Introducing Myself

My name is Katie.  Welcome to my new blog, Good Golly Ginger.

Ellison Lane Quilts is hosting a Studio Spotlight Link Up.  What a fantastic opportunity to introduce myself and where I sew.

I’m lucky to have a dedicated sewing bedroom in my house.  This space used to be an office, but I booted out Mr. Ginger when I painted the walls a very girly aqua color.

I used to sew on the dining table when my oldest daughter, Ginger #1, was an infant.  She is now 5 years old and just started Kindergarten last week.  She has booted me from the dining table and entitled it “The Art Table”.  Who am I to argue with that?!  So, I needed a place to sew, and the hubby’s office was the logical choice, and it needed to be painted.

Apparently, I have not taught Ginger #1 to pick up after herself.  This is real life, folks.  A true artist always has a mess at hand, right?

I picked up my mess for these photos.  My sewing room is never THIS clean.

My cutting table is from Ikea.  So are the drawers and cans and just about everything else in my room.  Mr. Ginger continually mocks my affinity for Ikea.  I’m lucky to live 20 minutes away from Ikea.  The Sizzix Big Shot Pro sits atop the drawers, and the drawers roll out when I need to use the BSP.  I love the BSP.  Without it, I wouldn’t quilt.  I can’t imagine cutting out squares and triangles all day long.  The BSP makes piecing tolerable.

My paper crafts are stored in an old TV armoire that we no longer used when TVs became flat.  I needed a place for storage, and the armoire needed crap in it.  It was a match made in heaven when Mr. Ginger added the shelves.  Oh, yeah, this idea was not my own, but came from Pinterest.  Please follow me on Pinterest.

My fabric storage cabinet came from Ikea.  No surprise.  I love the glass doors.

The rolling cart also came from Ikea.  Ack!  It holds all of my sewing notions and bobbins.  I didn’t mean to pick out the fire engine red color, but somehow it looks good in the room…a happy mistake.  I iron small blocks on top of this cart while sitting at my sewing machine.

This is the project I’m currently working on.  It is a memory quilt that I’m making for my mom using my dad’s old shirts.  He passed away almost one year ago.  I miss him terribly.  He was the best!  I’ve made two other memory quilts this past year.  I will be glad when this one is done.  It’s emotional cutting into fabric that cannot be replaced, ever.  It’s also a bear to piece fabric that is a cotton/polyester blend.  I will give tips and tricks on this later.

Meet the Gingers when they were just babies.  Ginger #1 is in the back.  She is now 5 years old and just became a kindergartener.  I mentioned that already.  This is why I now have time to blog.  Ginger #2 is now 2 years old and makes for good sewing company.  She mostly stays out trouble.  That lovely little jar is my Grandma’s buttons.  I love staring into that jar.

The grand finale of my studio tour is not in my studio.  My Handiquilter Sixteen midarm machine only fits in my master bedroom…all twelve feet of it.  My husband’s cousin gave this machine to me.  It was purchased for $300 after it had been damaged by smoke in a house fire.  When I got it, the tracks were black with soot.  All of the metal pieces needed to be replaced because they had rust.  The inside of the machine, however, was in perfect condition.  Mr. Ginger built a table for it and replaced most of the metal hardware.  I cleaned the machine and tracks.  We put it together.  Turned her on.  And she worked!  Amazing!  The Handiquilter Sixteen is an amazing machine, and mine has been through the ringer, but still stitches perfectly.

Thank you for stopping by, and a huge thank you to Ellison Lane Quilts for hosting this Studio Spotlight Link Up. It's been fun seeing so many sewing studios.

Happy Sewing,