Progress in the Studio

In the past week, I've managed to spend some time in my studio, continuing with the clean up and also doing a little creative work.  Above you can see the fabric storage boxes all fronted with coordinating construction paper.  I'm amazed at how much neater the whole shelf looks and so sorry I lived with it looking messy for so long!

One of the issues I have in the studio is the works-in-progress that sometimes turn into UFOs.  I don't want to put them away because then I'll never finish them, so they end up sitting out, making the room look messy.  I've rearranged and repurposed some containers to corral them, so they're within easy reach but still look fairly neat.  Here are two examples, the basket on the right with journaling materials and the one on the left with my "summer blues" project, still unfinished!

A dear friend gave me this container, below, with a plant inside.  I love the colorful print, but couldn't find a way to use it.

I decided to turn it on it's side, insert cardboard crosspieces inside, and use it for marker storage!  I put the lid on top to serve as a catchall for all those little odds-n-ends that are always turning up.  The marker/pen/pencil storage was one of the eyesores in the studio, so this looks a lot better!

So here's a full shot of the wall you see when you walk into the studio area - much neater, right?  I bought several natural containers at Michael's last week (at 50% off!) and used those to corral the projects and unify the look.  I also moved my collection of back issues of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines here, because they also look neat and orderly (I think I'm almost ready to get rid of them entirely...).  The girls art materials are to the right of the tabletop and readily accessible if the creative mood ever strikes them.  The whole space looks much more inviting!

So in the course of organizing and going through bins, I came across this roll of burlap, which is
4 1/2" wide.  It thought it was the perfect size for making some squares for the "Fiber Fall" project, so I dug into my aqua scraps and stitched a couple.  It's really fun just arranging the scraps together to please myself, not worrying about the outcome, just enjoying the process and playing with the materials.  But again, if I keep making the shapes (which have to be 2-sided!) in this fashion, it will take me until May to complete the project.  Which is okay, but aren't there other things I'd like to do?

As a matter of fact, as I was working on the squares, I also had in the back of my mind a call for entries at the Mahopac Public Library for an art exhibit with the title "Lace."  At first, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and make one of my Fiber Fall pieces out of lace, but then I realized that the projects are all due in April.  So I decided to play around with lace squares anyway, and have already made almost a complete nine patch.  Here are six of them, below.  Again, I'm enjoying just layering on all my white and lacy scraps to see what arrangement I like best, then stitching it all together.  It did occur to me as I was working that the nine squares together resemble a window, and then I got to thinking about how the windows in my home growing up used to frost over on very cold mornings when moisture got between the casements.  My window faced east and sometimes the winter sun would shine through it, refracting the light and creating dazzling designs.  So I decided to add some subtle color with sheer scraps in pale yellow, blue, and rose.  I'm moving through this project fairly quickly, but now the worktable is once again covered with scraps (notice I didn't share that in the studio photos!).  I've been putting in a little time down there in the mornings and evenings, and leaving everything out, although messy, allows me to pick it up even for just a few minutes.

So the year is starting off well, creatively!  Hope your January has also been enjoyable :)