Many of you do not have a "space of your own" in your home where you can sew. A place where you can leave up all your things and work at anytime without hauling it all out.

How do you find a space of your own? First take a very close look at what you have. Yes… it ALWAYS starts here!

You need to know the bare minimum you need to have available to enable you to sit down to work. I imagine it’s not as much as you think:

• sewing machine
• cutting mat
• rulers, rotary cutter
• iron and board
• the project you are working on

Not much eh?

So you need a table that can be left up with the sewing machine on it. In an extreme pinch you can get out the mat and rulers to cut when needed.

Now to find a place for this table .. don’t worry yet about what the table is.. let’s find a spot first.

• Bedroom…often there is a corner here you can clear out and use.
• Family/living room – there MUST be a tiny spot a table can go.
• Dining room – as a kid that is where my spot was… my parents put the sewing machine in the dining room. That gave me the table to use.
• Eat in kitchen… maybe not the ideal spot, but many have a built in cubbie place you could modify for a sewing machine. Or put the machine in a lower cabinet to pull out quick, use your counter for a the cutting station… be creative here.
• Bathroom…mmm… not sure on this one!
• Closet – often there is a closet in a room you could take over. Remove everything in it (as most likely it’s storage and junk). Then convert the whole closet into your studio. There are tons of these make overs on the Internet to look at.
• Part of a book shelf- you can either store the machine on the shelf, or actually make a shelf extension that is the table you work on.

Does this get you thinking? Be CREATIVE and really look hard at what in is in your home. Do you have unused things in a room that can be moved or donated elsewhere? Do you have things in a room that could go somewhere else?

Have you used a creative spot? Post question/photos on spots in your house you think you can used.

Now for the table. There are tables that fold down from the wall, small tables that you can find at yard sales, tables you may already own! There are tables built just for the machines and the machines go down into them. For years my main sewing table was a kitchen counter clamped to legs my husband built for it. The legs make it the exact right height, the counter was smooth and had finished edges. We bought the counter at the hardware store for very little as it was a reject. Customers special order and something is not right so the counters are sold at a good price. This is a great option for making a table fit a space you have.

Here are a few sites with spaces to check for ideas… link to others in the comments!

• Organize Your Sewing Room
• Sewing Closet Revamp; Using Every Inch Wisely!
• Sewing Space Organization-Getting Started
• Sewing Room in a Closet

So look around and find a space, and a table.. report back!

Link Party and Give-Away

And now for the Link Party! Share a link to your blog post or Flickr photo of your area in most need of work.. or your whole ‘before studio’.. I can’t wait to see your space!

C&T Publishing have generously donated two copies of Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter: An Illustrated Guide to the Space of Your Dreams. Two winners will randomly be selected next Monday from those sharing their spaces in the link party. Non-USA winners will receive the ebook version.

Pat Sloan is owner and founder of the quilting design and publishing company Pat Sloan & Co. She has published over 25 books, more than 100 patterns, nearly 10 fabric lines, and has had her work featured in all the major Quilt magazines. In January 2010, Pat started hosting her weekly Internet Radio show called Creative Talk Radio.

Find Pat here:

Web Site | Blog | Radio Show | Facebook | Twitter
Quilt Forum | Pinterest | Newsletter

The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Commemorative Quilts. Be sure to explain what your quilt commemorates when you enter this contest. It can be a quilt made to celebrate a person, place, team, event, etc.

I’m pleased to introduce you to a new sponsor this week, Road Home Quilting. They have donated a fabulous Grandmother’s Garden Tote kit for this week’s winner.

Road Home Quilting

Welcome to the New Age of Commemorative Quilting! Tradition is finding new meaning in the abundance of anniversaries in the coming decade. Is your province, state, or town having a centennial you are dying to commemorate in your art? Are you creating Civil War or War of 1812 tribute quilts? Share your pride and creativity here.

Want to see what’s happening? For more information, please visit our Quilting Gallery guest blog.

Road Home Quilting designs quilt patterns from warmth and tradition while meeting contemporary decorative functions. We have friendly quilt projects that remind you of home, each one tested for fun and functionality. Thank you for celebrating your creativity with a Road Home Quilting pattern!

The contest winner will receive a complete kit for creating your own Grandmother’s Garden Tote. Vintage inspired tote carries springtime treasures while showing the fun side of your traditional style. A continuous English Paper Pieced project featuring a sculptured edge – even the straps are pieced. Suitable for portable handwork, machine quilting optional. A great travel project!

Kit value is $75 and includes: pattern, precut hexagon pieces, Paper Pieces hexagon paper templates, Create-A-Strap interfacing, fusible batting and
lining fabric.

Enter the Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest

Last Week’s Quilt Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s Snowy Friends quilt contest. All of the quilts were gorgeous. Pastimes Online donated designer scissors from Gingher for the winner. Congratulations to:

Sharon Elliot

Blog It

Please share the logo below on your own blog. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests!

It’s voting time!! The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Snowy Friends. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and a pencil to make note of your faves. You can vote for FOUR quilts this weekend.

This week’s sponsor is Valerie from Pastimes Online. She specializes in Block of the Month clubs that include all of the supplies needed to complete the block as well as a unique member’s only area with tutorials for each block. Check out this gorgeous Vintage Sewing Machines BOM that she’s hosting for 2012.

Vintage Sewing Machines BOM

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourites!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per person (based on IP address NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!

How to Vote:

• Review the photos and stories below… there are several, so you’ll need to scroll down to see them all. You can also click the link to the slider version to review the quilts in the large format and then return to this page to vote.
• Underneath the photos, scroll down, you’ll see the names of all the quilts with a square button** beside each one. Select the buttons for the quilts you want to vote for. You can select up to FOUR quilts this week.
• Then scroll down, all the way, until you get to the bottom of the names of the quilts. Press the vote button.

** Note: If you don’t see the square buttons to vote, but instead see the voting results, that means someone on your IP Address already voted, or that the voting period has ended, or that you need to refresh the page to see the voting options. Shared IP Addresses are very common in home or work networks.

Slider version: To view the large photos of all the quilts and descriptions, CLICK HERE. You’ll need to return to this page to cast your votes.

Please Note: If you are not seeing all of the photos, check your browser settings. Go to view, and text size. Make sure it’s set at medium. If you need web sites to be larger so you can read them more easily, then use the browser’s Zoom function, not the text resize. You can also use the scroll bar above, beside the photos, to scroll and see the hidden ones.

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Update: The prize for this contest goes to the second quilter with the most votes. Please, if you wish to enter the weekly contests, read the rules and guidelines first.

Next Week’s Contest

The theme for next week’s contest is Commemorative Quilts. Be sure to explain what your quilt commemorates when you enter this contest. Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest

The Learning Center

Check out the new Learning Center hosted by Pat Sloan. For the month of February, we’re tackling Studio Organization… a topic I’m sure that we can all use some help with.

Our first post Organization 101 a la Pat Sloan, will help get you started. Look for new Learning Center posts Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Big Overhaul