Where Bloggers Create 2013

Today is a, "It's definitely summer!" kind of day. The weather is hot and sticky, the walkers and runners were out before seven a.m., the elementary school parking lot is full once again because summer school is in session, I can hear the neighborhood kids playing in their yards, and Karen Valentine is hosting her annual Where Bloggers Create. It is summer! Yay!

Thank you Karen, http://www.mydesertcottage.com/,  for hosting this wonderful party! It is so much fun to visit all the fabulous studios. I get so many fantastic ideas!

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and come on  in to my studio. My name is Terry, and I am delighted to show you around.

We are entering the studio from the kitchen. This room was once our dining room. We used it once a year at Christmas. I was slowly, but surely, taking it over. One day my husband said, "Would you like to have that room for yourself?"  Within 24 hours out went the dining room furniture and in went my stuff. 

Here we are entering from the foyer. Right now both entries are doorless. (My computer doesn't like my made up word.) Some day I would like to put doors at both entrances. I dream of glass doors with panes to match the sliding door you can see in this picture. I also dream of making skirts for my tables. 

Let's zoom in a bit so you can have a closer look. I am going to start from the left and make my way around the room. 

My husband bought me this fantastic pegboard last year for my birthday. It is actually four pegboards lined up. It is metal so I can use magnetic containers on it also. I dream of putting a beautiful frame around it.  So many of my tools are right at my fingertips. I have more crafting tools than I can fit on that pegboard. I try to keep the tools I use all the time on it.

I use a lot of cookie cutters when I needle felt. My peg board is perfect for keeping them handy.

My knitting needles. My needle stash is going down. Whenever someone wants to learn to knit I grab a pair of needles from my jar, a skein of yarn from my stash and teach. They get to keep the needles and yarn. Somehow my stash never seems to go down. 

A bowl of gorgeous pink yarn that I purchased at Vogue Knitting Live New York. This fabulous event comes to New York every January. I never miss it! I purchased this yarn for Vicki's, http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/, Pink Scarf Project. Click on the picture below to learn more about this project.

The picture in the frame was a Mother's Day card from one of my daughters. I had to frame it! Isn't it adorable?

My chocolate stash. No further explanation is needed. :)

My wine fridge. Chocolate, wine, now you know why I spend so much time in this room. 

This is the view from my studio chair. It's a wonderful place to day dream. Oh and, of course, work.

This is the view from outside looking into my studio. You can find me on that white wicker chair on summer mornings drinking my coffee and on summer evenings knitting with a glass of wine. Sometimes my son will come home from work, sit in the rocker and talk for a little while. I love when he does that. 

The pink scarf I am making for Vicki's Pink Scarf Project. I just have to add the fringe and then it's ready to go!

The most comfortable chair in the house. That is if you can get to it before our cat Bernie does. He doesn't like to share.

The chair really looks like this, but I have to keep it covered because Bernie sheds like crazy. 

My signed Mary Engelbreit picture. It is a good reminder. Must keep my wits about me.

This is Dory, our other cat. She is not in the studio, but I had to show you a picture of her too. She is a talker. She will hold a whole conversation with you. Oddly, we know what she is telling us. 

Just a little bit of my yarn stash. The rest of it is in a closet with a ton of other crafting supplies. My dad would have called it Fibber McGee's closet. Must clean out that closet.

Fibber McGee and Molly

The Hall Closet

The two jars on the right hold most of my roving. I love having the roving in the jars, because at a glance I can see what colors I have, and it all looks so pretty together. See the little puppy on top of the blue jar? I am an elementary special education teacher. Last year I received that from a past student. It is actually a book mark. He sent it to me for teaching him how to read. He said that he wanted me to have the book mark, because it was well used.  He thought that I would appreciate that. He was absolutely right! I will treasure that bookmark forever. 

This precious picture was made for me by another student. I treasure gifts like these. 

A bowl full of bling yarn. Everyone has to have a little bling!

My art is knitting, crocheting and needle felting. 

I made this pillow a few years ago for Living Felt's Peace Felt project. http://www.peacefelt.org/

I knit felted the fabric, then needle felted the design. 

I made this pillow for one of my sisters. She requested daisies because she has a granddaughter named Daisy.

I am working on this handbag now. I need to attach the handles and line the bag. Then it is good to go!

I made this picture for a blog party give-away. I knit felted the background and needle felted the design. The stars are buttons.

A Halloween wreath I made when I was learning how to needle felt. 

A prayer shawl. 

I did not make these. A friend of a friend just gave me her 25 year old, never been used, Bond Knitting Machine. I am abundantly grateful! Now I can create the fabric for my pillows, bags and pictures in less time. Hopefully, I will be able to create more than a couple of pieces a year now. I plan to open an Etsy Shop, sell my work and donate the money to charity. I am inspired by Vicki from http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/. The pieces above were also given to me by the lady who gave me the knitting machine. I want to create a thank you gift for her using those pieces. If you have any suggestions of what I can make for her please let me know. 

Have you heard of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation? http://www.alexslemonade.org/

I collect handmade blankets for children who have been impacted by childhood cancer. Please check out my  website http://www.thelemonadeblanketproject.org/  or you can click on the tab at the top of my blog.

Well, it's time to make dinner. Thank you for stopping by my studio. I hope you enjoyed the tour. 

Love,

Terry