The Calm After The Storm...

 Rebecca sits at the top of my new shelf unit. She's calmly stitching away having

witnessed the storm that was "Me", cleaning and rearranging my creative space.

This is the first thing I see whenever I enter through the door of my studio.

 My cutting table is clean and waiting for me to start the next project.

All Most of my laces are arranged on tubes and hang from the tension rods

I placed between the legs on my table. In this place, they're handy and ready

to use without sorting through loose pieces in boxes or drawers. I need to roll

a few more pieces I found while cleaning, but this is what's sorted so far.

 When I'm in the studio, I look to my left and see my machines, ready and 

waiting on their tables. Miss Ellie is set up on a larger table so I don't have

to move her to use the embroidery feature anymore. I just have to add the 

embroidery arm, set the design, thread her up and go. Handsome picked her up

 to move her out of the room during the "storm" and commented on how heavy

 she is. I'm infinitely happy that I can just leave her on the table to use now.

 If I stand behind Prissy (my Babylock Espire), and look back toward the door,

you can see what I see from here. My stand, holding a little more fabric (I know),

my storage cabinets on the right and my cutting table on the left. My acorn ornaments

all hang from a tension rod suspended in the window, and a few of my favorite pieces

of needlework hang on the walls. (Those are my completed "Sweet Stitches" panels

hanging on the door.) You can also see some of my small quilts hanging in the hallway.

 I've organized future projects in their own plastic storage boxes under

the cutting table. This way, they're kept together, clean and organized.

 These are my storage cabinets. I'm not going to open the doors because one

of you might fear for my sanity and call the authorities. I have fabric on bolts

behind four of those doors, and more plastic containers with current projects

inside the last one. Each one has the project name on it so that I can just pull the

one I want instead of having to sort through every one to find what I'm looking for.

 Each shelf on my new wall unit has a display of some of my favorite things.

This shelf has British tins, a small English figurine and, of course, a corgi. It was

a sweet gift from a generous blog friends TerriBoog and her dog, Bittabit, who

sent along a few other corgi things (see post here to see all the goodies she sent).

 This shelf has a watercolor painted by Sharon Chapman; a tiny treasured bear

handmade by a dear friend in Wisconsin (which sits on another gift from a Florida

friend about twenty years ago); a small creamer with beautiful little violets from Mom

(Grace); and one of my two Susan Pilotto creations (Mouse Droppings Fine Folk Art).

 Another shelf holds my own "Harris" the Tweed Rabbit pincushion; another

gift (the sweet, heart-shaped dish) from Terri; the incredible needlework beetle

I won from Lee from Notes From Under The Mountain blog; my own button

heart art piece; a crocheted floral mat from a friend who no longer sells them; and

my beautiful card from one of my family members in England. It's my "sweet" shelf.

 Pincushions and wool animals are front and center on one of my shelves.

That top pincushion with the lace and seam binding was made by dear friend, 

Dawn Edmonds of The Feathered Nest. She really has a way with canvas,

and seam binding. She's creates the loveliest sachets and pincushions.

 Of course, you knew I'd have a shelf dedicated to acorns, didn't you?

The leather case in the back hold a pair of antique binoculars. I hope to

someday create a steampunk piece with an embellished bird sitting on

top of those field glasses. For now, it looks just right with my acorns.

Today, I'll be in the studio. I have a little catching up to do, now that I'm all

reorganized. I have two class models to make for the shop in Venice. It was

nice to enjoy the calm after the storm, but no time to sit around on my laurels.

You'll want to be sure to visit tomorrow. 

I'll tell you all about my 1600 Post Giveaway!

Hurricane Dee...

 I really never realized just how much "stuff" was crammed into my sweet,

not-so-little armoire. Boy, was I surprised as I moved things around and 

tried to straighten up the studio again. Half of the room still looks like

Ground Zero for Hurricane Dee! I'm exhausted, but still have all of this to go.

 This is where one of the Lack Wall Shelves from Ikea was installed. (The other 

one is in our living room, and it looks fabulous in there, too!) I've placed all the 

special things that were scattered around the room onto these shelves to clear 

my sewing tables for those things that have to be close at hand when I'm working.

(I'll share close-up photographs of my shelves when I have good (no-rain) daylight.)

 So, this side of the room is cleaned up. I now have a table wide enough for 

Miss Ellie so that I don't have to move her when the embroidery unit is attached.

I also moved the television lower on the wall. I haven't been able to camouflage

the cables attached to it yet, so lowering it leaves less cable showing. I also put

acorns on the corners of it. They were created just for me when I had my shop.

 I still need drawers for some of my ribbons, tapes and fabric and these are perfect.

Many of the contents are set to be used in the near future, so they're visible and 

close at hand when I'm ready to pull them to sew. They're also pretty to look at

through the clear plastic drawers and inspire me to start sewing them right away!

So, even though I still have a way to go, I can see the end of the storm.

I think I might just have to sit and look around for a while when I finally finish.

Hurricane Dee will pass and it will be smooth sewing from now on!

 I just realized that this is post #1600. I think it might be time for a
giveaway for my faithful followers friends this week. Stay tuned!

Tuesdays With Tag - A Corgi Story...

 

Hi, Everybody.

Today I want to tell you a story. Like in the storybooks. 

I hope you like it.

"A Corgi Story"

by

Brynwood's Taggart Liljegren

 One beautiful day, an incredibly handsome and dashing corgi went for a ride with

his mom. The corgi adores car rides and didn't even care where they were going.

 When their arrived, he was very, very happy. He realized right away

where they were, and he couldn't wait to see some of his favorite ladies.

 As soon as he went inside, they all greeted him, saying, "HI, TAG!"

They scratched him behind the ears and called him "Good Boy".

These are just a couple of reasons that he loves visiting these ladies.

He sat down and visited with Miss Kathy and Miss Nora, and he was a

 very polite boy. He didn't interrupt them when they talked to his mom.

He was very quiet and didn't "arrrroooooo" or anything! He

even took a little nap. He rested his head on one of their chairs.

 He said 'hello" to Miss Joni and Miss Brenda, but he wondered why

Miss Fay was not there. The ladies told him that Miss Fay was home

that day. The one lady that he always kissed wasn't there anymore,

but he was happy to see all the other ladies that came into the shop.

One lady was really funny. She said she had a corgi at home, too! She got all

happy and chirped at him that he was so cute. He had to sniff all over her to see if 

she smelled like a corgi, and guess what? She did! Right down to her feet, 

where it's easy for a dog to sniff. It was really fun for him to sniff her toes.

 He had a really fun visit and then it was time for him and his mom to go home.
He said goodbye to all his friends and then he went outside and jumped right
back in his truck to ride home. It was a nice day to ride with the windows open.

He asked if he could drive, but his mom said his legs were just a teeny, tiny bit
too short to reach the pedals. He told her that maybe they ought to think about
getting one of those "mini" cars. He likes corgi-sized cars like Mini Coopers or
Volkswagen Bugs. She just laughed and laughed and they drove home together.

"The End"

I hope you like my first story. I had a lot of fun writing it for you.

I think next time there should be kids in the story, too. Don't you?

'til then...

"More Waggin' and Less Barkin'!"