lots2do

Hi all,
I hope my title is somewhat clear. DH really, really wants to retire somewhere warm and keep a small place in New England to move to in the summer. He is close to retirement while I have a few years yet to go.

If you do this, I'd appreciate any input on how you manage this with your quilting. Two stashes? One that moves with you? Duplicate machines? He is talking about down-sizing and I'm trying to figure out how to manage!

I hope to get a sitdown HQ some time and I wonder where that would live, too. Do I piece like crazy in one place and then quilt like crazy in the other place?

I don't know if we'll even be able to pull this off but the thought of it is making me curious.
Thanks for your ideas,
lots2do

rusty quilter

I just retired, and would say that you just need to roll with it. Regardless of where you are, you will find what you need. Relax....

happyscrappy

i like the idea of piecing in one place and quilting in the other. that way you will always have something different to do and something different to look forward to.

debbieumphress

There are a few snow birds I know of who go between two homes so hopefully they will let us know how it goes on this post. Interesting.

QuiltnNan

I would keep my main piecing in one place and main quilting in the other. You can have some minimal piecing supplies in the quilting place and when in the piecing place, send the quilt to a LAQ if necessary. It will be a temporary situation. You can join a quilt guild in both places and find a best friend to quilt with in either location. Best wishes.

lalaland

We have 2 homes - one in eastern WA where we live during the summer and one in CA where we live during the winter. In each location I have a sewing machine, serger and embroidery machine. I also have duplicate supplies in both places like thread, notions, cutting mats and cutters. When I was "stocking" the WA home I went to a lot of garage and estate sales and kept an eye on Craigslist. I got some great deals!

Our CA place is bigger so I do my big sewing there and that's where I keep my sit down FMQ setup.

I do smaller things in WA like doll clothes, garments, small wall quilts that I FMQ on my sewing machine, things like that.

My DH has 2 hobbies - tractors and woodworking. His woodworking shop is in CA, his tractors are in WA so he splits his time between the two.

lots2do

Thank you!
Would love to hear from a few more snow birds but maybe they're busy traveling back or forth!

fabric_fancy

we're not retired but we do own a few homes that we travel to with one of them being overseas.

i have a sewing machine in all my homes - basically as i've upgraded machines the old one went to a second home.

i keep my stash and quilting frame in our primary home (the one we spend the most time in).

in our 2nd home i do piecing and i typically cut all the pieces in our primary home before we leave so i'm ready to put everything together when we get there. i have a design wall, cutting supplies, and a sewing machine.

when we go overseas i buy fabric there for my projects and tend to bring a bunch home with me. i have a design wall, cutting supplies, and a sewing machine there but i never really keep fabric there since we only go there for about a month or so each year.

lots2do

Thanks for your input fabric_fancy!
I'm warming DH into the idea of a sitdown quilting system in one place and duplicate machines. I am getting a treadle from a friend, I hope, this week so that will need to get into the plan somewhere down the line.
:)Happy sewing!