your ". mandatories" when it comes to seeing/quilting?
 

Are there any things that you must do or must have when you sew/quilt?

Examples:

Certain brand and type of thread?
Starch or sizing- if yes, any particular type or brand?
Change needle when starting a new project?
Ban the pets from the sewing room?

Not a creature of habit here - and I'm usually stepping over a dog to get to my ironing board.

I have a plastic Dritz hoop that I quilt on. Do not like the wooden ones. I like a lot of thread brands, and use my needles till they bend.

Kitties in the sewing room....well, I cannot keep them out. No door. ha ha. I like a lot of light, and a comfortable chair with a good back, so that mine does not go bad.

I also like to listen to my favorite singing group, the Monkees, or have the television on. I am not one for total silence.

***
*** None what so ever,
*** just go with the flow.
***

No banning of pets in my sewing room. It's their house too. The only thing I have to have is the right tool for the job. I don't like making do to save a dollar and won't as long as I don't have to.

good lighting is about the only thing I can think of as mandatory for me.

My machines, a project, and radio tuned to KEYG 98.5 FM, Best radio station by a dam site. (located in Coulee Dam, right by the dam.) My cat will eventually come curl up in her window basket. The sun shinning if possible, which hasn't happened much this winter.

Dogs know how I am with a very mobile chair. They sit in the doorway or the hall. Good chair and running machine are my requirements.

Same here!

No animals in my sewing room. I don't want hairs on my quilts. My Puppy got ahold of a long straight pin. If I had not noticed it could of turned out very badly. I keep them out for their own good. I have a baby gate in the doorway.
Otherwise, two machines, good lighting any kind of thread and good needles.

Music is my No.1 priority, followed by everything organised, tidied and to hand before I start a project.

I always have to move some of my clutter before I start to cut, iron or sew. If I'm sewing, the first thing I do is check my bobbin supply. I usually wind a bobbin or bobbins, depending on how many I might need, before I do anything else. I get my brush out and give the bobbin area a nice clean out before I sew.

Cats are allowed in my sewing area but doggie is stuck in the dining room watching from behind his doggie gate. I can watch TV or listen to the radio. Sometimes I check out sewing videos on line while I'm sewing.

Music! As long as I have good music playing I can sew, quilt for ever. :)

just make sure there is a sharks game on TV or Netflix is working. That is it. Kitties sit on my lap or next to my machine, needles get changed when broken, material, if it's cute I buy it, thread, is it on sale?

No real "must have's" for me....just time! That's scarce enough.

I'm still feeling my way as to what I MUST have and what is nice to have. It changes due to mood/project.

So far starch and glue are at the top of the list each time and I iron everything before, during and after. Starch, starch and more starch - I make my own with corn starch, cheap vodka (to prevent mold) and orange scent. I also love glue basting so glue bottles and glue sticks are a constant but I'm not brand loyal.

I can't ban the kitties (loft apartment).

I need better lighting - I wish that were a constant.

I change blades and needles as needed and always close my roller blade at the end of each cut (kitties!).

I don't mind music but I don't need it.

I can't have a tv (extremely distractible).

I'm working on doing the leaders/enders and cutting up my scraps regularly. I'm not overly fond of 2.5 inch squares so I'm keeping mainly strips for improv log cabins and the like.

I use Aurifil thread on top and Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin but I could care less about the color. Right now I have orange/purple, gray/purple, bright pink/purple (I wound a bunch of bobbins at once). That said, I'm open to other brands, I just happened to run across a sale and stocked up.

The last constant is having to keep it all picked up and put away. I use a small corner of the kitchen and in a loft there isn't a door to close to hide a mess. The cats also sleep on any fabric if I leave it out (though, if I made them a bed out of the same fabric they would not use it - cats!).

As of about a year ago, my glasses

Good lighting and a decent block of time, but I can do some small things in a short amount of time.

Ah, yes. I also hear better when they are on!

I used to think it was weird when my Mom would need to get her glasses when I phoned her.

A new needle, starch, spray basting, and glorious SILENCE!! I love the sound of my machine, and the "clear" thought process the silence gives me. That being said, most times DH has the TV on so loud that I might as well be watching what ever he is...currently he's watching/listening to Eric Clapton Unplugged...Layla to be exact. My sewing room is in the dining room....TV's in the living room....about 4 feet from where I sit!!

Tweezers! I know that sounds crazy, but I use my tweezers all the time while sewing (i.e., to pull up bobbin thread, make slight adjustments when matching pieces, etc.). I can't sew without them. Ha.

Same here for me. Also my purple thing needs to be with me at all times when I'm actually sewing.

I have to have source of light at almost every angle. (I have glaucoma and macular degeneration). I also have to have music or TV going, because I have permanent tinnitus, and music etc helps tone it down. Oh well, we live with some things we don't like, I am just thankful it is not something worse! I am blessed.

Overhead florescent light on.
Iron on.
Music du jour on.
Machine cleaned, threaded, new bobbin, check needle.
Favorite ruler and rotary cutter at hand.
Surface cleared and I'm ready to go. :)

Jan in VA

Good light and a warm drink.
I sew in any room in my cottage as long as I have these 2 things. I also like a short needle to hand sew with.
2dogs and 2cats not banded it's their home as well. They usually curl up somewhere while I sew with one eye on me at all times to see when I finish.

1- turn on the music
2-turn on all the lights
3-pull out the cookie jar(it's full of dog cookies) and offer the dog a cookie if she'll lay down on her sewing room pillow instead of at my feet
4-must have colours that i love or i just can't do anything

Same mandatories as above posts, especially good light, a reliable sewing machine, etc. My favorite mandatory is to tidy up the room before starting a new project.

We have a new Yorkie puppy that is very much a momma's girl....impossible to keep out!! Besides she loves to lay right near the foot pedal. Have to have the right template for the job, good light, music, sharp cutting instruments, and my seam ripper!!

Good light! That's about it. The dog does not climb the stairs any more (she's 14 and arthritic). My boys (two cats) know Mum won't answer their demands for a lap when she's in that moveable chair. I 'try' to keep all fabric off the floor because of hair.

I agree with Debra K on this.

Good light, fabric marker, rulers, sharp rotary cutter, good needle,an audio book with headphones, and monitor up full volume in case my Mom needs something. I can hear the monitor over the headphones and machines when it is on full volume. Sometimes I listen to the TV show she is watching over the monitor��

My "mandatory" is I have to love what I am working on. I have given away 27 quilts but I would have kept everyone. LOL

I always have the TV on. I live alone since my DH passed away 2 years ago so I always have someone talking. lol I also have to have good lighting, sharp rotary blades and bobbins wound.

1.Cats underfoot and under butt. If I vacate a chair the Snowshoe gets in it. Open plan house so can't ban.

2.Good lighting and decent tools.

3.Instructions that were written by someone who knows how to write coherently. I've seen some instructions that leave you scratching your head.

4. Expunge, erase, exorcise and/or or appease the gremlins who love "murphy's law" or you will have the "quilt from hell" where nothing goes right. Have a seam ripper handy.

I like to have an audio book going while I am in the sewing room. Good light is important always. A clean machine, no clutter on the floor so I can walk back and forth to the cutting table and ironing board.

Yes, can't do without my tweezers either. Or my seam ripper

Clean machine with a new needle, good lighting, music or audio book, all my tools at arms reach. Glasses until now right eye done left in a couple of weeks so no glasses, that will feel strange for awhile. I have no pets at this time but they would be welcome if I did.

I can't have any distractions as I am very AR, sooo, I make beds, do the dishes, tidy up the house. I usually do one household task a day and whatever that is - it has to be done before interring my sewing studio. When my household chores are done then I can sew and not have nagging issues to deal with while I enjoy my hobby. My TV is usually on but I don't watch it much, it must be the white noise I find comforting.
When I'm in my studio I need:
Good lighting
Controlled clutter
One project out at a time