In My Room

We are in the process of sorting through mountains of stuff at my house. Donating, organizing, tossing... all in the name of sensibility. Unfortunately, the surface has only been scratched. This coming weekend we are hoping to tackle the basement. Ugh, the basement. It is riddled with things of little use and no beauty (thank you for the expression Jane Austen). It's time to be ruthless. We need the usable space down there because I have grand ideas. I need a studio.

Can't you just smell the turpentine in this room?

20 years ago when I was an art student, my studio was a messy place with smelly paints, drips, and splashes. It wasn't beautiful, but it was what it needed to be. That sort of work and environment doesn't fit my life at this moment. And that's okay, I'm having a really good time exploring my talents when it comes to stitching of all kinds. And, my new studio will be a sensible place for such work.

Alex wrote about her new studio room a while back, and I think it has been stuck in my mind since. My family (rightfully so) is really tired of the sewing machine on the kitchen table, stacks of fabric on the island, and yarn falling out of every closet when you open the door. The things that are not useful in our house are taking up too much room, making the things I use all the time the clutter. Ironic, huh?

There are 3 blogs that I follow whose authors have studios that take my breath away. If my forthcoming modest space can have even a drop of the charm of these studios...I will be a happy girl indeed.

Ana Maria Horner
This studio space is still under construction...but, ooh la la...you can see where it's headed. Lots of storage, interesting lines, space to think and dream. It has been really fun watching this construction take shape over time, and Anna Maria has thoughtfully shared her decision making, trials, and excitement with her readers. There are lots of good ideas here to inspire my new room.

I can't wait to see how Ana Maria fills this space.

Alicia Paulson
This studio is pretty much the most amazing place I've ever seen. If I could spend my days in this place I'd be the happiest girl on the planet. It would be like working in an enchanted cottage. I will spend some time figuring out how to get a smidge of that vibe in my studio.

I bow down to your greatness Ms. Paulson.

Amanda Soule
This mama of (soon to be) five is a woman after my own heart. Here studio is realistic, practical, sparse, and charming. It is probably the closest thing to my studio reality. I love the way she welcomes her family into this room. There are children's drawings on the walls, and nothing is so fussy that little people couldn't come in and lend a hand once in a while.

I would love to be a fly on the wall when Amanda is making with children in tow.

So, with the dream for beautiful/sensible place of my own...I march forth to purge (and purge and purge) the house of clutter.

–Cassandra

Making Lemons into Lemonade

Yesterday afternoon I had every intention of writing a post about our fabulous crafting for charity day we held last Friday. And then I realized that this past weekend I left my camera at my Mom's house (2-1/2 hours away). Wa..wa..waaaaa. We had taken lots of pictures to share with you here. There were newborn caps being knitted, no-sew blankets tied up, portable quilts being sewn and the seaming was completed on a knitted blanket for the homeless. It was a productive (and fun) day. And as soon as my mom mails me my camera back I will share the details with you dear readers.

So, on to plan B.

As much as I enjoy writing on this blog, I also enjoy reading the crafty blogs of others. I would like to share with you some of my favorites:

Soulemama
I stumbled upon this blog about a year ago. Amanda Soule is the mother of 4 littles (soon to be 5) who lives in a farmhouse in Maine (how charming is that?). Her photography is amazing and she writes about some really clever projects as well as musings on her day-to-day family life. She is a wildly successful blogger (who has 2 project books published on the strength of her blog) and there is a reason for that. She posts daily and what she writes/creates is always good.

Ysolda
Ysolda Teague is a very popular Scottish knitwear designer. She's young, ambitious and highly creative. Most of her blog is devoted to talk about her design process and her travels. It seems as though she is always at this show or that...and even yarn shops here in the US and in Europe. I really enjoy seeing where she's been and her impressions of the place. She's even been here to Madison, Wis. and her post about it couldn't have been sweeter. I wish I would have been able to get to that book signing!

The Purl Bee
This is the blog associated with the fabulous Purl Soho shop. The posts are almost always tutorials on projects for supplies that they carry. Really clever stuff. Some of my favorite projects are The Back to School Lunchbag, The Very Easy Pincushions, and Toddler Overalls. And I really mean these are just some of my favorites. They update their blog at least once a week with a fresh project so there are so many to drool over.

That is just a list of 3 of my favorite crafty blogs. I will share more at some point in the future. If you have a blog you would like to share with everyone, please put your url in the comments section so folks can go take a look!

Have a great day everyone... talk to you again soon!

–Cassandra