Swap plan and sewing room update

Okay, so last post, I shared the horrible mess my sewing area was.  And it's not any better yet.  It's kind of a long story.

A few days ago I noticed a "puppy accident" on my bookcases that hold my fabric and books that I built with my Dad a few months ago.

The bookcases my Dad and I built - See no feet

I say "puppy accident" because the perpetrator is neither a puppy nor was it truly an accident.  We had an electric fence put in a few months ago when we found the combined work of Ollie and Ellie trying to get the neighbor dogs.

Ollie riped chunks of the fence board while Ellie dug a hole.  Needless to say, Oliver didn't react well to the electric fence and we had to turn it off so he would go outside again.  When the weather turned nice again, I found a new fence board chewed away and at least two new holes.  So the fence is back on and Ollie again thinks outside is scary/dangerous and refuses to use his doggy door.  We're basically re-house training by convincing him he can safely go outside, just not every where.  Ellie, the puppy, has not had any problems with the new fence.

Anyway, so the bookcases I built didn't have feet because I couldn't decide on what feet to use.  With the spotted "puppy accident," it was clear feet were necessary to protect the lower shelf.  I decided on them and bought a new drill for me to use at home (our old drill lives at my husband's business).  I started to put the feet on and with the nicer weather and the fact that I'm on vacation this week, I decided I should paint them as well.

Bookcase with feet.

Ellie inspecting my work.

I took the book shelves back to my parents because Dad has all the tools and free paint.  They are currently there with two coats of primer drying, which means my sewing area is actually more of a mess than normal because everything on the bookcases is now on my cutting table.  I can work around it, but the total chaos is like a mental creative block for me.

The mess from behind.

The mess from in front.

In other news, I think I've decided on what to make for my swap partner.  It's been a challenge because I'm new and I don't know anyone.  Fortunately, she has a blog so I've been stalking to trying to figure out what to make.  Her style is a lot more colorful that my taste (most are!) so I was struggling to come up with something that would fit her taste.  While browsing the internet tonight it came to me, make a color wheel wall hanging.  I actually might make two, one for me.  A color wheel will be colorful and useful so I think it's a good choice.

The color wheel template.

I'm to try and replicate this color wheel and turn it into a wall hanging.  I think I'm going to keep the brown and black wedges.  They look like a bow tie.  Now the hard part, matching all those colors.  I may have a fabric addition (see the mess?), but I'm really picky about colors.  Some of these colors are likely not in my stash.  I guess I'll have to go fabric shopping...


Update:  I forgot to add on big thing I accomplished on my vacation.  I finally printed some of our wedding photos.  It only took two years, no joke.  When I originally tried to print them, Walgreens refused unless I had in writing proof that the photographer relinquished the rights.  She did, but I didn't have it on me and I was mad.  So this time I uploaded them to Walgreens online and they were printed with no issue.  I also made a wedding photo book in iPhoto.  It turned out pretty well.  Now, I need to dust off the picture frames I bought two years ago that ended up in the back storage room because I didn't have photos for them, and put photos in them.  Then I get to pester my husband until he hangs them (or I'll just do it).

Basement Decorating (Guest Bedroom/Bathroom)

Last summer, we finished our basement.  I love the way it turned out.  As part of the finish, we added a guest bedroom and a full bathroom.  While upstairs is minimally decorated, I'd like to get these to spaces at least barely decorated.

Here's the bedroom.  You can see other than the objects necessary to make a guest bedroom, there are no decorations.

Bed - Please ignore the fact that it's not really on a frame.

Window, bookcase, table/desk.  

I do have plans for the window curtains.  I bought some gray linen and plan to do some white sashinko at the bottom one day.

Not sure if that table is going to stay in this room yet.  Anyway, as you can see, this room is pathetically bare.  I've want to make a quilt and pillows and add pretty art work.  To start, I'm working on a shower curtain to go in the quest bathroom.  I'm using the patchwork shower curtain pattern from Stitch in Color featured in Stitch, Summer 2012.  Here it is on my design wall.  

Patchwork Shower Curtain Strips

I picked gray, yellow, silver/white, and turquoise for the colors.  I have a neutral linen to for the rest. Hope to start sewing it tomorrow.  I'm a bit nervous as my piecing isn't super accurate yet and I had trouble cutting it.  As you can see below, a shower curtain is definitely needed.

Guest Bathroom

But before I can begin sewing, I need to tackle this:  This is what happens when I start a project right before a big maintenance outage at work.  Total chaos.  I am weird and I have to have everything neat and tidy before I can work.  I swear all I do is organize my space.  I try to be good about putting things away each time so I don't have a huge mess to take care of when I want to work, but it doesn't always work out that way.  I'm still working on figuring out storage solutions.  When it's neat and tidy again, I'll take another photo.  I also need to decorate it!  (Noticing a theme?)

On a side note, here's some embroidery that I started back in February.  I worked on it steadily before I became too tired after work and haven't gotten back to it yet.  I printed off shots of a music video (it's Cold Hand Warm Hearts by Brandon Benson) and traced them with my light box, which is awesome.  I tried to start this using the iPad screen, but even through fabric, the touch screen got in the way.  I'll explain it when it's done.

Hope to post soon with progress!

St. Louis MQG and More

Yesterday, I joined my local modern quilt guild, and signed up for my first swap.  As part of the swap, we were encouraged to provide flickr/pinterest/blog information that might help our person figure out what to make for the swap.  Unfortunately, I didn't really have much to write down.  I don't really blog, use flickr, and I barely use pinterest.  So in the hopes of being a good guild member, I am going to try and start posting stuff here again.

About the blog name, I don't really take photos (I don't have a good photo of me since my wedding two years ago), but the photos I usually take are about my dogs.  I have a 4 year old yorkie named Oliver, who is somewhat angry.

Oliver 

He enjoys barking, tearing up toys in frustration when he can't get what he wants (particularly the mail man), and napping.  We recently adopted a little sister for him, Ellie, who turned out to be bigger than he is.

Ellie

Ellie - See she really is happy!

Ellie is a very happy dog.  She enjoys chewing bones, stealing Oliver's bones, eating dog food, and watching TV.

Ellie watching TV.  She really likes to watch dogs, animals and commercials.

Enough about the dogs.  I am taking this week off from work.  The husband and I have recently started looking for a new house.  There isn't anything wrong with ours, but my husband would like a wooded lot and I want to have kids (and change school districts).  But the possibility makes me start thinking about all the things that need to be done to get the house ready to go on the market.  The list is pretty typical - clean out the basement, garage, various closets.  Replace the carpet in my husband's old office, touch up paint eventually, etc.

But our house has one big glaring thing missing.

After three years, it's still not decorated....

Like picture frames without pictures not decorated...

Like wedding photos still not printed (our two year anniversary is tomorrow).

So while I'd like to cross a few things off the list, I'm still on vacation.  But I think it's time to at least get the house to a minimal state of decorated.  For the swap, we were asked to provide a room to make something for.  I picked my guest bedroom in the basement.  I am working on a shower curtain for the guest bathroom that I hope to finish while on vacation.  Pictures to follow after diner (and when I find my actual camera again).  It's as plain as can be.