New Rugs Finally Done

First let me thank all of you for the prayers and kind words of encouragement for me and my mom. We have her settled into a rehab facility near our home that specializes in stroke patients and I think the staff is just fabulous. She has 3 + hours of intense therapy each day and we are hopeful of her recovery. I am exhausted from driving back and forth but it's much easier now that she's only 15 minutes away instead of having to drive into Pittsburgh everyday. I am hoping I can now get into a rhythm and be able to get back to blogging, rug making and wool dyeing and selling. Speaking of which...here are a few new rugs that are available for sale as finished products of as kits...

This first one I am calling "Floral Centerpiece" I had originally intended to use as a footstool cover but I mismeasured so it's up for grabs. I absolutley love the black background and I adapted the pattern from an antique rug I had seen over the summer while in Virginia visiting my son. It measures
11 x 14 and is bound with black wool. It has lovely soft, muted, prim colors and sells for $89. If you would like to order it as a kit it's $60 and comes with the pattern hand drawn on monks cloth and all the wool you need to hook it yourself. I am offering your choice of background colors and your choice of flower colors.

This next little rug mat makes a great teachers gift. The yellows, reds and blue wools are all hand dyed by me from my own dye recipes. I have used a beautiful gray and red herringbone for the background and have finished it with a gorgeous gray and red plaid wool. It  measures 10 x 17 and also sells for $89 and the kit sells for $60, again, with your choice of colors. I dont have anymore of this exact background wool but I do have lots of other gray herringbones or plaids, so just let me know. I am always willing to customize kits for just what you want or need.

OK..on to some other great little finds I have picked up over the last several weeks...I ran into Goodwill on my way to rehab the other day and look what I got...

As most of you already know I collect Pfattzgraff Folk Art dishware. Years ago when I first got sick I was forced to sell my collection piece by piece to pay for my medical bills and I have been trying to build it back up again. I almost fainted when I saw these on the shelf...Got the entire canister set for $25 !!! The sugar one has a small repair on the rim but I dont mind. I already had the butter dish.

I picked up another great chandelier to paint and make "prim". Cant wait...gonna put this one down in the new studio...pictures to follow when its installed !

Lastly I wanted to give a big shout out to my dear friend Suzan over at sjcountrycrafts who made this beautiful prim americana sheep punch needle for me. Suzan has recently learned to rug hook and has bought a few of my kits and lots of wool...she's a very talented lady and I will post a link to her site as soon as I remember how (laugh, laugh...my brain is mush right now)..I at least wanted to get a big thank you out to her !!!

Well gals, thats it for now. I have new winter wools to list and some new winter and Christmas kits. Coming soon depending on how things go with my mom.

Mom Had A Stoke

Hello there all my prim friends. Sorry I have been away so long. I wont bore you with the details but I have been having a hard time with some of the flare ups from the neuroinvasive west nile and just when I was feeling better from that my mom had a stroke so I have been at the hospital 12+ hours a day for the last week....very tired. Mom is being moved to a rehab center closer to me to I can shave over an hour off my day. She is progressing but the hard work is still ahead of us. Please keep uu in your prayers...I do have some awesome new wintry wool bundles to list and some cute holiday rug hooking kits as well....Hopefully soon !

Until then,
Grace to you,
Margie

10 Gallon Crock for a Song

Wow...this summer is sure going by quickly and I feel terrible for not checking in more often. This has been the most hectic summer with all the storms, visits, heat, etc. I know I say this all the time, but I may NEVER get caught up gals...ever ! But I have gotten a few things done and I figured I would at least tell you about those things.

First of all ...Look at this awesome 10 gallon crock I got at an estate sale a few weeks ago...Isn't she a beauty ?

She caught my eye when I went into the garage of the home...I LOVE the garages and basements at estate sales because they are often the LAST place people go, so I always head their first. I confess though, I never would have thought I would see a mint condition crock tucked into the corner of a cobweb filled garage. I spotted it out of the corner of my eye and ran, yes ran right over. I know, I know...not very good if I wanted to make a "deal" on the crock right ? I mean I was salivating by the time I got over there and turned this beauty around and then I saw those cool handles...I dont have a 10 gallon crock like this, so it was going to go home with me to add to my collection....IF I could get a good deal...

Well, imagine my shock when the sticker said $35...YEP, $35 smackers....can you believe it ? The crock with the star above was a birthday gift and had a $125 price tag...the one on the left was also right around $100 so I was doing the happy dance except now I had my composure back and needed to get my name on that crock. But, being the savvy shopper I am, I asked, politely if they would take any less for it ....I know, audacious of me right ? Well, imagine my suprise when the gal said how about $30...I was amazed. I mean it was only about 10:30 am and she was ready to deal on an item that was already priced too low. I said YES YES YES (ok, I only said the one YES outloud, but you know what I mean). The even more unbelievable thing is that everything inside the house was priced WAY too high and was a real waste of time, but man oh man, I was thrilled to get this awesome find.

OK, I will calm down now. I did want to show another item I got awhile back and I cant remember if I shared it with you...my very first real bee skep.

I got this little beauty at a garage sale for less than $3, so it was another great find.

I have been trying to work on getting some hooking done, even though I generally dont hook too much in the summer because it s way too hot. I am trying to use up some of my small pieces of monks cloth, linen and burlap...Heres what I am working on right now...

I plan on using this to cover a little deep red footstool that I have had for years and I just love the way it's turning out. It's a little tedious to do such intricate work when using burlap but since this is done with almost all left over wool its practically free to me...I might change the stripes on the bowl...I am not sure I like them.

I did want to remind everyone that I have lots of wool for sale on my WOOL FOR SALE page and will be adding some new fall & winter kits soon. I have decided to make this pumpkin mat available as a kit since I just love it and its a great beginner's kit, so if you are thinking about starting to rug hook, check out my FOR SALE pages and you can be hooking in just a few days. This pumpkin mat measures 10.5 x 14 and will come with the pattern drawn on monks cloth, all the wool to complete it cut at a #8 (1/4") and full color directions. $50 gets you started ...Need a rug hook ? If you buy any kit I will throw in a primitive rug hook for just $5.00.

Well gals, I need to get back to work finishing my new work space...pictures to come soon. I am almost ready to start moving stuff in..HOORAY !!!

Hugs to all of you !
Until next time,
Grace to you,
Margie

PHM Update Today

Hello everyone...I am so sorry for disappearing for a bit. Life has been, well, interesting lately to say the least. These storms just seem to keep coming and right now I am dealing with insurance companies and adjusters and contractors...Not my favorite thing. My roof is leaking from the hail damage from the first storm and we have had 2 more hail storms just this past week. At least they weren't as bad, but they have kept me away from all of you and for that, well, I am a little ticked.
I did want to remind you all that the selling group I belong to , Primitive Handmades Mercantile, had its July update this morning and there are some very lovely things available this month...I am so humbled to be included in this great group of primitive artists. Here's a quick peak at what I worked on for this months offering....

Its a 3 legged milking stool that I painted a very primitive mustard, then beat the heck out of it with heavy distressing and then sealed it with a great walnut poly/stain. Then I hooked this 10" circle mat to sit on top. It really came out nice and it has a very old and time worn look to it...as you can tell I am torn between selling and keeping, haha, but alas, it is for sale, so if you're interested head over to PHM by using the button listed on the right side of my blog page and it will take you there. This is kind of a long post, so bear with me...more pics of projects near the end !

I did want to thank all of you who have been praying for my son who is deployed in the middle east right now. We got a letter and a phone call from him just the other day and he seems to be doing very well. Right now , as many of you may know, they are building up our troop levels in the middle east since Iran is threatening to close the Straight of Hurmoz (which would cut off 20% of the worlds oil) and they are going to be joining 20 other nations in the largest joint exercise ever conducted coming up in Septemeber to remove Iranian mines from the sea bed....Its a scarey time for sure as things look pretty dicey over there right now, but I know you guys will continue to pray for their safety. My son is just thankful to be getting a little relief from the heat right now in Kuwait. They just finished up a mission where they were 5 weeks in the Jordanian desert...no showers that whole time. No air conditioning that whole time. MRE's to eat that whole time. Oh and did I mention that it was 120 degrees and they had full military gear on...you know, long sleeves, long pants, heavy combat boots and their packs that weigh over 100 pounds ? Kind of makes me feel pretty lame when I am complaining about how hot it has been here this summer. Even when our troops aren't being shot at, life is hard and the sacrifices they make for us are incredible. If any of you would like to send a card or a package to my son, please email me for his address. The mail is VERY slow there and they literally look forward to mail call every day and they are desperate for anything that reminds them of home and to keep them connected and inspired. Here's a few pictures of my sweet son Kyler over in the hotbed of the middle east...

Gosh I sure do miss him...but I did get to spend an entire week with my older son, Kirk, which was very nice. I was suprised when he said he was coming home for a visit so soon after moving to Virginia, but it didnt take long to figure it out...he started dating a girl before he left and apparently its gotten pretty serious because she's been down to see him once already and he literally spent every waking minute she wasnt working with her while he was home, haha. Well, we finally got to meet her last Friday night when we all went out for dinner. Her name is Nicole and she is a lovely girl who is smart, pretty and has a wonderfully good heart...She has been on several mission trips and most recently she spent a few weeks building homes for displaced victims of the massive storms and then on to feeding the homeless...WOW, does God know how to answer a mothers prayer or what ? I have been praying for the "right" girl to come into his life since he was a baby (the same for all my kiddos) but especially lately I have had more on en emphasis because I was worried about him being sort of lonely...I will continue to pray for this particular relationship cause gosh she is just too sweet for words. Here's a picture of the two of them from last week...

It seems like just yesterday those boys of mine were getting into all kinds of mischief and now , here they are, all grown up ! I couldn't be any prouder of the young men they have become and I am so grateful to God for giving me such sweet blessings (yes, I am crying).

Gosh, sorry to share so much personal information right now. OK...onto other things. I wanted to show you a few of the other things I have been working ...

I finally got around to painting that firkin I got at Goodwill for $2.00 and I also painted this little shelf thingy with  a ton of different mustards and creams over a base of dark brown and then heavily distressed it and then stained/sealed it....I am pretty happy with how both items turned out...oh and thats a candle I redipped to make look primitive...it was a garage sale find in a hideous color but for 25 cents and a little time in my mini crock pot I have a nice addition to my prim collection.

Later today I am working on all those small bottles I got last year...gonna put some vintage labels and stuff on them. I also have these little copper tin molds that I am not sure what to do with....any one have any ideas for me ?

It's a wonder I can find anything in this house right now...between the roof, painting my new work room (paint does NOT dry when its this humid...I am assuming it will eventually) and the many, many boxes filled with stuff in preparation for our semi annual neighborhood yard sale, its hard to even find all the things I want to work on let alone all the stuff I need to move around just to start anything ! Oh well, at least I did gets lots of wool dyed recently and am almost done listing it all...I have a few more mustards, pumpkins and fall colors to get listed, but be sure to let me know if you are in need of anything. I am getting ready to place an order with Dorr Wool since I cant keep up with just found wool...I am happy to try to accomodate your wool needs and have even been trying to list larger pieces for those of you who do penny rugs and the like.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I am set to hit 5, yes 5, estate sales tomorrow so who knows, perhaps a little blog garage sale will be happening soon. I am hoping to find a perfect giveaway prize (I know, I know, I keep promising another giveaway but life keeps getting in the way) ! Wish me luck and I will post pics of my finds as soon as I can !

Until next time,
Garce to you,
Margie

Mother Natures Fury

Well I know I should count myself lucky since we just had wind and hail damage, but Lordy Hannah, what a mess. My son down in Virginia has been out of power for a week and got caught between downed trees for hours until he finally made it home and he says the devastation is everywhere around him. Our Independence Day had hail that was the size of large golf balls and it came down sooooo fast, hard and long that it damaged our roof, pool, cars and even my garden...here are a few pictures just to show you, but I am grateful that we are all ok !!!

The power blew our motion light right outof the stone !!!! And look at the holes in our pool posts....

It took the paint right off the deck too and shot right through my peppers in my garden....It destroyed about 2/3 of my blackberries too.

After 30 minutes of pelting hail this is what our driveaway looked like :

Our new car must have over 100 quarter sized dent from the giant hail too...

Well, like I said...glad we are all ok and since we were out of power for hours it really opened my eyes to how difficult life would be if we do ever get some type of solar flare or EMP that takes out our electricity for extended amounts of time...great learning experience for sure !!!

Thought I would show you what I ahve been working on too...I am paiting a little milking stool a great mustard and then distressing and staining then topping with this hooking....

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I also listed over 30 new wools on my wool for sale page and , yes, all you gals who have been asking for larger pieces for your pillowbacks and penny rugs, I heard you....I have several pieces of wool all the way up to 1/4 yard so go check them out if you ahve time.

I am trying to keep cool here with these record temps and hope you are too...
Until next time,
Grace to you,
Margie

Garden Post

Well, I took these pics last week of my little kitchen garden thats right outside my door and everything has grown so much already but I would love advice by any of you garderners out there....

Here's my tomotaoes and peppers, 6 of each....

Then I have some basil in a pot that I need to add some mint and parsely to and I have a little pot of lavendar that I got from Monticello when we visited....I want to add more lavendar to my hillside by the pool as soo as I get it weeded (YUCK).

I aslo bought one of those topsy turvey hanging plant holders for my strawberries (havent seen any berries yet) and they say I can take it down and hang it in the garage near a window in the winter and keep it damp and it will come back next year....please any advice here would be soooo appreciated ...

Then we gte to my first window box of come and cut again lettuce....we eat a TON of salads and spend almost $40 per moneth just on lettuce. I think I may have planted them too close though....I used a whole packet for this one window box....again any advice ? I have 2 more planters to plant si we can stagger the yield.

This is actually WAY fuller already and is getting pretty high so I hope I didnt screw up here.

The above picture was a grassy area bu the pool that I finally am dloing something with....my inlaws have given me a few hostas and I have more flagstone to add and maybe a few flowers for some color.

This is our lower yard where my family jokes that I have never actually been all the way to the bottom of the steps. To the left of the little deck we have a TON of blackberry plants and even some raspberry plants but they are hard to get to....but I dearly love homemade jellies, jams, granitas on hot summer days and even syrups and the hubs loves rsapberry tea.....any advice here ? They seem to have taken over that back hillside but someone suggested transplanting them along the porperty line and along our fence ??????

We are having 3 tons of gravel delivered tomorrow to fill in our old extra parking spce that now holds our wood for our woodburner (bikes are going in garage sale) and we just got a bid to reseal the driveway ($1600....YIKES....we might have to do it ourselves)

Here is a picture of our pool, which I have yet to be able to have time to get in and do anything but clean it !!!! GRRRR Now to the right of the pool is a small hillside with a flagstone retaining wall that is starting to come down (of course) and is over-run with weeds and yucky plants that are too heavy....so I want to take it all down and fill the hillside with lavendar becaue it makes a nice ground cover, wont be too taxing on the hill and put too much pressure on the rock wall (once I rebuild it) and it will smell heavenly. Of course that means transplanting a rhodedendron, a holly bush and the rest is just ugly, stinky box wood....I wish the family who lived here before us had taken a little better care on the upkeep of all the landscaping because it ALL needs redone...and can you believe we had terrace lights all over the hillside and electrical outlets for the pool and lights etc and they CUT them all....I guess we will go with solar lights.

The last picture is of the patio which is our fvorite place in the summer but I have got to get it "primmed" up for sure. I am painting the floor soon....thinking either a brick red or a colonial blue ???? Suggestions are always welcome.

Well thats it for now and no I have NOT forgotten about my promise of a giveaway...I will have it up soon I promise...I also have some great before and after projects to show you all. What would you think of something easy like a gift certificate giveaway or is that too lame ???? Give me some suggestions for what you guys would like to win.

OK gals, I am off to watch tv with the hubs and try to get cooled off !!!

Grace to you,
Margie

New Wools For Sale

Hello all my prim pals...just a quick post to let you all know that I just listed approximately 20 new wool bundles this morning...Check them out on my WOOL FOR SALE PAGE to the right....Let me know if you need something special and I will see what I can do. I think this will be the shortest post EVER by me, but I gotta scoot...its too hot today to do anything else...more later on including the details on my new giveaway !!!

Grace to you,
Margie

Can you believe its June ?

Wow...time sure is flying around my house lately. How on earth is it the middle of June already ? If I didnt know better I would say someone is messing with time, but that cant be true, can it ? Nah, it must just be me and as usual I am always behind in evrything I do.

I did want to share a picture of one of the special order ruglets I got from last month....Seems those Liberty Ruglets were a big hit (I officially sent the last one off today and I can firmly say, I am really tired of hooking them). I did love doing this one though since the customer requested it be done in a different color... She asked me to make it match her Redware dishes....I was a bit nervous because, although I have seen Redware, I dont own any myself, so I was worried I would get the color just right. Thankfully she was wonderful about describing it and I sent her off some color swatches for approval before I started hooking it. She said I got the color just right (to my relief) so now I know I can do more Redware pieces in the future. Anyhoo...here's a picture of the finished product...

Now I need to get busy finishing my new work room/studio/shop...The hubs got it completely cleared out...of course now the garage is bursting at the seams ! Thank goodness our semi-annual neighborhood yard sale is in July...and the hubs says everything that doesnt sell will be on the curb the following trash day (I will probably call AM-VETS though since I dont want anything to go to waste). Why on earth do I still have a brand new snow board I won 5-6 years ago from the Subway promotion ???? Not a soul in my house snow boards and it has never even been removed from the case it came in ...still in the shrink wrap ? It was supposed to be worth $350 but I have no idea what I can sell it for at a yard sale...any ideas ? Why would I not have sold it before this ???? Why do we have 2 bikes that have no tires ? Did I think we would buy new tires ? Seriously, I know we chucked alot of stuff when we left Colorado and headed back to Pa, but just now I cant think of why we KEPT this stuff and tossed things like my old shutters ? GRRRRRRR

Oh well, I am getting rid of EVERYTHING now to make some room. I am having such a hard time working on anything because it takes forever to move everything around, plus its hot up in my bedroom (the attic) and who feels like working in the heat...especially when we have a pool ? Of course I have only been in the pool once, because once I get it all cleaned  I have been too tired to actually get in the water !!! I will not get in the water is there is a speck of dirt or a single bug in the pool...yep, I am nuts...I literally lay on my raft with a book in one hand and the netted paddle in the other so I can nab any bug that wants to share the same space as me. So between the pool and my new little garden I have been kept pretty busy. I will post some pictures of my little kitchen garden thats right out my door later on. I am sooo proud of myself cuz I have a black thumb and this whole gardening thing is kinda cool (especially since last year I had a bumper crop of tomatoes with just 3 plants....doubled my plants this year and added 6 peppers, lettuce, strawberries and of course my herbs...I am having fun with it but it does take some work, which has taken me away from my work room and my actual work...over-dyeing wool.

I have had some time to dye though and will have some new bundles up soon (Gloria, I am almost done with your order my dear...just working on the last few bundles). I have some great golds, some great berries, turqoise, teals and peacock blues and some lovely lemons, melons and some awesome background colors in various browns. Well all that wool dyeing made me think it might be fun to do a little mid summer wool giveaway, so check back early next week for all the details...I am thinking of something fun and easy !!!

Well, I thought I would throw in a couple of pictures from our trip to Virginia so here they are ....


Battle re-enactments with little display areas where folks told us all about different areas of interest...this one had to do with military rations.

And here's some from Mitchie Tavern, an old tavern in Charlottsville that had an old grist mill and several other little building to tour...all nestled in the woods just down the road from Monticello.

And my favorite thing of all was visiting Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. It was a fabulous tour and so interesting. The hubs and I just love historical stuff so it was a delight !

Now thats a nice garden...I did buy a pot of lavendar to plant in my garden....Can you believe I actually have a portion of something that was actually originally planted by Thomas Jefferson ? They sell a bunch of different heirloom cuttings and these were wonderful.

Here's a picture of the hubs in a little town we stopped in on the way home....Virgina was absolutely beautiful and I could definately see us relocating there if our son stays there and the other stays in North Carolina...Charlottsville is exactly halfway right now !!! But thats years away...

Gosh the hubs is so darn handsome. He has put on a few pounds over the years and has a lot less hair but he still looks hot to me !!! SOmeday I will have to dig up some pictures from when we were dating back in the 80's...Yes, I had big hair and he had hair like El DeBarge...anybody remember him ???? He had a curly perm that he would get cut into some kind of like bi-level, short mullet of sorts. Ooooooh and he wore those skin tight Levi's and jazz shoes and of ocurse he wore Pierre Cardin, so he smelled amazing too. Haha, we were so young. The years have been much kinder to the hubs than they have been to me, so no pictures of me from this trip....I have gained like almost 15 pounds since last summer, GRRRRR

OK, well I am going to hit the hay now. Since I have been falling asleep every afternoon I have been trying to force myself to get some sleep at night like a normal person (NO its NOT working, but I am not really normal, haha).

Until next time,
Grace to you,
Margie

June Update for PHM

Just a reminder that today is the June update over at Primitive Handmades Mercantile and the ladies have done it again...I got a sneak peak and what they have to offer this month is breathtaking. Of course I got the theme wrong for the month, but I still think my items turned out pretty good. Here are 2 of the hooked pieces I submitted for sale....

These were both designed and hooked by me... Please click on the tab to thr right and hop over and see all the primtastic items these gals have made !!!

I have been busy busy busy and promise to post more leter and fill you all in on whats been happening in my neck of the woods. !

Until next time,

Grace to you,

Margie

Awesome Mail Day !!!

Well gals I am back from Virginia and have lots to tell you all about our trip, but I will get to that tomorrow. First I want to say a great big thank you to Marie over at Primitives by Olde Lady Morgan. I has sent her a box of wool blends that I couldnt use in hooking and she had asked me what I wanted in return....I had said I would love one of her dammit dolls for a friend who has been ill and maybe a pinkeep or some bowl fillers...Did you catch the OR in there ??? Well if you know Marie , then you know she doesnt "do" anything in a small way....Look at all the wonderful goodies she sent me ....

Can you believe she sent me 2 of the dammit dolls...one for my friend and one for me to keep (too sweet) and of course she sent 2 different pinkkeeps too...I just LOVE both of them...and she even filled them with vintage sharps and pins !!!

And look at these awesome grungy star bowl fillers....they are huge and look so great in my wooden bowl I just got from my friend Gloria...remember the pics from her awhile back ? Aren't these stars just to die for ????

Oh and I forgot to take pics of the 3 Folk/Prim magazines she sent me too...I am resisting the urge to just throw responsibility to the wind and just curl up for the next several hours and pour over these lovelies...cant wait to see Marie's items in here too !!!! But, I MUST get all my orders filled first, before I have any more fun !!! So I want to say a BIG, BIG thank you to Old Lady Morgan for another wonderful swap...she is a great friend and has spoiled me many times over. I will definatley be sending her out another box of goodies...I hardly think my box of fabric was equal to all the loevly things she made just for me. If you ever get a chance to swap with her, you will be happy you did but in the mean time, you should RUN over to her blog, www.primitivesbyoldladymorgan.blogspot.com and check out all the wonderful things she has for sale !!!

Before I go  did want to show you all a picture of a great find I got while I was in Virginia....I got this giant cheese box...

I put it nest to my 4 gallon crock to show how large it is...I absolutely love it. I have never seen a cheese box that was this big and guess what ? I got it for just $9.50...can you believe it ? I saw one in the very next shop for 3 times that much. I dont really like the color...anyone know how I can know if its original ? I would hate to ruin its value, but I really dont like the color at all...I could probably get by with just adding a little stain to tone it down but I would like to re-paint it....What do you gals think I should do ? I have lessened the value of many an item over the years and always hate it when I find that out, although if its an item I plan on keeping, then I dont care as much because I want it to match my home. Oh and did I mention that its filled with pine cones ? I really didnt want those but the lady said I had to take them too...GRRRR...

Well, I am off to finish my last few orders, finish packaging up my items for the Bee Happy swap, finish the new hooked items I made for the Primitive Handmades Mercantile update (June 15th) and then I am hitting the dye pots. I will tell you my hands are ready to fall off....I bound 6 rugs in the last 3 days and I have holes on all my fingers...yep...I have jabbed the same places so many times I think I have permanent holes, haha.

Until next time,
Grace to you,
Margie

I bit the bullet...

Yep, that's right...I finally just jumped in with both feet into the whole idea of actually making Hungry Hook Primitives into a full fledged business. As most of you know I have been toying with the idea of making over our small addition into a "studio" of sorts...mostly so I can have room enough to not have to move EVERYTHING just to draw a pattern, then move EVERYTHING again to pack up an order and move EVERYTHING yet again for working on my blog and so on and so on and so on. This past weekend I was just amazed at the amount of orders I got for wool, hooked pieces etc. I am just giddy with excitement that I can REALLY do this. Ok, so I am really going to embarass myself by showing you just what a MESS my work space is right now....its on the opposit side of my bedroom and I swear I could probably qualify for an episode of Hoarders if they saw this (thank goodness the rest of my house is semi organized)....Please...if you are gonna judge, then just do it behind my back and dont comment. Ok...so heres where the magic happens right now....

Here's another view of the  chaos...

Yes my poor hubby actually has his clothes in this old dresser. The hubs is, how do I say this as nicely as possible...organized to the extreme, a bit anal about things, a perfectionist, a neat-nik, ok, ok, he's got OCD and I just dont know how he toelrates all this mess. His office is impeccable. He has NOTHING on  his desk, everything is in a folder and labeled etc. He doesnt even keep emails or texts because it bugs him as "clutter"...Yes and we have been successfully married for over 25 years. The man in just that wonderful because clearly I have got to be annoying him...but when I ask him he just smiles and says "Honey, I know you would be more organized if you could...lets get that space done and you'll have more room"...then he gets an adorable grin and a twinkle in his eye and says "And that way I dont have too look at the mess so I wont really care if you're organized or not". Seriously I dont know how he puts up with me, but I am so glad he does !

OK, so back to my story. So I went ahead and made a big order of dye and bought a bunch more wool so I will be ready for greatness once my studio is all done. Oh, did you want to see where that's going to be ? As I said before we have an additional off the lower level of our house in the back. It has its own entrance from outside and from just off my laundry room. Our son lived there for a couple years so we needed to rip out the carpet (teenage/collge boys are soooooo yucky)  and I need to patch a few places in the walls where he decided to use  screws to hang pictures (GRRRR). I also need to find a new home for all the stuff still in there....all his weights, an old tv, a dishwasher he said he wanted to take but then didnt need...I may keep the mini fridge though !!!  Heres a little tour...

This is the view coming in the door from the laundry room...theres a small bath to the left and a walk in closet to the right with tons of room for hanging patterns and storing supplies...

Heres the view of the main door/entry from outside and theres more room for supplies to be stored here. I am going to be putting down either ceramic tile or some type of faux hardwood (something that looks realistic but is easy to take care of and can take some traffic) over the whole room including the entryway. I had thought of just staining and sealing the concrete and then using large floor cloths but I think it might be hard of my back and feet...any suggestions ? I dont want to spend a lot but I also want something that will add value to the house...

This little area is kind of inset and I will make my main work area and will have my chair where the bench is so I am facing out into the whole room and can see everything and be inspired.

You can see there's lots of windows and some great natural light. There are no overhead lights so I am thinking of maybe a few "task" chandeliers of some type...I see another chandy makeover in the very near future... Remember this one I did for the dining room ?

I am thinking a couple of these will give a ton of light for the evening hours when I am working.

I would love to hear your thoughts...I am thinking of adding wallpaper, maybe a little beadboard and paint in a really great vintage color. I want it to be really warm and inviting but be organized into zones for sewing, hooking, pattern making, dyeing, shipping and office work. I have lots of furniture in the garage that I have been collecting to use in here. I am really getting so terribly excited...oh and since its on the lowest level it is MUCH cooler than working in my bedroom which is at the very top in the attic and is VERY HOT, especially when you are buried under wool !

Well, thats it...all my messiness out there for everyone to see. I am so inspired by those of you who have shared your awesome workspaces on your blogs and you have inspired me to really get this done, once and for all. Please pray that I make good decisions and we get some good deals because I am NOT wanting to spend lots of money on this project, but I do want it to look more vintage than the rest of my house...its got nice deep windowsills so I am looking forward to having that additional display space and all those walls...Some of you long time readers know my frustration with the fact that I have very little wall space because of the "cut up" nature of the house.

Ok gals...I am off ! I need to head out to my sons apartment and finish packing all his stuff since he needs to have it all out by the 31st...Oh and please say a prayer for him (Kirk)...he still hasnt found an apartment and we are running out of time. I had a feeling I should have gone down initially and helped him but I am trying to let him figure stuff out on his own !!!

Until next time...
Grace to you,
Margie