Sewing Studio Master Plan

Came up with a plan for the sewing room, you can see it here. Other than that just another day of scraping cresent roll dough off the ceiling. (The can went off like a bomb.) One more of the many reasons I don't care much for cooking. Last week I set the smoke alarm off. Never a dull meal around here.

Mission Re-Organization

I am completely exhausted, so bear with me if this seems like rambling. Today I conquered the dreaded re-organization project of my sewing and craft rooms. I had been using a loft area at the top of the back staircase as my make-do sewing studio. I was bound and determined to clean up my scrapbooking/stamping/storage room enough to fit all my sewing essentials in. This also will allow me to set up an antique quilting frame in the loft area to go with my treadle machine.

While I was condensing down my scrapbooking supplies it occurred to me that I could fit that desk into our guest room and use that closet for the supplies. This would give me a lot more sewing space and also make my SIL very happy. She's our primary guest and she loves to bring her scrapbooks to work on when she visits. So I rearranged the furniture. Swapped the contents of the closets. Moved the sewing furniture. And generally reorganized the three different rooms.

I still have a few details to sort through but so far I'm thrilled with the results. My wonderful DH is building me a new sewing table and this arrangement will give me plenty of room for it. And if I can get him to build a few more bookcases I'll be all set. Still need to paint the walls and the floor, but that sounds like a good winter project to me. I'm too tired to even think about it right now.

Mini-Vacation

Took some time off from the home improvements to visit with family this weekend. The battle of the sexes trivia contest had it's typical results, 3 to 1 for the guys even though we stole two guys for our team. The game is obviously tailored to those who watch sports and the History Channel. If they'd just put some HGTV type questions in there, we'd have it made.

Then it was back to work today on some of these never ending projects. Number one on the list this week is the bookcase/jelly cupboard that M built for the kitchen. He did a great job on it and even used a hand plane for the raised panel doors. (His arms were sore for a week.) The goal is for it to resemble this rather pricey piece of David T. Smith only wider with two doors. I'll post pics once I've applied the multiple layers of finish.

Still working on those nooks and crannies. Discovered I had an empty crannie, the guest bedroom closet. I promptly filled it. Even so this is going to be another big garage sale. I knew we moved a lot more with us than can actually fit in this house, but it seems it's been breeding like rabbits since then. I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't leave the lights on in the closets?

Stormy Weather

Stranded up north by the storms. It's deathly quiet up here. No cat pawing under the door, dogs barking at squirrels or kids pounding on things. No projects waiting for attention.

Is this how normal people live?

Kinda creepy.

Whatsit? of the Week

An easy one for you... any guesses?

Family Heirlooms

I'm very fortunate to have several antique pieces that have been in the family for generations. This washstand belonged to my maternal grandmother. My mother refinished it once, then I had it for a while, then it ended up back at her place where she had it stripped again. Now it has come to live with me once more. (Yes Dear, I know that's a lot of moving around.)

Before:

It's a simple pine piece, most likely painted originally. That may be why neither of us has been happy with the stain finish we've applied. I was planning to paint it this time, but while working on it I made a little discovery. It seems my late Aunt Barb was practicing her penmanship many years ago both on the top drawer and inside the door. Now I realize it's perfect just the way it is.


After:

Are You Smarter Than an 8th Grader?

We made major amounts of progress on all the projects this weekend. The door is done, grandma's washstand is done, the jelly cupboard is built and waiting for finishing, the bed... Yeah, I figured out why Mom never tackled that project herself. Actually, I'm catching on to why she's so generously bequeathed several projects lately. Because SHE didn't want to do them! The bed's going to be sent out to a strip joint. I hope it has a good time.

I made a small dent in the yard sale gathering, or a small pile I should say. Even though I'm not stamping or scrapbooking as much anymore I still can't bear to part with it. You never know, we might need some of it for a homeschool project. Just today for instance, while making medieval Byzantine icon art, we needed some of the paints. We'll definitely need papercrafting supplies while doing our medieval book art, along with that quill pen we made a few weeks ago. And you sure can't do justice to the Book of Kells or the Bayeux Tapestry without some cool rubber stamps.

Which leads me to another dilemma, our school schedule. It seems the curriculum director that came up with this year's course schedule (that would be me) didn't take into consideration how many hours this new hands-on rich curriculum was going to require. After six and a half hours today we finally called it a day. So the teacher (that would be me) needs to go back through all the lessons and balance the daily activities out a little more. Otherwise the gardener, the cook and the housekeeper (yep, me) will not be able to keep up with their duties.