Sundays Sewing Space - Lily's Quilts

Well what a treat I have in store for you today, Lynne of Lily's quilts is going to show us around her space. Im sure all of you know of Lynne and her amazing work and for those of you that dont then let me tell you a little about her.
Lynne is an fantastic quilter, part of the Fat Quarterly team, wife and mother and to top it all off, a Beyonce look a like!

Thanks Lynne for letting us nose round, let the fun begin

Where is your Sewing Space?

I have taken over the dining room in our house because it is between the kitchen and the sitting room so I'm right in the middle of family life when I'm sewing.  I can even see the tv from where I sit!  We bought our house four years ago from a guy who was very dramatic in his decorating so the dining room is decorated in black red and gold with a huge octagonal table in the middle and high backed red leather chairs all round.  We've had 18 round that table at Xmas - it's a huge space to work on and great for basting quilts. 

What 3 words do you feel best describes it?

 James Bond Casino

What are your most important things in there?

I have a little shoe box next to the machine with everything I need constantly in it - pins, needles, seam rippers, scissors, tweezers for tweaking out recalcitrant threads and facial hairs, thread and also usually some cookies in case of emergencies.

How is the room laid out?

 The colossal octagonal table takes up the whole room and I sew at that.  There is room for other machines at it too so sometimes my sewing buddies bring their machines and we all sit round it sewing and talking.  Who am I kidding, we just talk.  Then behind me there is a kind of little dresser thing and on top of that I have a Primark beach towel which I iron on and then a cutting mat there too.  All around the walls are stacked boxes of fabric, thread, batting and WIPs. 

 What sort of sewing machine do you have and how do you feel about it?

My husband was strong armed into buying a Janome 7700 Horizon for my birthday two years ago.  There was a deal on at the time, £500 off so I pounced.  He was in Singapore on business when the decision needed to be made and the line kept going fuzzy when I told him HOW MUCH so he was blissfully ignorant really.  I cannot say enough good things about my machine, I love every thing about it, the stadium lighting, the thread cutter, the button you press so the needle always finishes down or up, the many feet, the huge quilting throat, blanket stitch, which is my all time favourite stitch and the fact that it FMQs like a dream.  

Do you have anything in the room for inspiration?

 No!  nothing at all.  My husband and I are still in denial about this being my sewing room - we're still half kidding ourselves that we will one day "dine" in there again so I have not gone the whole hog and converted it into my den.  I have mini quilts hanging up in the kitchen though, to brighten my day.

Where do you keep your fabric stash and how do you organise it?

 My stash is kept in various IKEA plastic tubs.  Ten small tubs for colour sorted scraps.  Ten larger drawers for FQs and half metres, again sorted by colour.  Then a separate big box for solids and a teetering pile of yardage for quilt backings.  I don't normally buy yardage except for quilting backings so I only have four or five fabrics in this pile.  

Do you have any top tips to do with work spaces?

 Only that, if you press on an old towel, it seems to me to do a way better job than pressing on an ironing board.  Also, that if you buy some IKEA tubs to sort your stash, you will use your stash way more than if it's all messed up in random piles here and there - I use my stash way more now than I ever did before sorting. 

What would your ideal workspace look like?

 It would be painted in a light colour and there would be lots of storage on the walls for threads and rulers.  There would be more light - my sewing room is quite dark although I have a lovely view from the window.  And there would be minions doing the boring bits for me - so I could just do the fun bits of every project. 

 Wow what an amazing space, loving the James Bond casino and im seriously jealous of that sewing machine. Thank you Lynne for showing us around, your answers made me laugh out loud, which often happens when I read your blog or tweets, so cheers for taking part and giving us a giggle