My Biggest Supporter

is my husband, Mike. He's amazing. He talked me into using our living room as my sewing room because he wanted to take over my sewing room and use it as an office.

I told him "no way I WORK in there every single day and couldn't keep it looking neat enough to be the first room you see entering the house."

He said "it's our house, we should use the rooms how we want to."

Though I liked the idea, I continued to protest. I was afraid that this would, at some point, become a bone of contention. I should have known better. I've always done some sort of needlework, spend a fair amount of time at it, and had spots in the house where my current projects resided.

I told him I needed storage. He built me shelves. We started to buy storage boxes, I collected baskets. As my collection of notions, tools and fabrics grew, the shelves filled up and stacking began. Still he did not complain.

I told him I needed a work table. He scoured the classifieds and found this antique oak table. I told him it was too fancy, too expensive and that I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't get scratched up from pins and scissors and other such tools. He said it's your work table, it's ok, and it will help to have an extra table for when we have friends for dinner. (By the way, the table has held up beautifully in spite of my daily use of scissors, pins and other sharp objects.)

In the time this has been my sewing room, it's seen several changes. I had a large quilting frame along the shelf wall, but it didn't get much use (for various reasons.) I ended up storing boxes, etc, underneath. I used it as a support for a long work surface and that served me well for quite some time. Until I started to feel too crowded and wanted to streamline things a bit. I kept the frame, still hoping someday to have a good place for it, but I'm so happy with my little portable floor frame I'm not sure if the other will ever be used again.

This is the view when you walk through our front door. Straight ahead is the dining area and just to the left is my sewing area. I'm always in the middle of several projects, but try to keep my table cleared off, there was a time when it was always piled high with stuff. My machine is often out, but I try to keep other things put away or in neat, working stacks if I'm in the middle of something.

When I have deadlines and am coming down to the wire, the house is in disarray and I'm rushing to get meals, still my husband does not complain, but compliments me on my work and asks about my progress.

Instead of complaining that I'm always quilting, he brags to people that I never just sit, but that I always have something I'm working on.

He's my hero!

So now I'll go, to figure out what project gets my attention today among the dishes, vacuuming and straightening up. I started a huge project years ago for my husband, I think I need to pull that one back out and finish it. It seemed overwhelming at the time so I put it away, but I think it's time to finish that one. It's made of octagons and squares and has a castle, a moat, and a horse with a knight in shining armor. It seems so appropriate for him as he's certainly mine.

And so I go. Happy quilting!