For all of you Project Runway fanatics, you may have been surprised by the size of Christian Siriano's studio when Tim Gunn paid him a visit on last week's episode. Upon seeing Christian's cramped space, Tim said, "Wow, you really know how to make it work!" (By the way, for a rather fierce blog on Project Runway, be sure to check out the ultimate fan blog, Blogging Project Runway and all of the other linked blogs.)
One point Christian made was that such a tiny space forces him to be organized all of the time. I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but one day last year when I was trying to find a particular fat quarter of fabric, I actually found a fully intact, sealed take-out container of California Maki at the bottom of one of my fabric bins. It must have been there for weeks. How disgusting and I never knew it was there because the container was sealed so it didn't reek (thankfully). When I told my friend Mary Fisher about this and how I wanted to mention it in my letter from the editor for the Studios issue, she said, "No way! That is not the kind of thing you want people knowing!" Of course she's trying to protect me, but I have to confess and absolve myself of this so I might as well do it on the blog.
Here's how bad it got:
My uninspired, messy design wall, thread drawers, and folding ironing table:
My sewing table and stacked bins of stabilizers with the sun glaring through the window. What a headache.
For my reorganization I spent months journaling my needs, reading books on organizing (a great one is Organizing from the Inside Out), hitting flea markets, Ebay, Target, and yes, Pottery Barn. The photo shoot took place two weeks ago, and here's a glimpse of my new digs (I can't show more of the new space until the Studios Issue comes out April 1st).
But I can show you the cover:
It was not planned to have a shot of Sophie and me on the cover (in fact I was really embarrassed that the team was exploring the idea). However, after we shot this particular spot in my studio (sans dog and me), I went and grabbed Sophie, our official Quilting Arts office mascot who serves double duty as a studio pet. (I grabbed her for a picture to place on the editor page.) When we got the shots back from photography, however, everybody felt this image with a person and a dog was a bit more inviting for cover than the image without. I hope you enjoy the issue as there are some incredible studios and stories inside.
Other News...
Earlier this year I got a Thermofax machine and I am so in love with what this contraption can do. I have a teeny, tiny obsession with a certain television series and wanted to create a quilt out of the series to enter the new exhibit at International Quilt Festival/Long Beach, "The Silver Screen." I used my Thermofax machine to create a screen of the lead character to test out fabrics and images for this possible quilt. I first manipulated a picture of this character in Photoshop, made a screen, then screen printed him on different fabrics to give me a better idea of how the image looks on different backgrounds.
Can you guess who this is?
Even though I like the image on the green batik, I think I'll use the hand-dyed red fabric because symbolically it works best for this character. A good blog entry on Thermofax screens is one by Gerrie Congdon that can be found right here.
Lastly, we have just posted the line-up of artists for Make It University! at International Quilt Festival in Chicago. I will be expanding this page over the weekend, but here's a first glimpse of what will be taking place. Hope to see you...