Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Welcome! I’ve participated in Where Bloggers Create for the past two years and almost didn’t participate this year. Then I realized that there are a few new things in the studio, so here I am!  For those of you who haven’t been here before, my studio is located on our upstairs landing and hallway. Our cottage is so tiny that, at first, I thought I would have to forego having a separate space until one day my husband and I stood in the hallway and had a ‘eureka’ moment. We rolled my sewing machine table into the little niche at the top of the stairs and suddenly we had an extra room. It has evolved over the past 3 years into a sweet and lovely getaway in which to create.  Here’s the view as you come up the stairs:

How fortunate to have a skylight above my sewing table! Now a view from the hallway:

As you turn the corner to your right you will see this:

And a view from the stairway:

Now for some details!

This wall is to the left of the sewing machine. The shelf is an old mantel that I repainted in a pretty shade of aqua. It’s full of some of my favorite things. I also hang strips of fabric from a hook attached to the mantel – making them very handy to grab when sewing.

I had this bulletin board sitting around, so I painted and antiqued it, covered it in sheet music and added some decorative trim. It’s my ‘Pretty Board for Pretties’ and it makes me smile.

This lovely old spice shelf hangs on the same wall. That’s a vintage putz sheep I bought in California wearing a party hat that I made, along with some wooden doll clothespins, a Scottie match holder and a pretty pink bottle from Elyse.

The sewing machine is covered in a vintage doily roll. I had the doily roll for a while before I realized it would be the perfect dust cover for the machine. A new addition to the studio is the white shelf on the wall. I rediscovered it when cleaning out our shed. A couple of coats of paint and it now works beautifully in the sewing space. The colorful pin cushions were made by Betty and the little dress painting is by Lara.

To the right of the sewing machine is an inspiration/memory board, chock full of every little thing I want to hold on to and remember.

One of my favorite things is this beautiful chair. It was in my friend Heidi’s shop when I first saw it last fall. Since my birthday was coming up, Heidi told my husband that I really wanted it. Isn’t it beautiful? I love the soft shades of pink used in the chair itself and in the upholstery. I found the pansy print in a little shop in Owensboro, Kentucky.

To the right of the sewing table is my bookshelf – full of decorating and crafting books. (I had to assemble the bookshelf and found out too late that it came with two left sides. That was a day I would rather not repeat. Lots of cursing.) The photos are of my late brother and me visiting Santa. And Lambchop, my muse, watches over all studio activity:

She’s sitting on her new perch – a vintage sewing basket in the perfect shade of pink that I just brought back from Wisconsin. I was working there for seven weeks on a coaching job. Isn’t it pretty?

The cupboard is new to the studio since the last WBC. I bought it from a local lady through Craig’s List. It’s full of all sorts of tools and supplies and the shelves are full of beautiful (to me) things. Some of them I have collected or discovered; some of these treasures have been given to me by my dear blogging friends. The clothespins are from Elyse, the plates are the Claudia pattern by Spode and were given to me by Donna, the sugar bowl is from Sue.

Nestled in with my cake toppers, the photo on the right is of my mom on her wedding day.

The beautiful pink shoe was made by Sandy of Quill Cottage. The detail is incredible.

My friend Lori, the owner of my favorite store – Vignettes in San Diego – gave me this beautiful putz sheep that I had been eyeing. She had Karen Lampard of Cafe Paperie dress her up in beautiful style. I really love her – her name is Sophie – and she lives on top of the cupboard. (I miss Vignettes so much!) The black and white photo of a rose was taken by my late brother, Dave.

On the right side of the cupboard I have a mini-design wall and my vintage feedsack shoe bag. The shoe bag holds all sorts of special things. The design wall currently displays some of my embroidery and a dress my mom wore when she was a toddler. The lovely white bag was made by Monica. That’s a silk parasol from Japan given to me when I was a young girl by my cousin who was a soldier serving in Japan. Oh, and the photos are of my husband and me when we were about the same age.

To the right of the design wall, I’ve hung a chalkboard:

I have a Chinese nesting basket next to the cupboard. It holds a lot of fabric.

The other new addition? Letitia, my vintage dress form. She was my birthday gift to myself last year. Isn’t she lovely? She’s named after my Aunt Lettie. I used to be an actress and she’s wearing bloomers that I once wore in a play. I kept them because they were so wonderful and were designed by a dear friend of mine. I think they look pretty spiffy on Letitia. And her beautiful flower was made by Debi. To the left of Letitia on the carpet is a vintage display sign I found some months back. It says, in a wonderful Art Deco font right out of a Fred Astaire movie, “Lady Duff, Gowns and Slips.” The banner was made by Maryjane.

So there you have it. I’ve packed quite a lot into this small, light-filled space. Trust me, you can create your own little space just about anywhere. This would just be a bland hallway if we hadn’t discovered that it could hold my sewing machine. After that, there was no stopping me. Now it has become another room in our house. I also have a closet in the guest room full of supplies and a craft table that folds down and lives in our bedroom.

Can you tell that my favorite colors are pink and aqua?

I’m proud to say that my studio space was published in the Spring 2011 issue of Studios magazine.

I was honored and thrilled that Studios wanted to showcase my use of a small space. I wrote the piece and there’s even a floor plan of this strangely shaped space on the next page!

Thank you to Karen of My Desert Cottage who is the mastermind behind this wonderful event. Click on her link to visit everyone taking part. You’ll see some amazing creative spaces.

Thank you so much for coming by. I can’t wait to visit everyone. And I will. I visited every participant last year and I will this year, as well. Happy creating!

I’m also linking to Pink Saturday, since my studio has lots of wonderful pink everywhere. Thank you to Beverly for featuring me this week! And a warm welcome to everyone visiting from Pink Saturday.