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It’s Hope Yoder here with the first look inside my cozy quilting space. I hope you will join me on my journey learning to free-motion quilt. As the owner of Designs By Hope Yoder, I have a warehouse where our staff and I create our machine embroidery and crafting magic but I wanted a small space, something cozy, where I can begin my journey in the comfort of my home.

I have a wonderful husband of 29 years and two daughters, Hannah (21 yrs) & Olivia (19 yrs) who are at home with us while finishing college. What this means is no spare bedroom for quilting. I found a solution that works in the center of our home, but requires some careful planning since the space I chose doesn’t have any doors to hide the creativity that is often strewn across cabinets and machines. Here is the transformation of our breakfast nook into my cozy quilting space. 

In looking at this space, I wanted it to blend in with the rest of our home rather than looking like the cluttered craft space I had previously. We had a tall tablewith barstools in this space that was rarely used. I re-purposed the table by moving it into the adjacent den which now serves dual purposes, as a table when friends are over and as a cutting station. In our warehouse sewing area we had some leftover Ikea tables that I brought home to use for my sewing machine. They are just wide enough to fit my straight stitch machine with the wide Sew Steady Wish table I have been using for free-motion. 

I have several sewing and embroidery machines at the warehouse and had to pick 1 to bring home. I chose my Juki 2010 sewing machine.

It’s my sewing workhorse which only does one thing, straight stitch. It will sew through thick layers of just about anything, including stacks of thick webbing. The last two things I moved in were my favorite sewing chair and a small chest of drawers on wheels.

So, this is the beginning of my cozy space. What do you think? I love it. Several nights a week I spend about 20 minutes or more practicing free-motion quilting. At my office, I cut twenty ½ yard quilt sandwiches and brought them home for my new nightly ritual. More about that later. But as a self-proclaimed, uptight quilter, I’m proud to announce that my stippling now longer boasts of the dreaded right angles. I’m virtually, almost, right angle free! Now I am thinking of buying myself a machine more suited for free motion quilting. Stay tuned to see my dream quilting machine. Until next time, happy crafting!  - Hope Yoder.

Here's where you can find Hope:

• Website/Blog www.HopeYoder.com
• Etsy Store www.etsy.com/shop/HopeSewCreative
• Facebook www.facebook.com/hopeyoderdesigns
• Pinterest www.pinterest.com/hopeyoder
• Instagram www.instagram.com/hopesewcreative
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/hopeyoder