My Girl Cave

Ta Da! Here is my tatting/painting/reading/music/guest room. It is finished. Last time you saw it it had not been decorated. Now it has proper art, plants, cushions and such. My tatting center is located in the armoire..."Top Secret" stuff there...LOL!
Hubby calls it my "girl cave" now, at least he stopped calling it the "Old Lady room". It is a very peaceful place and is perfect for designing because I can relax and let inspiration flow uninterrupted.


I framed these art dolls designed by a fellow artist and friend. I loved the way the project turned out so I just had to share it with you all.

Don't forget to come back Monday for the next installment of my MONDO Giveaway....what could it be this time?????

Here we go again....

Well...I just have to get it out! I am irked, miffed, livid, aggravated, disgusted and furthermore I want to vomit!

I just got less than 24 hours notice that DH was going to deploy and he left a couple hours ago. We will once again miss his birthday, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Thank you freaking' military for making my live so darn peachy!

I think I am going to run an ad for a "stand in" husband. Even when hubby is not deployed he still works 16 hours a day so it makes getting things done around the house very difficult. I had hoped to have my studio up and running by the beginning of August and here we are in the middle of October. I try to do what I can by myself but some things just take a little more muscle than what God granted my puny little arms.

Anyhow, the studio is mostly finished...not completely but enough to finally show you what has been keeping me so busy that I barely have time for checking emails let alone keeping up with tatting blogs.

What do you think? The employees at the paint store thought I was completely mental...but I knew what I was doing all along! Pretty bright eh?

Here is the guest/rest area of my studio. Perhaps I can study a little while the kiln is firing or just sit and listen to some National Public Radio. Above the bookshelf on the wall is the very first magazine me and my pottery were published in; Hubby had it framed for one of my birthdays. On the book shelf is my very first painting from my painting class in Korea (if some of you recall) ...and yes the other picture on the wall is a picture of my rest area....LOL!!!!!
Eventually, my plan is to set up some web cameras so that my customers can watch me make their pottery. I figured it wouldn't hurt to make the place look a little more interesting than just a slip in a garage.
I'll show one last picture when it is in full operation.

Well....I've got to get back to work folks. Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Autumn!

A rant, renovations, and a review.

Well it looks like the situation I posted about yesterday has been resolved. It's sad that we have to stay so vigilant to protect ourselves on the Internet. I think this technological age we live in has produced an attitude of general disrespect. People have become so isolated by this impersonal world of technology that we assume we can do whatever we like to people because we are "anonymous" so to speak. I am so grateful for our online tatting community. There is an unspoken respect we have for one another and we also "have each other's back". That's cool!

O.k. enough of that.

I wanted to share something I uncovered while unpacking today. When my beloved parrotlet (and constant companion) "Monkers" died in 2003 I was devastated. (I have a tendency to get overly attached to my pets..) So I painted this picture of him as a kind of memorial. This was back before I ever had any painting courses.

Anyway, I still miss him even after all these years. Birds are really special; there are no other pets like them. Their intelligence, humor and love are so human like. Unlike dogs, a bird's love is conditional (which can be hilarious and/or annoying), if you make them angry they will hold a grudge for years.

Anyhow, I completely love my dog and cat too....but sometimes they can be....hmmmm....well....I guess "dumb" is the only word I can think of..LOL! Mostly I am referring to my cat.

Moving on...

I thought I would show an update of my tatting room. It's really coming along. Now I just need to decorate and fill it with my crafting supplies.
Hubby was so funny when he saw it yesterday, he said "Hmmm, it is not what I expected at all. When you described it, I thought it was going to look like a little old ladies room....but there are only hints of little old lady in here."
Ha ha! He calls me "little old lady" all the time. I am an "old soul". What can I say?



Here is just a small fraction of the boxes I have unpacked. Let me tell you what a nightmare moving all the time can be. I have no idea what our movers thought they were doing. I think it must be some kind a big practical joke! I literally unpacked a box that had two items in it...TWO..., the rest was just packing paper. I also unloaded a box that contained bathroom toiletries, a huge ceramic bowl, and a hot sauce collection...?!?!?!?! That means they packed items from three different rooms into one box.

I am starting to find broken, dented and scratched items. That is to be expected and is pretty standard for us military folk. I haven't found anything "missing"....YET. The last time we moved our brand new BBQ Grill and Lawnmower came up "missing".

And that is precisely why we don't own anything nice.

When we retire we'll get that nice furniture that comfy homes have. I'll probably just go "hog wild" from all these years of restraint.



To wrap it up, I would like to review the "OttLite". I'm sure many of you have seen, heard or maybe even own one....But if you haven't....well you will now! I give this product 5 out of 5 stars! There are all different sizes and types of lamps. They are a bit spendy but often Joanne's and Michael's craft stores run sales on them. The one pictured above is the Craft Plus Floor Lamp. It is every crafter's dream come true. I also purchased the craft tray accessory to hold all my tatting tools.

Here is some information on their product taken from their website (with their permission, of course.)

Make every piece a masterpiece with HD Lighting

You love expressing yourself through your creativity.

You love color. You love details. You love LIFE!

No matter your passion-from sewing to scrapbooking and painting to photography-OttLite enhances your creative and life experiences so you can not only do what you love, you can do it longer!

OttLite invigorates your creative process by providing a precise blend of contrast and brightness with our 508 Technology™ to help you see clearly, work more comfortably, reduce eye strain and do what you love to do!

•Work longer with less strain on your eyes
•Colors are vibrant
•Details are incredibly clear
•Life is better!

Check out these incredible offers and start Enjoying Life in HD Today!

The main reason I wanted to review this company and their product is:
A.) Because I think every tatter/crocheter, knitter, embroiderer, needlecrafter should have one, even if only to take the strain off of one's eyes.
B.) Because this company has excellent customer service.

I had a problem with an ottlite I found at one of those discount stores. I had wanted one for a long time and I thought it was a great opportunity to snag one. After the second use it totally died on me. I contacted the company and explained what happened (even though mine was not under warranty because of where it was purchased). They were prompt and gracious in their response and they fixed me up with a new OttLite right away.
I thought they should deserve a kudos...even if it is just little ol' me. I have decided to give credit where credit is due from here on out. Yes, I plan to be one of those people who will tell your boss what a great job you've done!

...until next time....

Latest HDT and before and after renovation pics...

Added some new and old colorways of HDT (Hand Dyed Thread) to the shop. My hands are still cramping from the workload....I have come to the conclusion that I must be some sort of big whimp. Anyhow, I have wound around 100+ skeins in the past few days.
"MIDDLE EARTH"
This is a silk only colorway and it is in my top 5 favorite HDT's.
"TROPICANA"
This is not new but I had been out of size 20 for quite awhile. This colorway takes a lot of work so that is what took me so long to replace it.
"ROYALTY"
This isn't new either but I haven't dyed this colorway in quite ahwile. This is a very dark and saturated colorway...even more so than the photo portrays. It is also a bit tricky to achieve this level of color saturation.
"PASTEL RAINBOW"
This IS a new colorway but not a very original name LOL! It's very soft and pretty.

This is the big project that I mentioned I was working on. I am re-doing what used to be the guest bedroom. Since we rarely ever get guests I decided to put the room to better use as my....WAIT FOR IT..... tatting room! UH HUH! You heard me right! Whoo hoo!
What is the sense in having a room that you keep perfect and never use in the occasional event someone comes to visit? Besides, it will still double as guest quarters as long as those guest don't dare steal my tatting...LOL!
The former owners used this room as a child's room, so as you would expect, there were all kinds of stains in the carpet and holes and marks on the walls...that kind of thing.
I really wanted to get this room finished before our belongings arrived...(the date of which keeps getting pushed back...but that's another story). So all by myself, I painted the walls a lovely "Fresh Spring" green, ripped out the carpet, the carpet padding, the million bazillion staples in the floor and then sealed the floor. Next was the tedious installation of the bamboo flooring. It really isn't a bad project when someone is helping you, but doing it alone sucks big time!
It was all worth it in the end though. I love that it's a hard wood but from a renewable source...and isn't it pretty? ...and it is not expensive...BONUS!





All I have left is the trim...but I will wait for help on that project.
What do you all think?
...oh...and that little furry kid in a cat suit is Raku...I think he aproves!