Happy Wednesday

Not for any special reason, but Happy Wednesday everyone! I guess I'm feeling "up" because I finally got my hair cut. Nice And Short. Short, short, short. :D

Cinnamon toast...the best in comfort food!

She's done!
I finished Sherry Goshen's The Charmed One this morning. She's cute...in a strange sort of way. I'm so glad I did the class. It's a great way to discover/play with new materials and techniques. So even if the final product isn't museum quality (LOL) getting there is lots of fun.

I need to make a light box for taking photos of dolls and things. I checked out a bunch of tutorials for making them but now need to actually do it!!!

On the weekend The Tramp put up some more shelves for me. The previous owner used this large powder room as a dressing room for her photography business. It would be nice of course to divide it into a small powder room and a large closet. But shelves are good. :) That isn't a vanity, it's kitchen cabinetry, which takes up a lot of unnecessary space.


And a place for my toolbox and drill! :) Much better than on the sewing room floor.
I also figured out that I could use an otherwise useless file stand for my rulers and templates. I love this kind of stuff, it makes me feel so smug and clever. LOL
I also discovered that it would really really Smart To Close The Windows when The Tramp is mowing the lawn with the Big Orange Beast. It's so dry and dusty. The dirt blew far into the house. Ewwwww!
And dirt got all over my new toy. :(

"Show Your Jugs"

Isabelle has issued a challenge. Now I would call them pitchers, not jugs, but semantics aside, here they are. :)
Sorry, not the best photo. I have more jugs/pitchers, but they don't fit on the mantel. The big one in the middle is quite big and was a wonderful gift from wonderful friends I left behind in New Jersey. Some of the others are from my mom's ironstone collection.

And speaking of "jugs" and the possible risque nature of the challenge, Eldest D, on our recent shopping excursion took a photo of me and Mom that we dubbed the "bosom shot". It isn't really, but as she moved closer and closer in with the camera we were sure that's what the camera was seeing and had a really good laugh over it. What this photo does show me is that I REALLY REALLY need to get a better haircut! Yikes!

The light at the end of the tunnel...

Well...one of the tunnels anyway. Yesterday I busted my butt finishing up the painting in my study. There are counters and cabinets on four sides, and upper shelving on three sides. I moved my cutting table into the middle and have started to sort stuff. What a mess...
This was the last room I worked on with paint brush and roller. I was so exhausted after six days on the scaffold that I quit this room half way down.
The window frame and baseboard aren't done but I'm happy to say the rest is! I bought some of these plastic drawers for fabric scraps.
They fit perfectly on these shelves. This was the production room for the former owner's photography business. The shelves are wonderful. I sure can't complain that we don't have enough. They were built by the former owner who said she would leave them if we were going to use them. We were ecstatic! Now I just have to get things onto them. The top shelves are empty because they are so high I had to buy a step stool to keep handy. Now I can fill them up! :)


When the painting was done I got out the Oxi Clean and had a go at the counters. I'm not fond of their yellowey color but at least they are clean and almost like new.
The lower cabinets aren't quite as useful as they could be. There aren't any shelves or dividers in them and half of the "drawers" are just false fronts. Eventually we'll make them better. The next job is to try cleaning the carpet. You can see the dirty ring where an office chair was. I'd love to put down tile but that can wait.

We stopped at the thrift store with Eldest D the other day and I was thrilled to find this rocker, including the nice cushions. A bargain at $38!
It's just what I wanted for a corner of my sewing room!

Better and better every day

I seemed to have turned the corner as far as post-operative energy is concerned. Today I worked hard painting the bottom half of my study. It's so nice to have it done! I scrubbed the counter tops and just have some boxes of stuff to put away. My excuse is I can't lift them, so they have to wait for The Tramp. I still have to paint the window frame.

These are the two patterns I bought on our excursion the other day. I can't wait to make them but I've got a few things to finish first. (what else is new???) Karen, the designer of the wallet pattern turned out to be the person working behind the counter at the store!

I mentioned a while ago that I have to keep tabs on Belle when she's in the carpeted part of the house. When I catch her I put her in a crate under my cutting table. I run all over the house looking under beds etc trying to find her (she sits tight when I call her...sigh) when I should just look here first! Do you think the crate is big enough??? LOL
And I got the evil eye as well because I disturbed her. :)
Miss Ngaire on the other hand is very hard to miss. If I had a nickel for every time I stepped over or around her each day.....

Is this cool or what!

Cooliris Previews

Watch the tutorial, you will be amazed. Of course you have to be Firefox fans like we are. Where was this when I was doing hours and hours of internet research for work???

Excursion Day

Mom, Eldest D and I had great fun at a wire-working class on Saturday at the Carolina Bead Co. so were fired up to find more local bead shops. So Monday was excursion day. On the way we stopped at some sewing stores as well. We managed to fit in seven shops, though one was closed darn it. Three were bead and four were "sewing". We still haven't found the quilting shop of our dreams as so far JoAnn has the biggest selection of cottons I've seen around here. I don't know about the store that was closed, but two were mostly dedicated to machines and the third had a nice but not huge selection. I did find lots of Amy Butler patterns and like-minded stuff though. I bought a bag pattern at one store and a wallet pattern...from the designer...at another. (I need to take a photo.)

By accident we found Flame Kissed Beads. I hadn't put it on our itinerary, not realizing where it was. Nice store!

AND we were very pleased to discover they have a selection of Myuki Delicas which Mom prefers to use. These are some of her wonderful amulet bags and necklaces.
In between we browsed through a pet store (Eldest D can't pass one without going in) and met Arnie the blue and gold macaw. He gave us lots of kisses and said hello.

We also like Beadazzled.
Grrrr....look at her....why can't I still be that slender??? Sigh.

Finally we went home to collapse for a while. The Tramp treated us to dinner at Golden Corral. We figured at least it was some place Eldest D couldn't go to in New Jersey. We refused to take her to any chain restaurants she recognized. :)
I just got a text that her plane landed in NJ. Bye honey. I miss you already.

Woohoo!

I WON! Sharon is sending me a goodie. Thank you Sharon!

Also woohoo is that Eldest Daughter is here. We've been to dinner...lunch...breakfast (read - too much food), to a wire-working class (courtesy of Nanny), a NC Symphony Pops concert (Magical Music of Disney with Erich Kunzel guest conducting), been to the flea market etc. Today we are going to pick up Nanny and do a round of bead shops and maybe a quilt shop or two. It's time we investigated the local offerings!

So far on today's list are: Sew Unique Fabrics, Beadazzled, Plain & Simple Quilt Shop, SLR Beads & Jewelry, and Elegant Stitches. There are many more but I think we need to pace ourselves. LOL

Daughters

Eldest Daughter is coming for a visit tomorrow. FIVE whole days! *happy dance* We've never been apart for so long before. I'm sure I shall embarrass her thoroughly and cry all over her at the airport. Lovely! :D

This photo was taken at Oma's Doll Shop in Cape May, New Jersey. We took six of my favorite Lee Middleton dolls to be signed by Reva Schick, the designer (on the left). She was a lovely lady. The shop is an amazing place and Cape May is a must-see if you are ever in New Jersey.

Do wishes grow on trees?

The morning is gone. I've enjoyed myself but what have I "done"??? I baked some granola bars. Took a shower. Watched the birds. Chatted online. But what I'm really doing is Wishing. Wishing my house was clean, Wishing the laundry was done, Wishing I had a clothesline, Wishing I had a platform bird feeder, Wishing I was sewing...and so on and so on.

Ok...time to get to work. Sigh.

What a morning!

Look what happened to my neighbor today! Marie lives a couple of doors down from me. Thank goodness no one was hurt.