7 Layer Studio

Fuzzy Bunnies

 
There were little green bunnies leaping all over the place yesterday.

 
They were, of course, excited about it being Easter and all.

 

Can you tell?

No, I didn't make these darling little things.  They came from Pier1.  Aren't they adorable?

I love them so much I went back to the store this morning and bought the 4 that were still in stock, only this time they were half off.  Sweet.

Now I have a whole "litter" of them.  What's the term for a bunny family, anyway?  It's not a pack, herd, gaggle, or swarm, and I don't think it's a litter either.  Or is it?  Anybody know the answer to that burning question?

 
We had a lovely Easter dinner with friends yesterday.

 

I love an excuse to set the table all pretty.

I only had 3 of these gorgeous blue plates (snagged at a thrift store) so I mixed and matched all the plates on the table.

The other patterned dishware at the table (with the exception of my Japanese sheep plates - also snagged at a thrift store, but in Japan) is Villeroy & Bosch.  It's my wedding china, and I love it but don't use it enough because of the no dishwasher restrictions.  Time to start changing that, I think.  The using part, not the dishwasher part.

 
You'll recognize my blue eggs, of course.  I had to use my elevated cake plate for my carrot cake (shocking, isn't it, that I use a piece of dishware for its original intent?) so I changed the centerpiece around a bit.

 
Mmmmmmmm....if I do say so, that was a very. good. carrot cake.

 
It's adapted from a recipe my mother-in-law gave me a long time ago, and it is the most moist, tender, yummy carrot cake I have come across.  Probably because of the crushed pineapple, coconut, and buttermilk in the recipe in addition to the carrots.  Let me know if you'd like the recipe and I can post it for you.

 
I also made this yummy chevre cheese log with chopped chives, thyme, parsley, and toasted pecans....I thought it was wonderful, but the kids wouldn't touch it (surprise surprise). 

 
Here are my little munchkins, all dressed up.  Yes, you've seen those dresses before - Mommy didn't have a chance to make new Easter clothes this year.  I had been stalling, hoping my fabric would come in time to make their dresses from my fabric, but by the time I knew it wasn't coming for awhile, it was too late with all our other activities this past week.  It's okay - I love the dresses they have on.  And my little boy is all dressed up in a blazer!  Awww....that really tugs at my heartstrings.  Yes, Hazel's lips, teeth, and tongue are blue, compliments of the blue sucker she had in her mouth 2 seconds before this was taken.

 
Time for the Easter egg hunt!  That's Hazel's 7th outfit of the day, by the way.

 

I love this shot -my friend's boy was so excited about his eggs!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! 

Everything but the fabric

 
Booth?  Check.  All boxed up and shipped to SLC.

Mannequins made?  Check.  In boxes with booth.

Business cards, props, etc.?  Check.  All ready to go.

 
Fabric?  Unchecked.

Yes, that's right...still no fabric and QuiltMarket is 19 days away.  But wait - it gets better - it turns out I won't get my fabric until May 2nd.  That gives me 7, maybe 8 days to make 31 items (including 5 quilts) and get 7 patterns ready for sale with my fabric featured in the items.  Which (obviously) is a feat too daunting even if I didn't sleep for a week.  There won't be enough time to ship fabric to any of you generous souls who have offered to make things for me (thanks for the offers!), so it's time to decide what to eliminate and what to focus on.

  

Seems there are delays at the mill in Korea for whatever unforseen reason, and my fabric has been on hold for the 2+ months since final strike-offs were approved.

Ask me if this makes me happy.

"No, it does not."

Once again, despite all my planning and careful preparation, something beyond my control happens at the last minute that throws a huge wrench in whatever big project I am trying to pull together. 

For example (if you don't want to read whiney-ness, skip the paragraph below):

Every wedding reception I've done for friends has been hindered by something that makes me scramble and stress out at the last minute; storms in Utah kept me from setting up my niece's wedding until hours prior to the event instead of the 2 days I had planned....all the lilies ordered from Costco prior to a wedding here in VA didn't open until a week after the wedding was over and so there were no flowers for many of the tables...the sunflowers for another wedding gave me fits because they were small, un-open, and the necks were totally bent over and I barely had time to do the cake after spending all morning wrestling with the flowers...at another reception, the lights/extension cords which were supposed to bathe the landscaping around the backyard pool with light had fritzed and it was too late to change them by the time it was discovered so it was really dark at the reception......yada yada.

 

I know what you're thinking - At least everything turned out fine in the end, nobody else knew or cared about what was planned vs. what actually happened, etc. etc.  Which is totally true, and I try to tell myself that whenever my mind drifts back to those uncontrollable incidents.  But when stuff like that happens, it takes years off my life, I'm tellin' ya!  I think that's what is so aggravating about last-minute "disasters" - I don't enjoy feeling stressed, and I (especially) don't enjoy having to compromise what I have spent months planning and preparing for in my mind's eye.  Please tell me I'm not the only one with this, um, condition.  :-)

 

I know things could be a lot worse, and I need to count my many, many blessings.  This fabric delay is just a huge disappointment to me because it's my "debut", so to speak, and I really wanted it to be fabulous.  Yes, I'm a control freak about things like this.  Just in case you hadn't picked up on that yet. 

I suppose that's probably why I keep experiencing this same scenario over and over again (can you say, "Groundhog Day?").  I need to learn to be able to let go and say, "C'est la vie!"  I need to stop getting all worked up about things which are out of my control, even if they threaten to severely hamper my preconceived notions of "what will be".

So I'm trying really hard not to get too upset about this and focus on the positive aspects of it.  Like all the time I've had to get the other aspects of my booth squared away without feeling torn between wanting to sew and wanting to make my booth.  And the opportunity to spend time with my kids during this week of Spring Break instead of sequestering myself in my studio.  And getting the garden area weeded and prepped for spring planting.  And being able to spend a relaxed week with my mom, who is coming for 10 days to help with the kids so I can sew like a crazy woman uninterrupted.  Except now I won't be sewing.  Since her arrival is just a few days away, and my fabric doesn't come for another 9 or 10 days, we'll have time to go out and do fun things with the kids together.

There.  See?  So much to be grateful for.  Just don't talk to me the week before Market (wink), and PLEEEEESE cross your fingers, say a prayer, whatever you'd like to do to help that fabric get to my doorstep in time!  Thanks very, very much.

ps.  How 'bout those tulips?  I'm so excited to see them every day, they put a smile in my heart even when I'm stressed.  And that bleeding heart is something else, isn't it?  I love the perfect heart shapes...simply amazing!  When the blossom opens it looks like a pink wig from the 60's, doesn't it?  Too fun.

'Twas the week before Easter

 
This is to prove that I am indeed capable of posting something other than spring flowers and remodelling jobs.

 
Does it matter if these eggs are 2 or 3 years old, and you've seen them in previous year's Easter posts?  Please say no.  At least the pics are new - I rephotographed them this week.  And not to worry - the eggs are hollow, all the insides are blown out.  No, I would not be saving hard boiled eggs, no matter how pretty they are.  I have vivid memories of the stench of rotten eggs from my childhood on the farm, when a hidden cache of abandoned eggs in the haystack gave me a memorable education in the effects of decomposition. 

 

Ooops.  There are those tulips again.  I said I was CAPABLE of not posting spring flowers....I didn't say I wasn't going to do it.

 

Just one more....

Actually I can't promise I won't post any more tulips this season.  My white and red ones just started blooming today.  So be forewarned. 

 
....and here's one of my darling Japanese plates.  You veterans of my blog have seen these many times, I know, but they're just...so...cute!  I can't help but post them again.

 
But back to those eggs.  You've seen these types of eggs before on Martha Stewart and many magazines, but have you seen ones with chevron stripe texture?  I wrapped the egg with a textured trouser sock before dying it, hence that very cool background.

 
Here's a different one, I think I wrapped a long blade of grass around the egg before wrapping it in the sock.

 

I haven't posted any cakes lately, so here's a pretty one, perfect for spring!  I made it for a friend's birthday, hence the candles.  Lemon cake with strawberries and whipped cream, mmmm....

 
Hazel was dying to eat some of it, but since I figured that my friend would probably not appreciate a big chunk dug out of her birthday cake, I made one for my family too.  My kids decorated it and put the candles on it by themselves, and we had an impromptu un-birthday party tonight.  They each got to blow out the candles (two times apiece) to ensure than plenty of melted wax got splattered all over the place, and then it was time to let them eat a bunch of sugar right before bedtime.  Gosh I love spring break.

 

...And here we have my ever-cheerful girls.  Hazel wore piggy tails for the first time (and kept them in all day, which is an amazing milestone!) and I wanted some documentation.

 
 Needless to say, Hazel didn't exactly feel like smiling for the camera.  And yes, she chooses her own outfits to wear.  A mere 10+ times a day.  Eliza never felt the need to empty out the entire contents of her closet daily while practicing getting dressed (and undressed....and dressed again) so this behavior is new to me.

Annoying, to say the least, but at least she lets me put her hair in piggy tails!  Eliza has an extremely tender head and won't let me brush her hair, let alone pull it back (hence the short haircut).  Hazel, my girly-girl, is coming to the realization that sometimes a girl's gotta go through a little pain for the sake of fashion.

 

But I guess that doesn't mean she's going to smile about it.

Because Tulips Won't Wait

 

Tulips don't care if I have a million other things I should be doing.

 

 

They bloom when they bloom, and in a matter of days, **poof** they're gone for another year (or forever, depending on whether those evil moles/voles discover more of my tulip bulbs underground!)

 

So when my tulips begin unfolding their velvety petals, I must act.

 

Make bouquets while the tulips bloom, isn't that how the saying goes?  Okay, maybe not, but it sounds better than hay and sunshine.

 

I'm laughing at myself because, when Steve saw the new bouquet on the table and my camera nearby, he asked if I was going to stay up tonight and post these pictures.  I assured him that I was far too busy for such frivolity, but he knows me too well...

 

...and here I am doing exactly that.  My brain is too tired to work out the final kinks in my patterns, and my fabric STILL has not come, so this is my fun activity for the day.  Aren't they just so incredibly lovely?  I should have been a floral designer, I love flowers so much.  Hmmmm....I just might have to add that to my bucket list.

In the meantime, I'll just heed my tulip's calls each spring despite my ever-present To-Do list.  Because life is short.  Especially if you're a tulip. 

 

A Brief Peek

 
So I thought I'd better post at least a few pics of the current state of my studio, even though it's not totally done (and may not be until I have more time after QuiltMarket).

 
Because some of you just aren't able to sleep at night due to the suspense I've inadvertantly created the past 3 months about this silly room of mine (har har...never fear, I'm not so full of myself as to think that for half a second).

 
 

Later on I'll post a bunch of pictures, plus the "before" pics so you can see how drastic the change has been all in one post.  No time for that tonight though.

 

See that adorable postcard of The Three Bear's chairs?  It's from the incredibly talented Sarah Jane - so very fun.

 
Lori T, do you recognize that Christmas card?  I love it to pieces, it's one of my very favorites.

 

A most important mantra for me, especially this month!  I bought the print on Etsy, then framed it up.

 
 
Stacks and stacks of my favorite fabrics...hopefully very soon I'll be able to add my own fabrics to the pile!

 
I bought these gorgeous, hand-printed copies of the famous prints you see here while in Japan 3 years ago.  The originals were made in the 1700's, I think.  It's a little painful to look at the tidal wave one now, in light of the heart-wrenching devastation the Japanese people are enduring due to the earthquake/tsunami.  So very, very tragic.

My drawers were bulging with my, um, extensive ribbon inventory, so I made this wall-mounted system to help alleviate the space-gobbling problem.  Besides, now I can look at the pretty colors all the time!

I used inexpensive IKEA spice rack shelves, added a bit of wooden trim around the front and sides, then painted them and mounted them on a sheet of thin plywood.

I made the frame by cutting the back out of lengths of brick molding to create picture frame molding (which is a 2-person job on the table saw, actually - thanks, Steve!)  When the molding was all made, I then cut the pieces to size and glued+nailed the mitered corners.  And of course the paint came last.  I went a little crazy with those dots, but you know me and polka dots!

 

 
Okay, well, that's all I have time for at this point...I'll post a bigger, more complete photo gallery later on but this should at least satisfy a bit of curiousity for now.  Just in case any of you out there were, indeed, curious!
  

There's Nothing Cheerier

 
 
I challenge you to think of anything that gladdens the heart and lifts the spirits more than spring flowers after a long and cold winter...

 
Okay, so I know that winters in other climates are a LOT worse than ours (I hear it's still snowing in Utah, for example....I'm so sorry for you out there.  And of course the northern states and Canada have a long time before the great thaw) but these spring flowers are still a very, very welcome sight for my sore eyes.

 

Hopefully the flowers from my garden will liven your spirits too, even if they are just images on a screen.

 

I love, love, LOVE muscari!  I don't know what it is about these tiny, preciously fleeting little blossoms, but there just is.  Have I mentioned that I love them?

 

 Such a perfect counterpoint to the cheery, sunny yellow of daffodils.

 

Yellow and purple are complimentary colors for a reason...

 
... a fact perfectly illustrated by nature and the non-coincidental, synchronized blooming cycles of daffodils and muscari.  Yes, God knows what He's doing.

 
Spring fever has hit my front door too, but in a faux way.

 

I made this wreath a few years ago, and although these blooms are all fake, they still evoke that fresh, exciting aura of S*P*R*I*N*G. 

And it's very nice that they never die.

 
Nor do I ever have to water them.

 

All very good qualities for a girl who is up past her eyeballs in things to finish in the next month.

My neglected vegetable garden is crying for me, and the snow peas are still trapped in their paper envelope on my table...but I just don't have the time to spend a couple of days weeding, hoe-ing (how on earth do you spell that?!) and planting my precious garden yet.

 
So these pictures will have to suffice for now.  I'm still finishing up my studio and all the props for my booth at QuiltMarket (a mere month away....ack!!) while awaiting the arrival of my fabric, which still has not made its way to my door (obviously, or I'd be showing you pictures of fabric instead of flowers).

 
The only thing that's preventing me from having a complete heart attack about that is the vast amount of work I'm dealing with right now.  Hopefully in the next few days I'll be done (enough) with my studio to photograph some of it.  Still waiting on a few doors and some things on the walls, but at least it's fully functional at this point.

 
And my flower friends are helping me cope too.  I thank my lucky stars for the cheery, glorious signs of spring all around me - hurray for that!

 

Setback #547

 
Well, I'd love to be able to say my studio was totally finished, but it just isn't so...

It IS getting closer, though, despite setbacks such as Steve being gone all this week on business so I didn't have much work time til all the kids were in bed (after 9:00 pm), and then this...

I was all set to install the cabinet tops after spending hours cutting, sanding, and staining them, and had a frustrating realization.

No, the wood is not cut crooked.  That darn wall bows outward a full 1/2" over a mere 23 inches.  Unbelievable.  I've never seen a wall so crooked that I couldn't compensate for whatever bulges and gaps there were with a line of caulk.  No way to caulk that puppy and have it still look respectable.  I couldn't trim the back corner to fit without taking off so much length that the other side would fall way too short.

 
So hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to the store I go ("went", actually, but that isn't the way the rhyme goes) to buy another big wooden plank to cut, sand, and put 3 coats of stain on (with half a day's drying time in between) so I can finish that back wall system (sigh).  My fabric should be coming in within the next week or so, and I'm still at least 3 or 4 days away from having everything moved in and my sewing machines revved up.  I'm trying not to feel stressed..."trying" being the key word here.  :-) 

But how 'bout that floor, eh?  do you like it?  The product name is Allure Ultra, color is Sawcut Arizona (from HomeDepot online).  It's actually a vinyl product, with a tongue and groove system akin to Pergo.  Except, despite promises to the contrary, it does not easily snap and click in place - I was surprised at how much brute muscle strength it took to get some of those pieces firmly in place!  I'll show more pics later, when I have my final studio remodel post.  I did the entire floor and the baseboard trim all by myself, which was a huge chore but it's great to stand back and see it now! 

Okay, time to get back to work.  I was going to post something funny and creative in honor of April Fool's Day, but I just don't have the time!  I have to at least think of a fun prank for the kids today...anybody have any ideas?