This blog is going away!

I have decided that I am going to do away with this blog. There have been a couple of issues that have come up that I am having trouble accepting and so have started a blog somewhere else. It is the same name but will be on wordpress.

If you want to continue following me please go there. It is: https://wandagrandmaquilter.wordpress.com/

Wanda

Work, work, work!

Hello everyone,

Wow, a lot gets done when you keep on working at stuff. Am I done with my fabric? Nope, but I've accomplished so much (most of which has to do with Christmas gifts). Something I can tell you about is the hand built pottery pieces I've made and making. Hubby and I are going to a craft show in a few weeks to show his pottery and I wanted to make some more pieces to take. It takes a while for them to dry and get ready so I've had to make them now for them to be ready.

What have you got going on?

Talk to you later.
Wanda

It's crazy what can happen in a couple of days...

Hello everyone,

Wow, it only takes a blink and time sure flies! I've been working on the studio...fabric. Just so you know I am NO way close to finished but what I have in the room is done. I've been working on getting them on the shelves, drawers, etc, nice and neat. I have to make a run to Dollar Tree to get more cutting mats and straight pins so that I can work on the rest as I get them done.

When I say I am no way close to being done let me show you what I mean:

This is the pile I have to go through.

My fabric has been stored in the basement for several years without regard to the humidity & dust (not me, I care). So I have to wash it all and then I have to press it all and then I can get it on the shelves, drawers, etc.

Where is it going you ask? Well, take a look.

Here are the shelves. Top is flannel & Christmas is in the shoe box, next is the lace (lace scraps and strings are in the 2 shoe boxes, the next two shelves are cottons, the next shelf (second from the bottom) is fleece & leather/pleather, and the last shelf is home dec fabrics. All the cottons are 1/2 yard or larger pieces

This is my Fat Quarters, 1/4 yard to less than 1/2 yard pieces.

These are for my Bonnie Hunter Scrap System. To find out more about it go here.

These are the 1 1/2" strips and squares & the 2" strips and squares.

These are the 2 1/2" strips and squares & the 3 1/2" strips and squares. 

This last stack is the 6" strips & squares.

The red bucket & white basket are the pieces that will be cut into the strips and squares. That will come but right now I am trying to get the fabric washed and put in the room.

More to come.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Yarn is done!

Hello everyone,

It's been a productive couple of days. I've finished my yarn clean up and have a couple of pictures to show it off. Here goes:

Most of the yarn is here. Top shelf has misc. bundles (whether skeins or balls). Next shelf has mostly my crochet cotton.

The very bottom shelf here (really the next to the bottom shelf) is a couple of special projects I have going. 

I've started working on my sewing area because I have to make several sewing projects and need it cleaned. Pictures will come as I get it done.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Work has continued..

Hello everyone,

I've resumed work in the studio. I went down Friday for several hours and several hours Saturday. Started working on the tangle of yarn I have fown there. It's been insane the nest yarn becomes when left on it's own for a few months. It's beginning to look better, maybe another day or two of work and I can take a picture to show you.

Do you know we have less than 3 months until Christmas? So, with that in mind I've started working on a few gifts. Gifts will be simple this year. Will tell you more later (don't want to spill the beans if anyone "special" is watching).

More work tomorrow on the studio, plus work upstairs too.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Decorating for the Fall

Hello Everyone,

Well, the decorating is nearly done, I've got a couple things to get and put in the bathroom. It's sometimes hard to decorate (something I love to do), especially around the Barbies and Tonka trucks. Most of the decorating goes into the dining room and main bathroom. Thought you might like to see what I have done so far.

Here is the living room:

The arrangement I made a little over a week ago. This is on the entertainment system. I'm hoping to get some pieces of logs to add to this arrangement.

This is my Scarecrow couple. They are about 3 ft tall and I think they are cute (daughter thinks they are creepy).

 Here is my dining room all decked out:

The side board. I collect salt and pepper shakers, Can you tell?

From the other end of the side board.

 

The table center piece. This is the everyday placemats. I have some napkins that match the table cloth and a white lace table cloth that will go over this one for Thanksgiving day.

 Right now the only decoration I have in the main bathroom is my little apple basket scarecrow but I will be putting up my fall leaves in several places (photos will follow when I get them done but I have to climb to get them and I'm not up to climbing right now).

My little apple basket scarecrow. He's about 18" tall. Don't you love his little black cat?

So far my guess is you have figured out my favorite fall decorating item is scarecrows. Here is the set I have in the kitchen. The girl is an angel scarecrow. Love them.

Still not able to get the studio but am really praying I can get down there this weekend.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Hanging out at the Dentist?

Hello Everyone,

So glad yesterday is over. Spent the part of day at the dentist and the rest in bed. I don't know about you but I have a love/hate with my dentist. Now don't get me wrong, he's a really nice guy but think I would like him better if he had a different vocation. Why do I hate the dentist...obvious reasons...pain, noise of machines, pain, shots, oh and did I mention pain. Why do I love the dentist...makes my mouth healthier.

Since I didn't make it to the studio yesterday and I'm working on decorating for fall and cooking a big meal (my son and his fience are coming over), there won't be any big posts. I will be showing off my decorations tomorrow.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

A Day of Celebration

Hello everyone,

Today has been a great day of celebration at my home. My granddaughter turned 8 today. Eight? I'm not old enough to have an eight year granddaughter. Well, I am and very proud of my monkey (almost called her little monkey).

Here are a couple of pictures of the great day.

Her favorite things: Horses!

Her favorite present. She loves to dress up.

It's been a great day. Hope that I can get down to the studio Monday. I will be quiet tomorrow because it is Sunday.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Hanging out upstairs today

Hello everyone,

Once again I'm upstairs for the day but I wanted to show you what I did the other day. One of the things I tried to do while I was having headaches was to make sure I went out every once-in-awhile so that I didn't become a hermit. One of the things I got was the supplies to make an arrangement for the top of the entertainment center. I didn't want flowers but something different. I found some silk bushes of leaves, feathers and pine cones. I think it turned out great. What do you think?

Now, once I get rid of the headache, I am going to do some decorating and also some more cleaning in the studio.

Hope you enjoyed my new arrangement.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Back to the Living!

Hello Everyone,

I know, I know, you are so very surprised to see a post from my blog because you had forgotten you were following me since I haven't made a post since July.

Let me get the health issues out of the way. I'm still having the headaches but they are fewer and less intense because of the botox shots. The dizziness and balance issues have gone away after a spinal tap. The tests for maniers turned out to be negative and they weren't sure what was causing the dizziness/balance issues and thought it might be that I was having spinal headaches, so a spinal tap was ordered. 48 hours after the test the dizziness was gone and I was stable on my feet. I haven't had any dizziness since. I've been driving and doing things on my own, what a relief. No one has figured out what happened and what caused it but I'm just glad it's over.

Now on to the fun stuff.

While hanging out in my room for the last few months I was able to work on a few things. All by hand and I have a few more pictures of some things I made (and received from the swaps I had joined).

Small crocheted bunny pin cushion

The Brick pin cushion (there are many appliqued flowers and leaves)

3 felt bunny pin cushions

 And as the recipient posted them on her blog:

Pretty bunnies

Crocheted musical note (the recipient is a music teacher)

And the one's I received (if I duplicate some from earlier posts forgive me it's been awhile since I did them).

This is a cool looking machine embroidered piece. I love it.

My pink chicken...love it!

Love this one because it has my favorite color in my initial.

A bunny, yeah!

This was a small quilt swap. I did this all by hand. It was cool

The person who I sent this to wanted something spring and bright colors.

I had asked for pink and that was all. Little did she know I love carousels.

Amazing! And she sent the pattern and extra of the center fabric with it. So excited.

I have decided to make a hot pink and white Christmas tree in my studio. So I have made a few ornaments.

An online blog friend asked for some pattern testers and I joined in. This is my colors of her pattern. Love them.

So, I wasn't sitting around doing nothing but now that I can climb down the stairs, I have been back down in the studio. Since it has been a while since I have been in there it had become a dump of my stuff. First off the desk had to be cleaned off. I did a few other things but I have to save something for tomorrow. Come back and see if I did, LOL.

Talk to you later,
Wanda

Blog is once again put on the back burner

Hello friends,

It's been several months since I last did a post. Health issues once again has taken my time and energy.

Today makes 4 months that I haven't been able to go to the studio. So any creations have had to be upstairs. I have done some things and will show you later.

Most of my days have been spent in my room either sleeping off a headache, resting or gently doing handwork.

For an explanation here it is shortened, I have had migraines constantly. MRI's have been done, medications and shots have been tried. The last thing to be tried has been Botox and it has helped the most so far. Now I'm having dizziness, balance issues and hearing loss. I am now being tested for Maniers Disease. So once again I am doing almost nothing. I haven't been able to drive for over 2 months. So, for now I do what I can when I can.

However, I have created some small things.

Working on projects

Hello Everyone,

It's been an eventful few weeks. Migraines, shoulder issues (with a miraculous ending), handwork on projects and a little cleaning of the studio.

Just a quick mention that my posting may not be very often but I will jump on every once and a while.

Medical issues are being taken care of. As for the shoulder issues, we thought I had a tear in my rotater cuff but my grandson bumped it and popped it into place. Lots of aches still but it isn't painful to move.

I've been working on more swaps and have had to do them upstairs, so lots of handwork going on. I've sent a pincushion to England, have another pincushion about ready to mail, and I'm working on a small quilt for another swap. I'm nearly done with the quilt.

I've also agreed to help with a pattern test and I'm working on it and hope to have it done soon. I love what I've done so far, I've used 2 colors (she used 3 and wrote the pattern for 3).

As for the craft studio, I've been working on sorting and filing some of my patterns, stencils and info. I've finally finished the stencils. I've also filed most of my patterns (I have a couple that need some pieces printed). The info part of the filing is now in 2 baskets. I have to sort them and put them in the file cabinet.

I've also been working on decorating with some of my "pretties". I bought some children's hangers and am now in the process of getting some of the kids and grandkids old clothes hung and I will put up a clothes line for them to hang on (I've lost some that I had in an old suitcase. I can't find the suitcase, hoping hubby knows where it is).

I thought I would show you some of my ribbons and how they are stored in the dresser.

The top drawer has black and white ribbons and laces.

The second drawer has reds, pinks, oranges, yellows and purples.

The third drawer has creams, tans, browns, greens and blues.

I don't have a picture of the bottom drawer but it has large rolls in it. These ribbons are various colors. They are on their original rolls but the rest are on the same size pieces of foam core board.

More room to come.

Thanks for stopping by. Talk to you later,
Wanda

The first photos of the "Studio"

Hello everyone,

Welcome to those who have decided to follow this crazy blog. I now have 40 cool people!

Today is a great day. I've been working more on the studio and I thought I would show each of the areas one at a time. :)

This is the first area I want to show you. It's part of my sewing center.

The top part is the hutch from my desk. I always felt closed in with it on my desk and I wanted it off but thought I could use it somewhere else. Here we go.

On the very top is a pair of the locker shelves that I got for a steal when the school supplies went on sale after school started (want to guess the color...yup hot pink), on top of that are wooden letters I got at Michaels and they are attached to a piece of wood I had left from another project (it's painted white). This piece of wood spans the 2 shelves.

The white boxes are my "Scrap Saver System". It is based on Bonnie Hunter's system (see here). I will collect 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", and 6" Strips and squares. I will start with these boxes but may have to work to somewhere else as I go along because I haven't gotten to the fabric yet.

At the end of each of the piles of boxes are my "babies" riding their special rides. I love carousel animals and rocking horses. I got these years ago and they are special to me.

In the "hutch" are pieces that I have had around and some I "glammed" up for my sewing supplies. Pink and white are my main colors for my studio (eventually I will have the furniture in those colors - in time). They are more of the photo boxes (bought at several places), cookie tins, popcorn tins, hand made storage pieces (I'll go into more of these pieces in the future). The white box on the left is my "to take upstairs box", I have to have someplace like that because I can get a lot of stuff going and things get buried.

The base to this are 2 4-drawer chest of drawers. These were my great aunts and I am blessed to have them.

 I intend covering them with fabric using starch. Don't have the fabric yet but am on the look-out.

The set on the left have WIPs (Works In Progress). Right now they are full (more than one in most of the drawers) but hope they will start to empty. Was thinking that I have no idea what to put in them when they are empty.

The set on the right have my ribbon in them. I'm using pieces of foam core as the "spools". The large jar above them has the small pieces of ribbon. I'm still finding ribbon in my "stuff"

I will show the inside of the drawers in another post.

The iris drawers will hold my fat quarters and anything between 6" wide and 1/4 yard. Right now they are a bit empty but like I said I haven't gotten my fabric done yet. The basket on top was a Christmas gift from my son and his fiance and is holding (for the time being) my patterns for "crafty" items (anything that isn't clothing). I hope to use it for my pre-cut pieces (5" stacks, 2 1/2" stacks).

The little blue magazine rack in front of the dresser is going to be put under my desk for some "tall" supplies or just some supplies I use often but don't want to keep on the desk.

I've joined a pin cushion swap and have made a couple of pieces to send to some new friends and have received some really nice ones.  Want to see some?

Here you go:

The ones I made:

I've made 2 of these. You can get the pattern here.

This is a beaded basket. This is my own design.

Now these are the one's I've received so far:

So cute. I'm in love.

So beautiful. I love the tea cup so much.

That's the first of several (I hope) posts about my wonderful studio. I'm loving this place and love working in here. Keep coming back and you will see the room, one area at a time.

Talk to you later,

Wanda

Quickly...not!

Hello everyone,

I hope your day is going absolutely wonderful. It's been nice here in North Carolina but the weather can change quickly. Tomorrow there is supposed to be rain and snow (I don't think we will really get snow but you never know).

Today was an upstairs day (no studio today). The morning was a bit slow in getting going but this afternoon was for my grandkids.

Tomorrow will be another studio day and I'm getting excited about how far I've gotten on the organization. More on that tomorrow.

I will leave you with a picture of a couple of items I've made.

Talk to you later,

Wanda

Why make changes?

Hello again,

Thought I would give you some insight into why I'm making changes. I am normally an upbeat and see the up side of things. However, I felt like I had lost my joy.

What changed? My husband has semi-retired. He has always been an inspiration for me and now he is encouraging me to accomplish some of my dreams. The first is my craft studio.

Ok more is being done daily and with the way things are coming together I should have it done soon.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Talk to you later,

Wanda

(PS this is the first time I've put up a post from my phone. If it looks wieird I'll fix it tomorrow.)

Changes

Hello everyone,

As you can see there are a few changes around here. Don't see any? Well, you must be looking at me through a reading site. Click here and check me out. Cool right?

There are a lot of changes in my life and I wanted my blog to reflect it. You may also notice that there are no prior posts. I did away with the old posts (don't worry, I copied them all) because this is a fresh new change and I didn't want any of the old, depressing stuff to interfere.

So, what is in store for you, my faithful friends who have stuck by me through all the insanity? You are going to see, in the near future, some really interesting, and fun stuff. I will be showing off my studio, showing off some of my projects, WIPs, and maybe even a tutorial or two or three or four. It will be fun to get back into the swing of things.

I will also, add to the blog with interesting places to visit on the web. It will be fun to see other bloggers and crafters showing off their talent.

So. here we go:

First place I want you to visit is a blogging friend of mine. She is a great lady and very generous with her talents. Today, she revealed her new blog header and I think it is wonderful. Please go and visit Ms. Jenny of Elefantz. She has a lot of stuff going on and a few freebies to boot.

Tomorrow, a sneak peek at my studio.

Bye for now, talk to you later.

Wanda