A long time ago I held C&I at my house on Friday nights. Over the three or four years that I was doing it, pretty much everyone in the Barony attended at least once. About once a month we would get fishfry from the VFW hall down the street. I really enjoyed those evenings. And I miss them as well.

Eventually I moved and then there were no more C&I nights and I don’t think I even unpacked the majority of my C&I stuff. I didn’t really have space for it except in the basement and that became the sewing room. I didn’t (I’m being honest) play at the local level and I was getting deep into the silk flower research at that point which was a very solitary pursuit. Then I got married and I resumed playing again but I was still mainly focused on the flowers. Lack of space and no longer being centrally located really restricted my ability to host things. (And honestly, that group really had it covered before I got there.)

And then we moved again. I’ve tried to attend every business meeting and moot but fight practice isn’t really my thing. There are some other things locally but they don’t usually appeal to me or are inconvenient timewise. I also know me and I’m far more likely to attend something if I can host it.

I’m really looking forward to the studio getting completed. Hubby says by Labor Day! The downstairs is his domain (which I call the shop and is dedicated to woodworking) and the summer kitchen/garage. Upstairs is the studio – my giant sewing room. Giant is 1100 square feet dedicated to fabric based activities. I will have a 5×10 cutting table (counter height, lightly padded, and canvas covered) with a large light overhead and the ability to have the iron plugged in above so I can iron right from the table. I will have at least two sewing tables (I aspire to get a long-arm machine within a year) and two class tables. A television and the sectional sofa will also be up there and all the fabrics I have accumulated (like all that cashmere and the 100 plus yards of linen I haven’t used yet.)  I haven’t decided yet if the bead cabinet will get moved there (because I will still have a craft room in the house and it might be better at least for now to leave that in the craft room) but I’m pretty sure the silk stuff will get moved (it takes up less space than the beads but I usually use the silk in connection with the fabric and it’s what I most want to teach classes on.)

I think I want to make table coverings that are like fitted bedsheets – lightly padded but with a tight, no-slide fit to them. Or maybe make one fabric covered and the other one with a giant mapped-out cutting mat (the green ones that have all the grids and you can use a roller-cutter on them.) There will also be room to set up a quilt rack when I need to. I’m also thinking I might want a small beverage fridge up there. Even with all of that it feels like I’m missing something – what am I not planning for that I should have on the list? (All books will be in the actual library though there will be a shelf for the ones I really need to keep on hand in the sewing room.)

My hope is that by fall I can host open sewing/crafting/stitch ‘n bitch although I understand that the stairs are going to be a deterrent for some folks. I just hope not to many.