Life Interrupted

I pulled this terrific fabric out of my stash last Monday. I got it at Mary Jo's months ago and I thought it would be perfect to show off the features of the new handbag design I've been pondering & getting ready to start. Isn't it fabulous?

But I had barely begun, when my husband called saying he was enroute to the hospital to meet the ambulance that was bringing his mother in. After years of steadily declining health, it looks like she's losing her battle with liver disease. (Isn't it odd how it can only take one phone call to instantly change all your plans and priorities?)

My mother-in-law & I have never been close. Through the last 30+years, our relationship has mostly revolved around the fact that we both love the same person... her son, my husband. But families come in all shapes, sizes and styles, and even though we can't always rely on our families to provide us with the relationships and feelings that we think need, it doesn't make us any less a family, does it? So for me, the hardest part is to having to watch this family deal with the raw emotion of these final days. It's difficult to see my "never-let-your-guard-down" husband struggle to maintain the control he thinks he needs to maintain, in the face of this impossible-to-control situation. But one way or another, we'll all get through this. And because family needs trump those of virtually everything else, I'm going to be scarce for a while, taking the time to do whatever is asked of me in the coming days. We'll pick up where we left off soon enough, on this new design, our new studio and everything else that might come along.

A Creature of Routine

There is someone I live with who knows me inside/out. He knows my body language so well, that he can always tell what I'm about to do. For him, there are no need for words. He always knows where I am headed and whether it's something he's interested in doing with me... or not. If you're thinking it's my husband, you'd be wrong... it's my cat, Jeter.

For example, Jeter enjoys a little fresh running water before he retires for good for the evening, and he knows he can get a little drink while I brush my teeth before bed. Oh, I know what you're probably thinking... "no big deal, you go to bed the same time every night, and that cat has an internal clock." But you'd be wrong. One of the perks about working for myself from home, is that I don't have to live on a schedule, and I don't. One night I might flake out early, the next I might type on my laptop till 2am, or if I'm "cookin' with gas" in the studio, I might still be sewing past midnight. But no matter how I change my routine, or what time I finally stagger bleary-eyed into the bathroom... here is what is waiting for me when I get there.

He may have been dead to the world moments before on the couch, yet he somehow ALWAYS knows when I'm headed for the bathroom for the last time and he beats me there.

Sometimes he waits patiently while I do the various things I must do to get ready for bed, like this.

But there's always just one thing on his mind, and he makes no attempt to conceal his desire. He rarely asks for fresh running water at any other time of the day, so what's the big deal about having it at bed time??

And once I turn the faucet on for him, (just a trickle please) he drinks for a LONG time... so long in fact that I have to use my hubster's sink to brush my teeth, remove my makeup, wash my face, clean my contac lens... and yep, he's still drinking!

This is his time to relish at his own speed, and he does not cut it short for any reason, even when a line starts to form behind him!

I've tried to fool him. I've tried shuffling off toward the bathroom around 10, yawning and stretching, but Jeter is NEVER fooled.

It's almost as if he can read my mind! Interesting. Very interesting.

If this is a learned ability, maybe there's still hope for my husband???

Nah. Probably not.

New Studio- A peak INSIDE!

It's with great relief that I can tell you that I have almost reached the bottom of post-Lollapalooza "list". I can't believe I haven't created anything since mid-September when I made the market bag for Moda! I haven't even touched my sewing machine except for some repair projects for church, and it's gotten to be so frustrating! I've got a few household items I want to complete today, then maybe, just maybe, I can blow the dust off my sketchbook tomorrow, gaze at my inspiration photos a bit, and then start in earnest on my new design! YIPPEE! I just can't wait! (Stay tuned for blog posts as this new pattern develops!)

But in the meantime, I thought you might like to peak INSIDE the studio, to check out how the interior is fleshing out. Before we go in, you might want to check out our floor plans, just to refresh your memory, and you can do that by clicking HERE.




The demolition is done (for good I hope), and here is the new improved entrance to my studio... so come on, let's go in!





Here's my business center along the south wall. I'll place my computer here, the printer/fax, the Shipstream scale, and all the other technical stuff. There will be built-in book shelves overhead, and open knee space underneath for several rolling file cabinets, all with a serene outdoor view on each side!

How I would love to be sitting there writing this right now... but not in that hideous yellow chair! (It will be replaced, of course!)
And by the way, Jeter & Joba will also be able to enjoy the view out the window to the right from their very own window seat. (And yes... they ARE spoiled rotten.)


Here's the main focus of the room, the sewing center! My custom-built sewing table will fit between those two columns (which will be boxed-in to hide the bricks).

A similar table will be placed perpendicular to thebrick column on the right and will serve as a writing desk. There's two good-sized closets to my left which you can't see too good right now. This will allow storage for my pattern components, boxes, and the tubs of finished bag samples.


Here's a view of my sewing area from the double doors which lead out to the driveway. The late fall morning sunshine is intruding far too much into the room, and since i don't want to wear sunglasses while i sew, I will need to investigate some time of shading system for this south-facing wall to use during certain times of the day, in the fall/winter season when the sun is so low. Any ideas? Because I do NOT want ugly white vinyl shades.

Have I left anything out? Feel free to let me know of any suggestions that might improve my new hang-out, and in the meantime, hope you enjoyed the tour, & have a great weekend!

New Studio- Demolition Day!

Well- I knew this day had to come, but I sure wasn't looking forward to it. But anytime you have a major addition to a house, it's inevitable that there will be some cutting into the old structure.



We wanted to make this addition look as much as possible, like it was part of the original build, and that meant getting rid of our old sliding doors, because who has sliding doors on the inside of a house, right? But the glass doors we chose were a full 6 inches wider that the sliding doors, so here go the guys cutting away the excess brick. It's noisy, dusty, messy work.




And while that was happening, here's our contractor chipping away at the facing of the porch supports so that the new brick exterior will be smooth, consistent and uniform.

And meanwhile, on the inside, the electricians were chipping cavities into the brick veneer to make room for outlets and light switches. There was so much dust rising from the back of the house, one of my neighbors thought the house was on FIRE!

All in all, a nerve-jangling day. It sure was a relief seeing those guys drive off this afternoon. And where were the cats during all of this you might ask? I really can't be sure. They both peeled out across the hardwood floor at the sound of the first electric chisel and I didn't see their bottle brush tails until after EIGHT this evening! Believe me, there was a point this afternoon where I just might have JOINED them if I could have found them!

New Studio- We've been Framed!

So I guess we've got some really motivated carpenters, because look how much has gotten done since Monday morning! All this, even though we had 2.4 inches of rain here on Monday night!


Here's how the studio looked as it was being framed.









We rounded off the side edge. I just didn't think I would like the looks of a pointy corner sticking out here. I'm happy we made the decision we did, because I like the look from here. :)














Here's how it looked at the end of the work day on Friday afternoon. It's closed in, so weather shouldn't be a huge issue anymore. The exterior will be brick.







And here's the framed view, all set to be glassed! (My favorite part!)

New Studio- Taking Shape!

It's exciting to see the room starting to take shape! The carpenters have been working hard as you can see and our plans are coming to life!





Here you can see the big, lovely window looking out onto the back yard.




Here's how the studio looks from the other side. Here you see the window over the computer area as well as the side door.






Here's a full frontal view. My builder tells me those brick columns holding the porch up cannot go. Unless of course I want a 500 pounds of tile on my head, which I do not. I knew this though. We've designed the room around them as you might recall, and we'll find some way to incorporate them in a cool way.

So that's how it looked this morning, but I already hear air hammers so the beat goes on! My neighbors may not be crazy about the sound, but it's music to my ears! :)

It's a BOY!

Well here HE is! My new grandbaby is a BOY! This new technology is just so fascinating! There sure wasn't anything like this when i was pregnant! The detail is amazing!

Erica said she drank some green tea so he would be awake and moving prior to the scan. (The easier to tell the sex of course.) I think he's just beautiful and the doctor said the he's perfect (I could've told him THAT without a scan!)

I just can't WAIT to get my hands on him!

:)

A Room With a View (part 2)

My husband has worked very hard on our backyard, clearing and planting and fiddling around, and I have thought for quite some time now, how wonderful and inspiring it would be to look out on this view while I'm sewing and designing. The fall color is like the icing on the cake!

So it's with great excitement that I can finally say... "WE BROKE GROUND ON THE NEW STUDIO TODAY!

I feel like shouting it from the rooftop!

I know it doesn't look like too much yet, just a concrete extension which will eventually be the studio floor.

But as exciting as this day has been for me, you

just won't believe how the guys got the concrete into the backyard to pour it in place!

You see, we have a very intimidating driveway. It has quite a steep incline, so it's no surprise that the concrete delivery man wasn't crazy about backing his truck down it. (Heck I've lived here for 7 years and still haven't backed up or down it!)

Instead, he brought this nifty little vehicle with him to get the concrete from the road to the back of the house...

and HERE IT IS!

A little miniature dump truck!

Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

You know, I used to think that a Bobcat was my dream vehicle. (Learning to drive a Bobcat has been a secret desire of mine for years!) But as adorable as I think a Bobcat is, this little dump truck definitely tops it!

So it turns out, I got very little done today. Of course it was exciting to finally get this addition underway, but the truth is, I spent entirely too much time watching this little machine do all the work!

The builder tells me that the carpenters will be here first thing in the morning to start framing the room, so we're moving right along,

But in the meantime, what do you think? In the event that I develop a bad case of "designer's block", do you think there could be future for me in concrete?

:)

Let's Face it!

My son-in-law had to go to Vegas for some training, so I asked Erica is she wouldn't like for me to drive down while he was gone, and paint the baby's bedroom? Believe it or not, I do kinda enjoy painting, it's fun to be involved in getting ready for the baby, and Erica really shouldn't be painting the room herself right now, but the real reason behind my suggestion?.... I get to spend time with MY baby, without sharing her with anyone else... you know, just like the old times. Here's how she looked yesterday, almost 4 months along. I think she looks fabulous... she wishes her pregnancy was more obvious.


But as excited as I am about meeting my new grandchild, I'm also aware of the fact that his birth will re-define the relationship I have with her mother, so I want to enjoy these special moments, knowing full well there may be far fewer of them for quite some time.

The fact is, Erica is really a fun person to be around. She has the uncanny ability of making me laugh even when I've had the worst day, or I'm in the foulest of moods.

Erica's our only child, and as active and easily bored as she was, we often had to come up with creative ways to make waiting tolerable for her (and us). A favorite method of mine was the "Face Game". (Don't worry, there's no small pieces and no assembly required.) To this day, if we get stuck waiting in a restaurant, or if we're in a car for more than 45 minutes, inevitably, we play the "Face Game".

One person suggests an emotion or a feeling, and the other person(s) must accurately display it on their face.


Here's HAPPY...


The whole idea is to create your facial expression and hold it for 5 seconds or so, without cracking up. Believe me, the more people there are playing the game, the harder this is to do.


Here's SUPRISED...

Every now and then, you run across a person who has trouble playing the game. Erica's Dad for instance seems to display basically the same face, with very little variation, no matter what word he is given. That's OK, because this only becomes funnier and funnier as the game moves along. We refer to her Dad's default face as the "Happy New Year" face (can't remember why), and we can all both produce a good impression of it at a moments notice.


Here's APREHENSIVE...

No matter where we go, people seem to enjoy playing the Face Game with us. For example, we once had two loops of the line at the "Pirates of the Caribbean" playing the game with us at Disney World. And the whole back section of our tour bus was eventually playing the Face Game as we made our way to the airport in Tel Aviv. And then of course there's all those waitresses & other folks in various doctor's office waiting areas!

Here's BORED.....

Which by the way is something that i almost never am, when the two of us are together. I think Erica will be a terrific Mom, and won't we all have a blast teaching our new little person to play the "Face Game"!!

So the trip was a success. The room is now a beautiful shade of turquoise. But I think we all probably know that even though painting the nursery made for a really good excuse to spend a couple of days in Raleigh, it really had very little to do with the real reason that I went.

Final Thoughts

Now that we've been home a few days, I'd had a chance to reflect back on this year's Fall Market, and I thought you might be interested in seeing a few of my favorite things.

There really wasn't a good place to get an overhead shot of our booth this year. The only place you could SEE our booth from overhead was for 3 brief seconds while riding UP the escalator to the 2nd floor. How do I know this? Because I had to ride UP and then down the escalator SEVEN TIMES to finally get a decent shot. Thats our booth in the center of the picture. As you can see, we had a primo position.

The most unique booth that I saw was the Michael Miller booth ( a fabric house). As you can see, te red carpet in front of their area was replaced with what looks like a 2-lane road and then they set up a camp-lookalike booth, complete with a small RV. Amazing. I wonder if it helped sales?

PaintBrush Studio (another fabric studio)also put a lot of effort into their booth. I'm afraid those hangy-down strips of fabric wouldve gotten on my nerves over the course of three days, but it had an interesting look.

The booth that had the most interesting fabric art (to me) was Jill McCloy's.

These appliqued pieces were among the most beautiful at Market, and were a mix of diverse & interesting textures. They were fabulous!

Not surprisingly, (with a grandchild on the way), I found myself drawn to the children's items this year.

I love these little "Pony Pouches" by Black Cat Creations. They don't strike me as particularly practical, but I know my daughter would have LOVED something like this as a child, so why wouldn't HER child, right? Does it work that way?

I found all sorts of very cool patterns for children's clothing, mostly for girls I must admit. We should know in two weeks whether we're getting a boy or a girl, so in the meantime, I'm checking out EVEYTHING, including these fab designs at ModKid!

Here's some more cool duds. By the looks of things, Izzy & Ivy carries a little bit of everything, and this booth was very inviting.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. After all the preparation & anticipation, Market seemed to be over in no time at all. Here's my husband in our booth, with everything all packed up waiting for the UPS truck. Next stop, Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2010.