Well, it's decided - I won't update here any more.

You can find me on my Wordpress blog instead. I turned off comments on this blog but I would be incredibly happy if you comment on the other one.

Nice comments make my day :-)

http://lattemamablog.wordpress.com/

Stuck in a rut

It’s been a few quiet weeks on the blog – I’m not sure what I’ve been up to. Cross stitching mostly.

I found a fun shop with loads of pop culture cross stitching as well as a few sweet patterns of gingerbread houses and Easter bunny houses. I have bought a quite heroic quantity of DMC floss to make them all. I spent some of last night organising the floss onto bobbins in a quite nifty plastic case. Continuing that tonight – though I’d much rather be stitching.

I have plans to make a shirt for Rickard (fabric bought and everything I’m just waiting for some interfacing for cuffs and collar), pillowcases and dresses for the girlies.

Speaking of dresses – did you see the new Oliver + S patterns that were released this week? I bought the Hide and Seek dress for Sofia. I’m thinking Easter dress.

For Isabel I got the Lady Skater from Kitschycoo and I made a toile that was too big then I lost momentum because I didn’t have any more knit to make a second toile.

I have plans to get something started tonight when Sofia brings a friend home but I’m not betting on it.

Do you art?

I finally got around to hang some art in my studio.

I don’t know how I found Lilla Lotta on Etsy but I’m glad I did. I’ve bought cotton twill tape from her and three of the prints on my wall. The far one with the bird says “May your bobbin always be full”. Pretty fitting for a sewing room.

I splurged and got duplicates of it. It will be a perfect gift for fellow sewists.

The little cat was a gift from my mother. I think I got it shortly after we had to give away our kitten because my father became allergic.

I totally winged the placement and I see now that it could have matched up better. I have a few other prints and framed cards to put up so maybe the additions will make it look less wonky.

Studio – moving in

Rickard and I went to IKEA on Saturday morning to get the two dressers I had had my eye on since I started planning my new studio. This Saturday was the first weekend after pay day for many in Sweden so we expected a jam packed IKEA but were happily proven wrong. We arrived just after 10 am when they opened and left with two dressers (black – not white like I had initially planned) and a bunch of knick-knacks that I needed for the studio.

I got two orchids and some lacy, pink pots for them. I’m not normally much for frills and lace for myself so I was surprised when I picked them out but decided to go with it.

The dressers took ages to put together – not because it was hard, it was just so many parts and they were huge! I made some progress on the Saturday but with movie plans and dinner at my in-law’s I didn’t start until late in the evening and out of consideration for the neighbours I decided to quit at 10:30 pm.

Sunday I took Sofia to a party and Isabel to IKEA to get some legs for the desk for the machines. When we came back Rickard took pity on me and helped me assemble the rest of the first dresser and all of the second.

It looks so very clean and de-cluttered now – but that is only because all the clutter is in my old sewing room and still needs to be moved. I plan to do some destash so I don’t just move a bunch of stuff I don’t really need/want/use. And I have huge stacks of paper that needs to be filed away. So I still have a long way to go, but at least I can sew a little now.

Quick, quick, slow

I started painting my studio yesterday and had high hopes I would get the brunt of the job done the same day. But dark turquoise walls are really hard to paint over with a white colour. I had bought 3 liters and the vendor assured me it would be enough.

Spoilers! It wasn’t.

The clock was ticking for closing time at the paint store so I enrolled my mother to go and buy another can of paint, certain another liter would be enough.

Nope, still not enough. And the store is closed on Sundays.

So we turned to the internet to see if we could find another local store that carried the same brand of paint and was also open on Sundays. Turns out paint is not something store owners think you want to buy on Sundays. But the internet told us there was a place 15 km away so we decided to go there.

Turns out the internet was wrong and they weren’t open on Sundays at all. The second closest place was 65 km away and while I really wanted to get it done, I didn’t want it that bad. So I had to rethink my plan.

I thought I’d get nothing done but I have primed the fourth wall, sanded down the chest just before it started snowing, painted the chest once (dry time 8 hours, ugh) and I just finished painting the focus wall the first time. I can paint it again in 3 hours which I intend to do, if only so I can take off the masking tape and see the result.

I’m really liking the colour.

Slow going

I didn’t get as much done in the studio this week as I had hoped. The girls are both back in school and evening activities have started up.

Tonight we bought Indian take-out and watched some Netflix before the girls bedtime, and I fell asleep on the sofa. Woohoo! Big night.

I did manage to bring out all the rollers and brushes from the shed though, so tomorrow, bright and early there will be painting.

New studio

Now that the attic is done (more or less) I have turned my attention to Isabel’s old room which is being turned into a studio for me. I say studio because it’s easier than “my new sewing room”, and also because it sounds less home spun.

When we moved in to this house we picked a dark turquoise for Isabel’s walls and I put up some cute ballerina wallies. They will all have to go now. It was time either way – Isabel had started mentioning that she wanted them gone even before we began the attic conversion. I was just sad to see them go. She was still in diapers when we moved in here. My wee girlie.

But I digress. I took down all the ballerinas yesterday and tonight I’ll go over and patch all the holes in the walls and window sills. I plan to get all the prep work done this week so I can start painting this weekend.

The plan is to paint three of the walls a bright white with a very slight pinkish tint and the fourth wall (the one with the door) will be a pale dusty pink. I also picked a different texture for the pink wall. Alcro has a brand they call Pashmina which has a very matt finish. I hope it will be a nice background for photographs as well.

The wall behind the door will be white and I plan to cover it somehow with flannel or fleece so I can use it as a design wall. The door will come off and put into storage. If I need to close off the studio I’ll have to make some kind of drape for the door instead. Both girls are so big now that there is no need to shut the door to keep them out any more.

Initially I planned to put the computer in one of the wardrobes but I may need the space for my stash and shop stock – I hope to do a personal destash when I move in though so there is still hope.