Planning on full time RVing in 3 years - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Roxilla22 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Planning on full time RVing in 3 years

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

One of the main reasons we come to this campground, Val Vista Village in Mesa Arizona, is because of the quilting group. They have a manual long arm and a building dedicated to fiber arts where she can leave her machine set up. My wife loves it and gets a lot of projects done in three months, including all her long arming for the year. The rest of the year she does make quilt tops and other projects in the motorhome, but it is not as convenient and she misses the other quilters. We joke that I am not allowed any hobbies that require storage, since there is fabric and quilting supplies in every available space. In other words, it can be done. BTW: She has made Queen sized quilt tops in the motorhome, though she needed to take over a table in a recreation center, laundry room or someone's house to do the cutting.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Sunday 12th of February 2017 11:32:14 AM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Diane,

First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams forums. With regards to RV's and the RV lifestyle, you have found a good source of information about both. Not only does Howard and Linda's website provide a lot of information, the participants on the forums are an excellent source for getting answers to questions

While I can't answer all your questions about what to do with regards to your fabrics and all, I can encourage you a bit with a picture. In our fifth wheel, over a period of time it has evolved into what we want and how we want to live. Early on, the rear couch was sold and we went through a progression of different furniture changes. Then the wife (Jo) got into using embroidery machines to work with, one of which she also uses to make quilts.

Both cabinets seen in the following picture were hand made by Jo and our youngest son, with a little help from me. The one to the right serves as a platform for one of her embroidery machines and the one to the left is primarily for storage of fabrics, thread, and other needs for working with fabrics. The two square pieces at the bottom of the left cabinet serve as storage and can be used for seating, provided those using it aren't too heavy. There is a white folding table that can be seen behind those two square pieces that she can set up for using her second embroidery machine.

This next photo shows that table set up with the machine on it. However, while she still has that table, she has since sold one of the machines and replaced it with a different machine, and that machine sits on a totally different table when she is using it.

This next image is of the new embroidery machine (both are made by Brother) and the cabinet she bought on which it sits. When moving that machine is placed in the center of the floor to allow both slides to come in completely. With this machine, she can even do embroidery on the fronts of caps that I wear.

So, with some imagination and research and searching for the right products, one can adapt one's RV for the favored hobby. Fortunately, my hobby is photography, so my cameras take up a lot less room.

Terry

Roxilla22 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi bjoyce, Thanks so much for the information! It is good to know that there are a few quilters out there and that they do manage to get quilts done, even queen sized ones in the limited space they have. Also a shared long arm machine is fantastic. I never would have thought that it would be available to everyone. I so appreciate your response.

Thank you and keep up that photography, especially since you are not allotted any room for bigger things! lol! For years my husband and I also had an agreement--that I didn't have to play poker if he didn't have to quilt. After he had a major head surgery we changed the agreement. I go with him now to Friday night poker couples potluck, (which is great fun by the way) but he still doesn't have to quilt! He sure worked that out nicely! lol.

Have a great week!

Diane

Roxilla22 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Terry and Jo!

Thank you so much for the welcome! I know it will be so much fun to stay in touch with fellow quilters as everyone travels.

I am just amazed at the amount of equipment and sewing supplies that you have been able to fit into your trailer, or it looks more like a 5th wheel with that kind of space. But you have really made good use of the space and she has a ton of stuff right there available. It's so important to still be able to enjoy your hobbies, so I'm really happy to see that. :) Very encouraging to me, because I have lots of fabric myself.

I used to embroider by machine, but mine is older now and with my work I spend all my time quilting so I am considering selling the machine and all my Isacord threads. Most have hardly been used. But I know I can't take everything with me and my first love is quilting so I guess I'll have to make that choice. I thought I'd be able to put plastic tubs in the under compartments on the 5th wheel, but it will be hard to know how much I can take until we figure out the necessities first. Right now my plan is to get every quilt top I've made quilted because I will definitely be losing my long arm machine. With arthritis it is impossible for me by hand so I'll have to pay another longarmer to quilt them for me. That's one reason I may focus more on the mini quilts and sell them to RVers!! They will fit and add so much to make the space personal.

Again, thanks for the photos and all the information. I appreciate it so much and you've made me feel so welcome. We still don't know if we can really pull this off, only time will tell. But in the meantime I want to be prepared. Have a great week!

Diane