Moving update for those of you who are helping...

...in spirit that is!!

The up side of all this is I get to fondle my stash as I pack, albeit very quickly.

Remember the bookshelves filled with boxes?  Those boxes went and new ones are piled up, and the cases are labeled for placement.  All this stuff is going on the 26th when DH's largest Bible Study group are bringing their pick up trucks (living in a rural community is nice, almost everyone has a truck!) and helping with a major move.

Remember that closet that was emptied, well it is getting full to overflowing again, but it sure is nice to have a place to put the packed boxes.  Anyone want an antique Singer hem marker? The rubber bulb is still soft, and there is even chalk in it.  If nothing else it will be a conversation piece...along with my antique ironing board. lol

 

There were two large bookcases here in this wall, they went last week and we are using the space for packed boxes.  We have rounded up all the plants except this one and are caring for them on an antique ironing board in the living room.  They will be moved on the final day.

 

The living room is packed and and all the furniture is stacked to go.  Our living room suite is a piece of cake to move, it is sectional and made of rattan.....light as a feather.  The cushions are heavier than any one piece of the furniture.

 

This is the last unpacked studio section.  I need it as I am rushing to finish a commission piece before everything is in boxes and gone to our new home where I will not be able to find anything for quite a while.

I had better get to this soon, as everyone keeps piling things into this area (I won't dare show you what is on the other side of this table.....there is even a 55 gallon drum rain barrel brought in off the patio to thaw so we can empty it for moving!) 

This table has actually been cleared twice now.  It's as if people are rounding up stuff and herding it into a pile for me to deal with, it makes for a strange assortment of stuff in boxes when you are trying to pack like with like.  There will be some surprises at the other end. 

If I can get it clear again I will fold it up and lean it up against a wall.....that'll fix 'em.......or will they just start burying my sewing machine??  Believe it or not my trusty Husky is set up on the far side of that mountain of stuff in the picture.  Honest!

I will post about the progress on the bag.

On the move again........

We are pacing in readiness for our move...supposed to be Dec. 31, but our landlord has not settled the 30 months left on our lease.  We don't want to go till that is done.  It is difficult to hire a mover saying "I'll gladly pay you Thursday for a move you do today."  Especially if you are not sure you will get enough to pay the bill!

My husband had his Bible Study buddies over on Friday (Remembrance Day...and remember what friends are for day!) and they moved a LOT of stuff.

Picture this cupboard (tilt your head a bit and squint) full to the top with the orange boxes pictured below.  My button stash and my upholstery fabric stash.
I filled this up to the top again today in readiness for the next moving day. All larger boxes with fabric and my yarn stash in them.  I emptied a cabinet that we are going to use in the dining room in the new place.  These two bookshelves will go to when we move the office, they are the back wall for it.

Two bookshelves just like these and the boxes of all the books that were packed solidly in them went to the new place, and three boxes of books went to my Art Quilting group.  I spent the day with them as my DH did not want me around annoying the young fellows who were moving.  (i.e. mud on floors, breakage, putting stuff in the wrong place at our new home......etc.)  I managed to forward three boxes of books to friends this way, had to bring very few home again.

On the way home we stopped at the new place, and I did have to spend an hour with a very nice fellow moving boxes to their proper place so that the heavy furniture can be placed exactly the first time.  I do not want to have to play Chinese Puzzle with boxes and heavy furniture when I get there.  I planned out on graph paper exactly where everything is to go.  We only want to schlepp the furniture around once.

 

 

Notice the ties are all gone...seven big boxes!  More empty boxes a table to be sorted and a willing to help cat.  We are finding a multitude of cat toys behind and under stuff.  The cat is happy.  (This morning while I was on the loo he brought me a little orange ball and we played fetch for a looong time.  He had me captured on the throne and at his mercy, and he brought the ball right back to my feet every time.....he has no off button!) 

I also swept up enough cat hair to make another cat!  I am going to have to find a way to keep stuff from creeping or being played under the rolling bins.  I might just leave the wheels off after the move.

And yes I do feel a bit topsy-turvy.......guess where they put stuff that was on the furniture that I did not want moved yet...yep, you're right...on the nearest flat surface.  And yes I had to go and get some stuff for the commission I am doing (has to be done before Christmas) and bring it back!  Lots of packing yet to do.

But I refuse to whinge about the small stuff, those guys worked very hard and I am sooo grateful.  They were using two vans and two pick-up trucks and they made two trips each fuelled only by two boxes of donuts!  Next time I will have Pizza for them, but I wasn't there.  Remember...I had been sent away for the day!

One of our friends hid a big box of ties (rose boxes from the flower shop, 1' x 1' x 4') on me.  He is always teasing me that I have too much stash, only that is not what he calls it.  I noticed right away and remarked about it.  I had found in the garage, but was not going to let on.  Today I told him that if he touched that tie box in the garage I would tear his arm off and stick the wet end in his ear!We had a good laugh.

I have finished packing for today, but I must admit that it is lovely to go through it all and fondle it a bit while repacking it.

Tired but satisfied sigh,

Dianne Leatherdale Johnson

I'm sitting on horses again...Wheeee!

The chairs have been done, it has been 18 months but very well worth waiting for and the price was right...free.  A friend of ours is a professional upholsterer (the fellow who gives me all his old samples) offered to do them for free.  I bought the fabric a long time ago, a friend and I were out browsing at a roll-end outlet and while we found a couple of ho-hum pieces that would match my dining room, nothing special popped out.  Until Pat shrieked and I came running....she had found this positively fabulous fabric.  I bought a lot of it!  (Ulterior Motive:  more stash!) This stuff is so beautiful I would have repainted the dining room!

I don't think I could live with a whole sofa of it (it would be appropriate for the lounge in a bordello!)  but for the dining room chairs it is great.
It was hard getting the lighting right, it is actually a bit more olive and taupe.

Now to go make a bag using it.

Happier Hips

My dh suffers so much when I am in pain (he would never have made it through childbirth!) asked me to ask the chiropractor what he could do to help me.  I don't think the doctor is in the habit of giving away his secrets though.  Last night my dh called me over to look at a video with him and as I bent forward in my chair the ice pack in my tight pants pushed the bad hip into place!  Praise the Lord! 

 

So apparently all my dh has to do is watch videos with me!!

 

I am much better today, but still sitting with an ice pack to reduce inflammation.  I am going to get into my studio and plow through some more of the stuff,  I have only about 18 more bins to sort through.  I am finding strange things....a blouse I made 25 years ago...still fits!  At my size I am not sure that is a good thing!  lol

 

Better days ahead!

All Tied Up

Or should that be all the ties are up??  I have finally finished sorting and hanging up my tie collection....sort of....some of the hangars are a tad varied still.  I need more hangars.....I need more racks!  The bottom row is actually a double row with the darker ties in the back, sort of.  I pulled most of the striped ties and all the plain ones, but will save them for bindings.  Some where in that closet among the 23 bins that I have to go through yet is another big bin of striped ties.....I am tie-erd of ties.   Here is the picture I promised:

< 2nd bin of striped ties

This is my stash of upholstery samples, yarns and buttons:

I had all the buttons sorted to size and colour (washed too!) and was at the Self Help store the next day and a huge jar of mixed buttons jumped right into my hands...it now reigns right in the middle of the first button shelf.  All this orderliness keeps me from being called a hoarder. If you look real close, I mean really close you can see my studio helper, Buddy.

This is my "Happy Place"  between my sewing machine and the three patio doors (north east light) is a 2' by 4' ironing table that doubles as a chair and a mini step ladder should I wish to unfold the thing.  All I have to do is just turn around to press something and look out at the tomatoes on our deck. Much nicer than gazing at the studio and realizing that I really do work in a midden!

I made a thread rack with four layers of foam core stuck together with thin double sided tape.  I finished the edges with masking tape, poked holes with an awl and used sandwich picks to hang the spools on.  The spacing could have been a bit further apart, but I'm and artist, not an engineer....what can I say?

 I my studio has come a long way from what I started with:

This picture is amusing now but at the time it was pretty scary, it was like one of those puzzles where you have to move the letters around and there is only one empty space!

I am getting some where here.  I have fallen heir to more space as DH is taking over the spare bedroom for his egg studio...he is an egg carver.  120 square feet plus 60 square feet in a closet. Big grin :).  Hence my present cleaning and sorting spree.  What I am actually doing is my usual procrastinating before starting a new piece.  I need a kick in the butt!

Please take a moment to think of the sacrifices some of our loved ones have made in the various wars our countries have been involved in.  Because of them we are free to work in our studios.