Livin' La Needle Loca

...and here's my weekend report. I finished one of the bench cushions. No picture yet because we had to move things around and I can't get a clear shot yet. I also sewed two cat cushions. The cats have been fighting over my spinning wheel cover that I accidentally left on the floor. I had some of the pre-quilted fabric leftover from making it, so I made two cat cushions for the, I sewed two covers out of a fabric that has cats doing yoga poses (cute!) and filled them with the leftover fabric pieces. I used velcro closures so I can take the covers off to wash them. Here's Sombra and Tica testing the cushions. I have one cushion on each side of my spinning chair. Of course, Sombra thinks they are both here and cycles between cushions! Poor Tica has to keep moving. On Saturday, the Husband installed the sink cabinet in the studio and did the plumbing. It was not without some issues, which explains why he has not patched the drywall. Let's just say we had to...

...time is moving way too fast! When the husband returned from his vacation to Washington and Oregon, he brought home 3 flowering plants. These plants are pretty sturdy because they survived the drive from Oregon in a car with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days (90+ degrees). The delphinium was the most affected by the heat.. It looked very sad when he brought it in the house, but it bounced back: The lisianthius is losing a lot of its flowers right now. I'll take more pictures of it if it gets more blooms. I like shape and size of the bee balm flowers: As I was taking pictures last night, the light was just right to show off the hairy leaves on this plant: I received the last installment of the 2011-2012 ProVerbial Club. I love the color of this fiber! I'll have to wait to spin it, though. My first priority is the Ravellenic Games that start today. I decided to start with Jessica: This is Goth Chick, a merino top (4 oz) from The Dy...

...yeah,  I missed WIP-it Wednesday. The big WIP right now is the cabinet and plumbing in the studio.  The Husband picked up the cabinet from Home Depot and we had to move my work table out of the way to make room for it. He  has removed some drywall from the dryer side of the wall (which means the dryer had to be moved out the way and is now hanging out in the room) so he could get to the plumbing. He also removed the door jam around the sink alcove to make it easier to move the cabinet in. Of course, it didn't come out in one piece. So, we have holes in the wall, debris on my floor, a work table I can't use, and drywall dust all over the place (again). Let's not even mention the tools on my sewing table (!). And why is the kitchen's brand-new dustpan and brush in my studio when there are two dustpans, a brush, and a broom right outside the door?? Needless to say, my studio is no longer clean and neat. [sigh] [Trying to shake it off] Ahem. Here is the fiber t...

...not nearly as much as I wanted! Between being more tired than I thought when vacation started and projects taking longer than expected, I didn't get as close to "done" as I planned. It took me a couple of days to really get rolling on my tasks. I am not a person to take naps as I just can't sleep during the day. Well, I actually took naps the first couple of days of vacation. Here's the list of what I did and did not accomplish. Move all of the extra boxes out of my studio and unpack the last box. Done! Deal with the apricots (this was an unplanned task) Finished: Canned some apricot halves in light syrup, made apricot preserves, made an apricot galette for Spin-In, and gave a large grocery bag of apricots to a friend. Call UPS to pick up the broken bench to return to the manufacturer once I had the label Done! Buy and install IKEA Anno Amorf panels to hide the washer and dryer Finished: I bought everything I needed Just as I was getting ready to insta...

...where do I begin? First, let me answer Elf's question in the comments from Friday's post. I haven't posted a picture of my thread organization because I'm still not satisfied with it. However, I realized today when I was looking for cream thread, that it works OK. So here it is: Don't judge me for not having the colors perfectly organized by shade. The drawer barely holds 3 Gutermann or Mettler spools across. I went by general color and how they fit in the drawer. I have too many spools of red thread and not enough cream. The decoupage project to redo the photo boxes is taking forever. The Mod Podge is still slightly sticky after drying. To counter the stickiness, I have to spray it with a sealer. Ugh! This is a fussy project and I'll think twice before I do this kind of project again. The teal post-its are temporary until I can make the real labels. I have finished 7 boxes and one wine box. There are still have 14 to do, plus another wine box. ...

...it's day 2 of vacation, but first the eye candy picture.  These flowers are plants in a container in our atrium, which I can see through the studio window: Day 1 of vacation was a shopping day. My goal was to buy some items from the Container Store and buy fabric to recover the fabric drawers in my studio.  Container Store: I wanted a cart to fit between the washer and dryer. They had one, but it was too rickety—I was really disappointed. They did have the cord covers, cedar blocks, and foldable clothes rack I wanted, so it wasn't a wasted trip. I found the fabric I wanted at Eddie's Quilting Bee and successfully avoided buying anything extra. After doing my Tour de Fleece spinning, I worked on re-covering my sewing chair and making a couple of pillows for my spinning chair.  Here's the chair: and the pillows: I think I need to tweak the cover for the chair back because I'm not completely happy the way it hangs down to the seat. I might add so...

...or, as I prefer to call it, Vacation Eve! Starting tomorrow, I have 1.5 weeks to work on the studio and finish up a few things. I'll still be spinning for Tour de Fleece, but I have a long list of studio tasks that will take priority. One of those tasks is to re-cover all of the photo boxes and other boxes I use for storage. I'm having a hard time deciding which colors to use. I don't want then colors to clash with the studio chair and yet I don't want to make the room too drab. Here are my choices: I love the turquoise paper and if my chair wasn't orange (coral? paprika? anything-but-burnt-orange?), I would use it in a heartbeat. The brown and cream papers are very Zen and would add a calmness to the room. I'd use the brown for the main box and the cream for the lids. The brown has a little bit of gold in it, which gives it a little shimmer. Anyway, I need to decide soon as it will take a while to cover the boxes and let them dry. I also plan on...

...let the weekend begin! First, some flowers. These are growing in our neighbor's front yard: They look like Watsonia, but we're not sure. In addition to tons of apricots, we have a few roses: I like this shade, but it's hard to photograph in the morning sun. Up this weekend: More spinning for Tour de Fleece! I'd like to finish the Baby Camel-silk blend I've been spinning since day 5. I think it's dyes with some indigo because the dye is coming off (a LOT) on my hands. Not a complaint...that's just the way indigo-dyed fiber rolls. But I would like to spin something else that doesn't do the same thing. I keep forgetting and scratch my nose or rub my face. It's not a good look. :) I want to take pictures of the fiber I've set aside for the Ravellenic Games. I decided that the fiber I picked for Lafayette is not sparkly enough. I found a fiber that reminded me of Godric, so I'm going to spin that instead. As for the studio, ...

...mostly working on the studio Finished: Fabrics are now stored in their new bookcases Soap and aromatherapy supplies are in their new home (armoire) Quilt wall is up Books: Eternal Kiss of Darkness, Jeaniene Frost Jewels of Tessa Kent, Judith Krantz Cast On, Kill Off, Maggie Sefton First Drop of Crimson, Jeaniene Frost One Grave at a Time, Jeaniene Frost This Side of the Grave, Jeaniene Frost Destined for an Early Grave, Jeaniene Frost Started: 6/9 Sierra Sunrise. Corriedale top from Judy's Novelty Wool (Spinning [ Ravelry ] 6/17 Oriental Dragonfly, Dimensions kit (embroidery) 6/19 Recipe for Summer by Pine Mountain Designs (cross stitch) Worked on: Royale top, 2 oz (Merino-Yak-Silk) top from A Verb for Keeping Warm [ Ravelry ] Works In Progress, did not work on: Anasazi by Susan Portra (needlepoint) Carousel Socks  (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Cazadero Mist handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Seaweed Cardigan (knitting)  [ Ravelry ] Happy Pumpki...

... I think I could get used to taking Wednesdays off! My main goal today was to put my benches together. We assembled one bench and it's very nice: and the inside: Unfortunately, the other bench has issues. I called customer service and they will take back the bad bench and send me a new one. I was hoping that I could buy some pre-made cushions for the benches, but they are wider than the bench cushions I found on-line, The benches are 48-inches wide, with cushion width of 45 inches. I need to make my own cushions...back to Joann's to get foam for the cushion filler. I spent a few hours spinning today. Here is my Tour de Fleece spinning for the last 3 days: I finished the Yak Survey sampler and started a Baby Camel-Silk blend from A Verb For Keeping Warm. I'm really loving how this one is spinning up. It's very smooth! Happy Fourth of July! .

...and happy Tour de Fleece!  First up, the weekend report. On Saturday, I redid my quilt wall. It was fine in my old room when there was a bookcase on one side and a door on the other. In the studio. the edges of the wall are quite evident and every imperfection shows. I took it down, cleaned up the edges and squared up the corners (well as much as I could considering that the batting tends to stretch when you don't want it to!) I made a quick trip to Michael's for some white grosgrain ribbon. After I tacked up the batting as level as I could get it, I added the ribbon as an edging using a level to help keeps things straight. A few hours (yes, hours) later, I declared it done. It's not perfect, but I can live with it. I think the ribbon edging adds a nice touch. (you can see it in one of the pictures below. We also installed the drapery rod and hung the curtains. It's a new rod and brackets, but we were able to reuse the old screw holes. The curtains are a little...