A UFO to the Rescue

The thing of it is, no matter how long it has been since I last quilted - my quilting has been very minimal and sporadic the last several years - there is still that same pile of UFOs that was there when I last looked.  They didn't magically get done in my absence. Overall however, that has been a good thing.  It has been nice to re-acquaint myself with the various project stages by way of those UFO's. So while a part of me is eager to start something brand new, mainly I am glad to simply ease back into the process.

It's not been without its complications.  A few weeks back, I posted about the new sewing room painted in purple and peach.  I was thrilled with the natural light from the big slider.  However, as far as functionality..., well the room simply wasn't big enough.  Too many windows and doors, and not enough wall space.

The sewing room went back to the basement where there is plenty of room for any configuration.  I am really quite pleased.

Sincerely enjoying those purple walls, I decided to move my bedroom into the former sewing room.  I am really liking it.  But I need a new quilt - and like yesterday.  I don't really have anything that coordinates with the purple.

An old UFO came to save the day.

Even better, it was nearly done when I stopped working on it back in 2011.  I am down to quilting the outer green border and the butterflies.

As to the one peach wall in the purple room?  Well, it's soon going to be a lime green.

New Sewing Room

When I first moved into my condo, I decided to put the sewing room in the basement.  After all, it was a nice big space; plenty of room to spread out.  Only one problem:  I found I never really wanted to go down there.  It was dark and uninspiring.

After I moved my office out of the small upstairs bedroom on to the indoor balcony (yes, my place is a little quirky), I quickly came to the conclusion that the now empty bedroom would become my sewing room.  But first I needed to take down the ugly curtains and paint:

I rather liked the purple, but was not fond of the tan.  Additionally, the place hasn't seen new paint in awhile, so it was time.  

While logic told me a quilting room ought to have neutral paint, I'm afraid my taste in paint is rather like my taste in fabric:

With the outdoor balcony and the door connecting directly to the bathroom, I believe this is supposed to be the master bedroom.  However, it is rather small.  The place was built in 1973.  And if you look at the bathtub, you'll soon realize it still sports the original harvest gold that was such a popular color at that time.  Not my favorite.

Finally got the sewing essentials moved in:

There is still a lot of fabric to be moved up from the basement, but the room is now functional.

And now I'll leave you with this:

One Thing Leads to Another

So it's like this. I moved into my condo August 1st and started a new job August 5th. There was not a lot of time to commune with the new place and get a feel for it before deciding what would go where. My brain was filled first with tests, and later with learning the job itself.  And yet I became increasingly aware that a couple of rooms just weren't working for me.

The first issue was the room I was using for the office.  It would technically be the master bedroom I suppose as it has a door directly into the bathroom and sports a balcony overlooking the golf course.  But the room is smaller than the secondary bedroom, so I used it for my office.  Beautiful view!  Problem was I have an L shaped desk.  I usually put in a corner.  Oddly this room has no corners with enough wall space to accommodate the desk.  Two corners handle part of the slider leading to the balcony, one is shortened by the presence of the bathroom door, and the other corner leads to the bedroom door.  I boldly put my desk so the neither side sat against any wall.  I had perfect view out of the slider window.

(Please forgive the crappy photo.  It's the only one I have of the office before I moved it.)

Over time, despite the great view, I became disenchanted with this arrangement.  Having my computer cords exposed seemed messy, and it didn't help that the cats found it fun to dive among them.  I was certain that one day I would come home to find my monitor in pieces on the floor.

The condo came with a quirky indoor balcony.  A space less than 5 feet wide that overlooks the living room and has a direct line of sight to a second story picture window.  I have been fascinated with this interesting architectural anomaly, despite having no clue to its purpose - other than the aforementioned quirkiness.  One of my neighbors told me that her condo had no indoor balcony as the previous owner had closed it off, made a bedroom bigger, and added another bathroom.

I began to wonder if my L-shaped desk might fit on the balcony.  The more I pondered it, the more I knew I would have to try it.  I have been thrilled with the results:

The only problem now is that the cats like to walk across the balcony railing between the desk and the filing cabinet, like some high wire act.  I try not to watch.

So what am I going to do with that room now?  Fix another problem area - move my quilting room from the basement.  I need light!  Natural light!

First, I will paint though.

Fluorescent lighting

My mom and I are very fortunate to have overhead fluorescent lighting in our sewing room. You really can't beat it for being able to see well.

However, I've come to the realization that if I spend a big chunk of time in under the lights in one sitting, I get to feeling a little depressed. Initially, I thought it was because I usually do my quilting toward the end of the day and so I am likely to be tired. However, this seems like more than just tiredness. In looking back, I realize that any time fluorescent lighting has been the only light source in a room, I feel that way. Now, if there is a window with sunshine in addition to the fluorescent lights, I'm good; if there is another type of light in the room too, well that helps. My mother is wondering if she's being similarly affected, although her feelings have been more subtle.

Have any of you experienced anything like this?