Where Bloggers Create

 Thank you, Karen for hosting such a wonderful event!

Hi! Welcome to my studio!

My studio used to be our dining room, but since it was only used once a year I started to take it over. Last summer,  my husband asked me if I would like the room to be my own - no more dining room. Of course I said, "YES!" So, he moved the dining room table out and set up two eight foot tables for me, and then I began to get settled in. Come have a look!

This is a view of my room from our kitchen. As you can see I have lots of natural light.

This is the only piece of my dining room set that remained in the room. The storage at the bottom of this hutch is too wonderful!

This used to be my mother-in-laws chandelier. I added the glass beads and lampshades. The shades did not come with the fringe. I added that.

My wine and cocktail nook. The picture on the front of the fridge is a Where Women Create inspirational quote of the week. It says, "I make cocktails ... not dinner."

My yarn stash and goodies. This shelf is wonderful. Each shelf can be disconnected and the entire piece can be reconfigured. Makes it real easy to put almost anywhere in the room.

My chair. It used to belong to my sister. I was the lucky receiver when she decided to redecorate. I have my morning coffee here every morning and write my Morning Pages. I read here, write here, knit here, and nap here.

My bag tree. My father-in-law made us beautiful coat racks that hang on the wall for our mud room, so I took the old coat tree. It works really well for my bags. I purchased the beautiful knitted bag at the Vogue Knitting Expo in NY. An event every knitter must attend. 

My neighbor put this table out for the garbage. I promptly conviscated it. It needs a bit of TLC, but I love it. I love the shape, and if you look closely you can see that it easily fits right under my work table. I pull it out when I need it and tuck it away when I don't.

My inspiration board, calendar, and multi-functional white board hang right within my reach. My wonderful husband hung them all securely for me. I tend to hang everything with push pins.

My husband purchased this dress form for me for my birthday a few years ago. I love it! You can also see that there are some adirondack chairs right outside the sliding doors of my studio. Wonderful to sip an  evening glass of wine and knit.

I purchased this bag at Target. It holds an amazing amount of projects. I am definitely a multi-tasker when it comes to knitting. I usually have at least three or four projects going on at the same time.

My stash once again. I love my stash!



I love my rolling carts. They fit perfectly under my table, and they hold tons of stuff. I still have room in them for more. Yay!

Here's an idea I used in my classroom. I duct taped, across the top, two rolling carts together. I then placed a board across them making an instant rolling table. 

I love to knit shawls. A friend of mine received an academy award for some camera work, and she wore this shawl to the awards. I was very excited!

I knitted this shawl to go over my dress for my nephew's wedding. I knitted for five hours in the car as we drove to Washington, D.C.  However, the temperature reached well into the nineties, so the shawl was never needed.

This is my muse. I crocheted her years ago when my children were little, and I would sit at the lake with them all day. I got a lot of knitting and crocheting done in those days.

This is Dory and Bernie. They can sometimes make knitting very difficult.

I thought I would leave you with a smile. This is an ornament that I needle felted.



I hope you enjoyed touring my studio. I love working in my room. I lose all sense of time and can easily work for hours upon hours in there. Sometimes I even forget to eat.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my studio.
Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Terry

Slice of Life: Gratitude for Turkey Vultures

http://www.twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/

Sunday morning my daughter, my husband, and I were peacefully sitting on our front porch having our coffee. All of a sudden a horrible odor wafted through the air. "What is that smell?" we all exclaimed. Then it seemed to diminish. However, just a few short minutes later it returned. "That is the smell of death," my husband said. My first thought was, "Please let it not be under the porch." We started to look around, and I spotted turkey vultures in the woods right next to our home. That answered our question as to where this dead animal was. The smell was so horrific that we were driven inside to finish our coffee. All day long whenever the slightest breeze would blow from that area we would be overcome with the sickening smell. I found myself thinking, "Why now? Why on a day we can relax outside?" I warned my other three children who were expected to arrive home that evening that the air was not too pleasant in our garden. Upon their arrival they quickly came inside where the air conditioning protected us from the repulsive aroma. I watched, from the sliding glass doors in my studio, the turkey vultures as they came and left the carcass all day long.

Each morning I journal as I enjoy my first cup of coffee of the day. I begin my daily journaling with gratitude. I promptly wrote, "Thank You for the air conditioning that protected us from the smell of death and allowed us all to sleep peacefully." I began to think about the turkey vultures, who were still with the carcass. I decided to look up "turkey vultures" in my book Animal Speak by Ted Andrews and learn a bit more about them. I learned that turkey vultures remove from our environment what could harm our health. I learned that they work to keep our environment clean. I had something else to be grateful, and I wrote, "Thank You for sending the turkey vultures to protect our health." Suddenly, I viewed having this decaying animal so close to our home differently. I no longer thought of the experience as negative. I saw it as an opportunity to see how magnificently this world is created. Turkey vultures, an animal I previously did not have a great deal of respect for, I now had a heart full of gratitude for them. I now see them for what they were put on this earth to do - to protect human beings and other creatures from what could cause us great harm. I am looking at this world quite differently today and wondering, "What else do I view as negative that I should be seeing through the eyes of gratitude?"