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For the first time ever, Inspire Me Thursday’s theme (owl) sparked an immediate image. I saw owl eyes made out of sunflowers, and I was off. Made of fabric, ribbon, felt, and thread. I had fun with the machine embroidery.
It’s taken a few weeks, but I finally got all the fabric that was in the cubes rolled up, put into a basket (if it was too small for rolling), or hung up (if it was too big or had a large motif that was hidden when rolled).
As you can see, I have some more storage space, but that’s good, because this actually isn’t all of the fabric. I have several large boxes of fabric that are set aside for specific projects and when those projects are finished, I’ll be adding what’s left of those fabrics back to the stash. So a little empty space is good.
My worktable has remained manageable, which is fortunate, because I have been busy making cards for friends.
(OK, it’s hard to tell, but really, there’s enough room there for me to sit down with a sheet of paper and draw, paint, glue, whatever.)
And I’m still making mattresses for The Gift of Sensitivity, although mostly I’ve been collecting materials for the next batch.
Now that the weather is getting more summer like (more sun, less rain), I don’t have quite as much time for sewing as I did.
Next to do in the studio:??? I’ve been collecting little display shelves for one of the walls and it may be time to put those up in order to get some of my inspirational things, as well as finished projects, on display and off my work surfaces. Either that, or I need to start going through the boxes in the closet and on the shelves and really organizing things. For example, the majority of my doll-making supplies are in a single box, which means lots of different things thrown together. As I learned a few years ago when I took the time to sort all my beads into separate containers, organized supplies get used. Unorganized ones do not.
The makeover is taking a while because I keep spending the majority of my time working on projects I’ve uncovered. I finished a needle work project over the weekend and have launched into work on a piece that I’ve been dying to make for almost five years.
I continue to roll fabrics when I can (soothing, mindless, color therapy), and I’ve collected a number of baskets, boxes, and tins, all ready to store things when I decide I need to organize something that isn’t currently organized.
Shelves with more rolled fabric
But mostly, I’ve been messing things back up. My current passion is “The Gift of Sensitivity” which is going to be soft sculpture/mixed media illustration for The Princess and The Pea. Currently, I’m making mattresses. I still have to decide how many total I’ll be doing. I originally intended on making the traditional 40, but I’m not sure I’m going to do that now. I have twelve mattresses so far, some finished, some still being embellished to make them look more mattressy, but that doesn’t seem like enough. I suppose if I’m going to really make a lot more, I’ll need to buy more foam (which is my currently filler of choice). The big breakthrough was finding a simpler way to put the mattresses together. They’re small enough that simple construction is key.
Mattresses for The Gift of Sensitivity
Back in February, I started the Needlework Project From Hell. At the time, I claimed I was determined to get the thing done, and in fact, I worked on it steadily until I had all the embroidery and beading done. I had to use a magnifying glass to see what I was doing, and still managed to screw up a lot (as you can see in the photo). I decided to ignore the mistakes and bull my way through (and make the first side I did, which had the most mistakes, the BOTTOM of the pin cushion… 
).
The half on the left is the bottom half.
Because it was such agony to get to this point, I put the project away. I wasn’t up for more hair-tearing having worn myself out getting to this stage. Kelleen finished her cushion recently, despite having to beat the bushes because her kit was short by a couple of tiny, unique beads. So I finally got the little monster back out, and I discovered I had done the right thing in taking a break from it.
The assembly “step” (which made up one-third of the detailed instructions) had you whipstitch the two pieces together through an outline stitch made with thread the same color as the linen. Even with my magnifying glass, it was a nightmare. It took me four hours to put the thing together, and it’s barely 3 inches square. The funny offset that gives it the weird shape was the easiest part of the construction process.
The Pincushion From Hell
So, I have one more thing in my life of which I can say: it didn’t kill me, so it must have made me stronger.
As promised, an update regarding my studio makeover. I found a paper towel holder at the thrift store and was lucky: the holes for the screws lined up with holes in the support bar on my shelving unit. So I was able to hang the paper towels using bolts instead of screws. No holes in the wall, and my paper towels are within easy reach.
I’ve also been working in stages on my fabric storage. Whenever I’m on the phone for a while, I roll up my fabric. I think it’s going to work better than having it folded did. First, you can see all of the fabric at once (lots was getting lost in the stacks I had before), and it seems to take up less space, so I’ll have more room to play with. I’ve decided I need to find a way to hang my large scale Japanese print fabrics, though. When they’re rolled up, you can’t really tell what they look like.
I’ve also been collecting wire bins (at the thrift store) that will fit on the shelves to hold the scraps that are too small to roll. I think my favorite container so far is a recycled zippered plastic bag that a set of sheets came in. Not only can you see what is in it, but is boxed-shaped so it sits up. (It’s in the cube above the yellow and brown fabrics.)
I haven’t made any more progress than this because most of my studio time this week went to machine quilting a piece that I hope to put in our family’s art show this November. It’s a baby quilt for an inner child, and I’m having an interesting time figuring out how to hang the sucker. The obvious thing would be to just attach it to a larger square of fabric, but I’m not sure I’ll like how that would look…
Quilt for an Inner Child
The studio clean-up/reorganization will continue and I’ll keep you posted as I go.
