A Quilter's Studio in La Mesa

Recently, I had a chance to tour a wonderful studio custom  designed by a quilter in La Mesa, CA and built beside her home. Pam allowed me to take lots of photos to share with you.

The view from the back door of Pam's home to the studio, only a few steps:

While the space is not huge, it is bigger than most quilters have and every inch of space is used. So many interesting storage ideas and so much to see. Enjoy a tour:

View from the door:

The blue door above accesses this amazing closet, very tall and each box is clearly labeled, a ladder reaches the highest boxes:

An old library card catalog is perfect for holding all the notions:

 Each drawer clearly labeled:

 An old architect's table has wonderful drawers to hold pantographs and patterns.The top surface is poured concrete created on site--this will never leave this space. A full size cutting mat is the perfect fit for the top:

An industrial Pfaff is the workhorse of this operation:

 Nothing goes to waste:

The thing that I loved the most  in this space, an old quilting frame complete with old quilt hung above the entry door, visible at all times in this amazing space:

So many personal touches, this is clearly the space of a creative person:

 Pam has a longarm machine and she quilts for others, mostly friends. From the beginning she kept track of how many quilts she has quilted, using tick marks directly on the wall opposite the machine. She uses different colors of Sharpie pens for each 50 marks, and indicates the year. What a clever way to keep track:

 Time to update the numbers. Pam in her happy place:

When you tour people's homes, you usually see things that tell you a little bit about them. I met Jerry, Pam's husband, a pleasant fellow. Here is what Pam sees on her kitchen counter each day, two small chalkboards with messages for her:

This is the kind of love we all  hope to have. My philosophy on what makes a happy marriage: when BOTH people think they are the lucky one--and they are BOTH right. I'd say Pam and Jerry fit that bill.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Let's quilt!

Barbara