Now the progress on the studio is slower as I do little things here and there. I feel like I worked so hard this weekend, and there's not a lot to show for it. I still have a lot more fabric to sort through and fold to go in the left bookcase. The baskets up top need some tidying up as well, but it's looking much nicer than it did before.

I solved my light switch problem, although I didn't, perhaps, choose the easiest solution. I changed out the switches altogether for new, white paddle switches, and found this sweet little switch plate at my favorite Ace Hardware for only $4.49. It had an antique finish, so I painted it white.

Changing out the switches isn't too hard. Each one had two wires, so I took the top wire out of the old switch, and put it in the top hole of the new switch, then did the bottom wire so there was no chance of messing it up. The main thing to remember is to shut off the power!

I also installed the hooks, which were on sale at Anthropologie. They didn't come with any visible way to hang them, so I improvised by nailing picture hangers on the backs and hanging them from sturdy nails. They're mostly for holding my knitting project bags, so they didn't have to be super sturdy, although they are quite solidly in place, I must say.

I picked out a doorknob while I was there as well. The deciding factor was the fact that this one was on sale for $14.95. It helps that I do love milk glass.

It, too, was a little tricky to install, but that's the great thing about Ace, you go in with your problem, and they walk you right through the solution. I had to get screws to mount it, and there was a little grumbling and growling as I tried to fit everything together. A third hand would have been helpful, but I'm now quite confident in my doorknob installation abilities.

One last project was to place grommets in this quilt design wall I have (it's really just a piece of thick flannel or felt, my husband bought it for me from Keepsake Quilting, I believe) and then put cup hooks along one wall so I can easily hang it up and take it down. This was one of those projects that was a tiny bit harder than I expected, but came out exactly as I envisioned, so the frustration was worth it. Cup hooks are not easy to screw into wood.

The grommets are actually plastic, and I found them at Joann. You just cut a circle out of the fabric and snap the two halves of the grommets together, no special tools needed! They were a little pricey ($10 for eight), but I had my 40% off coupon, so it wasn't bad.

So here's another cheap decorating tip: sales and coupons are your friends! This takes patience, and it's also good to have a plan. I tend to think very carefully about how I want a room to look, and realize that I can't rush it. Once you've figured that out, you can accumulate the things you want over time rather than going on a crazy, expensive shopping spree. When I try to get too much at once I tend to make costly mistakes. So bit-by-bit, and watch for sales and coupons. If you're in the U.S. and not on the Joann mailing list, get on it! They send coupons regularly. For California residents with a Beverly's fabrics nearby, ditto that. They do theirs via e-mail, and it's not as frequent, but still worth getting.

I have lots more fun projects coming up, and I'm going to need some opinions, so I hope you won't mind if I ask what you think over the next couple weeks. I actually made myself a to-do list for this year in lieu of any formal resolutions, and the majority have to do with this studio project. I'm posting it here for reference:

To-do list for 2009

Grow mushrooms
Make Kheer (Indian Rice Pudding)
Clean the microwave
Get some new chicks (2 Araucanas, 2 Cuckoo Marans, 2 Rhode Island Reds or 2 Barred Rocks)
Make myself a sweater
Finish my studio:

•   Slipcover chair
•   Make window coverings
•   Find a dresser
•   Paint the dresser pink
•   Collect and frame art to display
•   Install shelf above work table
•   Find vintage metal stool   
•   Hang plate collection in an artful display
•   Paint ornate picture frame and turn it into an inspiration board (turquoise?)
•   Make drapes to cover shelves-possibly patchwork?
•   Come up with a clever name
•   Put up quilt design wall
•   Find a rug (possibly this striped rug from Ikea?)
•   Make fabric cover for my sewing machine

Train Winston to do tricks or herd sheep
Vacuum every week
Lose 30 more pounds
Learn to make creme brulee
    (not sure how the previous two items will work together)
Take more pictures
Make a quilt
Design a pair of socks (knee socks! with Scandanavian-style colorwork! I can picture them in my head)
Clean out and paint laundry room
Make more things for my Etsy shop
Make French Macarons

And one last thing, completely unrelated to all this, I wanted to share a music video. This is my brother, and the song is from his new CD, which you can pre-order at www.caryjudd.com. I've been lucky enough to hear the songs as he's recorded them, and this is, by far, his best music ever. I'm pretty sure it's going to be my favorite album of 2009, so you really should think about getting it. I guarantee you won't be disappointed!

I didn't quite mean to disappear for ten days, but I've been busy. I finally started painting my little studio. And I painted some more and then I painted even more, and I'm still not done. I've gone through two cans of primer so far, and I started on a third can tonight. I knew this was going to be a big job, but I didn't know it would be quite this big. My studio is actually an old tack shed that a previous owner finished off inside using whatever leftovers they found laying around, so it's sort of a quirky little space. Sometimes we call it a guesthouse, which sounds much more glamorous than it could ever be. A previous owner (I'm not sure if these are the same owners that initially gussied it up) walled up one end to make a very narrow space in which they built a workbench. Based on some remnants of foil stapled to the walls and ceilings, and some chains which looked like they were for some hanging fluorescent lights, I'd guess they used the space to grow some plants. I'm not saying what kind of plants, I'll leave that to your imagination.

Anyway, the point is that for six years I've wanted to paint it, and I finally got started. There are lots of odd little bits of wood, so I decided to paint everything white so make it look fresh and bright and clean. It is also painted in patches of five different colors, so some of the darker colors require a little more priming than the lighter colors. I can't bring myself to post a before picture here, because it was just so ugly, but if you must know what it looked like, go here. And now, after two cans of primer, it looks like this:

I still have more priming to do on the other side of the room, I think if I work on it for the next two nights after work I'll be able to actually paint on Saturday. I decided to treat myself to a new doorknob from Anthropologie for that door when I'm done painting. I'm thinking something like this one, or maybe this one. And how much do you love that lamp? I think it's going to be adorable in here. It's from Target, of course. Last Fall I even made up a style tray of inspirational ideas for the space. In case you missed it:

The Vika Artur trestle legs and table top were on sale at Ikea this past month, $10 for each set of legs, and $30 for the table top, so I've got them all ready and waiting to be assembled. I'm not having much luck finding an inexpensive vintage metal stool, but I can be patient. I also hope to find some green fabric similar to what's on the chairs in the top right photo to re-cover a wing chair. There will be a lot of little projects to do in the room before it's complete, but it's going to be lots of fun, if I ever finish painting.

So many unfinished projects and so little inspiration. That’s how it is around here right now. Above is an apron I started in December. All I have to do is add a pocket, but I just can’t seem to get to it. Here’s the pile on of unfinished projects on the sewing machine:

And speaking of unfinished, I still haven’t painted this room, although the great de-cluttering project of 2006 and 2007 continues into 2008, and I did get a little more cleaned out of there last weekend.

What do you do when you get like this? I have so very little inspiration, and zero motivation. I feel like I’ve been coming home from work and staring stupidly at the TV, and there isn’t even anything good on. I hope this rut doesn’t last much longer.

I have continued taking pictures, however, and since January is yearly bonus time at my place of employment, I treated myself to a Photoshop upgrade (from v6-super old skool-to CS2)! And I have been playing around with it a bit, because I can do that while stupidly watching stupid shows on TV, so I guess that’s something. I picked up The Photoshop CS2 Book, which I highly recommend. So far I have learned how to apply a vignette, and to lighten too-dark photos using Curves, and create a dreamy glow-y effect. And some color adjusting stuff.  Reading Pioneer Woman has introduced me to the world of Photoshop actions, which are just brilliant, and now I want some. Better yet, I want to make some. I better go learn how to do that now.


My pins and needles are ready and waiting for me to get my mojo back. Even the addition of a squirrel lamp isn’t enough to get me going.

I’m busy spring cleaning today, so this is just a quick post to share some craft/antique show treasures, featuring my lovely assistant, Ruby.
The chickens and Bear find that they must all be in exactly the same spot as me when I am outside. Do they not understand that I have personal space issues? I guess it’s nice to be loved. More than one chicken has had her toes stepped on because she just could not get out of my way.

I got some cute wooden shoes and tiny jello molds at craft show on Saturday. I have to work on my bargaining skills, however. Especially as I plan on going to the Rose Bowl Flea Market later during my Four Weeks off (did you think I wasn’t going to mention it again? Wrong!). I spied the wooden shoes on the ground and quickly snatched them up before anyone else could see them, not thinking that maybe not everyone loves wooden shoes like I do. I approached the seller and asked, "How much?" I got all flustered when he said, "How much were you thinking?" I don’t know, I don’t know! I just really like them and they’re old and have a great patina and I just want them and I don’t want to insult you by offering too little. "$15?" "Uh, I was thinking a little less, $12?" Okay, I’ll take them! Doh! I have about 3 weeks to work on my technique. I mean, really, would he have been insulted if I said $5? Of course I couldn’t try to bargain him down below $12 after I offered $15, right? Gah! I’m so not prepared for the flea market experience. Any helpful hints would be welcomed.

It’s always good to come home. I’ve been back since late Monday night, but have been busy catching up at work and at home. Next week will be all about catching up on blogs and comments, I think! I love getting comments so much, so if I haven’t responded to your comment in the last couple weeks, you’ll be hearing from me soon, I am definitely not ignoring you!

I went to bed last night to a light, sprinkling rain, and woke up to a few inches of snow. The picture above is my little town. Click it to see a really big version. That’s pretty much the whole town right there. Sometimes it feels like stepping back in time when I come home.

This is chicken alley. You can’t see it, but our shed is to the right (the bikes are leaning against it), and there is a short wall on the left, so the chickens hang out there a lot because it’s sheltered from the weather. We had some pretty high winds last week, and Mr. Lucy told me that one of the Barred Rocks had ventured out of the alley onto the driveway where she was caught in a gust of wind and went feet over tail, just like a tumbleweed. And then she went back into the chicken coop. I guess she didn’t like the wind too much. In this picture, several of them are running to me, hoping for a treat. Too bad I just have my camera, they already had plenty of treats today!

In another wind and animal story, there were also some very large gusts that blew a chunk of shingles and the top of our chimney off the roof. Our insurance company sent someone out the other night to tarp the roof, knowing that we had a storm coming in. The contractor put a big, black, plastic bag over the chimney pipe. Yesterday morning when I let the dogs out, Bear was looking at the roof and barking suspiciously. I think he thought the plastic bag was a person standing on the roof. It’s good to know that we are safe from suspicious plastic bags.

So it’s a new year, and I’m not making resolutions, exactly, but I do have plans to take better care this year. I’m going to take better care of myself and my home and of course, Mr. Lucy, who is going to be eating more vegetables this year, whether he wants to or not. Happily, I have a three day weekend, so there will be much cooking of aforementioned vegetables, as well as some serious cleaning and clearing out of the house.

Oh, and you can read more about how I rang in the new year here. There may be video of me behind the microphone, but I plan on doing every thing in my power to insure that it does not see the light of day. All in all though, it was a crazy fun time. Although why does silly string take less than 5 minutes to spray out of the can, and 5 hours to clean up?