A Virtual Tour of Safety Pin Studio

Welcome to Safety Pin Studio. This is the name that I gave to my workspace because I've always liked safety pins and found them oddly comforting. It's a small, intimate space here in North Carolina (about ten feet square), but it serves well. I'll just start as one comes in the door and move around the room to give you a sense of the space.



When I first met my mother-in-law, she gave me my first decorative thimble. Over the years, she's added to the collection as have my mother, my husband, and my children. My mom and dad found the printer's drawer on one of their drives from Florida to Indiana on back roads. It's a punctuation drawer to be exact and it works wonderfully as a display unit.



This wonderful carving came from the Museum of Appalachia right outside Knoxville, Tennessee and was purchased on my return drive from a Nancy Crow class at Arrowmont School. It's signed "Butch 1991" and was carved by one of the remarkable, outsider artist Troy Webb's children.



Jim gave me this strange little cabinet one Christmas. He found it in one of our favorite antique shops in Crawfordsville. It's designed like an apothecary cabinet, but the drawers are very short--only about four inches wide.



The drawers were all constructed using scrap wood from cigar and cheese boxes which is a tramp art technique.



It makes a perfect place to store rubber stamps and display little hanging ornaments and mementos.



This lovely basket holds yarn.



This is one of my two metal, library bookcases holding mostly art books.



I made curtains for several of the windows in our house the first summer we were here. This is my favorite. I love the fabric. They are all lined because of the sunlight, but my studio also has a special shade that cuts the UV rays to protect the books and fabric from damage.




The barrister's bookcase belonged to my Grandmother Warner and houses my favorite literature books and mementos.



Here's my trusty old Bernina and one of the larger studies I did after taking Nancy's first Improvisational Piecing workshop.



The second bookcase has my quilting and embroidery books as well as some family history stuff and scrapbooks.



The first summer we lived down here, I refitted a number of the closets with shelves and hanging racks. Fabric, notions, tools, and finished quilts live in here. The sliding doors have got to go one of these days.



This was a gift from the children.



These are postcards and a poster from some of my shows.



My worktable is the centerpiece of the studio. Our good friend and master craftsman, Gordon Huffaker built it using a tabletop he'd acquired. It's just high enough for me and was the only thing that had to come apart to come in the house when we moved! I store fabric on the shelf underneath--not an ideal solution. I miss not having my fabric out so I can see it and having a design wall. Except for those two things, it's a great place to work.

I would love to see your studio or workspace. If you've done a tour on your blog, will you leave me a link in the comments?
Thank you.