Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts

Monday, May 11, 2015

Coming Clean....

Winter here in upstate NY left a BAD taste in my mouth


and a mess in my sewing room....



So when Cheryl shouted out for bloggers to participate in  a blog hop about spring cleaning
I knew that was a call to me!

I have NEVER (!) been shy about posting photos of my sewing room in its natural state of chaos....
however, in preparing this post, 
I was comforted by the words of Author Unknown...

A clean house is the sign of a boring person. ~Author Unknown

I have never (!)  been called  boring, right?

Anyway, 
I am fortunate that we do NOT own dining room furniture
so I quickly took over this room for my sewing
when we moved to this home almost 16 years ago.

 It is a convenient spot right off the kitchen-
 a great location for the purpose of multitasking,
particularly when our kids were small.

It has a lock....


 though on closer examination,
you might notice that the lock is on the outside of the door!!

Once upon a time, 

 it was a dark room that housed my sewing accessories and machine
 on a long table,
along with plastic shelving for my fabric 
and a few other craft items 
(I liked to rubber stamp baby announcements back in the olden days!).

But then, I started scrapbooking for a few  years,
and I started making more quilts and occasional gifts..
all to say
 that I had accumulated quite a collection of fabric, crafting supplies, books...

Eventually, 
Mr. U customized my sewing room
 with built-in shelving,
a custom made cutting table, 
knick-knack shelves, great lighting,.....
 and even French doors
(which don't lock either!)

but they work well as a fleece-over-the-door design wall

so no one would DARE open those doors!!!

but
 Keeping this beautiful room clean is another story!!!

My cutting table doubles as a 'throw-it-in-the-room' surface
when I get home from errands,
'I'll-just-leave-it-here-till-I-figure-out-where-to-put-that'  table
as well as a place for my ongoing projects...


but as you can see, I canNOT do much cutting!

The floor has a dual purpose...
for walking on
and 
storing multiple 'I'll-just-dump-it-here-till-I-figure-out-where-to-put-that' things


and yes, I store the base of my Vitamix (black thing on the  left) on the sewing room floor!
(that's another story!)

I often find that the floor is a great place on which
to actually create, don't you?

This is from a  messy sewing room disclosure a couple of weeks ago..



 but it highlights, nicely, the palpitations I get
when a family member decides to visit my sewing room...


 It takes Enter At Your Own Risk to a whole new dimension!!!

I am a "pile-er" and no surface is immune to the amassing of piles!


The foot stool (in the lower center of the photo)
is a great place for assorted papers that need filing, right?


 So with the impetus of Cheryl's impending blog hop,
I cleaned!!!

And now....
I no longer share my arm chair with towels from the gym
and assorted books waiting to be shelved...


I will be able to cut fabric on the table without cutting something else
(like, say, the wrist handle on my digital camera!)


 All the pins are in one place
 and 
I can sew a project without knocking stuff onto the floor!!!


 I can sit at my desk 
(without sitting on work files!)


 and do work!!!


 Actually, I can walk over to the desk without tripping on a zillion things too!

 So now, I have a veritable 'tabula rasa'  for creating!!!


But... guess what?!


I forgot to mention
that I also share a studio space at a local destination for us arty types!
And you might have guessed...


that lately, the clutter has been 'stunting' my creative muse

Soooooo....
what better reason than the blog hop
to do some spring cleaning here!!!

 (this is an in-process photo... 
I don't leave my floors like this at the studio,
really!)

Now I have only been in this space since October...

(yes, I do have a few supplies, don't I?)

but after an afternoon of shifting, disentangling, 
and some "Oh, I forgot I had this!" moments, 

I am now organized and tidied up

and ready to do some messing creating!!!!

Just remember what Author Unknown said...

Dull women have immaculate homes. ~Author Unknown
(she's got that right!!!)

Now I am not alone on this adventure...

check these cleaners out too!!!

Here are the rest of the spring cleaners....




May 9 Heather Kinion http://heatherkinion.com/

May 10 Jessica Darling http://jessicakdarling.com/

May 11 Lisa Blevis Filion http://upstatelisa.blogspot.com/
May 13 Mandy Leins http://mandalei.com/
May 14 Amalia Teresa Parra Morusiewicz http://funfromatoz.com/
May 16 Debby Ritenbaugh Brown http://higheredhands.blogspot.com/
May 18 Michelle Mattingly http://stitchesofjoi.blogspot.com/
May 19 Cheryl Sleboda http://blog.muppin.com

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Summer has come... and summer has almost gone!

I have had a busy summer!!! 

Where has the time gone???

Time went...

on a trip to Florida....
(I was working)



with some free time for knitting....



followed by a trip to Las Vegas...
(by the way, I was working here too!)


with some more free time for knitting...


and a show...



Back at home, there has been time for exercise...



time to admire the garden that Nature Boy has tended...











  time for two awesome workshops at Vermont Quilt Festival....


both with Susan Brubaker Knapp...





time for plenty of homeschooling...


a wee bit of time for crafting...
(if only this room was air conditioned!)


time to see a couple of ballet performances
(New York City Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet )...


time to catch a visitor in our backyard...


time to try felting at a two-day workshop


at one of the most beautiful places ...


on Lake George...




a little more time to enjoy the bounties of our garden....




and before you know it....


summer will be fading away!!!


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

How to stay sane in the long, cold, and snowy winters of upstate NY

For some reason, 
when my ancestors arrived in Canada and the USA
in the early 1900s

 (my maternal grandfather on the far right,
 from a town in Russia, now in Belarus)


they chose to live in climates similar to the ones they grew up in...

(my paternal grandmother on the far right, born in NYC, 
her parents from a city which is now in Belarus)

And for some reason, 
Mr. U and I chose to perpetuate that absurd decision!!!



Yes, it is still winter in upstate NY ...


much to my chagrin....


It is getting very old!


It has been long, cold, and snowy!



Mr. U tells me that he thinks that our last cold snap is about to be over for the season.
I hope he is right.

Not being much of cold weather gal,
I have been hunkering down inside
(anything to maintain my sanity!)


Luckily, there are a lot of birds in upstate NY


who enjoy being here in the cold
(what is up with that?!)



and so I watch them on Nature Boy's homemade bird feeder


right by our kitchen table


and I take lots of photos. 

There is even a lunchroom bully!


and lately,



some non-birds!!



When I am not sitting at the kitchen table...


I am at the gym before the sun rises

(so my muscles don't atrophy from being inside so much)

....spending endless hours on the telephone
with our newest health insurance plan
trying to secure much-needed diabetic supplies for Sugarbaby...


(my recommendation: write a letter about your dissatisfaction to the CEO,
that seems to get things going... with a direct line to their executive office
that I can now use anytime I have problems! but I suspect those have now been ironed out!)

knitting!!!

socks for me!

socks for Mr. U!

and a wrap for me!

trying to stay caught up with Life Book 2014...


but for kicks, 
and always in search of the ultimate journal/diary project...

(and in an effort to make yet another huge mess in my studio)


I added another project!!!




which I need to catch up on!

I have also been sewing
but that project is ...


sorry!

So like those hibernating bears...
I will emerge when Spring comes!