Last weekend I made my way to Long Island, New York to visit the Evening Star Quilters in Mineloa. Susan, my contact with the guild, had things very well organized. Both of the workshops were held at the hotel where I was staying during my visit to the guild. The classroom was about 10 doors down from my hotel room. That was one of the easiest trips from my hotel room to the classroom ever. The only thing easier would have been if the classes were in my hotel room! I do like Long Island but as I mentioned getting there is a (bleeped out) *********. I really, really dislike that drive and I always seem to make one wrong turn. It seems like my car always wants to go through the Holland Tunnel. Not fun. I am so thankful for my GPS system or I’d still be driving around Manhattan. And as mentioned in previous blogs….just because I forgot to take photos at this guild does not mean I did not have a great time. It was real pleasure to work with this guild and I will be returning to Long Island in the fall.
A couple of weeks ago I had two contractors in my studio to give me some bids on making some changes in my sewing room. One of the contractors, Lewie, said, “Hey, why don’t you move out over the garage (where Joe has his man cave) and Joe could move up here?” I said to Lewie, “Why don’t you mention that to Joe and see what happens?” Of course Lewie said he was not going to bring it up ever again. After the contractors left with all the measurements they needed I told Joe what Lewie had suggested and commented that I would never move over the garage to the man cave as that is Joe’s spot. Joe immediately said, “That is a great idea”. He said you need more space and I need less space so let’s make the change. So, this past weekend we moved everything out of the man cave and into one of the bays in the garage until the renovations are done. Lewie came in Tuesday and started on the shelves and design board.
One side will be shelves and the other side a design board.
By Thursday Lewie had the design board wall built and the the big shelving unit built. One side shelves…
….. the other side design wall. The height of this design wall is 10 feet. This is one of the things I am very excited about. In my previous studio the ceiling height is only around 7 feet. So, all of the bigger quilts I have designed end up partially on the design board and partially on the floor. Now they will be entirely on the design board. I’m excited.
I’ll keep you posted as the progress continues. This week I picked my paint color, Woodlawn Dewkist. It’s a white that matches the white of the shelving. And I picked the carpet that I want. I have it narrowed down to two colors. It is a light to medium beige shade. I also had time this week to look at lighting and to talk to a lighting engineer at Yale Lighting. Now I just need to make a decision on just what lights I want and where I want them.
Here are a few signs of spring in my area. Remember I told you several blogs ago that April showers bring May flowers. Well…….because of all the rain we’ve had the flowers this spring are really incredible. The colors this year seem more vivid than usual.
I took these photos from a neighbors yard. Tonight while she’s fast asleep I think I’ll dig some up and move them to my yard. She has lots of them. I don’t think she’ll miss them. (Just kidding)
Enjoy your spring. My next adventures take me to Virginia and Reno, Nevada. I have been in Virginia many times because of its proximity to Pennsylvania. But, this will be my first time in Reno. I am a Reno virgin!