My Sewing Room / Craft Studio

The carpet fitters are coming tomorrow morning to turn my sewing/craft studio into a family room for selling the house, and I realized that I never shared pictures of it here, so as a last hurrah and sad farewell to my sewing studio, I thought I would do a post about it!

My studio really isn't about looking pretty, (I wish it was!) but it's very much 100% about function, and I kept it as neutral as possible in order to have the best light for fabric and thread matching, so I am afraid that it isn't going to look like a designer room, but I love it anyway. (Pardon me while I shed a tear here....... I'm feeling a big loss with this room! ;)

we ripped the carpet out of this room and epoxied the floor, it is great for sweeping and doing all sorts of crafts that would mess a carpet. I believe the room is about 12 x 21 feet in case anyone is wondering.

Here is the view back the other direction, the door on the far right leads to the garage, and the other door is to the laundry room and then the kitchen. The center table is 3'x4' and has a yardstick screwed to one side, we got this table for free from a neighbor in DC and recovered the top with white laminate. 

My loom lives at one end of the room, all folded up when not in use. All the mess behind it is actually not mess, it is very controlled chaos of loom related stuff like boards for when I do painted warps etc. 

Between the loom and the sewing table I keep a folding table as an extra work surface, it's covered in new towels right now because I am supposed to embroider them....... at this stage I should probably just take them back since they go with the kids bathroom and were supposed to be spare towels, and we will probably do a different theme in the next place.

These pictures are all taken from the garage door to help give perspective. 

this is what is inside of the cabinet to the left of the stairs, it houses fabric dye stuff on the bottom, and weaving yarns on the top. (there are embroidery flosses in the purple candy tins) 

above the serger desk there are all the cone threads (there are staple guns, hot glue guns, heat guns, etc. in the black boxes.)

above the futon there is storage for bolts, Paul put these up for me with broom handles as the dowels, and closet cup hooks for the brackets, I love this storage, I love looking at all my treasures!

mostly Emmie pins things to my bulletin board, she always puts her designs there! 

here is the serger station, it has my serger and my coverstitch machine. I keep bolts of fabric larger then 3 yards in these shelves (joanns will give you empty bolts for free, and they fit in IKEA billy bookshelves perfectly) behind the doors I have other folded fabric, and boxes of elastic, velcro, buttons, etc. above the shelves I keep boxes of more fabric. (on the  left you can see the stool I use to get to all the tall stuff!)

next to the sewing desk I have my Guttermann box of thread (that I just filled up with 3 spools per color when they were on sale!) and my rack of machine embroidery thread, I got super lucky and stocked up for 90% off when our Joann's was going out of business to move to a new building!

My sewing station, I have a magnetic knife strip with all my scissors on it, my sewing machine, and my embroidery machine. I love my little TV/DVD player, I have it on a pivot point so I can see it from anywhere in the room, and I am always listening to movies while I do stuff in there (Coraline is my favorite to listen to.)  

I have the glass from my stained glass projects in this storage area, with screens from screen printing above. In the closed cupboard I have paints, brushes, and misc. craft items.

If you have any questions about what something is, let me know, I haven't covered anything to the depth I would have liked to, as I am actually putting the laptop down right now to go start packing up the room, and I just don't have the time to open every door and take pictures! (besides, like I said everything is for organization and not necessarily for pretty!) But I would totally love to talk about anything that didn't seem clear.
*You get bonus points if you noticed that my dress form wears a bra, I can't find one that fits me properly, so I make the ribs the right size, and then put a bra and stuffing on the dress form to make it closer to my shape!

linked up at,
  Sew Woodsy 

Our Couch Saga

As part of our move we are getting a new couch, the current couch in our house is a leather one that sucks; seriously it is the worst, it's only 3 years old and has a sag in the middle, the leather is peeling and worn, and the frame in one arm is cracking. We have not abused this sofa, it is apparently just a rubbish sofa, that we didn't pay rubbish sofa prices for RoomStore I'm looking at YOU. (We even paid for the lifetime leather warranty on it, and they apparently don't cover what is happening to our couch, punctures yes, color rubbing off no, which is NOT what the sales guy told us.)

Anyway, we have decided that rather than looking for a middle of the road price point for a couch, we would spend a little more, and see if we could get something that lasted a bit longer, so we looked at Ethan Allen, Arhaus, Pottery Barn, and Restoration Hardware. We immediately eliminated Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn, since most of their furniture seems to be over sized, (although lovely!) Ethan Allen had a couch we really liked, the arms were pretty, it was more petite, and was long enough for Paul to lie down on. The cons were, it was a bit more pricey than I was hoping for, and I don't love the crack in the center, as nobody really wants to sit on a crack! The fabric choices also all seemed to be quite precious, like I would worry about the kids sitting on the thing.

A couple of days ago at Arhaus we found this sofa, 

It is on sale for $1,000 off, and we could select any fabric we wanted for the same price, BUT if we wanted to get it in time, it would have to be this fabric since it's what they keep in stock. The fabric was honestly yucky, scratchy to the hand, and had a slight sheen. I love the cushions though, the nail head trim, and the wood base. I decided that I couldn't justify buying a sofa that I didn't love for the same price as a custom one, simply settling because we couldn't get it on time for the move. 

So yesterday Paul and I were talking, and we came up with the thought that maybe we could get something upholstered in time locally, if we could find a high quality base couch at a thrift store. Paul called all the local upholstery places and found out that most of them could get it done for us in 2 weeks, which would work perfectly timing wise, as long as we could find the sofa to recover in time. 

We looked locally, but couldn't find anything, but today Paul had to go up to DC to get some paperwork done for his orders, and while up there we hit our favorite Salvation Army Store, and found the PERFECT sofa, it was the exact silhouette of the Ethan Allen one, and with a fabric change and some legs it would look  great! Try not to be to underwhelmed here........

 Here is the great arm that is like the Ethan Allen one.

 The fabric is a little special and dirty.

 Did I forget to mention how how low it is? Poor Paul is super tall and he looks a little odd on this low sofa, but we figure if we add taller legs with wood trim and nail heads like on the Arhaus one, we can bring it up to the correct height for him!

 We are going to try to see what it will cost to have 3 new seat cushions put on it rather than the 2, since I don't like the split down the middle, and I think it would look better matched up with the back cushions anyway. We are also going to have the cushions stuffed a little thicker I think, we want it to be cushy.

Here is a tiny odd bit, there is a wooden block on the back that holds the back cushions at the correct height, I've never seen that before! The sofa is really solid though, and all hardwood construction with springs and everything (no MDF here!) and from what we have gotten as quotes it will cost anywhere from $550 to $950 have it re-upholstered, plus the cost of fabric - which will still make it about half the price of the Arhaus couch, with the fabric I want and in 2-3 weeks rather than a month or two! (I've found the perfect fabric too at a local store for $18.95 a yard, it is on hold just waiting for the upholsterer to tell us how much he needs tomorrow, when we go in for the final quote with the new legs etc!)

Have you ever thought about getting something upholstered rather than buying new? I never thought it would be in our price range, and I am seriously excited to see what our custom furniture will look like! (I'll be sure to share what I can as we go!)

Tomorrow afternoon our real estate agent is coming for the first time too, so we are a hopping around here!

Four Generations {photo of the day}

We have been home for a week now, and I still feel wiped out from the trip! We were traveling for more then 24 hours by the time we got back from Peru to the house, and I wasn't feeling amazing for a few days from a migraine that I had gotten our last full day in Peru (I'm pretty sure it was a combo altitude/exhaustion migraine, it was the worst I have ever had and knocked me flat on my booty!)

Right now we are panic project finishing in the house in order to be able to put it on the market, we are tearing apart my studio so that the carpet fitters can come measure tomorrow, and put carpet down there this week, and then we are moving the kids playroom into the studio as a family room, and then turning the playroom back into a 4th bedroom. We spent the last few days landscaping and painting the exterior trim on the porch, and now the curb appeal on the house is looking great! I need to take pictures before I start dismantling everything......... sigh, the worst part of moving for me is making the house pretty for other people to have. My sweet sister is coming into town on the 13th to help pack some of our stuff, and help me drive to AZ on the 17th, so I have to get everything done so that I can wave goodbye to the house then.

Anyway, on a more happy note, I am going to leave you with a picture that we had taken on mother's day, (this is the first time in my family that we have had all 4 generations of girls together,) my Gramma is from South Africa and came to town with my mom for my graduation, and to watch our kids while we were in Peru; her being here was the first time she has met my kids, and one of my major goals was to document the occasion! My gramma is the main reason I sew (she used to make me unpick everything that wasn't perfect!) and I have missed her so much over the last 11 years while she has been between her American visits! I'm having this image made into a canvas for the new house, I love it so much!

Almost Home

We are in the long term parking lot of the airport, a three hour drive from home, just over 24 hours after starting our travel back from Peru yesterday morning! The Inca Trail was amazing and grueling, but I will share details later, a I am honestly just too exhausted to do anything right now except feed my hankering for a jr bacon cheeseburger from Wendy's and chomp on a bucket of ice (which is a terrible habit of mine, acquired from my mother, that I haven't been able to feed the whole time we were in Peru as we weren't allowed to have ice in anything since it wouldn't be made from bottled/boiled water.)

We took hundreds of pictures, and I promise not to spam you all with all of them, but it was honestly so beautiful everywhere (except that bathrooms, oh wow will the bathrooms be a post on their own.) But for right now I will leave you with a picture I have on my phone which didn't die the whole trek (while in airplane mode.)





A very beautiful wonder of the world.

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Thanks for reading!

Catherine

Cuy, The Other White Meat.

So my brother in-law Scott decided to order guinea pig / cuy for dinner tonight, and Sarah and I decided that we would be really brave and try it (even though I have previously made statements to the contrary!) I like to think of myself as adventurous and stuff, but this was a bit of a stretch for me. So although not all of these pictures are flattering, I give you our Peruvian experience eating cuy, in photos.



Scott's friend arrived at the table with a pepper in its mouth....


Scott is very excited about his dinner!


In fact, I think he loves it.....


The waiter chopped it into pieces for us,


Sarah took a brave bite (I am afraid her verdict wasn't very good!)


Scott however dug in like a champion!


After Sarah's reaction I was a little hesitant,


And after eating it I was a LOT hesitant.


Sarah and me high-fiving with cuy feet, gross!


Paul was our old pro at this, as he had eaten cuy before.


Although I suspect it isn't his first choice!


Seriously, this thing had teeth and everything!


And some sort of skin condition, actually I'm not entirely sure how we managed to take a bite, although Scott ate almost the whole thing!


Although we did find out what happened to Peter Pettigrew...........

I'm pretty sure cuy must be a bit of an acquired taste, and it did not taste like chicken as I thought it would!

We are off to hike the Inca Trail tomorrow, so this will be the last of us that you hear until we get back!


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Thanks for reading!

Catherine

Hola Kids!

I am mostly writing about our adventures in Peru so my kids can keep up with what we are doing, so feel free to skip these posts!

Today as part of our Peruvian tour we went to Pisac and saw the ruins there (I ended up out of breath like woah, the altitude kicked my booty!)






and then we went to Ollantaytambo where they had the most amazing terracing I've ever seen, the scale was huge!


Every mountain around here had terracing, according to my art history book, terracing was partially to show mastery over the world to intimidate enemies (in addition to the whole gardening thing) and I can imagine it would have been quite intimidating to see in its hey day.




Next we went to Chinchero where I bought a really nice backstrap loom, woven scarf,


And then we headed for home at our hotel. Here's our room on the inside,


The stones are the original Inca palace, which is pretty neat!

Tomorrow we are doing a city tour here in Cusco, and then Friday we start the trek up the Inca trail (which we have discovered is just the 4 of us in the group! We are pretty excited to be having a private tour without the expense of a private tour!)

I'll see if I can write more tomorrow, after the city tour, please take care of Nana, (and especially Gramma) Isaac and Emmie!

Love you guys!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thanks for reading!

Catherine

Our Hotel in Cusco

The hotel we are staying at in Cusco is an old Incan palace that has been rebuilt into a hotel and is just stunning! It's called the Unaytambo hotel, and we would honestly stay here again in a heartbeat! I don't have any in room photos yet, but here is the courtyard,



The stone around the base is the original palace, and you can see the tower of the colonial cathedral above the roof tiles,




We are off to the Sacred Valley today, and will have some fun shopping there, and seeing the beautiful sights/sites.

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Thanks for reading!

Catherine

In Peru!

It seems I can get Internet in our hotel, so I can upload my phone posts!

Oh my gosh, we had to run like crazy in the Lima airport to get through security, an to our flight with seconds to spare! We had a series of perfect events in which our bags came off the carousel first, we got through customs at lightning speed, we were first told no at the ticket counter, then yes, and then we RAN LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE, through the airport to security and then to a bus waiting to take us to our plane.

We haven't seen Sarah or Scott yet, the original plan was to meet them at our terminal where we got off in Lima from Miami, but when we thought we weren't going to make the flight we emailed them a message that we hope they got, telling them to go on without us, I am very worried that they are in the Lima airport trying to find out what happened to is, rather than proceeding on to the flight, hopefully we'll see their shining faces in the next couple of minutes.




Ha, ha, blurry success! I couldn't hold still long enough to take the picture I had so much adrenaline from the run!

What a RELIEF! we are all together, I haven't managed to loose my little sister! We are in a group with a proficient Spanish speaker, and our adventure can start!

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Thanks for reading!

Catherine

Running Late

We have been delayed all day, lightning struck our first plane and delayed it, and we had to run for our second flight, only to find they had given our seats away because we cut it so close with our connecting flight! We were able to get re assigned seats, a kind lady offered to swap her nice exit seat to squish between to people so Paul and I could sit together, (thank you nice lady, that was a lovely thing to do!) and we will hopefully make it to Lima without incident and then clear customs at record speeds so that we make our connecting flight to Cusco!

Goodness it has felt stressful and eventful trying to get this far today (I might have started off grumpy after spending hours trying to get the kids passports for Korea dealt with this morning so they are being processed while we are away.




This is what stressed out and tired looks like with no make up after dealing with grumpy customer service people all day, it isn't pretty let me tell you!


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Thanks for reading!

Catherine

So Long, Farewell!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let Y'all know that I was going offline for a bit, my mom, step grandma,  and Gramma are sticking around town for a week and a bit to watch our kids for us while Paul and I take a long awaited graduation trip with my little sister and her husband (who are both recent graduates too!!!) and go down to Peru to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!!! I did want to say thank you though for how lovely everyone's comments have been about my graduation!

I am so excited I am ready to burst, although I am slightly afraid that poor Paul will be dragging my backpacked booty up the mountain since I am no where near as fit as I wish I was! (My sister Sarah and her husband Scott are almost 10 years my junior, so they have youth on their side!) I promise to take about a bajillion and one pictures, and that I will try not to accidentally throw myself off of the mountain!

See you all soon!

Catherine


P.S. As an ultimate test of our trust for my husband, we are all relying on the fact that he is the only one who can speak Spanish, (he lived in Peru for 2 years 13 years ago) although I am not sure I trust him to not trick me into eating something I would be freaked out by if I knew what it was, (he is as determined I try guinea pig, as I am determined that I won't!)

Graduating.....

I am going to get a little personal for a second here, I hope you will indulge me.

This post is a scheduled post, I am actually not writing it today, because I am at the Colosseum in Richmond VA, graduating from VCU with my BIS in Historical Craft and Costume Studies, with a minor in History.  My mom has flown into town with my step grandma, and my only living gramma, who is from South Africa, and I haven't seen her in almost 12 years.

I am a non traditional student at this stage in my life, but I suppose I always was. I am 32, I have 2 kids, and I started my college journey 13 years ago. My parents had just gotten divorced, I had just moved countries, (after having lived in England for 2 years) and I was 19. I didn't have any money to go to school, and was working full time to help support my mom and her other 5 kids. I didn't even have my high school diploma. I made a new friend in our neighborhood, who asked me one day what I was going to be doing on Saturday, and without any preparation or knowledge of what was going on my friend took me to the local community college, and I took the GED test so I could be a high school graduate. A few weeks later this same friend approached me and said someone in our church, who wanted to remain anonymous, wanted to pay for me to go to school for a semester, because they knew it was a goal of mine to go to college. At first I said I couldn't go, because I didn't want to impose on anyone, and I needed to stay working and helping my mother; (I'm sure there was some fear of failure in there too) but after much talking with my mother, (who encouraged me to go) I went to college for my first semester (accompanying the friend who approached me with the offer.)

After a bit the friend and I started dating (Guy friend obviously!) I had resisted my attraction to him like mad because I knew that if we dated, it would lead to marriage, and I didn't want to get married; I went on dates with other people to try to stall the inevitable, but every time I got off of the date I could only think about wanting talk to him so he was the last person I spoke to, and I knew I was in trouble! After a series of events I accidentally found out through his mother, that HE was the one PAYING for me to go to school (rather then paying for himself to go for a year with money he had earned after his mission, he paid for us both to go for one semester.) I told him off of course and asked him why he did it, he said it was because he "didn't want to pressure me into feeling obligated to date him or anything" but wanted me to have a better life than I had previously had - whether or not I decided I loved him like he already loved me. 

Paul and I have now been married for 12 years, have had 2 kids, and through the Air Force have had 8 moves in 6 different states. He has supported me through breaks in going to school for pregnancies, and having little's, he has supported me while I took a night or internet class here and there, and he has supported me through the last 2.5 years while I put our family through a lot of inconvenience and took this opportunity to go to school full time while we were here in Richmond (this is the only time period I have had that was long enough in one place where I could actually finish.) Paul gave me his GI Bill a few years ago (the Air Force has paid for his 3 degrees) and his continued support both intellectually and financially are some of the only reasons I have finished school 13 years after I began. 

I have sat in my car in the school parking lot and cried (once to a friend, SORRY Cosette) because of choices I have had to make between going on a field trip with my kids or attending my classes, I have almost quit a dozen times because of how much I have been away from home and my kids, and every step of the way, Paul has listened, supported, pushed me when I needed pushing, and let me quit for the minute I needed to quit. He has come home early from work on days I had class later then the kids got off of school, and he has done all the dishes, taken over lots of the cooking, and all the laundry because I was so overwhelmed trying to do it all. He hasn't done any of this because our family will financially benefit from my degree, I will still stay at home after I graduate; Paul has supported me every step of the way because he wants me to be the fullest version of myself that I can be, and I want him to know that I see that, that I know how much it has taken, and that I know what it has cost him.

I am graduating with high Latin Honors (magna cum-laude) and I say that not to brag for me, but to show exactly how much support I have been given by Paul, and how much forgiveness my children have been willing to offer as my time was spent elsewhere. I have dragged those kids to chemistry and art history classes, where they sat very quietly (and even took notes) when they were on spring break and I wasn't, they have told me it was alright every time I was in class rather than a field trip, and they held me as accountable for my grades as I have held them for their's. 

Everyone in this family has killed themselves for me, and as a mom, I am completely blown away. (It's so easy to feel like what I do, (and how much I do) for everyone is taken for granted, but they have shown me  their full awareness of exactly what I do, by doing much of it for me these last 2.5 years, so I could have the chance to achieve this goal.) 

I love you Paul, Isaac, and Emmie! You have let the house be untidy (or cleaned it yourselves) so that I could sew and craft in my free time rather then only do school or housework, you all bought into my wild hare to train for and run a 10K race during an 18 credit semester when we really didn't need one more thing added to our plates, and I can't wait to go back to being a full time mom again, and I can't wait for our adventure to start in South Korea, thank you for everything you have done for me so I could graduate, and I promise I will continue to be your biggest cheerleader, just like you have all been for me.