. If you live in or within traveling distance, you may want to remember a couple of dates of upcoming quilt programs in Montello, WI, at the Montello City Hall.   July 18th: “Following the Journey of Laura Ingalls Wilder” by Chris Kniep, and on July 25th: “Covering Wisconsin With Quilts” program by Kay Walters from the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art. I grew up on Laura Ingalls Wilder books, so I hate to miss this program!

So many of you with whom I have talked so far this year are quite excited about getting more involved in sewing as a hobby.  If you are new to sewing, I’d love to hear from you…what you are making…what inspired you to pick up sewing…if you have not sewed for years but are dusting off your sewing machine.  And share your bag or tote photos with me, please! Send them to nichole@stitchinheaven.com

Why are we cutting up fabric into small pieces just to sew it back together again?  Because one can never have too many bages, purses or totes! That’s our motto, right folks?

First, I’d like to direct all of your attention to the Sweet Treats quilt hanging on the wall. Is that not the cutest quilt you have ever seen?! Denise Lareau, owner of this room, designed it! Remember that name, because you may want to look out for her designs!  What do you think about that quilt being a block of the month? Please let us know….Really!

Ok, on to the room! Seriously, she’s got a lot of great space to work with, it almost looks like the house was made around this room. Well, I guess it kinda was…When Denise’s children moved out,  that resulted in her and her husband Mark,  knocking down a dividing wall and making a studio/office for her and her husband to work and be together in the evenings.  The pictures she sent are wonderful and she even labeled them for us!

Denise tells us that her room isn’t always this neat, but for the most part is presentable, as she hosts Quilt Bee every few weeks. She can easily fit 9 with plenty of room for everyone to hand sew and socialize! How fun! I wanna go!

Hope you all enjoy Denise’s room and don’t forget to let me know what you think of the Sweet Treats quilt.

If you want to share your sewing room with us, please email pictures to nichole@stitchinheaven.com. And as always, we love when you show some love, so please comment!

This room from Sevie Kyles, one of our local customers, used to be her dining room. Then her sitting room and now…..her sewing room!

As you can see, the room is surrounded by windows that look out into the yard of beautiful trees and a grassy lawn! 

Sevie tells us that her “stash” is still in a bedroom closet and the sign on the door reads ” Gone Quilting Do Not Disturb”!

I don’t think I’d mind too much if this were my sewing room! Looks like plenty of room and you just can’t go wrong with the beautiful view!

Thanks for sharing with us, Sevie!

Do you want to share you sewing room with all of us?? Please send pictures and a brief description to nichole@stitchinheaven.com

We look forward to hearing from you and please don’t forget to comment!!