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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sew Inspiring Rooms {Sweetwater}

Welcome to:
(which once was "Tuesday Tips".  See yesterday's post.)

Man, I feel pretty darn lucky today because Susan from Sweetwater is here to share a sneak peak into her creative space.  She shares the space with her mom and sister, where [together] they design fabric and quilt patterns for Moda.  They also create all sorts of labels, home decor and much, much more.  I don't know if you will ever see a more beautiful, clean and organized design studio than theirs!  I met these ladies at Spring Quilt Market and they were all so sweet but can I say that Susan won the award for the friendliest designer.  She is so sweet and every time I saw her at Market she was smiling!  Thank you SO much Susan for sharing your space with us!

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Hello! We were honored to be asked by Amber to be a guest blogger for her. We were fortunate enough to have a booth close to her at the last Spring Quilt Market. Her booth was absolutely adorable and we would have loved to take some of her quilts home with us and keep them for ourselves! She asked me to talk about ORGANIZATION. Well, if you would look at my desk as I am typing this you would say, "This girl needs to take a class on organization herself!" I would totally agree but when it is all neat and tidy it is nice and since it is my mess I usually (not always) know where everything is. In a perfect world (not just on picture day) our studio would always look like this:


We started our business in a storage room just outside of my parents house. The three of us all worked in there along with our kids and it tended to get a little chaotic and crowded. We were fortunate enough to be able to add a studio onto our "storage room". We now each have our own workspace and are no longer tripping over each other (just toy tractors every once in a while).


It is nice still to have us all in the same room. We do all of the designing together so it is nice to be able to bouce ideas off of each other and get immediate feedback. Our studio functions as a place to design and create!


We have multiple stations in our studio which works great since we always have multiple projects going on at the same time. Our three main areas are: a long counter that works as a cutting table and project center; a computer center where all of the designing, order processing, and printing take place; and a corner "rest area" to you know just kick back read a magazine and relax. What were we thinking??? I renamed this corner the dust collecting corner because it never gets used!


We feel right at home in our rural setting. We are able to decorate our studio with items we have designed - quilts, subway art, and our own photography.


Since we are continually producing new items, we are able to redecorate several times a year. We have fun finding storage items at antique stores and garage sales. We use old tin boxes while creating our charms, long wire baskets to store ribbon, and an old wooden shelf for paper storage.


We feel very blessed to be able to share our creativity with our customers and are equally blessed to be able to work together as a family!

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Thanks so much Susan for sew much inspiration today. 
It was dreamy looking around your studio!

Please feel free to leave Susan some comment love below.

17 comments:

  1. Somehow I knew that they'd have a beautiful space!

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  2. I would NEVER leave that space! You had me when I saw that long line of closed cupboards. I think it actually brought a tear to my eye!

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  3. Wow....what an amazing space. I loved all the storage area too.

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  4. Wow that is an amazing space. would love to have that kind of space and storage. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. What a great space, it is so peacefull, beautiful with such great work areas and storage.

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  6. Love this space! So much room and the little rustic hints are so cute.

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  7. Wow - it's gorgeous - just as you would expect from the Sweetwater girls!

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  8. Man, I would kill to have that much space! It is beautiful. ;p

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  9. Would you believe that I live very close to Mom and the studio. I've met Karla (If I remember her name-I'm starting to forget important things like that), and once visited a craft show that was on the farm. I don't know the girls, but they sure do have a nice place to work!! Hmmm, wonder if they'd let me use that love seat in the corner for an observation point?♥♫

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  10. Wow. I knew I liked the women at Sweetwater and I now I know why.

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  11. Wow! What a great space! I want to see what is in those cabinets though!

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  12. What an amazing space! I just love that row of cabinets! ;-)

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  13. I absolutely love all the space in their work area. You can never have enough space to spread out your projects. What a great place to work and create! Amber-I love your Sew Inspiring Room Series!

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  14. I dream this kind of space everyday when I see the table in the living room which is the cutting space, sewing machine place, fabric hill, threads and needles nest, scissors and rulers case, in the same moment. I don't have my space but I conquer it between my son schoolbooks and my husband staff. Yes, I have a long table (not enough) and a big passion. Maybe in the future, I will be more organized. Thank you for the inspiration.

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  15. Now that is a space is a quilter's dream! Love the rest area; it's peaceful and inviting! Thanks Susan for sharing your creative space with us.

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  16. What a great place to work in!

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I ♥ to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment. I read each one and try to respond as often as I can. Thanks so much for stopping by! ~Amber