My quilt room/space/corner

From time to time I get a blogging glimpse of quilter's "studios" or "rooms", their lovely design walls and shelves of organized stash. I see the latest machines that do everything but wash the dishes.

Well, here I am in my chair, my machines connected to my arms (and they also wash the dishes) and my trusty helper at my side. My husband at the shutter saying,"why would anyone want a picture of this!"

But, my friends, THIS is the world's most comfortable chair! And, it has a story.

When I was teaching in the public schools, the Board of Education took money from our scant pay and put it into a retirement fund rather than social security. You can bet it wasn't much since the starting salary was only three thousand dollars a year. In the late 60s when I was back in the States, I checked up to see how much I had in my retirement account and I was told $135.00 and it would never amount to more no matter how long it sat there so I decided to take the money out and buy something I really wanted, a wing rocker. Because of a crooked spine, there are not many chairs I can lean back in but this chair is perfect for me. $134 well spent!

It lived in my bedroom for years and I rocked and nursed babies here. It sat in other rooms in other houses and we piled in with kids to the side and kids on the lap and read thousands of stories. The upholstery wore to shreds and we had it re-covered. This time the foot stool and the arms got some quilted covers to protect them. Now it sits in the corner of my living room. to the right is the entryway. To the left are some drawers for my rulers and sewing things and my Ott light. My quilting waits in the bag I used to carry it to my group meeting on Friday.

The light is special to me too because years ago I quilted a quilt for a friend who said she would pay me. I kept a record of the hours I spent working on her lovely quilt but had no idea what my time might be worth. In the end, I had seen the Ott light advertised in quilt magazines and really wanted a lamp that would give good light for judging color at night.(which was the time of day mothers of large families had for quilting) I cut out the page with the ad and gave it to my friend, who had a APO address and could get things from the states, when I returned the finished quilt. I believe there were three sizes of lamps and I would have been happy with any but she bought me the floor model and an extra bulb. The lamp has lived beside my chair ever since.

For a room so tiny as our living room, this chair is really too big an object but my husband has a massage chair that is even bigger so I feel a bit justified and it is a comfortable place to sew. The only trouble being, since it is by the door, things tend to get piled on it when people come in.

And now for the next project in the lineup. For my daughter's final runner, I wanted to make her one double length size for when she adds a cube for parties. She wanted some traditional Japanese indigo fabrics so I drafted this simple five inch block and alternated dark and light fabrics.

All the blocks are complete so I laid them out on my bed/futon (the only horizontal place in the house of any size without a layer of dog hair) to see if I can come up with an arrangement. I'm still not completely satisfied. Here is where a design wall might come in handy. In this room the ceiling slants down to only about two feet above my pillow, a bit hard to get the whole view.

The typhoon, "Ma-On", is bringing rain to my garden after a long dry spell. It is not clear yet where or if it will land but rain is predicted for the next two days. I wish I could say it has brought cooler air but with the windows shut against the rain, the house is hot and muggy as usual.