Ups & Downs

This was definitely a week of ups and downs!  In my last post, I mentioned that I had driven to JoAnn's Fabrics specifically for a certain variegated metallic thread, and ended up picking up a few other fun things while I was there.  Well, when I finally got the time to sit down and maybe do a little free-motion stitching on the Fiber Fall pieces, I COULDN'T FIND THAT THREAD!  It was listed on the receipt, I had all the other threads and things I bought, I looked in the car and all over the floor of the studio - no thread!  I finally called the store to see if anyone found it there behind the register or anything, and they said no, they hadn't but if I came in with the receipt, they would replace it for me.  That was very kind and generous of them, but it meant making another long drive back to JoAnn's which is about 35 minutes away.  AGHHH!  Anyone else feel like you go two steps forward and then one back?  

Luckily, I only worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, so I was able to nip on back over there today and pick up the thread - AGAIN!  Meanwhile, I also helped my oldest daughter register for classes at the local community college (a new experience for us both, as I didn't grow up around here and had never been to the campus before this week), and also received the art charms, above, in the mail, two bright spots in the week.  I participated in a swap through the Artcharms yahoo group I belong to (haven't done that in a long time but couldn't resist the theme of denim and crystal).  In December, I played around with some denim and crystals I already had at home and created the charms in the center of this picture, with the lace flowers with crystal centers.  I kept two of them to wear as earrings, and now I have a bunch I can put on a bracelet.

I also managed to get some parts of my studio cleaned up and looking neater, even without a snow day.  Below, you can see my improved fabric storage.  I already had the boxes and shelving, but never took the time to cover the ugly black grid label printed on the fronts.  I had thought about covering each box front with fabric to indicate the color stored in it, but was reluctant to use my nice fabrics for that purpose.  As I was cleaning, I came across some construction paper, and decided solids would probably look neater anyway, so I began gluing them on.  I've covered most of them and the overall appearance of the shelf is much neater, don't you agree?  I still have about 5 more to do.

 I did use fabric on the floral-covered box (I keep my multi-colored fabrics in there) and was kind of surprised how easy it was to cut and glue on using diluted gel medium. (Maybe I could add a strip of fabric along the bottom of each box face...?)

Anyway, while I was out today, I picked up a few new storage containers to neaten up some of my other shelves and I still have the whole weekend to get in there and get going.   What creative plans do you have for the weekend?