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

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