New Year, New Shop!

2016 turned out to be a big year of changes for us, with the biggest being our unplanned relocation to Park Rapids, MN.  We fell into the opportunity to purchase our dream home on a lake just outside Park Rapids and included in the dream home was a very large separate space for the quilt shop, with built in bookcases and a layout that I couldn't have designed better if I had done it myself.  So we took the big leap, made an offer on the dream home in early August, put ours on the market a few weeks later, moved me and the quilt shop to the new home at the end of October, and completed the move in early December after the closing on our Grand Forks home.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least, but when God opens a door for you and shows you a clear path, you have to take that leap of faith and just go with it.  My husband had to leave his full time job of over 31 years, but there is so much more that we can do with the quilt shop at our new location and I will need help to get it all done.  I have been working on my list of goals for the business in 2017 and while they are ambitious, I think they are achievable with some hard work on our part.

So on to the new shop!  The rest of this post is going to be pic heavy, so sit back and relax while I take you on the virtual tour :-).  

The back of the house and deck.  All of those windows overlooking the deck are the quilt shop space.

The yard has wildlife visitors of some sort every day.  This trio consisting of a doe and two of her babies are frequent visitors to the backyard.

Built in bookcases that were the perfect size for bolts of fabric.  Lots and lots of bookcases with room for lots and lots of bolts.  No, this isn't even all of the bookcases. There are more to come down further in this post.

The double sided bookcase that we moved from the old house and which was a perfect fit for this corner space in the shop.

Narrow bookcase that we previously used in our old kitchen for extra storage now fits perfectly against a short wall in the quilt shop and is also just the right size for our black and white fabrics.

We also moved these 3 cabinets from the old house.  Two had previously been used in the shop and the third was used in the basement bathroom for storage. The bathrooms in the new house have tons of storage, so we were able to reunite all three cabinets, which fit this wall perfectly and cover the media center spaces that were used by the previous owners.  We did make good use of the glass shelves in the media center and are using them to store the bolts ends that have been removed from skinny bolts.  The top sections house precuts perfectly and the rest has plenty of room to showcase our pastel batiks.

Our tall bookcase we moved from the old house and which fit perfectly on the narrow wall next to the wet bar area.  We desperately need to restock our solid batiks, but Anthology is in the midst of their own big changes and the shipment that came in December was only about 25% of what they were expecting, so we are waiting as well to get these solid shelves filled back up.

As promised, here are more built in bookcases.  There is another group of five tucked into a corner near the back windows.  The natural light in the shop is amazing!!  I have my old cutting table and mat set up in that corner for cutting shop orders.

The pool table that came with the house.  What does a pool table have to do with a quilt shop, you say?  Well if you have a handy husband that can build a removable top, you have yourselves one really awesome and huge cutting table!  The pool table is situated near the large section of bookcases and the wet bar and it has two skylights plus a large light fixture right over it, so perfect for cutting out a quilt or for playing pool :-).  It will be really handy when we start hosting quilt retreats.  More on that below.

Pool table converted to a cutting table just like that.  The cutting mats are not yet taped down to the plywood.  I scored 3 of these on Veteran's Day at Joanns for 60% off each thanks to coupons.  That made each mat just $30 including sales tax.  So basically I paid for one and got the other two for free.  Can't beat that!

Retreat space!  One of the biggest opportunities with the purchase of this house is the ability to host small quilt retreats.  We already had three 8 foot long banquet tables and a smaller 6 foot long one that I used in the old shop.  The other 3 were purchased for plans that never panned out at the old house, but they are exactly what we need for quilt retreats.  We actually need one more, but that can wait for now.  One of the 8 foot tables is now my desk set up in front of the 3 part window with the half moon window above.  The last picture in the post will show you the view I now have every day as opposed to the basement wall that I had previously.  It's quite an upgrade lol.

The far corner in the picture below is where my cutting table is set up and the side that is closest is where two of the 8 foot tables are set up for retreat sewing.  That area is just in front of the pastel bolts I showed previously.  Have I mentioned that the natural light is amazing????  There are also tons of recessed lights, as well as other lighting, so plenty of light even after dark.

The wet bar area just off where the double sided bookcase now sits.  There is also a half bath that is opposite the window on the other side of the wet bar.  The cabinets in the wet bar area now give me plenty of space to store shipping supplies such as tape and envelopes, as well other miscellaneous shop items.

And finally, this is the view out the back windows of the shop space that I look at every day from my desk and  that will also be the view for quilters sewing at retreats.  We are living in God's country for sure :-).  We have some work to do before we can host retreats, including getting two of the four bedrooms down the hall from the shop painted and set up with beds, etc., but we will get there!  We also need to refinish and repair the deck before we can use it as a separate entrance for the shop during the non winter months.  And we have a huge list of projects to complete for the rest of the house as well.  We got a great deal on the price because there is flooring and painting to be done pretty much everywhere but the quilt shop, as well as some other updating and remodeling, including remodel of both of the full bathrooms.  The quilt shop area was just added in 2008, so it was move in ready, which was the most important so that our regular online business could continue as usual.