Grounded...

Our Bonnie Plants that I ordered online arrived late last week in very good condition.  How did we ever get along without computers?  They certainly do come in handy when one is home bound most of the time.

The Old Farmer's Almanac said Sunday and yesterday were fertile planting days, so with storms forecast and coming on Sunday, I opted for Monday planting.  All of the plants are now in the ground, plus seeds have been sown.  Now we wait and water...

Our cat, Dinky Sugar thought Momma had made her a gigantic litter box, so the first thing I had to do was put up netting as protection from her and the various other birds and critters that like to nibble on green things.

We still have some more things we want to plant in the raised garden, but what we have now will do for starters.  With the raised garden underway, I have enlisted the help of my Studio Assistants,(Poppa, Sassy Alice, Dinky Sugar) while we wait.  Things are coming right along nicely with all this help!

Make the very best of every day and count your blessings often.  ~E~

Winding down...

As we approach the end of the year, things are winding down here as I settle in for a long winter's nap so to speak.  I have put away my sewing machines and cleaned my studio-nest in preparation for things to come in the new year.  There are still several things on my house To Do list!  They will get done in due time with a little patience on my part and baby steps.  Our home has been neglected for many years while I was making dolls and designing patterns and it will take me some time to get things back in order.  Caregiving and our home are my first priorities for now.  Wee bits of free time are spent learning to punch needle embroidery thanks to Doreen Frost of Vermont Harvest Primitives who makes this craft look so easy.  Punch needle is very relaxing to me, it's portable and takes up very little space.

As I snuggle into my comfy chair by the fire wearing my hand knitted warm socks of many colors, looking at my twinkling Christmas tree and flickering candles, visions of sugar plums and new adventures dance in my head.

Wishing you a Magical Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Until next time... ~E~

Rearranging...AGAIN!...

My studio/nest was originally the sunporch when we moved here to the farm.  It has ten windows and a sliding glass patio door.  This room is ever-changing!  We had an antique bed in our bedroom that I loved.  It is very tall and had become very difficult for Poppa to get in and out of over the years. So, for Christmas last year, we purchased a bed frame that does not require a box springs, making the bed much lower.  Had we known at the time, we could have just removed the box springs from our antique bed, added a sturdy system of bed slats and we would have had the same thing without purchasing a new bed frame.  We live and learn if we are lucky.  I'm loving our new white metal bed, but I did not want to part with my antique bed.

Something had to go.  My studio/nest was wall to wall furniture. I also loved the daybed that I had in my studio/nest.  After giving it much thought, we decided to get rid of the sleeper sofa in our living room.  It was uncomfortable sleeping plus we kept it covered all of the time because our big ninety pound black Lab, Sassy Alice, loved to rub against the plush fabric upholstery.  We gave away the sofa, moved the daybed to the living room to use as a sofa and set up the antique bed in my studio/nest, solving several problems.

I get to keep my antique bed.  Now we have extra comfortable sleeping space when company comes.  I have a cozy place to pile up in the middle of the bed for beauty snoozies, watching it rain, sketching new designs, watching television, folding laundry and a nice large flat surface for cutting out my dolls and things out of fabric.  I am happy with this arrangement...for now.

 And I'm not the only one that enjoys this bed.  Dinky Sugar does too!

Free Motion Machine Embroidery Doodling...
A few weeks ago when I decided I wanted to try my hand at some free motion machine embroidery, I knew I was going to need a lot of black sewing thread.  I sat down to make out my supply list when I remembered I had several large cones of black and other colors of thread that I used for my serger.  I did not have one of those large cone holders that you can purchase for use with regular sewing machines, so I turned my serger around and sat it right up next to the back of my sewing machine.  Raising the thread guide, I then threaded my sewing machine as usual.  This worked out perfect!  I saved money; I'm using up supplies and I plan on putting all of this thread to good use.

Do something creative this week.  It's healing and good for your soul.

Until next time...
~Edna~

Winding down...

Summer is winding down and not soon enough for me I might add.  It was 112 degrees yesterday and we have not had any rain in weeks.  Getting rid of all of my kilns and supplies in my Workshop has allowed me to move my work table out of my Studio/Nest to my Workshop.  Since the weather is so hot, I decided to devote this time to re-arranging my studio/nest where I spend most of my time.  Getting rid of a few things and moving the furniture around has given me the feeling of much more space.  It has taken me since January of this year but I have cleaned and semi-decluttered every nook and cranny in this 12 x 20 room, plus my craft closet.

This room was originally a carport.  The lady that had this house built added a double carport and enclosed this room with ten windows and a sliding glass patio door.  The one brick wall was red antique brick and all of the wood siding was country blue.  The floor was a brown printed indoor outdoor carpet.  There were shelves over all of the windows and sliding door for books.

Over the past twenty one years since moving here to the farm, we have made many changes to our house and this room.  It now has central heat and air vents, insulated windows and insulated curtains.  The floor has been replace with wonderful easy to clean vinyl tiles.  The country blue shades have been replaced with 2" white shades.  We added a sliding vinyl door cover and every thing has been painted country white. Poppa built a book shelf and we changed out the old ceiling fan with a white one with more lighting.

This is my cozy comfy nest and my haven from the outside world.

As the weather cools I will be cleaning out my workshop if the Good Lord is willing...

Enough is enough...

I have looked at those UGLY curtains long enough.  Thanks to the installation help of our dear neighbor Chris, I now have a sweet vinyl accordion door.  It will do nicely until I am ready to part with $800+ for a new patio door that has loovers inside the glass.

Miss Beebs and I...

are trying to decide how we want to paint this table.  This table is about fifty years old and I use it next to my comfy chair in my studio/nest.  We know we want to paint it Country White, but we can't decide if we want to add a handpainted graphic to the top or not.  The top is covered most of the time with my lamp, telephone and basket of necessary goodies...so we are thinking just a plain top.  What do you think?

Under Day Bed Storage

I have been working in my studio/nest since January, redoing, reorganizing, painting furniture and just general mayhem.  I purchased four Rubbermaid canvas underbed storage zippered containers online from WalMart.  I LOVE them and they fit nicely under my Day Bed.  They are labeled and hold Fabric, Utility Fabric, Sewing Notions/Ribbon/Twine and Tools.  So far I have unearthed two large bins of UNFINISHED DOLLS, and three large boxes of my sketches and patterns dating back to the 1980's.  Holy Moly and I still have more digging out to do...

 

 

Miss Beebs loves our Day Bed for Beauty Snoozies!

 



Computer Workstation Redo

I have two computers in my studio/nest.  One I use to make my patterns, do graphics and my online work...

 

and one on the other side of the room that I use for making my online videos and home movies. I love doing home movies of all of our projects and renovations.

 

 

I painted both of the desks Country White and moved them both to one location. I like this arrangement much better and it is much more convenient.

 

 

 





1940 Ironing Board and Stained Glass

My Mother purchased this wooden ironing board in 1940 for $3.19.  She paid it out Twenty-five Cents a week until it was paid for.  I am going to put it to good use...

Before



 

After with a rustic coat of Country White Semi

Gloss Latex on the top only

 

After After to be used as an end table

beside my daybed

 

After After

The vintage galvanized food carrier sitting in the floor

contains my beading and ribbon embroidery supplies

 

Poppa made this beautiful Stained Glass Bird
in a class in the late 1970's.  I do wish I could
get him interested in doing stained glass work again :)
 

 

 

End Table Redo

I have had this maple end table for probably 50 years so it was time for a make over since I am redoing my studio/nest.  I use this table for my printer and I also prop my feet up on it to get comfy while working at my computer.

I am delighted with the way it turned out!  A good sanding with 0000 steel wool, a couple of coats of Country White Semi Gloss Latex paint from WalMart and a sweet graphic from The Graphics Fairy.  I transferred the graphic using chalk pastel and then hand painted it with a black Sharpie pen.  After a couple of coats of Poly Sealer, I am ready to put this sweetness to good use for another 50 years!



From Pinterest to Reality...

 

The minute I saw the above picture on Pinterest ( Credit: revisionarylife.blogspot.com ) I immediately knew I wanted a daybed in my studio/nest.  I asked Poppa if he would be interested in building me a daybed.  I got an eyeroll and a no he would not even be interested in building me a night bed :)  Just what I expected, but I thought I would ask any way.

 

A few days later, John, our FedEx guy was at our gate.  Poppa went out to get the package and John said, "It looks like you are getting a daybed."  Poppa said, "Funny thing you should mention that!"

 

I bought this sweet daybed online from WalMart and I put it together myself.  It is good quality wood, well made, well painted, simple design and easy to put together.  With a twin mattress, feather bed and comfy pillows, it is exactly what I wanted for those lazy days and beauty snoozies.  Miss Beebs agrees wholeheartedly.  I put another mattress under the daybed so our other furbabies will have a place to snoozie, too.  Did I ever mention that I LOVE PINTEREST!