in honor of handwork

From my personal collection of pieces by my great-grandmothers (you may have caught a glimpse in this recent post):

Some of it is embroidery but others must have names that I don't know. The tiny green woven knots floating in the openings on the pillowcase? The astounding intricacy in purple on another pillowcase? If you happen to know what the processes used to create these are called, please leave a comment and let me know.

inspiration up on the line

I think a physical existing Pinterest, whether that be a bulletin board or a clothesline or some other creation, can be a festive way to decorate one's creative space.

I have long had a clothesline where I clipped bits and pieces I enjoyed in my art room. However, when we put up a metal curtain wire in my daughter's room for displaying her art, I knew that's what I really wanted. As I accumulated beautiful fabric creations, the art of my great-grandmothers, I realized that I wanted a place to display those items as well. So I came up with the idea for a second line. When I finally made it to IKEA again, I  made good on my vision. A special thank you to the husband who installed them!

Before (good):

After (better):

And a cluck cluck here...

And a cluck cluck there...

I am happy to report I have cleaned my art room and rearranged the furniture to better reflect my current emphasis on sewing versus paper crafts. I also got started on the stuffed hen and baby chickies I am making for my own baby chicky's first birthday. It was a satisfying weekend in the creative realm!

modge podge mania

In a sudden burst of energy that I will attribute to nesting, I have been devoting my energy to organization projects that will in no way affect the well-being of anyone else in the family, especially not the awaited baby.

One of those projects is the art room. It recently lost its function as the home office. After it lost its desk to the daughter's big girl room, I was left with a box of office supplies. The box is still waiting for attention, actually. With no computer down there it didn't make sense to leave the printer I haven't used in years down there. With the printer gone, it made little sense to have a dresser full of paper for said printer. And since I am going to be doing more sewing than scrapbooking, it makes sense to shift which supplies are most readily accessible and think harder about how to store and organize fabric. Plus, I have that sewing machine to locate in a new home. And so on.

So I have been quite busy moving and rearranging and re-purposing furniture. And sorting and recycling and Goodwill-ing and trashing and Freecycle-ing. I am finding it quite refreshing to purge and organize.

Part of all of this has been to attend to a project that has been on "the list" since I made it in July. And that was to modge podge some storage boxes and create labels for them. So for the past few weekends I have been working on covering those boxes with leftover posters from the Library. A fun new purpose for my old graphic design projects.

 An introduction to my chaos! In my defense, the contents of the boxes had to be dumped out before I could mod podge them.

In the closet (special thanks to the husband for adding more shelving a while back!)

On the shelf (once part of the office, now for sewing supplies)