I'm the type of person that doesn't get excited easily. Things don't really hit me until I am in the moment. When my husband and I were waiting to close on our new house; the one I will be running a quilt retreat from, I didn't want to get too excited incase something happened and we couldn't get it. Now that we have closed on the house, it still didn't seem real until Thursday, when we went out to look at what our builder has been doing to my new studio. It then hit me! It is really going to happen! He (the builder) has not done a lot of work yet, but he has patched the walls and ceiling and put about 10 coats of paint on both and it really made quite a difference.
The building that my studio/classroom/shop will be in, was at one time a shop room for a high school shop teacher. It has all of the outlets and is wired for big machinery. There is 1500 square feet of open space that is air conditioned and heated above a 5 car garage. I couldn't ask for a more ideal place. It is separate from the house, just across the driveway. Here is the view from the front of the house. The circle above the garage doors will have a St. Louis Star painted over it.
There are three sections to the room. On the left side the ceilings are high. This will be the classroom. I hope to be able to handle up to 24 quilters at a time for large workshops. The house will not be able to host that many, probably 4-8 quilters. Here the builders have finished painting the walls and ceiling and are getting ready to put in new lighting. There are lots of wonderful windows for natural lighting so during the day it will be bright and cheery and at night it will be well lit up.
There is lots of empty wall space I have yet to figure out what to do with. I'm sure I will figure something out. Peg boards on the walls perfect for hanging quilting tools and items for sale.
The middle section has a lower ceiling. The garage door will be replaced with French doors leading out to a loading area so people can bring in their machines and supplies. This is the section where I will be keeping my longarm machine and possibly add another in the future for teaching and renting out.
There is a wood burning stove to keep the room warm in the winter time. There will be a kitchen area here and a bathroom somewhere on this end of the room. So, you can see there is a lot of work to be done.But it is very exciting for me and now it is all too real! Especially since I will be writing the checks to the builder!
This is the other side of the kitchen area. There will be a wall with a door covering the steps. Can't wait to se what the room will look like with the new flooring! Stay tuned for constant updates.Now to my current projects. I have three new web patterns currently posted. Two of them are on Hoffman Fabrics website. One called Royal Mendhi and the other called Keiko's Garden cover and Window's pattern. The third one is on Timeless Treasures website called Florence. (Click on links to get to the patterns.) I will be carrying the fabric for all three kits in June so go ahead and download the patterns and come back later for the fabric if you can not find it in your LQS.
Well, gotta go. I will be leaving for Providence, RI on April 11 and be gone for 10 days (Texas is also in the trip) so I have lots of stuff to get ready to pack and ship.
Remember: Always do what you love and love what you do. Toby
