Cleaning Up, Cutting Machine and Another New Hobby

I have spent the last few weeks cleaning up and rearranging my sewing studio. There are several reasons for the big clean-up. The whole room was a disaster area. Fabric, patterns and supplies were everywhere. It was not conductive for thinking, working, sewing or finding things, and I wanted to do some quilting.

One reason for the big clean up was because I added an Accuquilt Go-Big cutting machine to my studio. I needed to make a space for it. Although it is a significant investment, there are a few reasons for buying the cutting machine. Last winter I decided I wanted to make a simple quilt from largish squares that would put the focus on the fabrics instead of on a complex pattern. Night after night I cut squares until I felt like I had enough to start piecing. By that time my wrists and hands were feeling quite sore. It took some of the fun out of the project, and of course I needed more pieces.

A small part of the quilt

Not too much later, I was looking through a magazine, and came across some information about the cutting machine and the idea took hold.

I should mention that although I am known more for my pictorial quilts than for geometric ones, I have always enjoyed playing with color and fabric and working with scraps. It is what I like to do when I don't want to think too hard and just want to enjoy sewing with colorful fabric.

Electric Cutting Machine and some Dies

The cutting machine has allowed me to take control of my scraps and turn them into useable patchwork pieces. It has also gotten me working on a North Wind quilt. North Wind is a light/dark geometric pattern that kind of sparkles with color once the blocks are put together. It's not a particularly difficult pattern but as much as I have always liked the look, the idea of cutting so many half square triangles for each block had always stopped me in the past.

Some of my North Wind blocks

And finally, during the big clean up, I have made a space for oil painting. My husband has been doing water colors for years. Although I have never been a painter, I have studied art most of my life. We recently started taking some oil painting classes at a nearby arts center and decided to try some at home. I fully expect my first attempts to be rather horrible, but iti s kind of fun to have actual easels in the studio.