studio — Page 16

Friday at MHC

November 12, 2010 at 9:31 am by Claudia

I woke up this morning, sleepily came down the stairs and discovered some ‘elimination problems’ from a certain male dog. Yikes. Nothing like cleaning up before one’s first cup of coffee. Poor Riley. No more water late in the evening, my friend. Our boy is very sensitive, so when something of this nature happens, he feels very badly. We are learning to be loving in these situations because he is doing the best he can. Any angry, loud reaction only bewilders him and accomplishes nothing. So in the midst of all the cleaning, I was petting him and saying “It’s okay.” Because it is.

He is a special boy, our Riley. He came to us for a reason and I truly believe that.

What else is new? I’m still nursing my lower back. I’m crocheting like a madwoman. I’ve got a book review coming up next week. I’m writing a recommendation for a former Boston University student who wants to go to graduate school in Speech Pathology. (That’s what I should have done – it pays better than what I do. And it’s steady work.) I helped Heidi at the store the other day. Her Holiday Open House is this weekend. I moved Maryjane’s banner to a new place in the studio:

I like it.

You know I have a photography blog, right? The link is right over there on my sidebar. My goal is to post one photo each day. So far, I haven’t missed a day, although a few times I forgot to post until late in the day. I like this idea of a daily snapshot of my life. Some photos are better than others, but here is one of my favorites:

A milkweed pod in my back yard. There is a challenge in this daily posting. I’m learning to see beauty in the everyday, to look beyond the obvious, to try to become a better photographer.

Oh, and my birthday is in just over a week.

Have a lovely Friday. I’ll be cleaning.

Monday Morning Musings

November 8, 2010 at 11:23 am by Claudia

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments on Don’s singing. (If you haven’t yet seen the video, scroll down to the previous post.) He’s read them all and is very touched. In answer to your questions, yes, he does sing around the house and he has indeed written songs for me. Love songs. They make my heart go pitter-patter. Allow me to brag a bit: Don writes and sings his own songs and is currently working on 2 different CDs of his music. He is a wonderful entertainer and a songwriter who writes from his heart. He’s also one of the best actors I have ever known. Maybe you’ll get to hear him sing someday!

The movie was filmed 2 years ago in New Orleans. We haven’t seen it yet. It has been shown at some film festivals, but truth be told, I don’t think it got very good reviews. It has been released in France (the director is Olivier Dahan who directed La Vie en Rose.) It may go straight to DVD here. Bob Dylan did the music for the movie. Bob Dylan heard my husband sing his song! So far, there isn’t a recording of the soundtrack….but you can bet Dylan fans are clamoring for one. Oh, and the beard was fake, by the way. They built it around Don’s goatee. The goatee whose absence I didn’t notice when Don shaved it off a few weeks ago.

Okay. On to other things. I want to share a photo of this vintage shoe bag made from a feed sack that I bought on Etsy. (The usual problem with shooting in this corner of my studio applies. It’s narrow and dark.)

It’s hanging between my cabinet and the mini-design wall. It will eventually be filled with treasured notes from blogging friends and fun things for creating. Here’s a close-up of the fabric design:

Love, love this cheery fabric. I had some creative time in the studio on the weekend. I’m working on a couple of gifts and thinking up some new projects. And doing things like hanging my Mockingbird Hill Cottage badge on the cabinet door.

I really have grown to love the cabinet as is. Since so much of my little space is pink, aqua and white, I’ve decided a little less matchy-matchy is in order.

I know many of you have been published several times, but me? Just once. It’s still new to me. So I went ahead and did what I’ve wanted to do all along. I framed the cover of Romantic Homes with my mention in “Setting the Sites.” The frame is vintage. I kind of like seeing it on display in my little work area. Ignore the ugly duster – I always seem to miss something when I take a photo. Don is an enabler, by the way. Now he’s urging me to hang things on the doors. He truly doesn’t mind me taking over this space. As far as he’s concerned, the more creativity on display at MHC, the better.

My friend, Beth Leintz of Gathering Dust, wrote me after seeing photos of my afghan-in-progress and offered to send me some yarn she found at an estate sale. She thought it would fit perfectly with the color palette I’m using.

It does! She also sent along one of her beautiful tags with a sweet note on the back. Thank you, Beth!

It’s a very cold and windy day here in the Hudson Valley. My potted plants on the porch bit the dust last week when we had two hard frosts in a row. Winter is on the way. Not sure how I feel about that, but then again, winter doesn’t care.

Nesting

October 18, 2010 at 5:51 pm by Claudia

As we were carrying a tarp full of leaves to the woods yesterday, I spotted this perfect little nest on the ground. No doubt it was blown out of a tree during our recent windy weather. Both Don and I stopped to admire it’s perfection. How do birds construct such an intricate home for their babies? I think they are amazing little miracles. We have quite a few nests around the cottage. Each one has been lovingly added to our home after being discovered somewhere on our property. (I added the teacup to the photo to indicate how small this little nest is.)

I’ve been nesting a bit myself. Because of the new addition of the cabinet to my little upstairs studio, things are being rearranged. The bookcase has been moved to a new position on the opposite wall.

I added the lamp – actually I stole it from the bedside table in the guest room. One of the chairs from the kitchen has now taken the bookcase’s former position and I’ve added a jar full of seaglass, which catches the light from the window.

If I tried to tell you how hard it is to get a photo of the cabinet, you wouldn’t believe me. If I had a trapeze which hung from the ceiling and I was dumb enough to get on it, then I might get a good photo. So, that being said, here’s another attempt:

I moved the banner because, cute as it was on the cabinet, it fell off every time I needed to open the glass doors. If you remember, this wall used to be a design wall. I had 3 long flannel-covered panels attached to the wall. Two of them are gone. I kept the other and nailed it to the wall length-wise. Right now, my two embroidery pieces are pinned to it. And photos of Don and I when we were little kids.

Between the panel and the cabinet is my chalkboard. That may move eventually. I’m still filling up the shelves inside the glass doors. My wedding cake toppers have moved upstairs to their new home. I have a jar full of lace and trims, one full of ribbons, some vintage glove boxes and other little treasures. As I accumulate more, I know all of this will change.

The top of the cabinet: a photo of a rose taken by my late brother, a puff made by Lori Karla, my sheep from another Lori (of Vignettes) in it’s Boite de Vignette, a sachet from Lizzie, my bunny from Rosemary, and my wire egg basket full of fabric hearts and crocheted pieces and a vintage headband.

I’ve had this three-tiered basket for years, since back in our San Diego days. It’s been hanging around downstairs because I had no idea where to put it.

Now, it has new home upstairs and is in the process of being spray-painted. Don’t judge too harshly. Only one coat has been applied.

I ran out of paint. By the way, I don’t spray paint often. Does anyone else get frustrated by the nozzle clogging up? I stuck a straight pin in that hole so many times, I lost count. And the smell! It still lingers in my nostrils.

One would think there can’t possibly be room for anything else in this hall-turned-studio. But I tell you this: when I find my vintage dress form, room will be made.

Through it all, one thing never changes.

Lambchop sleeps through it all.

Friday at MHC

Monday Morning Musings

Nesting

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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