"Hi Resolution - A New Year's Studio Meet and Greet"

Updated: If you are looking for my studio remodel project, scroll down...I talk about it in this studio-tour blog-hop....then you may want to hop to the other artist blogs to see their working studios. It's a treat!

Thanks for stopping by!

If you've been hopping through the other artist's blogs in our group before you came to mine, I bet you've already enjoyed so much before landing here. Your last stop should have been Phyllis Dobbs blog. If you happened upon my blog before going through the other blogs in this fun hop...may I suggest you start at the beginning Aaron Christensen's blog and enjoy the journey.  We are having a "Little Studio Tour and Meet and Greet." I have some incredibly talented and wonderfully warm friends...and I think you will agree too! After my blog, you will visit the outrageously talented Sharon Himes.

Samantha Walker copyright 2011

Now that we've made it through the holidays...and we've entered the New Year...I've had the chance to reflect on my past year with hopes of how I can make this year even better.

Last year...
was such a fantastic whirlwind of a year, with so many exciting things happening in my licensing business. In addition to continuing my design work in fabric, paper crafts and home decor, I added two more regular licenses. I am thrilled to be designing cut and emboss dies for Spellbinder's Paper Arts.

Samantha Walker copyright 2011

What's my big project this year?
This year, my husband and I decided that we would finish our basement, which will include a whole revamp of my studio space, and add a man-cave for him.

So Why remodel?
We've been in our home for a while, and our kids our getting older. We are looking for a place to to entertain older kids and their friends.  I'm also looking forward to creating a creative space that works. I started working more...and my space wasn't sufficient to all the kinds of work that I was doing. It will be so nice to finally have one central area that I can design, sew, craft, play, work...etc.  I've been divided between areas as my computer is currently upstairs...and all the crafty stuff is downstairs.  Bringing it all together this year is going to be fabulously fun!

Samantha Walker copyright 2010

Well...this is what my studio used to look like...
In all it's uninspiring glory, and not connected with my computer area--which is upstairs in the office. It would be a great place if it were just a hobby space, but my hobby has now become work, and this space just hasn't been very practical these days. I spend a lot of time traveling between the computer upstairs and this space here.

It was also the only room finished in our basement. You had to walk across the entire unfinished basement part to get to this room that was finished by the previous owners. I was grateful to have it...but it was time for a total makeover. 

Tearing down walls...
We decided to tear down the closet wall, and put the door on an entirely different wall. The closet area, will become my main crafting area. Here's a crude drawing of what I hope the crafting alcove will look like when it's finished:

Collecting used items:
I've been buying used cabinets through local classified adds and have been putting the area together with the pieces that I've collected. The turquoise cabinet in the middle is a kitchen buffet cart that I'll be painting turquoise and distressing. The cabinet group in the middle is a bargain I found on an IKEA glass cabinet and two side cabinets. I also found 4 file coordinating file cabinets for my room...two will serve as a base for holding my countertops--we will put bead board on the outside edge to make them look nice. My husband will help build some shelves to connect the cabinets.  The panel on the right side wall is a fold down ironing board that mounts between the wall joists.  It will fold over the top of the counter, I'm using every inch of space I have.  

This is what my room looked like a few weeks ago...

So in this picture...I'm standing in the area that used to be my closet looking into my room...

What a mess!   The contents of my studio and a myriad of other basement contents are under that tarp! You've heard the phrase you have to make a mess in order to organize a mess. It can only get better from here...right?

You can see the full effect of tearing down that wall here...

Yup...the walls are completely gone on the closet side. We had to install a beam and a post...because evidently, the front wall of the closet happened to be a support wall.  Dang...

Framing it in...
Here, we've framed in the back crafting alcove and built the post that holds the beam right into the wall. You may wonder why the strange cut-out shape on the backside of my room...we have a clever idea of adding a kitchenette with a restaurant booth in that alcove.  If you use your imagination...that black post thing-y in the middle of the alcove will attach to the wood support between the wall joists to hold up the table between the booth seats. We have literally measured the furniture on both sides of the wall to determine where the walls will go...there won't be a wasted millimeter of space when we are done. 

A room with no doors...
In the above picture, you are looking at my room but can't see in. The wall in this picture is where a fun sliding barn door will go...if you haven't figured it out already...the room has no door at present...we boxed it in on the other side too, where we rebuilt the closet area into a craft alcove. 

So right now, if you want anything from that room, you have to go through the wall studs to get it. 

Unfortunately, all the Christmas wrapping paper is in there under the tarp somewhere, and I still have lots of things to wrap. I felt as magical as Santa Claus with the ability to go through walls.  Not really...I felt more like the abominable snowman getting a nice white coating of dust and trying to squeeze through the studs while holding boxes of wrapping stuff. I made it back through to the other side, but the box didn't. I had to grab single rolls, one by one through the studs. It's going to be crazy around here for the next few months.

In this photo, I'm standing where we are going to cut the space for the barn doors in my room looking out to the room that will be next to mine. This will become our wide open family room.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the more interesting window side of the room. It is light and bright for a basement.  My ultimate goal is to get the basement not to look like a basement in the end.

The Plans:
You can see what I mean from using every last millimeter of space...and building our walls around furniture. If you visited my blog a few weeks ago and saw the post on my studio remodel then...I've modified my plan a bit as we've moved along on our project.

Updated to add... This was just one of 9 posts detailing my studio remodel project.

If you want to catch up on the whole project you can read more in these posts here:

The beginning plans sketched out (don't laugh at the timeline here...Putting it together has truly been a process.)

Starting with a Door

Etching the glass doors

The story of the Printers Cabinet and Armoire (the debate to paint or not to paint...so glad I did not paint!!!)

The Floors this post

The Paint

Moving in

The Details 

The extras 

Thank you again for stopping by! I am grateful to those of you support my products...I wouldn't have the opportunity to design for these companies, without those of you who choose to create or decorate with my designs...Thank You!  For those of you who aren't familiar with my designs, and this is your first time visiting my blog...Thank You also for taking time to get a little glimpse into my world.  I appreciate you too!

The next blog on the hop is Sharon Himes, make sure to pay her a visit...she is a You'll love here art studio in a quiet hideaway! 

If you get lost....

Here is a complete list of the bloggers participating in this studio meet and greet...you are in for a treat!

  

    

Spring Quilt Market Buzz...

So glad you stopped by our blog hop, and scrapbook prize giveaway!

I can hardly contain my excitement!!!  Quilt Market is being held right here in our backyard this Spring...not literally the yard behind my house...but just a 30 minute ride up the freeway in Salt Lake City. This is a rare opportunity that only comes here every 4 years. I just attended my first Quilt Market in Houston this Fall, where Riley Blake released my second line of fabric: Enchanted Garden. While in Houston, I was overwhelmed with excitement over the visual smorgasbord of beautiful designs and creations. I think I started to fall in love with the fabric industry this Fall...

This was kind of a big deal to me...because if you must know...I 've always been a little intimidated by fabric, and quite frankly, if you had asked me 5 years ago...I didn't think that feeling affection toward fabric was even possible for me. Any of you who are intimidated by fabric will appreciate this story.

This fabric phobia was my own fault, I'm sure. I connect my fear directly to my first experience with sewing 12 years ago--just a few years after I got married. You veteran married ladies may remember those first 5 years of marriage where you wanted to try everything you watched your own mother do when growing up...well, my mother was quite a seamstress and quilter. So when my husband and I bought our first home, I decided to go through the process to "domesticate" myself, by purchasing a sewing machine. After all, that's what perfect homemakers do, right? They buy a machine, and they sew for their kids, make their own dresses out of curtains, and join a ladies quilting club. Right? Maybe in TV land on Nick at night... 

I truly thought I would love sewing because of it's creative nature. For my first project, I decided to sew a blouse. This is where the whole sewing experience blew up in my face. I bought some really fine silk weight satin...it was really slippery. Then, I found a gorgeous blouse pattern--complete with a tailored collar, buttonholes, placards, cuffs, and lots of other fancy stuff like darts, interesting pleats, and a faux pocket. I bet you can see where this is going...  

That project was so hard! 

I shed many tears over it, only to get it done, and not be able to enjoy it. Somehow, the sleeves ended up about 4 inches too long, and it never fit quite right in the other places either. It was one of those shirts that when you wear it people ask, "oh, did you make it yourself?" and when they say it, they don't mean that as a compliment...they mean it as, "oh dear, she made that herself..." I know...because I tried to wear it once.

All that work, all those nights trying to figure out how to interpret the pattern, then not being able to enjoy the fruit of my efforts in the end...I was done.  Sewing was not for me...

BUT...

Since I'm not a quitter.... I gave it one more go.  

A week later I sewed myself a rayon dress...but I cut the neck hole too wide and put the sleeves on backwards...oh, so that's what those v notches are for...

Now... I was really done. 

So my computerized Babylock machine with 120 stitches, and a monogram alphabet sat in a corner collecting dust until I put it to light work on my paper crafts, and occasional mending projects. It was a darn good thing that I bought a used machine. I was so embarrassed at my feeble sewing skills, that the thought of sewing anything from then on, just seemed like an insurmountable task.

Fast forward to now... 

These days, fabric seems to be finding its way into my home with each new fabric collection I create. Slowly, I have been trying my hand at small projects, and building on the sewing skill-set I am starting to acquire. I've now sewn two dresses, 2 skirts, 4 quilts, and a few other projects...but I was smart, and I didn't start with collars and placards this time--just straight stitch patchwork until I was ready to try something a little more advanced. There are some things that I have become quite confident in...other things still wig me out. 

So when Amanda Herring, from The Quilted Fish, contacted me this January and asked if I would like to participate in a fun promotional effort of local designers who are showing their wares at Quilt Market this Spring, and would I like to contribute a block to a group quilt...butterflies started to swarm in my stomach. I feared that my new skills may not be up to par with the other participating quilt designers, clothing pattern designers, and other fabric designers.  However, I was not going to sit out of this fantastic opportunity that Amanda had organized. The theme she chose for the promo-event is: All Dolled Up.  Each designer was given a pattern of a blank doll to use in her block. We were told that we could dress her up, and style her hair any way we chose, and to use fabric from one of the following Riley Blake collections: Lovebirds, Quite Contrary, Penny Lane, Sweet Divinity which all coordinate beautifully.  

I looked at that e-mail several times, and memorized the "complete by" date...only to know how long I could post-pone and procrastinate getting started. You see...I've never done applique or made a fancy quilt block before. I had ideas for how I would like to dress my doll...I had dreams of dark blowy hair, and a skirt you could peek under...but I could not for the life of me get going on the project.  I was scared to death of my ideas...my fabric phobia had come back strong, and was preventing me from even cutting out the pattern. Not to mention that my block would have to look semi-decent considering the other blocks that would be in the "neighborhood." 

4 days before the deadline...I decided that I would just go ahead and jump in with both feet...and you know what...It was fun!  The fear started to melt, and I was able to draw, and more importantly, sew her hair just like I had envisioned. I was also able to engineer a gathered skirt with a ruffle that you could lift to reveal her lacy bloomers. I was able to hand embroider her face (Thank goodness for Mrs. Quitner's 7th grade home-ec class.) I also created a little dog partially out of buttons, which was something I dreamed up as I went along. She went together much easier than I had anticipated, and in the end, I was mad at myself for not starting on her sooner.  I am so pleased with the result!

Now I bet you are wondering what's going to become of 30 designer's quilt blocks?  We are making two quilts, which will be given away at quilt market. Now you may ask... how can you become the lucky winner of one of these quilts?  Well...you need to come to Market this May in Salt Lake, and visit each of the designers who created a block. You will have a card where you can collect a stamp from each of the designers, and once you have the full collection of stamps, you can then turn your completed card into the drawing for one of the quilts. We are so excited to give these quilts away...they are going to be beyond fantastic!

With this project completed, I am so excited to start my next project...it's actually another block of this same doll using my fabrics from Riley blake. I'm going to make a pillow for my daughter. I can part with this doll, only if I know I can replicate one for myself. I think she's cute. I think that I can now say that not only have I fallen in love with the fabric industry, but fabric as well, since my phobia is being stomped out by my new found obsession with it!