Coming Soon...

... something new to look at here, I promise! Even I am tired of seeing this same post every time I visit to check on other blogs. We've been "away" for a couple of weeks but once I resettle and get my hands on some pictures I'll have something new to write. Stay tuned!

Hooked

I've been using my time sans-sewing machine to focus on some crocheting projects, since I have, um, just a little bit of yarn on my hands. Of course the first project of the season required a trip out to buy more, but what better excuse than making baby blankets for newborn twin girls? Friends of mine from college adopted two darlings in January, and out of sheer awe of them for taking on such a task I felt I needed to whip up two special somethings. VERY pleased with how they turned out, and both took me a grand total of three weeks. Two strands of Bernat Baby Sport held together and done up in a simple V-stitch with a K hook. Baby blankets are so satisfying because they are small, and soon done.

After completing those I revisited my stash. One day when Amy was 2 or 3 months old I was browsing through Michaels and fell in love with Caron's Simply Soft "Brights" line. I bought all the colors, and two years and a couple of false starts later I'm finally making progress on an afghan for Amy (not the first one I've made for her, but I'm thinking of this as more of a "little girl" afghan instead of a "baby" afghan. In any case, these cheery colors are great to work with on snowy days.



Speaking of snow... we've had a lot of that lately! This Saturday's blizzard delivered another 12-18", and yesterday it stormed again, but with less accumulation - only about 6" this time. Both storms came with high winds so there was lots of drifting, resulting in this thigh-high display outside the front door.



Thankfully today was bright and sunny and the mid-February sun made it pleasant to be get out and do a little shoveling. Amy has limited patience for all the proper snow-garb, so we are never out for long, but I did get her to stand by that drift in the front late this afternoon - just in case there's any doubt about how much snow is piled up around here!

My Space

Welcome to my studio! Sewing room? Craft room? Personal getaway? Any of the above, but nonetheless, this is our upstairs hall closet. This is a 6.5 ft by 8 ft storage room that has housed all my sewing and craft supplies on one side, and bins and boxes of extra stuff (off-season clothes, linens, luggage, etc) on the other side. This closet is ALMOST big enough to be a bedroom, except that it lacks an air vent and a window (but it does have cable and phone hook up - go figure). A few weeks ago I got the notion that perhaps I really could make this into a true workspace and not just a storage space, so I am giving it a try. Most (but sadly, not all) of the storage stuff has been moved out, either to the garage or given away (have I also mentioned that we've been on a big purge around here?). I bought an adjustable-height folding table at BJ's, and then promptly moved in my current project:



Roofing, painting, and otherwise sprucing up the dollhouse which my mom and I made many moons ago and Amy now plays with. We never added shingles, so those are going on now. I also removed some of the railing on the upper porch which was damaged by a) Amy pulling on it trying to get her dolls through the doors and b) two kitty-types that insisted on gnawing it into little splinters. I plan to paint the roof and repaint all the white trim and paint the interior, as the inside was never more than just primed.



Once I finish with that and some of the miscellaneous non-sewing projects I have in mind, and perhaps find some spare cash laying around for a new sewing machine I'll put the machine on the table and have a nice big surface to support quilts, etc. The best part of this whole space is the ability to CLOSE THE DOOR and keep everyone, especially the cats, away from my projects when I'm not working on them (and when I am working, come to think of it).



This is my corner of fabric, yarn, books, and projects awaiting their turn. Oh, to actually make a dent in it all! Now I have no excuses.