Road Trip...

 Handsome and I took a little road trip yesterday. We went to Tampa to the 

Ikea store! We were helping a friend who needed our truck to haul home a 

purchase, but we did a little shopping, too. Why not have a some fun of

 our own? We also had lunch in their restaurant before heading back home.

Talk about sensory overload! Sofas, tables, chairs, kitchens and more! This is 

one of those places where you'd just better have a list before you even think 

about going in the front door. Trouble with a capital "T"! We had a great time!

 We even came home with a purchase of our own, but we didn't overdo it. We

decided on two Lack Wall Shelves and we knew just where we want to install 

them. After they're all assembled, we'll mount them on the wall and place a few 

special pieces on it. One will hang on the wall in the studio, but I have a little lot

of cleaning and sorting and tossing to do first. I'd better get after that toot sweet!

It's Saturday, so it must be time for Coffee Club again.

Tag is coming with me today, so I'll let him tell you all about it on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend, girlfriends.

A Girl Can Dream...

This is the inside of my fabric cabinet. Well, one of them, anyway. I rearranged and tidied up the stacks over the weekend, which I do from time to time to reassess my stash. Sometimes I need to remind myself just what I have.
But, this is more like what it usually looks like. It's two stacks deep, with stuff in front of the fabric stacks. Sometimes, it's just more fabric. Sometimes it's an iron and charm packs and sewing machine parts in storage. It's a bit frustrating when I need something, because I have to move the front stuff to get to the back.

The cabinets I have right now are like the ones that people have installed in garages (at least where we live). They're about 20" deep, which is perfect for garages, but they take up a lot of floor space because of their added depth, and create the situation where I have I'm able to have double layers to sort through.
I know you probably saw the bolts on the bottom shelf in the previous photo. No. They're not full bolts, but Kathy (at the quilt shop) saves the empty bolts for me so that I can store larger quantities on them. I often roll two or three fabrics from a collection onto them to keep them together. Even here, the bolts are stacked two deep.

Now, I completely understand that you have absolutely no sympathy for me with my current dilemma. I admit I'm more fortunate than most. Some (I know, Shell) might say I'm spoiled. But, even with all this abundance, I'd like to be more organized, with my supplies more accessible.
This is what I dream about. Billy cabinets from Ikea...with Morebo glass doors. They're 11" deep. No room for double stacks.
There is a narrower model to help fit a collection of them into a nook or on a full wall. I may need one or two of these to hold my buttons and ribbons.

They even have extra risers. in the wide and narrow versions, to put on the top of the cabinets so that I have extra storage outside the doors.
Then, I'd love to remove the carpeting that's been in the studio for the past 11 years and replace it with this vinyl/linoleum flooring that looks like wood. It's on the floor in our camper, and I've seen it in doctor's offices lately.

It's "cushy" on my feet, would make for easy chair movement when I'm sewing and cleaning would be a breeze.

So there you have it. My studio wish list. A girl can dream, right?

Brynwood Joins Where Bloggers Create II...

Welcome One and All!

We've been waiting for your visit.
(You can click on each of the images to enlarge them.)Kes is really glad to see you today!

She's been so excited at the prospect of helping me
welcome you to our studio as we celebrate
Where Bloggers Create II,
hosted by the beautiful and talented
Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage.

Kes would like you to notice the brand, new track lighting system
added to the studio recently. No more working by lamplight!

You can't miss my wall of fabric when you walk through the studio door, and on clear days, I have lots of natural light spilling into my space. Now, I have plenty of light, even on days when the sun was hidden behind rain clouds.

If you look to the left as you enter the studio door, you'll find an entire wall of deep cabinets, which are stuffed with fabric, trims, and other paraphernalia. (You can click on the link at the end of my tour to find more photos and see what's inside the cabinets.)

At the end of the cabinets, I've hung sweet, vintage, baby dresses.

This is the left wall of the studio. More storage, a long shelf to display treasured pincushions and other items, pattern and thread cabinets, and my Babylock machines, now dressed in their new party finery. (I've made new covers for each of my machines to protect them from dust and light, and so they have something pretty to wear when they're not in use.)

A favorite mirror, mounted above the pattern cabinet, bounces additional light around the room and holds court above other treasures...acorns sent from around the country by my blog friends; assorted white buttons; and pincushions made by two beautiful and talented blog friends, Dawn Edmonds and Shell May. Don't miss the tiny birds sitting on top of the mirror, too! I've added little touches like the birds - reflecting my love of the outdoors - to fuel my creative muse.

In keeping with my Brynwood acorns theme, I commissioned Michelle Palmer to create these beautiful ink-on-fabric images. I then designed and created my wall organizer, so that favorite scissors and other tools would be displayed and then, close at hand when I'm sewing.

In this corner, you'll find my Espire sewing machine, nicknamed "Prissy", my iPod music dock, vintage lace and trims on display (on cardboard tubes covered with thin batting, which I mounted on tension rods used for cafe curtains), and above that, my inspiration board.

As you can see, I have an assortment of wonderful and beautiful gifts from some of my inspiring blog friends. Photographs, ornaments, tags, keyrings and charms, all given and accepted with great affection.

I'm blessed with a wonderful view of our back yard, through my beautiful windows. My chair faces my Ellisimo sewing/embroidery machine (nicknamed "Miss Ellie") and right in front of the window is my Evolve serger (yup, I've nicknamed this one, too! You can call her "Evvie"!).

 "Ikea Varde kitchen counter" with larger purchased countertop

My Ikea (Varde kitchen counter) work table, with a custom made formica top. I needed the extra work space, so I had it fabricated at our local Home Depot. It's the perfect height for when I'm standing, and the size accommodates cutting out garments and larger projects. I also have room for a few trinkets.

This is where all my creative dreams are conceived and fulfilled. My life is joyful and blessed with the love of my husband and family, but the joy has been augmented ten-fold since I became of member of this blogging community.

I am so grateful for the new friendships that have been forged in the past year and a half...all because I chose to share my creative endeavors in this wonderful online world.

Thank you for visiting Brynwood Needleworks. If you'd like to see A LOT MORE studio images, please click on the last photograph (my little, sleeping squirrel) to go to my studio Flickr album. Be sure to read the captions I've written for each photo.

I hope you'll also look at my photo galleries and the Brynwood Boutique to see some of my creations.

Leave a comment on this post and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing for one of my Strawberry Roses (similar to the one above). All are handmade by me, so no two are exactly alike. I'll choose a winner through Random.org on July 1st. Good luck!

UPDATE: July 1st Midnight...The Drawing Is Closed
Thanks everyone!
Click here to enter my 400th Follower Giveaway
until July 10th, 2010.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Don't forget to say hello to the other participants of
Where Bloggers Create II.
Thanks again, Karen, for being such a great hostess!!

Something New In The Studio...

You've been dying to see it, right? Wait no longer. Here's my new studio work table. It's from Ikea and it's called the Varde. It's a perfect height at nearly 36", and has a solid birch tabletop. Oh, and did I mention my favorite feature? Twelve - count 'em twelve - glass front drawers on no-slam runners. I also appreciate the overhang that makes it possible for me to mount my work lamp, magnifier (sigh) and my yarn swift. It's truly an all-purpose work table!

If you don't already know...Ikea is a huge store filled with really nice, quality furniture at great prices. One catch, though. Their prices are low because you put their pieces together yourself. We can put their Poang chair and ottoman together in twenty two minutes flat, but this piece took considerably longer.

In fact about five hours longer. I did most of the assembly myself, but there was no way I had the confidence to drill through the drawer fronts to attach the pulls, or the strength to drill and screw the birch butcher block to the base. I asked Handsome for his skill and expertise (and heavy duty drill) when I got to those parts!

So, it's finished now and I spent the day sorting through stash and filling drawers. I love it and can't wait to start my next project!

Our Moonlight Tango...

Today, Handsome and I went to Ikea in Tampa. I'd been to an Ikea store in Minnesota with my sister a few years ago, and Handsome and I had ordered from their website when we first moved here, but we had yet to shop one of their stores together. Ikea recently opened the Tampa store and we knew that we were going to have to make a shopping date soon. Today was the day.

About twenty years ago, we were in an art gallery in Chicago and came upon the work of an artist named Marcus Pierson. We immediately fell in love with his work and purchased a piece called "Moonlight Tango". His art is whimsical and features, of all things, coyotes as his main theme. You may ask why I tell you this in conjunction with a story about shopping at Ikea today. Let me explain.

We had trekked through about three quarters of the Ikea store today when we entered the lighting department. We looked at hanging lamps, floor lamps and lamps of all shapes and sizes when right before me was the lamp! All I could think of was how perfect this lamp would be to illuminate "Moonlight Tango". I showed the "Stranne" lamp to Handsome, first to see his reaction to it in its own right, and then to see what he thought of my idea to light our sculpture.

He started to smile and agreed it would be perfect. Alright! Score a new lamp for our living room! Bonus that it would be used to accent a piece of art that has made us smile since we purchased it all those years ago.

I should also tell you that for years I resisted Modern Scandinavian design by simply saying that I thought it was cold and without character. My mind was cracked wide open about two years ago when we stopped into a Copenhagen Imports store in Sarasota. I fell in love with the natural, organic look and feel of teak and leather. I couldn't believe I had been so utterly wrong about what the Scandinavian artisans and designers had to offer - to say nothing of the comfort and clean appearance of the pieces.

We have refurnished our living room and dining room with this understated, elegant furniture and I look forward to the day when other rooms in our home will be converted to this design esthetic. In the meantime, we'll add a piece here and a piece there to that end. Perhaps there will even be another Pierson to add more of his whimsical, joyful touch to our dwelling!