Thanks to my friend Denise at Primrose Patch I decided to return to some traditional stitching and make three banners for the new studio. She reminded me how it can be fun to stitch these small letters (well I say small the D is 6 inches high).
The three banners will read;
Dream
Imagine
Live
Just the flower bed to put in, the path to relay and the lawn to redo!
Inside needs some more work.
Today went to Kelso and came back with a tin of Amethyst Showers number 1.
A deep purple. I feel better already!
We are still waiting on the final few boards for the outside of the studio but here it is in Shaker Blue.
I always wanted to have a house in the Hamptons, or at least in New England.
Now I have my little Shaker Blue Studio.
But I am worried about the internal colour scheme.
As you know my kitchen is very neutral in greys and grey-green with lots of cream woodwork, the sitting room and office are very deep red and Indian inspired. The hall and stairs are dark Victorian green with cream painted wooden floors. The bathroom is deep, deep blue/purple. The main bedroom is the exception with white walls. Note the dark colours and rich colours….
I think I may have been on a different planet (always) when I chose colours for the inside of the studio. You see I was thinking of the pretty studios that I see on American blogs – the ones where every piece of fabric is perfectly placed. You know the ones I mean. Yes, like this one.
I’ve chosen a duck-eggy blue for the three walls with windows, white back wall and ceiling and today I went and got the paint for the shelving – Amethyst Showers number 4, a soft purple. But now I am wondering if I should have gone for Farrow and Ball in Mouse’s back or something similarly sophisticated.
The studio is so utterly girlie and different from the house. I recently purchased some Cath Kidston paisley cushions for the sofa in the studio. In paisley blue and pink. Pink! Me! Oh dear.
I think I need to go and lie down on my dark chocolate leather sofa in my dark red room……
Wordsworth may have written about Daffodils, but if I were a poet I would write about my Bluebells.
They are looking particularly gorgeous this year.
At this time of year I wish I was back walking at Mirehouse in the Lake District, photos from May last year.
Yes the lights are all in! The central spotlights and a track along the back wall where the art will be hung. I’d really like to keep ALL clutter off that back wall – just the sofa and cabinet. Not sure I can manage it but I’m going to try now I’ve got those track lights.
Some of the cabinets arrived today too, the Lakeland boxes fit perfectly. Almost everything was crated or boxed up after the “disaster” so it made sense to leave them like that and build the shelves around them. This is my plan to keep that back wall clear. The cabinet with just one shelf will become a cupboard. That's where I can hide the hoover and the other clutter.
Yes, I know, it will be a miracle if I can do it.
The Veg box arrived and I was taken by the colour.
Mother Nature offers us wonderful colours if we take time to look.
(p.s. scrubbed a few carrots and have eaten them raw– yummy!)
DS is away on a school trip for two nights so in the evening DH and I went to Berwick to get the internal paint for the studio. It was so liberating to be able to go out at night and we did it “just because we could”. We met another set of parents at Homebase who had exactly the same idea. Hilarious. The parents of class 5T are all out on the town for two nights.
We drove down to the beach and I took these pictures on my iPhone as I didn't have my camera with me. They’re not bad at all.
Hipstamatic App;
Tilt shift generator;
Plain camera, we could see both Bamburgh and Lindisfarne Castles in the distance.
The studio is looking FABULOUS! The guys are inside putting up the plasterboard just now. Last night I sat designing the inside shelving and benches. It looks so wonderful from the outside it seems awful to fit out the inside from Ikea! So my joiners are going to fit all the shelves and workbenches and I’ll paint them. Perfect.
In the post this morning came an iPhone case. Cath Kidston does it again. Perfect.
Yesterday I took DS to his art class and I went to Cragside House for a coffee and spent an hour looking across at this view and studying for my uni course. Perfect.
Then I sorted out my favourite brand of threads (Mulberry silks) in anticipation of using them this week. Perfect.
I’m writing this looking out of the window at the Cherry Blossom trees that line the drive. Perfect.
Playing with Photoshop. Perfect.
Hello! Well isn’t this looking good!
My FoQ entry – you’ll have to be patient. I will reveal all once the deadline has passed.
Here is the latest on the shed. I can’t wait to be back in there making my art. Everything is such as mess atm. I’ve spent an hour trying to find a background I’d dyed and finally found it – with the dye pots. Its because I had no where to actually put it that I couldn’t find it. Does that make sense?
The shed is now taking on a real character.
The Festival of Quilts entry form arrived today – deadline of 31st May to say how big your entry is. I have all the fabrics dyed, I have the ideas…. decided today I ought to get on with finishing it.
Tomorrow should see all the pieces in place ready for stitching on the art quilt entry. The 3D work is coming on too – I shall have to see how much floor space it will take up.
Remember that quote from the other day? He was right.
