Threadbare HQ

Are you ready for a look at my new sewing space? I'm super excited to take you on a little tour of Threadbare HQ :)
Quick recap in case you missed it- my studio of ten years was in a large room at the back of the garage. It was great but it was also isolating and made me feel detached from the comings and goings of our family life. After our daughter moved to her new home and we had a huge household reshuffle, I moved to a smaller room inside our home :)
I've taken heaps of pictures because I had so much I wanted to show you, so lets go:

Welcome to Threadbare HQ :) This room is at the front of the house and its bright and sunny and overlooks our front garden. It's also right across the hall from the kitchen (my second favorite room) which means I can cook and sew at the same time, and there's no running back and forth from the garage (plus the toilet is closer ladies, I'm sure you understand lol) The only downside is that I feel obligated to keep it clean because you walk past the room when you enter the house, but that also has its perks doesn't it? :)
On the right hand side is the wardrobe which houses all my fabrics, craft supplies, bolts, wadding etc. and right in front of you is my cutting table:

Hubby made me this table years ago. He put a pine top on the bottom half of an old wardrobe that was left in the garage when we brought the house. Its probably a little higher than most people like, but its perfect for me and I'm not hunched over while I'm cutting (less back and shoulder discomfort). The original drawers are still intact behind the curtains, and I've filled them with fabric, photo props, pellon, cushion inserts, stationery etc.

I like to surround myself with things that make me smile, so I hung a few of my minis on the wall space and decorated the top with some of my favorite things. Everything has a place and its all easy to grab so it works well. I'm in a bit of a succulent phase at the moment and I picked that one up over the weekend, mainly because of the mason jar but also because it was so darn cute :)

I do love this hutch ♥. Its perfect for storing all the little things us crafters accumulate and its great for displaying the trinkets I've collected over the years :) I spend a lot of time at the cutting table so it needed to look pretty but it also had to be functional as well and I think that it's both.

I wont show you inside the wardrobes because they still need painting (which will probably never happen) but I wanted to share how I organised all of my craft supplies. I had bits and pieces everywhere, so I brought eight of these storage boxes from the discount store and they have those handy divider inserts to keep everything organised. They saved so much space and its easier to find things because I can see whats inside each box.  Christmas wrapping was a breeze as I had one filled with stickers, labels, curling ribbon and bows and everything was in one place and quick to grab :)
OK so if we turn back around and face the door, you see my bookshelves:

I love these shelves ♥ To everyone else it might look like a jumbled collection of stuff, but to me there's a lifetime of memories up there. From my grandma's sewing baskets to the stuffed leopard Maddi brought me on a school trip to Queensland, from the statue that sat on my grandfather's piano (out of picture) to the last gift my mother in law gave me; each piece has its own story. I also have a my quilting books up there and some magazines that feature my projects, and of course my treasured button collection.
Also, I couldn't resist adding the twinkly lights; I'm a sucker for things like that :)

Underneath the shelves is my ironing station. I brought a small ironing board to fit this space and its great for pressing blocks and mini projects. My big ironing board lives in the laundry and I just get that out when I need it. Its hard to make an ironing station look pretty, but its practical and it works. This space also houses all my Threadbare paperwork, my diary, journals and notebooks and of course the television for background noise (now playing- I'm re-watching Sex and The City episodes for the millionth time, as I sew.....I love those girls)
So that just leaves my sewing area and you finally get to meet Beau ♥:

This is were all the action happens :) And how handsome is Beau? We are still getting properly acquainted but a firm friendship has been established over the last few days. I brought him home on Friday and I've had time to set everything up, learn the functions I require and make a little project.

I promised to tell you the reasons I purchased this machine and why Beau and I are such a good fit. It has ALL the bells and whistles and I could rave on and on about them, but honestly it all came down to buying a machine that allows me to make a quilt from start to finish.
The biggest selling point for me was how easy it was to free motion quilt and the Brother VQ3000 does it perfectly. The large work space is perfect for taking some of the weight of my bigger quilts, which means moving a quilt will be more fluid and less arduous on my shoulders and that deep throat guys......just perfect for quilting.

As far as sewing, trust me when I say, this machine stitches beautifully! I made the little nine patch sample yesterday and from start to finish everything sewed and quilted so easily and effortlessly. I used the walking foot for the quilting- no clunking or noise as it glided over the quilt, it was bliss :)
I'm no expert on machines but I do know what I need a machine to do for me. I talked at length with the salespeople and listened to their feedback about other machines (these people are the people who liaison between the customer and machine service centres so they know their stuff). I had a list of things I wanted to try at the demo and I'd downloaded the PDF machine manual so I had lots of questions to ask about unfamiliar functions.
Beau ticked all of the right boxes and I'm looking forward to a long relationship, creating together :)

Thanks for coming along on my little tour. I love Threadbare HQ and I'm looking forward to making lots of fun projects in here for years to come. I'm sure it will change over time but at the moment it functions perfectly and it allows me to be part of the family action as well. Oh and one HUGE and important plus I forgot to mention earlier.......this room is also closer to the coffee machine and the biscuit barrel :). Its the little things that count, right? :)
Happy sewing :)