Be*mused

My space

A few weeks ago, Anita at Bloomin' Workshop suggested that since so many were blogging about spring cleaning in their creative spaces, we should have one day to show them off.  Today's the day.  What a great idea!  The deadline definitely caused me to power through where I might have just left a few piles here and there for *another day*.  So, come on in!

 

While this room is absolutely the best sewing space I've ever had, it's not without its unique challenges.  This photo is taken from the doorway.  My fabric is to the right and the design wall is to the left.  The remaining walls, which you can see here, each have ceiling-to-floor windows...great for light, but difficult to work around.  Additionally, on the back wall, there are two closets (you can see one above) which, while providing storage space, also make it challenging to arrange workspace.

 

From the opposite side of the room, you can see that my design wall is still just leaning against the wall.  It's fine for now...we plan to get some Z-clips to mount it higher soon. 

 

Here's the shot you were waiting for.  I love, love, love these Ikea Expedit units.  I pulled the fabric forward for the photos (and will do so when I'm choosing fabrics for a project) but the sections are 15" deep so generally I keep the fabric pushed back to protect it from fading.  I was fortunate that the windows came with plantation shutters, so that although the room is a nice, bright workspace, I can darken it pretty well by closing the shutters when I'm away.

 

This is the heart of the room, my *work area*.  The table looks like the only thing that doesn't belong in here yet it's my favorite piece, for two reasons....sentiment and function.  It was my grandmother's kitchen table in the 50s and then our family's kitchen table for years.  Somewhere along the way it got *antiqued* and although I always had other plans for it, I just never got around to it.  Incredibly, *picky me* hardly notices its unfortunate color anymore.  The picket-fence chairs have been re-glued so many times that I'm down to just one that's still functional (unless you're a twig).  However, sentiment alone wouldn't have saved it.  It's simply a great table!  While the center workspace is generous, with two drop leaves it can be quickly extended to accommodate a big project.  I've basted many bed-sized quilts on it over the years.

 

When we got the Expedits put together, I loved the clean look of the storage area and decided that the room could accommodate two more small Billy bookcases.  I'll use this one for books and fabric for ongoing projects.  I haven't sorted everything yet...just put things on shelves to get everything off of the floor.  From now on, if it doesn't fit on a shelf, something's going!  For years I've had piles and boxes stacked in my workspace and I'm done with that.

When everything was finally put together and a floorplan decided on, I started arranging my books and fabric.  I was so excited...everything was looking so fresh and clean.  A place for everything and everything in its place, for the first time.  And then I noticed something.   

  Acckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!

 

I had rushed ahead on this last piece on my own and never flipped it over before nailing the backing into the bottom shelf.  So the raw, back edge is front forward.  And the finished edge is now facing back and studded with tack holes.  This is the kind of thing that really bugs me! 

 

Fortunately, I keep things within arm's reach to help calm me down.

I do prefer a more neutral wall color so eventually I'd like to change that.  And I'd like to get some things up on what little wall space there is...a bulletin board, and some small art pieces that are still packed somewhere.  But for now, it's wonderful.  And I really need to shift my decorating focus to the rest of the house, which has been patiently waiting for some decisions to be made.  Soon.

***Added later:  So many of you commented on the room color that I researched it.  If you're interested, it's Benjamin Moore #634, Forest Valley Green.

The longest winter

 

Hasn't this winter felt like the longest ever?  It's cold out today, and gray, but I definitely feel a new enthusiasm.  On Saturday, we went into the city to meet some old friends for lunch.  Planned as a quick trip, we decided to go in a little early, giving me a chance to run into my favorite shop to poke around a bit.  I came out with this little sweater, something between periwinkle and lavender...one of my favorite colors.  For now, it's enough to enjoy it thrown over the back of a chair.

  

There's finally a new hand project in the works.  I've never used Rowan DK before.  I think I'm in love.  Aside from its luscious color range, it's got a wonderful soft hand.  As yet, I've only played around with color combinations because several of my choices have been back-ordered.  These nine colors look especially appealing, though.  I'm resisting the urge to forge ahead with this palette until I can consider the rest of my selection, which should be en route shortly.

 

For now, it's back to the sewing room.   

Yay, who-hoo and (more) whoopie!

 

Ahhh......pristine!  So many possibilities!  Like a blank canvas!

 

Oh yeah, right.  This all needs a place to go..... 

A few people requested my whoopie pie recipe so I decided to post it.  Mind you, this is a true Maine recipe from the 1950s.  If you're a food purist, you may want to shuffle along now, but if you want a taste of regional history, give these a try.

Whoopie Pies

Cream together:

• 6 TBSP Crisco
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 5 TBSP cocoa
• 1 tsp. salt

Drop by tablespoon on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Filling:

• 1 cup marshmallow fluff
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup Crisco

Beat the above, adding small amount of milk until desired consistency.  (Which would be something like frosting....)

When the chocolate halves have cooled, pair them up by size and shape.  Generously spread filling on one side, top with mate and wrap each pie individually in plastic wrap.  (Important, to keep moist.)   

Whoopie pies taste best with a big glass of cold milk.  Oh, and if you've got kids, make sure you put a couple aside for yourself before setting them out.

Whoopie!

After months of searching for a good block in which to use some of my contemporary Japanese fabrics, I think I found it today.  It feels great to be back in the sewing room.  We painted an adjacent room last month and all of its furniture ended up crammed in around my tables and stash for a couple of weeks.  Not conducive to getting much done.

 

Around the same time, I was again considering new shelving to replace these awful metal *garage* units on which I've stored my fabric forever.  I was always planning to replace them, but other things often took precedent...tuition, trips, a little more fabric...heh.  And we never lived near an Ikea, so options were limited, if not out of my price range.  After much consultation with online friends about their solutions to storage (Maryjo was most helpful), I bought a 2x4 Expedit unit to try out.  I initially thought it was going to be too deep, but after living with it for a couple of weeks, have decided that it's perfect and this weekend we'll be heading back to Ikea to get another 2x4 as well as a 4x4.  I may have my dream sewing room by the time Anita hosts her *share your space* challenge.

If you've grown up in Maine like I did (or Pennsylvania, apparently), just the thought of whoopie pies will start your mouth watering.  I made them frequently when the kids were little, using my mother's old handwritten recipe.  Nothing made the kids happier than to see me dropping spoonfuls of that chocolate cake batter on a cookie sheet.  This week, K forwarded us a link to a New York Times article about the new found popularity of whoopie pies at high-end bakeries around the country.  Somehow, I can't imagine much improvement over our Saran-wrapped originals.  After reading the article, I was tempted to whip up a batch...to, er, photograph for the blog, of course.  But I thought better of it, considering summer clothes are starting to seep into my consciousness.  However, within a few hours of receiving the link from K, up popped an email from Molly that started, "When I come home next month, do you think you could make some wh..." 

Now to put it all back in some order

   

I just got back from picking up my new glasses...pair #2.  The first pair had a lens problem, necessitating return, repeat exam, regrinding and now, hopefully, the answer to my close vision problem.  I thought the first pair was fine, but after several days it became apparent that they weren't.  The new ones look and feel promising, so time will tell.  But it finally feels like spring around here so things are definitely looking up!

In the meantime, I've had a project to occupy my time while the handwork waits.  K's fiancée asked me recently if I could dig out some childhood photos of him for a project she's working on.  Simple enough...for most people.  For although I took photos of every event (and non-event!), I never put them in albums.  I admit it, it was that perfectionist thing...I could never find an album I liked.  When the kids were small, it was difficult to find anything beside those albums that had the plastic peel-off over-sheet pages.  Yuk.  Then the sleeve pages became popular, but on each page the sleeves were either horizontal or vertical, making sequential shots almost impossible to group together.  Then there was the warning about PVC in plastic pages leeching the color out of photos.  By the time nicer albums became more available, I had so many photos that it seemed too overwhelming to even consider.  That was about 10 years and another few thousand photos ago.

 

This is just a small peep into what I've been wading through this week.  Stationed in a small spare bedroom, I've been weeding through boxes and boxes (and boxes!) of zip-locked bags of photo envelopes, flat storage boxes of studio portraits, school photos, sport team & ballet photos and finally, reels and boxes of slides.  I started to tackle this a few years ago, so at least the zip-locked bags of photos were post-it noted by year.  But this was only small relief. 

As anyone who's done this knows, it takes forever because 1.) each photo elicits a memory and 2.) inevitably as you cull through the stacks, you start remembering favorite photos and "I know it must be in here somewhere!!"  I'm happy to say that I finally put my hands on each and every *family favorite* and scanned them into Flickr so that I'll never have that problem again.  And I came across a few true archaeological finds...the first known photo of Molly knitting and this high school photo of me and some friends on a trip to Cape Cod in 1971. 

That would be me in the tie-dyed undershirt and the hand woven string belt.  Hey, we were still hippied-out from the sixties!  And you didn't think I just got 'all crafty' recently, did you?

Flattened

No palm tree getaway this time.  My absence was due to a stomach bug (flu?) that absolutely flattened us last week.  I can't recall ever being as wiped out, so sick that even sitting up required some effort.  We have finally emerged from the land of gingerale and saltines, though I am still treading lightly in the menu department.  My jeans are quite loose this morning and with a forecast of 70 degrees & sunny tomorrow, I'm looking at the bright side...lost week = good start on summer shapeup!  M lost 13 lbs over 5 days, but seems resistant to my enthusiasm to use it as a springboard to a slimmer summer profile.  *grin* 

So I'm playing catch-up today, just trying to get things back to some order around here.  No photos...believe me, there's nothing you'd want a photo of from my last week!  However, I'd never post without at least *something* to show you.  I found a new blog last week that knocked me off my feet...or was that the flu?   Nevermind.  It's like falling down a fabulous, colorful rabbit hole.  If you've had enough of winter, go visit Lucy at Attic24.  (This post made me smile.)  As advertised, I'll bet she'll *brighten your day*.  Back soon!

Worth a look

*Imagine a photo here...palmettos swaying in the breeze by the pounding surf. 

**I forgot my camera. 

I'm back!  I know, you didn't even know I was gone, but last Friday I snuck out of town for what was planned to be three days in Myrtle Beach, staying with K's future in-laws and spending time with his fiancée and her mom...seeing where the wedding will be in June, checking out the rehearsal dinner site, menu tasting and a little *mother-of-the _____* dress shopping browsing.  It was all that and more, due to the crazy weather situations coming and going.  Friday, my morning flight was delayed, causing me to miss one connection and almost the second, as well.  I did my best O.J.Simpson impression, however, and made it by the skin of my teeth.  (No, I didn't threaten murder.  If you're old enough, you're visualizing me running through the terminal, jumping over anything & everything in my way to make the flight...and you'd be right.)  The east coast storms prevented my departure on Sunday, so I never made it back until Monday night, giving me an extra day to recuperate from a muscle strain in my leg due to an aggressive over-correction to a nasty left hook while playing Wii bowling.  Go ahead, laugh.  Have you played?  

 

So I haven't been in the sewing room much the last week but I did want to share some new reading material.  I've seen several blog recommendations for Sarah & Kathy's new book, Material Obsession, and I heartily agree with them all...this book is wonderful!  The quilts are mostly based on traditional designs that have been given their unique, fresh twist and their relaxed writing style and hand drawn diagrams make the reader feel like a good friend has just explained how to put them together.  If you are a fan of their blog, you'll love the book!   

 
Detail of photo, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts. One inch triangles!

When I ordered Material Obsession from Amazon, I admit I added in Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts to get the free shipping.  I rarely purchase a quilting book sight unseen (and I rarely purchase a quilt book at all, in the last few years) but I'd heard enough about this one to take a chance.  I haven't gotten to read it thoroughly yet, but based on a quick perusal, I've already deemed it a good addition to my collection.  Written by collectors of antique quilts, the focus here is on small block interpretations.  A winner!

  

I've really put the brakes on my magazine habit, too, over the last couple of years but this month, two issues got me to part with a few bills.  Each has a pretty bland cover photo that belies the interesting content.  Quilt Mania has some great quilts featured this month and the March issue of Quilts Japan has 6 pages devoted to Suzuko Koseki's work, a colorful 8 page spread on Kaffe Fassett's recent work and a feature on alphabet quilts.  As usual, there are a number of quirky quilts showcased, like the one below, which I find both charming and a bit wacky.  Quilts Japan has a wonderful site where you can view 24 pages of their current issue.  Just remember to turn the pages to the left!

Detail of larger photo, Quilts Japan.