My Studio

I realized I haven't posted any pictures of my studio makeover.  Bob likes to call this room my studio; actually it's a sewing room, craft room, stitching room, morning room, office, all rolled into one.  I'm fortunate to have a large room with high ceilings and lots of windows.

I really don't have any before pictures.  The previous owners of the house used this room as a media room which consisted of black out curtains, a reclining sofa, a HUGE tv and it was decorated with John Wayne memorabilia.  I guess you can imagine that.

My first order of business was built-in in shelving and workspaces for my computer and sewing machine.

I did a T shaped workspace since the room is so large.  The extra peninsula space is available on the office side and the sewing side which really helps.  The shelves provide tons of storage for books and stitching/craft supplies.  The blue apron hanging in the center was used and made by my Grandma from feed sack material.

The end of the peninsula is a bookcase for extra storage.

Moving to the left is an outside wall with sliding glass doors leading on to a porch.  The high ceilings allow space for hanging stitched pieces that haven't found a home anywhere else in the house.  I have a large counter height worktable in front of the sliding glass doors.  The light pouring on to the workspace is fabulous!

Still moving to the left, opposite the built-ins, is a sitting area with lots of lights for stitching.  The sofa is a sleeper so we have some extra guest space if we need it.  The quilt hanging on the wall was made by my Grandma and was the inspiration for the wall color.

The fourth wall has a closet which is full of shelves to store more craft, sewing, and stitching supplies.  The white shelf unit mounted on the wall has glass door knobs as hangers and is where I hang my main stitching and project bags.  I've got a TV in the corner on a roller cart that I can pull out to watch while I stitch.

I seem to spend most of my time in this room doing something or other.  Hmmmm what will I start on today?

Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Sherri

Leo's Quiet Book - Part III

Well, all the pages are completed for the quiet book.  Here are the ones I haven't posted yet:

 

Another counting page.

 

 

Zippers

 

 

Camping - tent with zipper.

 

 

With a smiley face inside.

 

 

 

 And - - - the dreaded shoe page.

 



 For some reason I kept putting off the shoe page.  Finally this afternoon I just decided to just do it, instead of worrying about how it was going to come out.  I think it's okay for a handmade book.  Now all that's left is to put it all together!!

 

Blackbird PIncushion and More Quiet Book Pages

I've continued to work on Leo's quiet book, but took a break to finish this pincushion.  It's "Bluebird" from Blackbird Designs but obviously it's not blue!  I had some overdyed silk floss laying around that I decided to use instead.  I stuffed it with crushed walnut shells and finished it off with come vintage lace I found on ebay and some little white buttons from the Paris flea market.

Now, on to the quiet book.  Here are the most recent pages:

This pet shop page came from the Snugglebug University blog.  You can find the free templates here.

Leo can rescue the puppy from the pet shop and take it home to its own doghouse!  The door on the doghouse closes to play peak a boo.

Here's a page to put your hand in the mitten.

A train page.  The wheels button on and off.

And ta da!!  The centerfold of the book is the car page.  Leo can drive from home to the lake with the little car.  The lights on the stoplight are fastened with velcro.

Just a few more pages and I'll be ready to put them together.

Happy stitching!
Sherri

Leo's Quiet Book

A lot of things have been happening around our house.  Our back yard project is pretty much done and I've redone my stitching/sewing/office/reading room.  I'll have some pics of these pretty soon.  This afternoon I'm working on a Quiet Book for Leo so I thought I'd post my progress.

A friend loaned me this Activity Book pattern by Country Creations and I'm using it as a starting point.  This pattern is copyright 1991 but I believe it's still available.

 

I'm using some of the pages from this pattern and making up other pages based on inspiration from Pinterest.  There are quite a few boards focusing on quiet books and I picked up tons of ideas and posted them on my own board.  Click here to see my "Quiet Book Ideas" on Pinterest.

These pages are from the Country Creations pattern:

Counting Page - the symbols come on and off with velcro.

Match the Shape - the shapes also fasten on with velcro and the shape of each outline is stitched on the page.

Clock Page - the hands move.  The only problem with this page is that the hands sometime catch on the fuzz of the felt.  But I think it will be okay.

The fruit for this basket page was taken from the Country Creations pattern, but I made up the basket as I went along.  The fruit is loose to come out of the basket and be put back in.

This page has been the most fun so far.  I went to a thrift store and bought a 0-3mo pair of overalls and cut them down to fit the page.  I cut out a t-shirt shape from an old red t-shirt, machine appliqued it to the page, then sewed the overalls on top.  The straps snap and unsnap and there is a little pocket that I hid a tiny treasure in.

 

My quiet book will have 16 pages total.  I'll post more as I go.  Thanks for looking!

Happy stitching,

Sherri