Irresistables

Back on the homefront, my quilts have been returned from Schweinfurth in good order. In fact they look exactly as they did when I packed them to send off. Nothing like a good staff and lots of packing tape. Really, they did a wonderful job returning them, I only wish I could have seen the show. Here are three of them reinstalled in the bedroom so I don't have to look at just the slats nailed to the walls (the other two are on the wall to the left). And just in time for a new bunch of guests so the place doesn't look like a construction site! Home Again Home Again Jiggidy Jig.

Lacey today:
Got her all covered with the lace and I've started painting it up. Most of the real old lace and crocheted stuff I have is waaaay off-white so I wanted a darker base before sticking all that stuff on. We'll call it ecru, kay? And I am making more 'ecru' adding my metallic gold and bronze to a mix of buff and white. With some 'sterling silver' here and there. I also put the wee dot of white into her eyes so now she can talk at me while I work, telling me what she needs. (Which is actually just me leaving her be!) So, I'll mess about and finish painting her belly today, and Laurie will be there Thursday to help me glue more stuff on and whammo, she will be done!

I ordered some bookcases from Ikea the other day and they told me delivery would be Feb 8th. Well I got a message that the truck is loaded and the stuff is on the way. Hopefully it will arrive before I leave town next week. Looks like I will be forced into getting the studio rearranged a bit before I had anticipated. Basically I am moving my chairs to the dead space in front of the garage doors and freeing up the space along the long blank wall where I want to put a design wall for display. The other side of the room is the working side so it will stay as is for now. It will great to get my books and magazines and all that stuff together in actual shelves and out of cubby holes and boxes. Pretty soon this place will be more functional, hopefully- not too far from that, but I have to throw myself into it and do the changes. And find a whole wall of homasote! I am also going to get a rug for the sitting area if I find a pile o' money lying in the street. Here's the one I want which will go with the plain strips Ikea rug at the other end of the room in the computer area:
They call it cream, IRON, and FEZ RED. How can I resist that? I thought it was B&W, ha. Maybe I will also install a 'donations' box at the front door...

Here is my newest knitting bag from Amsterdam- it is actually an old found oil painting from a flea market somewhere 'over there' with handles added. I was so excited to find these on a website from a friend, but then found one on Anthroplogie. Apparently the woman who makes these in Holland used to be one of the design gurus at Anthropologie and it sure has that vibe.
Practical? Ummm, that remains to be seen. Heavy? You betcha, but the problems are completely overridden by the COOL factor. Or maybe that's just my take. But I love this bag!

Yes folks, it IS Olive Loaf, in the form of a shawl. Crocheted. Pink as all hell.
And if you prefer your meat on the grill, here are some steaks sizzling away.
And (exclamation point here) you too can make one with the directions here! Maybe Headcheese? Maybe Salami?

Well this has turned into a consumer tour of ways to spend money, hasn't it? Guess I will have to have that Open Studio afterall and see if I can sell off more stuff to fund my buying. Oh boy, do I ever have work to do!