"She's playing quietly in the living room."

That's what I said to Rob when he asked where Abby was while we were making lunch yesterday (you have a feeling of foreboding already don't you). I was cooking eggs and I didn't look very carefully. Rob discovered what she was playing with when we sat down to eat. She ran into the kitchen with a piece of something in her mouth.


Yep, those are the remains of two dpn's. The dpn's that were in the, nearly finished, second Evangeline mitt to be precise. Miraculously she was pulling the needles out individually and hadn't touched the knitting but I will have to wait until I can get some new needles before I can finish my mitt.


Here's the "vile perpetrator" asking me to take her outside moments after we discover what she's done (and I've just sat down to eat my nice hot food).

My studio is blue and I love it.

Rob's sister, Carolyn, helped me do all the painting. I went all out and got the expensive paint at Benjamin Moore. It's completely worth it. Not only does it cover really well, dry quickly and look gorgeous but it hardly smells ... at all ... even while you're painting.

I cleared most things out of my studio on Saturday night and Carolyn helped me with the big things when she came over on Sunday. We thought we had an edger tool to help with the ceiling but it turned out we didn't so I did it by hand; it actually turned out pretty well. I dripped paint on the floor a few times (and rolled onto the ceiling twice) but Carolyn knew the tricks for getting out as much as possible and the spots aren't really noticeable at all.

Watching the colour go onto the walls was fantastic. Every second thing we said was "Wow, this is a great colour" or something along those lines. We could hardly wait until the last coat was dry to peel off all the tape and see what the room looked like. The colour is incredible and makes everything else look incredible too: the white trim, the wooden furniture, the glass angel in the window, the red wheel on my ladybug; everything just comes to life.

I always find blues very comfortable colours and this needed to be a comfortable space but I also wanted it to have some energy - to foster creativity and inspire activity - so it's a blue with a bit of green in it. It's a nice changeable colour, difficult to capture in a photograph but so vibrant in person that you can't help grinning when you see it. Every time I've walked into my studio since we painted it I am impressed and I don't want to leave again; I want to stay in there and make something. (Which I did but you'll have to wait until I've got a good photograph or two on the weekend to see what.)

Carolyn came back on Monday to help me put everything back in.  Fortunately I had done some organizing a while ago and most things had homes. There were a few things that found new or better homes as we put them back: All the costumes (mostly Regency dresses) are hanging nicely in the closet; the shelves of fabric somehow went back in such a way that I was able to fit two more plastic bins of notions in which freed up some other space; there was a perfect gap between my shelves and my wicker trunk for rolls of paper and copied patterns along with my tripod; and we hung a narrow shelf right above my sewing table to hold my growing collection of pincushions and button jars.

Would you like a tour of my new space? Yes? Well then, please come in:

This is my sewing nook. I'm going to make a cover for the ironing board feet -  don't want them scratching up my new blue wall. My inspiration board hangs above my table for me to attach bits of fabric or pin up instructions (so handy).


These are my shelves - right across from my sewing nook (the window is in between). The tall skinny section holds works in progress and the cheap fabric I use for copying patterns and doing mock-ups. There is also a bin for fabric waiting to be washed before it is put away. The cupboard holds muslin, batting, interfacing, and canvas. Above that are patterns, scrapbook supplies, my quilting hoop, and my swift and ball winder, along with some miscellaneous bits and pieces. The picture on the wall is one I drew of my teddy bear when I was eight. It was framed by my grandfather.


The other half of my shelves hold all my quilting cottons- prints and solids, a small but growing collection of home dec weight scraps, some wools and linens and a few fine cottons that I don't want mashed in with the muslin. The little pillow on top of the wicker trunk was made for me by my mum when I was about four.


Cross the room again and you're at my book shelf. These are all my craft books (except the ones that have wondered into other rooms and not found their way home yet) as well as my collection of knitting magazines and patterns. The wooden boxes hold sewing supplies (on the top) and scrapbook supplies (on the bottom). I have had the bear on top of the shelf since before the pillow (it's the one in the picture) and the frame holds a swatch of a favourite fabric. The little red wheel is my ladybug and the large one is Erin's traditional. They look so good against the blue.


Above the shelf, and a little closer to the sewing nook, is my clock. I love my clock. I got it at Canadian Tire. It holds twelve little pictures and I finally got around to printing off some of my own to put in the frames.

This room is so full of potential it's dizzying. I find myself sitting in here just thinking of all the things I want to make and not sure where to start.

My new computer arrived Saturday morning. I was so excited to get the box and we unpacked it right away. Rob helped me set everything up and transferred all my stuff from the mini (which I've been using for a little over two years).

This computer makes my desk look so different: it has a smaller footprint but a much bigger screen (I went all out and got the 24") and a little tiny keyboard (though I might switch back to the one with the number pad). Everything loads and runs so quickly on this computer: iphoto loads in seconds and my pictures look gorgeous.

The big screen gives me so much space to view things and makes it easier to see everything I'm doing. This computer also has "Spaces" (which I'm still learning to use) to help organize stuff - I can put all the things I use for blogging into one space and when I switch to another task I just switch spaces and I've got a clean screen.