Praying for a Way

My life has been filled with many endeavors due to passion creating confidence, competence, and the grace of God.  The last several years have been ones of saturated personal refinement, difficult but good. 

Want a copy of my resume?  Just let me know: Traditional or Artist. Want my story?  I'll share it with you.  We all have one and interesting to hear.

For now, I am looking for a way to support myself and wouldn't it be great if it were with my gift, talents and experience.  One way I've been contemplating and praying about for several years now is with a quality long arm quilting machine.  There's a wait list of six months in this area for that business.  My student and business contacts would help jump start me.  I could use all my organizational and some creative skills from my years of the couple of art/teaching businesses I've done.

I've researched ways to finance a machine by every typical means, including a grant, but none work for me.  Since Christ still does miracle, it's possible.  One way is to enter into a contract with a financial backer, me giving them a percentage of the proceeds until I pay off the machine.  The best part of having a personal relationship with the Living God is that He thinks higher than I so I won't limit Him in what, when or how He works.  He uses people to bless in many ways, including ideas.

Soooooooo, dear ones, if you know of a way I might be able to plug into this business idea to support this SHUWOW (single healthy uneducated white 'old' woman), please let me know.  In the meantime, I'll continue to put in applications and network.

Though I've no answers, I'll look back someday and see the hand of the Lord in all this.  He is faithful!  Yes, Jesus is.

Bless and be blessed.
~Bobbie

Studio Progress

Ahhhhhh, it's so nice to be making process. After eight months, I'm still moving in our new home.

In my last home, I had a 10'x10' sewing studio. Our two+ car garage was converted into my dye studio with heat, cooling, washer/dryer, sink and counter. I have so much supplies and equipment that I couldn't set up fully in the two spaces. My new studio space has had to be totally redesigned as I've never had 1,000 sq feet, let alone both studio combined. Now my office, dyeing, weaving, designing, thermofax, sewing, beading and knitting space is on one floor, all mine. Woo hooo.

My husband has been assembling my first quilting frame (Hinterberg). I didn't even know what one was until I saw it last April at Chicago's Quilt Festival. Soon as I saw how it works and that I could use my second Bernina on it, I knew this was the first step to quilting art quilts larger than 18" x 18". This pic has the sewing machine backward, grin.

Boxes with my quilting frame were the first mail I received at our new home. And yes, it took 8 months to get hubby to set it up. I already have a twin size quilt sandwich I constructed last year that I tried to quilt on my regular sewing machine. That experience lead me to quickly fold it up and wait for a quilting machine. Five months or more later, I discovered the frame. Doubtful, but maybe Imri will get that quilt that matches her Asian flavored living room for Christmas.

With the assembly of the frame, I found the inspiration to find homes for some of the fringe 'stuff'. Being an obsessive organizer, I want everything to have a logical place. Though it takes a while for arranging a studio, I find that there is always homeless papers and a few odd-and-ends boxes that sit there to haunt me. I've even moved a box or two from house to house without emptying them. Tisk.

I've been productive more lately than I have in a long time. Nevertheless, I have a ways to go to dedicate myself to producing a fresh body of work. I really need to replenish my business account as our personal account has greatly been affected by the current economy. Vic is a mortgage broker and half owner in a home building company. That says it all in that sentence.

As you can see from these pictures, the clutter has been catagorizied and filed. My design table by my desk is clean. So is my desk. Feels great. Caution: flat surfaces collect clutter. Paper is my enemy.
I went through the slots in my thermofax station. I discovered things I forgot I had. More projects I want to do. Luckily these should be easy, fast, and quick sellers: greeting cards.

When I clean out and organize, things are messier than before I began. But now the thermofax station is fully opertional again, clean as a whistle.

I can breath and work.

Oh yes, while working on this area, I've been machine felting the five bags of wool clothing I found at Goodwill. I bought tons of books that has given inspiration. Now I have projects and ways to use my Embellisher machine.

God Bless and happy creating.

My New Studios

We moved to the Indy area the end of April. One benefit was for me to have full studio space around 1,000 sq feet. I'm blessed! I am now 95% set up and have already had students in. Beginning at the hall into my dye studio, I have two 4x8 tables and two sinks. The tables can be converted from padded printing to mono printing.

To the left are supplies and tools. Further left are bolts of fabric, a Baby Wolf loom and a large light table.

To the right is my design area with my desk and thermofax screen set up.

Now we enter the sewing studio with projects in progress and a large box to donate.

           
Almost everything is labeled.

I also have a closet with beads and yarn.

I now have no excuse not to be highly productive.

God Bless and happy creating!