Studio Shake-up

At the start of the summer, I tried to do a bit of advance planning to organize my thoughts and time.  I was hoping that, armed with a spreadsheet filled with deadlines, I'd do a better job of getting things done.

I feel like I'm scraping by by the skin of my teeth.

I have checked a few items off my list.  I created Blue Chair with Tea and Blue Chair in Bermuda, and submitted them to Summer ARTiculated.  I was thrilled that Blue Chair with Tea was accepted.  I submitted to SAQA's Silver exhibition; I was not accepted, but I'm glad I pulled something together.  I tried to create something for Quilting Arts "Hands" reader challenge, but that didn't work out as planned. (More on that in another post.)  Despite all this, I still didn't feel like I was getting done all that I wanted to get done.

So I decided to rearrange my studio.

I have a veritable billion other things to do, and this was NOT on my list, but it felt so right to shuffle things up a bit.  I don't have a huge studio space and that limits my options, but I am so happy with what I did.

To start, I cleared off my design wall.  All those projects that were looming in front of me, waiting to be worked on, made me feel anxious.  It was a little overwhelming, and not so inspiring, to see the evidence of all the art left undone and waiting for closure.  I stored finished projects, too.  (My design wall had become my de facto storage space.)  My design wall became a design wall again, ripe with possibility as opposed to space burdened by clutter.

Next, I decided to move my sewing table from its spot in front of the window to the space in front of my design wall.  That seems like a downgrade in real estate location but actually, this is so much better.  My window faces west and every afternoon I had to close the shade because the sun shines in and blinds me.  It's no fun to sit in front of a window that you can't look out of.  Now, the sun shines in from my left and helps light my work space.  It doesn't create a shadow because I'm right-handed and, since the design wall doesn't perfectly line up with the window, I'm not blinded.   Even better, I have a lot more room.  I had very little space with my table in front of the window; my chair banged into the wall behind me, and I felt very cramped.  Now, I can push my chair in and out with ease AND  I can see my "to-do" spreadsheet and work with all my inspiration photos right in front of me.

To give myself the room I needed for my sewing table (actually, an old kitchen table), I moved a small desk and my ironing board to the wall with the window.  I hate to iron but now, I can amuse myself by looking outside.  Ironing seems to work even if the sun is muscling through the window panes; I tried it already -- somehow the sun isn't as blinding when I iron as when I sewed.  There's plenty of room in the alcove-like space to iron.  And,  the room looks so much more spacious and the lighting works better for me, too.

There's even room for one or both of my dogs to join me without being underfoot or getting tangled in the iron cord, as was always a possibility when the ironing board was in front of my design wall.

I am so excited about these changes and my time in the studio feels fresh and new.  Sometimes shaking things up is a very good thing.