Thursday, January 1, 2026

New Year's Day 2026: Studio Setup Continues with Design Wall, Ruler Peg Wall + Quilting Thread Racks

Hello and Happy New Year 2026.  I hope you all enjoyed wonderful holidays with your loved ones that were some combination of happy/healthy/peaceful/blessed/magical/exciting/restful and all the other good adjectives.  For those of us whose holidays were tarnished by things like grief/sadness/illness/disappointment/loneliness, I am sending out a big virtual group hug and a high five to you right now, because we made it through and we survived and now we are looking at a blank sheet of paper, a fresh bolt of fabric, and an empty design wall of possibilities for what we will choose to make of this brand new year.  Carpe Annum 2026!

The extra work of the Christmas season -- shopping, wrapping, Christmas cards, returning and exchanging -- necessitated a pause in the work of unpacking from our recent move and setting up my sewing studio in the new house, but we've used some of the quiet days between Christmas and New Year's to make progress in the studio again.  No, none of these Stonefields blocks is newly created, but this is the first time I'm seeing them again since I packed them up in Florida in October.  I have been struggling with motivation in recent weeks, especially with regards to setting up my sewing space, and I am hoping that these little quilt blocks will cheer me up and summon my "sewjo" to return to me.


Stonefields Blocks Unpacked and Back On My Design Wall


Here's what I decided to do with my design wall:


96 x 96 Design Wall Installed on Obtuse Angle Adjacent Walls


The new studio space has lots of windows and closet space.  Wall space suitable for an 8' x 8' design wall was in shorter supply.  I considered putting the design wall behind my long arm machine, but realized that there wasn't enough room back there for me to be climbing up and down on a step stool to arrange blocks.  So I convinced my husband that the design wall should go in this corner of the room instead:


Two 48 x 96 Boards Installed in Corner


These are the same design wall boards we made when we first moved to Florida and this is the second time we're moving them to a new location.  They are made of 4' x 8' sheets of insulation foam from the home improvement store wrapped in thick, fuzzy English Bump drapery interlining.  (This post contains affiliate links).  The boards are attached to the wall with industrial Velcro tape, and each time we install them my husband tries to get away with using three tiny pieces of Velcro tape per board to minimize damage to the drywall beneath when the boards eventually have to come off the wall.  So Bernie puts them up first with three specks of Velcro tape, and then they come crashing down off the wall, and then we put ALL the Velcro tape on the back of the foam board like I wanted to in the first place.  It's so much better when the design wall falls down empty than it is for the design wall to come crashing down when it's covered with carefully arranged quilt blocks!


Insulation Foam Boards Wrapped in English Bump Drapery Lining


The biggest challenge of the design wall installation in this space was an ill-placed switch operating the light in the adjacent closet where I will be hoarding storing my quilt batting and my garment sewing supplies.  I didn't want to cut down the design wall to accommodate the light switch because the two boards at full size give me 96" x 96", just enough to lay out blocks for large bed quilts.  The solution we came up with was to install an automatic closet light switch that got chiseled into the door jamb to replace the wall switch.  The closet door opens inwards to the left, so the only other option would have been moving the light switch all the way up and around the door to the other side, way more work.  I like that the closet light will just come on by itself when I open the door and turn itself off when I close it, and Bernie liked that this solution involved less work for him and less chopping of holes into newly painted walls.

 

Happy Husband Installing Automatic Closet Light Switch


The larger of the two rooms that I combined for my new studio was originally an ensuite guest bedroom, so I have a little hallway leading to a bathroom that is also accessible from the main living area of the basement.  Bernie installed a pegboard wall to the right of the bathroom door for all of my rotary cutting rulers:


Pegboard Wall for Rotary Cutting Rulers


I had the foresight to photograph the pegboard ruler wall in Florida before I packed up all of my rulers, and that made it so quick and easy to get the rulers up on the new pegboard wall in North Carolina as the pegboard sheets were the same size and I just consulted the photo of the old wall and put the rulers up in the same configuration -- no moving things around in trial and error to get them to fit, and every ruler will be where I expect it to be when I reach for it.

On the wall to the left of my bathroom door, Bernie installed the custom oak racks he made for my collection of long arm quilting thread.  That top shelf is shorter than the others because of a light switch that was in the way and needed to be accommodated in my sewing studio three homes ago.  Those darned light switches always get in my way!  


Quilting Thread on Custom Oak Open Shelving


I am aware of the pros and cons of open, exposed thread storage.  One of the reasons I chose to put my thread in this hallway nook is that it's out of direct sunlight from all those windows.  The shelves fit perfectly there.  I know that dark, closed storage in an underground vault somewhere is the best way to preserve thread for future millennia, especially cotton threads that are more susceptible to deterioration from dust, sunlight and even artificial light.  When I am setting up my creative space, I take all of that into consideration -- but function (storing my fabrics and thread in a way that allows me to see what I have and actually use it) is more important than archival preservation of textile supplies.  After all, I can't "take it with me," as the saying goes, so my stash only needs to last as long as I do!

Here's a fun new addition to the studio furniture that IKEA just delivered yesterday.  It's a 14" wide Alex drawer unit that just fits to the right of the Horn/Bernina Luxe Plus cabinet for my main sewing machine:


14" IKEA Alex Drawers


The mix of lighting in that photo makes it tough to tell, but the white color and finish of the IKEA drawers is a really close match to the sewing cabinet, which helps keep my space feeling open and uncluttered.  I decided I needed drawer storage for scissors, rotary cutters, and appliqué prep tools somewhere closer to my cutting island for convenience and this fits the bill very nicely.  It was only $105, too -- way more economical than anything sold specifically as "sewing furniture!"


Rubber Shelf Liner 


I have cheap rubbery shelf liner in the bottom of my scissor drawer to prevent the scissors from moving around and crashing into one another and nicking blades when the drawer is opened and closed over time.

I know I am fortunate to have such a large, beautiful space for my sewing room.  I'm having trouble feeling excited about it because this is the first sewing space (and first home I've lived in) that my mother will never get to see or be able to visit.  For those of you who don't know, she passed away from lung cancer this past June.  We had a complicated relationship and did not always get along, but sewing was something we shared and we spent so many of our. best hours together in my old studio in North Carolina, especially when I was working on garment projects that were much more in her "wheel house" than mine like this skirt, that dress, or that Christmas caroling costume.  

Unlike me, my mom was a frugal, no-nonsense, utilitarian seamstress who bought only what was needed for each project.  No massive stash of fabric or vast array of tools and gadgets to dispose of, especially as she moved from South Carolina to Texas near the end of her life and got rid of a lot before that move.  I do have her sewing machine and serger waiting in a closet for me to rehome someday when I'm ready to look at them, and I came across this Tupperware full of her thread and scissors that set me off bawling the other day:


Mom's Thread Left Behind


New observation: comparing my mom's thread storage to MY thread storage reveals a lot about our personalities and why we often clashed!  But looking through this box of tangled spools, mostly all-purpose polyester thread used in garments, mending and home dec projects, felt even more personal than going through the clothes in her closet.  I remember the project associated with each of those threads.  When I was ready, I wound the spools up neatly and incorporated my mom's sewing thread into my ArtBin box of all-purpose polyester thread, and I put her scissors away in the scissor drawer of my little IKEA unit.

Sidenote along the same lines, also bittersweet -- My younger son, Anders, joined the Holiday Singers group that I used to sing with this year and he needed a Victorian caroling costume on short notice.  With my machines and supplies packed up mid-move and my complete lack of experience sewing pants, coats, or vests, I hired my friend Paula (follow her on Instagram here) to sew Anders' costume for me.  


Paula Did a Fantastic Job on Anders' Caroling Costume, McCall's M8185


It turned out fantastic and Paula did an amazing job, but the sad part for me is that if my mom was here she would have loved being the one to sew Anders' costume -- or she would have loved helping me navigate the unfamiliar pattern instructions and we would have sewn this project together.  You know, here in this amazing sewing room where I will be sewing all alone without my mom.  See why I'm not having as much fun setting up my studio as I should be?

I inherited my mom's collection of serger thread, too, and below you can see it all lined up on my floor so I could figure out what all I had and how best to store it all.


Serger Thread Combined, Mine and My Mom's


Previously I stored my cones of serger thread in awful plastic drawers that jammed and would send the thread flying when I wrenched them open.  I ditched those plastic drawers before we moved from Florida and wanted to come up with a more attractive and functional solution this time.  I have 151 cones of polyester serger thread plus 13 cones of Wooly Nylon, mostly basic neutral colors.  In drawers, it was difficult to figure out whether or not I owned any serger thread in the right color for my project, let alone locate all four cones of that color, so I decided on wall storage and ordered three of these old school racks from Amazon that I will have Bernie install on the wall to the right of the doors in the photo above.  That way it will all be visible and handy right near my serger that is still in its box but will be going into that Koala cabinet as soon as I get it cleared off.

Meanwhile, renovation construction continues and the whole main floor of my house is completely demolished, draped in plastic, and covered in construction dust.  Taking down the Christmas decorations will be easy this year, as all we did was put up one live Christmas tree in our basement and decorated our Port-O-Potty with a wreath and lights.  


Decorating the Port-O-Potty for Christmas 


Looking forward:

  • Continue unpacking and organizing sewing supplies
  • Unpack serger and set up in its cabinet
  • Install firmware update for B990 sewing machine 
  • Finish setting up and testing the long arm quilting machine: realign leader centers, install side clamps, check tolerances etc.
  • Find my FrankenWhiggish blocks and put them on the design wall
  • Prep the next Stonefields block for stitching

I don't know which of those things will be accomplished this week or this month, but those are my top priorities in the sewing room.  Please don't worry that I'm sad all the time, because I'm not.  I am making a deliberate effort to appreciate the friends and family members who are still a part of my life and to make good memories in the present and plans for the future.  I just like to keep it real and share the not-so-good stuff occasionally so anyone else out there who is having a hard time knows they are not alone.  

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

Thus Spake
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