Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Drum Roll Please...Introducing MY CRAFTROOM!!!

Yes it finally happened, it's all done!  I'm so excited.  Mostly the delay hinged on my stitching chair.  You all know how important this seat is to our stitching.  So why the delay?  I have a chair and ottoman in my family room that I love.  Super comfy, arms at just the right height and the right scale for my craftroom too.  We (myself and my interior designer friend, Sharon, check out her website/blog) chose fabric and ordered it FEBRUARY 19th!!!  Long story short, the company who was supposed to make the chair up told us "pick up on Monday" (May), "there's a problem with the fabric" (June) etc.  It came down to the fact that they were lying and now my friend no longer uses them as a supplier.  Sucks to be them!

For before pictures look here and here.

View from the doorway:


Two weeks ago I walked into The Brick (Canadian furniture store) with my DD, did a sweep of the store and just as I was about to walk out I spotted this chair (below) from their Loft collection, it was perfect and the ottoman was 1/2 price when purchasing a chair.  Score! 

The frames/shadow boxes have scrapbooking paper in them in black, white and pink and tons of different patterns.  I went to Home Depot to get picture hanging supplies and the guy helping me practically cried he was laughing so hard when I described the job I had for hubby.  Therefore, I reconsidered and decided to do it myself.  I Googled "hanging pictures gallery style" and got great tips.  I traced every frame on craftpaper and cut them out, numbered them, layed out their corresponding frame in a pattern on the floor, taped a straight line across the wall, stuck the paper frames on the wall (bless you, green painter tape!), and started hanging.  I even used a level!  Oh, and bless 3M Picture Hanging Strips too!  I used them where ever I could.  The actual hanging of the frames probably took 2 hours and I only have a minimal amount of "extra holes." 


My desk.  It measures about 5 x10 and is from Ikea.  I knew I wanted tons of storage to fit underneath and the Helmer and Alex drawer units fit the bill!  (Desk design was by my friend, I just specified the drawer units I wanted.)



I really wanted a bar height "island" to work at.  Sharon figured out the bar table and stools from Ikea .  This way the kids can join me, though I thought long and hard before assembling the second stool, LOL.  I have a very hard time thinking "outside of the box" and would never have come up with this.  Thanks Sharon!  I already had the bookshelves (Ikea again), just added the doors.



Sewing corner.  Hubby hung these shelves for me! ;-)  And put my desk together, Thanks babe!  See my trusty Bernina (it's circa 1960's) sitting there?  My gramma gave it (along with her great-grandmothers fabric scissors) to me when she went into a nursing home.  It means a lot to me.  She helped me make burping cloths, receiving blankets, etc when I was expecting DD on that very machine.


I was going to make my own bulletin & chalkboard then I figured out home much it would cost to buy cork, chalkboard paint, frames, etc.  I lucked upon this huge one at Home Sense (like Home Goods) and snapped it up.  Actually, like my usual, I thought "Self, this would be PERFECT! You should get it!" I replied "Great idea."  Then talked myself out of it and emailed Sharon for some design hand-holding.  Guess what she told me...?  For being such a decisive person, when it comes to my house, I suck!


My stitching buddy, Oscar.  He was tired from sleeping all night.  And all morning...


It's been a long time coming but so worth it.  I officially used it for the first time yesterday.  I sat a the bar table with my stitching and a cup of tea for 1 1/2 hours.  It was awesome!

Thanks to my dad for the use of his truck for the trips to Ikea, Sharon for all your expertise (she also found about 90% of the knick knacks for me) and hubby for all your help hanging shelves, putting my desk together and accompanying me to Ikea!

Let me know what YOU think!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Stitcher's Paradise Stash!

Here (finally!) is the stash I bought at the glorious Stitcher's Paradise in Las Vegas:



LHN chart To Thine Own Self be True, I love the sentiment and the colours of this chart.


Weeks Dye Works floss.  L to R:  Santa Claus, Independence, Jealousy, Mermaid, Confetti, Calypso.  I have no project in mind for these flosses, I just love the colours!


Lizzie*Kate Eek Boo Hiss, first 2 charts for 2010 Christmas Flip its, Christmas Rules.  I have to get the rest now!


Assorted GAST and WDW flosses for an upcoming exchange piece.



Crescent Colours Ruby Slippers and 32ct Linen (labeled Ink Spot Black) that I'll be stitching E is for Edward on for my DD.  It's a freebie on the Plum Street Samplers blog.  (For all of you Twilight fans out there, J is for Jacob is available too.)



I think this chart is my favourite purchase.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  The Queen's Sampler:  Elizabeth I by Plum Street Samplers.  I'm a huge lover of English history and was so excited when I saw this chart quite by accident on Paulette's blog.  I probably won't stitch it in the suggested colours, especially the red.  Any colour suggestions???



Brooke's Books Spirit of Holiday Giving Angel (the colours and Victorian style dress grabbed me) and Spirit of Cross Stitch Angel (it's about cross stitch :-0 and I love the French look of her dress.)


 

Just Nan Keep a Little Secret needle case kit.



2003 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue, always good to have on hand!



Assorted 32ct. linen.  Top is Picture this Plus Crystal Masquerade, bottom are mystery colours (the tags say Stiches & Spice on both.)  I also got a 1/4 yard each of Platinum and Antique White 32 ct. Belfast linen.  I no longer have an LNS so I wanted some neutral linen on hand just in case.


Brooke's Books Sophies Afternoon.  I love the centre motif of the lady.  I think I'll stitch just her on perforated paper. 


And last but not least, perforated paper, scissor sheaths, John James needles, Mill Hill beads, a cute little silver case (from White House, Black Market) that I'm going to turn into a needle/scissor case for on the go and Tear Drop scissors (I'm not sure what brand they are.)

Phew!  What a haul!  I have to thank my dad because it was Birthday money from him that enabled me, LOL. 

Also, my hubby read my Daughter's Are Awesome post and he was teasing me about "throwing him under the bus."  Hey honey, if you read this, you're great even if you can't buy my a birthday cake without DD!  Ha ha!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Back From Vegas


I'm back with a bunch of stash!  I had 1 1/2 hours all to myself at Stitcher's Paradise while hubby took this kids to Ross and Target!  I'll post pictures of it all later.

I noticed on opening up Blogger today that I've lost 2 friends in the few days I was away... :-(  Has this happened to any of you???  Any ideas why???  It hurts!  I don't think I put anything offensive or too personal on my blog...unless it's because I haven't posted much about stitching lately...

I would love your input!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Vegas, Baby!



Well we're off this afternoon to Las Vegas!  Hubby has the rental car all booked for Tuesday.  I've played up to the kids a visit to the outlet mall but my trip to Stitcher's Paradise is the REAL reason for the rental!  Hubby has agreed to take the kids off for an hour so I don't have to feel rushed searching for goodies I want to bring home.  Yay me!

I'll post pictures of my stash after we get home. 

Thanks to all the helpful comments I got about comment moderation, I appreciate it.  And thank you for all the birthday wishes, the cake did taste as yummy as it looked!

Have a great week!

Friday, July 2, 2010

Daughters Are Awesome!

Sons are great too but the reason for the title of this post is this:



White chocolate mouse cake!  Yummy!

Yesterday was my birthday (I'm a Canada Day baby!) and although I have a wonderful hubby he slacks in the bday department, just the celebration of it, not the present part! ;-) We were invited to friends for a Canada Day pool party/bbq, (it was 13 degrees celcius yesterday, for my US readers that's 55 F. IN JULY!!!) I was sitting outside, having a glass of wine and chatting with friends when out came my sweet girl with a cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me! It was awesome!


Apparently she coordinated pick-up the cake and everything, hubby said he had "minimal" involvement. Pretty brave to admit that!