I was very excited when the postie came bringing woolly goodness today. It was my holiday swap package from a fellow Wildcraft Woolly.

It came wrapped in paper that pleased Thing 1. (Though, I was a bit worried she might try and claim the entire parcel.)

Inside, there were beautiful batts from HilltopCloud and a card that coordinated brilliantly! I love the card. I have a thing for trees. And paintings. And orange. I’m thinking of framing it… I just need to find the right home for it.

A close up of the batts, which are Merino, Finn and Firestar in a colourway called Pumpkin Pie. I’m really looking forward to spinning this up. They told me they want to be spun up as singles. On my Victoria. For a shawl. Who am I to argue with determined fibre?

My Santa also included a lovely little pouch which will be perfect for notions, a magnetic bookmark, and some delicious dark chocolate. Oh, how I love dark chocolate.

This totally made my day. Thank you Santa. :)

I’ve spent a good chunk of today reorganizing my stash, mostly because my husband won’t be home until tomorrow. I’m not trying to hide anything… he reads this blog, he has his own Ravelry account and he knows where the stash is kept, so there’s no point. However, it means I have until tomorrow night to put everything back in place. :)

Part of this whole airing of the stash to get everything into Ravelry that hasn’t already been input, make sure those details are correct and to get everything nice and neat so that it won’t fall on my head everytime I open my side of the wardrobe.

I decided to pull it out and take a photo (or at least a photo of what a 1.5 year old hasn’t already run off with):

Stash is one of those things. I’d feel lost without it, but I don’t want it to overwhelm me either. It’s all about a bit of balance, really, and I’ve been trying to knit from stash as much as possible. The odd thing will happen where there’ll be a sale and the perfect yarn is asking to be taken home or the odd project that need to be done that can’t be taken from stash. I’m trying to do a little more of the latter rather than the former. For instance, I just bought some wool from New Lanark for a pair of clogs for Joey which fell into that category. These types of projects are inevitable. What I’m trying to do is make sure those yarns don’t become stash and get knit up as quickly as possible.

For those of you on Ravelry and are interesting in shopping the stash before the LYS, then you might want to check out the Stash Knit Down group. I’m currently participating in the Knit up 100 balls in 2009 challenge and Cold Sheep. I’m not doing brilliantly on the whole Cold Sheep yarn diet thing, but I think I’m doing better than I normally would as I’ve only bought yarn thrice this year and so far all but the yarn that came into the house yesterday has either been cast on or completed. I’m also knitting the existing stash down. It’s a nice balance of new, exciting yarns and lovingly stashed yarns. :)

... Actually she’s just lost her energy. It’s all for a good cause though as this has been zapping all my energy since the beginning of February:

Isn’t she cute?? But then again, I’m probably biased. :)

Everything has been on the back burner since baby took my energy away, but I’m finding that since I went on blogging hiatus I have more UFOs/WIPs (that’s unfinished projects and works in progress) than I can shake a stick at. Does this mean I can only finish stuff if I need to blog about it? Maybe. Sounds like me. So we’re going to give this whole thing a go again… and give myself a goal of getting some of those UFOs finished.

...I’ve not been abducted by aliens.

It’s been a busy and exhausting few months with little time for creativity. Things have finally turned around and I’m having time to play again…. at least for the moment.

I’m hoping to get some of the things I’m managed to get finished up in the next few weeks.

I’m sick with cold right now, and not happy about it. Unfortunately, this cold has left me without energy to create… yet I persist onwards (cause, really, what else am I going to do… ). I currently only have the energy to hand stitch, which allows me to work at my samples and fall asleep anytime I need to, usually with the needle still in my hand.

Having said that, my samples for Take A Stitch Tuesday are going much slower than expected, but at least they are going. I’ve got the first sample page done, and I’ll post whatever I manage to finish on Sunday night or Monday morning GMT for all to see.

The Take A Stitch Tuesday challenge is a weekly stitching challenge hosted by Sharon of In a Minute Ago in which we explore a new stitch every week and blog/post our results. If anyone is interested, please check out Sharon’s original post and sign up there.

I was originally planning to put up a post with thumbnail images of all the stuff I made in 2006. Then I realized how much I actually created in a single year, and I was amazed. I was also struck with the realization that it would take me hours to compile all those little photos and links, so it’s just not happening.

It did, however, give me an idea. I’m going to count how many items I make in 2007. The goal is 365. I’ll keep a running total somewhere on this blog.

On top of what I normally do, I would like to:

• knit a lace scarf or shawl.
• create 4 wall pieces… hangings, canvases, whatever. It just has to be something whose sole purpose is to decorate a wall.
• create a vessel out of fabric/fibre.
• start and complete a fabric journal of my own from start to finish.
• use those techniques I’ve been seeing, collecting and admiring. I do often use the techniques I find, but I really want 2007 to be a year where I concentrate on techniques. I’d like to be able to use one new technique a month, and I’m even thinking of creating some sort of technique book out of it.

And lastly, I want to decrease my pile of WIPs (Work in Progress). I’ve collected it all together in a bag… at least the pieces that can actually fit in the bag. I’d love to be able to have an empty bag at the end of 2007. A girl can dream, can’t she?

We enjoyed a delightful morning here, and we both got several gifts we loved, and some that were unexpected.

Under the tree for me were several kilos of fine dark chocolate (okay, only one kilo… and a bit), a few additions to the yarn stash, and two books, namely Alphabetica by Lynne Perrella and Altered Books, Collaborative Journals and Other Adventures in Bookmaking by Holly Harrison. Both books looks quite interesting, and I’m hoping to dig into some of the techniques mentioned within their covers in the near future. I’m especially happy with the Alphabetica book, as it’s one of my favourite themes so I’m looking forward to exploring both the techniques and the ideas presented in that book.

As my big gift, Joey got me a Mondaine watch. I’m thrilled. Joey bought a Mondaine pocket watch while we were in Zürich last year and loves it. So did I. Mondaine is the official manufacturer of the clocks for the Swiss rail system, and are probably the easiest to read watches in existence. Besides, you can’t beat Swiss movement. But what really makes me smile is the fact that the SBB (Swiss rail) logo appears on the face. Anybody who knows me well knows how much I love Switzerland, and how I wax poetic about their rail system. I’m completely chuffed. :)

I have a clean and organized studio. Well, as long as you don’t open up the Wardrobe it’s all nice and clean and organized. A bit at a time. I’ve got a bit of the wardrobe done, but it won’t be finished until I can move bits of unfinished presents out of there. Finishing them would be a start.

But look at the rest of the room! :)

I’ve been finishing up a few major project and haven’t had any time to clean, so this makes me so happy. I have a desk again. I have an ironing board that isn’t masquerading as a spare table. I have a bed that isn’t masquerading as a table. I have a floor that isn’t masquerading as a table. I’m happy.

I haven’t posted any photos of my studio since I rearranged, so here they are! I like this arrangement soooo much better. You can see the original layout here.

This wall is where the shelf used to be. The day I discovered the wardrobe came apart into two moveable pieces (rather than one non-moveable piece) was the day it found it’s new home. I pretty much keep the same stuff in my wardrobe as I’ve always done but I’ve taken out all the small stuff. I mainly keep fabric, yarn and big stuff in here now.

I also moved my reference books from the top shelf to the top of the wardrobe. I think I’m liking this. I debated moving them onto the bookshelf in the lounge, but decided that I really wanted them in my studio. I don’t like being separated from my books. My alterable books also live here. I don’t use my books that much, so they really didn’t need to be right next to my desk, but I still need them close at hand if they are needed. I think this is a good compromise.

Next to the wardrobe is the desk. I’ve tacked inspirational photos on the side of the wardrobe and moved the pinboard above my desk (the desk used to be under the window, so this never used to be an option). My pen jars and tool caddy is there. I’ve also installed a wooden CD holder to hold CDs full of unmounted stamps. On that I’ve got my favourite ink pads, my clock, light and a few sheep. :)

The shelf is on the back wall, again at a 90 degree angle to my desk. This set up works so well for me. I keep my verticle paper holders there, as well as my foam stamp files, photos, binders for stickers and rub-ons,
ribbon, and other assorted essentials on this shelf. My towers of small embellishments live on the space on the other side of the paper storage that you can’t see. Adhesives, heat guns and a few other items also live here.

I really had to sort out my magazines. The only magazines that now live this shelf are my stamping, fabric and mixed media mags which I could never part with and use constantly for techniques and inspiration.

I’ve been loving the take away containers as storage devices. I use them to store chipboard, flowers, threads, beads, art supplies and all manner of great junk to use in my art. Scrapbooking containers are on the middle shelves, while all the others are on the top shelf sorted into meaningful piles. I’m really liking this. They use to live in the wardrobe, but unless they had a shelf they kinda got lost. I also like have my thread sorted into reasonable groups rather than tossed in 6 random non-thread boxes.

My ironing board now lives permanently set up along the wall next to the shelf. I’ve also set it to a low height so I can just wheel my chair from the desk to the ironing board and back again without having to get up. I hate ironing… I have to make it fun somehow. ;)

Finally the bed area, which actually looks like somebody might be able to comfortably sleep in it. Complete with side table and plant. My current magazines live in the magazine rack on that table. My photo bags live beside it.

I still have the wardrobe to sort out, which actually shouldn’t take too long since most of it was sorted the last time I organized. I also have a rack full of magazines in the corridor to sort through. I really need to flip through them, pull out what I really want and discard the rest. They take up too much space so anything that pre-dates 2006 is going to be taken apart and filed.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. :)

I’ve managed to find my way back onto the web… I hate to say it, but sometimes life just gets in the way of my blogging. However, while I’ve been offline I have managed to get some creating done in the spare minutes I’ve had. I’ve got a few new layouts to upload, several new ATCs, the latest page in the fabric book round robin, and a rearranged studio (ever had one of those days when you walk into your studio and say to yourself ‘I can’t work in this room until I move every single stick of furniture’? Amazingly enough, I managed to rearrange everything in an afternoon.)

I’ll start loading up some photos as soon as I get them edited… in other words… I’m back. :)

I popped into the toy megastore to find a gift for my friend’s daughter. Didn’t find the toy I had in mind for the kid, but I got this for me! Hey, I couldn’t resist. :)