Doll making instead of packing

Well here she is so far...naked as a jay bird. (Where does that expression come from? I'll have to look that up.) The first pattern in Patti Culea's first book. I bought some of the paints for her today but am missing a key color. So more art store fun tomorrow! :) Not a bad thing at all!



LOL I just noticed the real estate papers mixed in amongst the doll books. I really do need to get my sandbox in order!

Pre-packing thoughts

Sigh...The Tramp and I have to start packing up all our belongings again soon. I'm determined to get a few sewing projects done first though. I have paraments to finish for the chapel and I also want to make at least one more doll and finish a quilted tote....and whatever else distracts me at the moment. :-)

Digging around on shelves (we have way too many) I found the book my mom bought for me which helped inspire the organization of my sewing area/studio/sandbox.

Being the Ikea fans we are, we were pleased to see that some of the suggested furniture were familiar items we could go and see for ourselves. We're lucky we live close to not one, but two Ikeas. And one of them is in an Urban Enterprise Zone which means 1/2 the sales tax!!

In the book she discusses lighting, furniture size and heights, ergonomics, the working triangle, etc. We installed lots of lighting and used daylight bulbs. I have plenty of task lighting too. We followed her suggestion that all pieces of furniture have useful storage space and bought the Markor sideboard (actually we got two!) and covered the top of one for ironing. As a bonus, the ceiling is low above the ironing table so we installed electrical outlets overhead for the iron. Very cool! You can see both of the sideboards in this photo. The ironing one fit perfectly between the lolly columns and backs up to a futon.

Mixed with some older Ikea pieces, I have Galant tables for computers and sewing machines, various sized Kilby book cases (kind of ugly, but cheap!), two small bureaus (Rast) attached back to back as a small island for holding threads and tools, and two Expedit bookcase units in different sizes for fabrics etc. Not in the catalog, but sold with them in the store (at least at the time we bought them) were clear blue plastic bins that fit perfectly on the shelves. They are great for storing trims, paints, fibers and yarns for doll hair, my doll skin fabrics, 1/2 finished projects, whatever you can think of. And it's soooo nice to be able to put out all my fabric on shelves where I can see it!

Since these photos were taken, we've rearranged things some. It was still half set up at the time. I don't think I've even come close to the ideal "working triangle". But we made it comfortable for us.

Saturday

I'm still experimenting with how these posts look, but every day I learn something new!

Today is apparently the calm before the storm...the Nor'easter they're predicting. It's a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining and the birds are singing! We are waiting for the power company to come read the gas meter finally. They give 20 minutes notice before they come! I have to go out and get ingredients for a salad as the birthday party for my son-in-law is this afternoon. He's 30! Can you believe it.? I'm not even that old. ;-) Then tonight we are going to a Shiva, something that is out of my experience, so it should be interesting.

All the building inspectors are coming on Tuesday (our house is now under contract) and I have to get busy and get this place cleaned up again. Never any down time....sigh.



The last doll I completed was an epb Zaftig Fire Fairy but she flew away before I got a photo of her. Monique is a birthday gift for my mother, but she is still hanging about with her Widget friends at my house waiting to be shipped. She is strongly resisting being stuffed into a box...I can't imagine why. :-)



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Aaaacccck.... The power company came already! Apparently the 20 minutes notice is a joke!!! The meter reader said, "Oh they never do that." Then why do they tell you that when you make the appointment???

My current Sandbox

This is my current Sandbox. We did over the basement in our little house last winter. I'm not a fan of being "underground" but it served the purpose. It sure was a nice selling point to everyone who recently looked at the house. We had at least 20 groups walk through, 13 of them in the first few days. It took 3 weeks to sell and I'm not complaining!

I took these photos back in July. It's a bit better organized now...just in time for packing and moving!

It's kind of sad that I've done so little sewing in this space....sigh.

Okay...now how do I get the photos in the order I want them??? Where is that book of instructions.....


[Cool....found photo information!]

New House

One step closer to the new house! I can't wait to go. June 11th is the target date. The new house has a wonderful studio with shelving and cabinets galore. I keep drooling over the photos I took. And I'm going to be "retiring" and staying home. Time to sew, time to create. Life is good!