New chair + market news

Where does the time go? It must be time to catch up on a bit of news. As you all know, I love my art studio room, but there has never been anywhere nice to sit in there. The space is pretty slim and I big armchair was never going to fit. So when I spotted this lovely retro-styled chair in Freedom recently I couldn't get it out of my head. The majority of furniture in this house is either very old, second hand or has been bought from the tip shop, SO, I talked myself into it (the sale did help convince me) and bought it! It is comfy but compact and fits the space perfectly. I'm really happy with it. Look at that pretty colour :)

I used it in the photo above to style some of my new release scarf designs. These are a black and white image of the old Trocadero building in Paris, with either a pale blue or pink border, printed in silk chiffon. I'm really pleased with them and have kept one for myself.

Speaking of scarves, I will be at The Market at the Masonic Temple on Sandy Bay Road this coming Sunday from 10 - 3. It would be lovely if you wanted to drop by to say hello. My fabric arrived last week and I have spent quite a bit of time cutting, sewing and fringing and have 3 new designs ready to sell. This is my last market for a while as I have the Art on Legs event to participate in next. I am supposed to have all of my work ready by next weekend. Ahem, well, that's not going to happen. I have taken this whole week off work, but have not achieved very much at all. Not enough hours in the day!

Well, speaking of which, I had better hit publish and get back in the studio. Thanks for sopping by!

xx

Sewing chaos

You would be forgiven for thinking that a robber had broken into the house and ransacked my studio.

Nope, it's just me sewing.

All hell seems to have broken loose in there and I really wish I had a door that I could shut so I wouldn't have to see this chaos every time I walk up the hallway.

So what am I up to? Some time ago I agreed to create a collection of garments for the local Art on Legs wearable art event. I thought I had a tonne of time to spare, not taking into consideration that it takes time to fit models and rehearse choreography. So, my 3 months to create my pieces is now 6 weeks and as you know, I work part time in the gallery as well.

I currently have two dresses (I think) and a pair of pants under way, but who knows what I will end up with as I change my mind constantly. I have ordered fabric from overseas as our local store didn't have what I wanted along with pearls to adorn one of the dresses. I have also put in an order for some new scarf fabrics and plan on using some of those in the show as well. I might even use some of my fabric to make a top of some sort. Decisions, decisions!

When my work is further along I will post more pics. Nothing like a deadline to get me moving!!

xx

A job done

Finally! I have curtains in my studio.
I made some simple sheer curtains that means I get some light and don't have to stare out the window at the car and boat in the driveway. Not the most inspiring view for an art studio :)

When we renovated this room, I chose silver fittings to go with my pale blue and white walls. Little did I know how difficult it is to get silver window fittings, expecially in a heritage style. I had the choice of one! It's a button style and thankfully I like it. Even finding silver finish curtain rod was difficult. "Silver" means a lot of different things it seems and in fact, most of them were an antiqued, brushed finish - not what I was after. Lyndon suggested I check out a metal pipe supplier and I ended up finding a length of marine grade mirror polished satinless steel at about $7 per metre. Great!

Dodgy pic above, but you can see the fittings (and how simple my curtain construction is!).

It's such a relief to get these finished and now I can move onto my next job. I have a length of pale blue linen which I am thinking of making into a chair cover. Do we want to take bets on how long that will take me?

I'm loving neon pink and bright blue at the mo :)

Thank you for your comments about cameras on my last post. I really appreciate it. If any more of you would like to share what sort of camera and or lens you use, I'd love to hear it.

Hugs,

Sar xx
ps I'm joing in on Jane from Life on Planet Baby's

Studio chaos + UFOs

I just took these photos so they are a little dark and grainy.

Do you have an abundance of UFOs like I do? Everywhere you look - things that are waiting to be finished. Those UFOs (unfinished objects) are such a pain in my side.

Granted, I have been a tad busy at work recently and before that I was unwell, but I just want to get some of these things finished!

I have been procrastinating with these sheer curtains for a long while. I think it's because they are a tedious job. Metres of sewing with a pesky fabric that just wants to fray and slip on itself.

I WILL get them done this weekend, or at least by next Tuesday.

A pile of fabrics (and more pesky curtain) on my ironing board.

That Parisian Postcard purse that I am still working out!

And an abundance of pendants that I am working on for the gallery as well as a project for myself.

Adding to this I am waiting on samples from a printing company in India. At least I think I'm waiting on samples - the communication was a bit of a challenge :) Then today I read that the Indian postage system can be a disaster, so might have to do some more research on printers *sigh*

Gosh, it will be good to tick some of these things off my list.

Do you have the same problem as me??

xx

Things

Bits and pieces from my studio room.

Some pretty dried rose buds in an equally pretty Limoges teacup.

Yet another Mozi tea towel that is too pretty to use.

My market goodies waiting underneath yet another painted stick.

Yes, rather bright :)

And washi tape offcuts from the making of garlands. Do any of you find it difficult throwing pretty scraps like this in the bin? I do.

On a different note, are any of you watching Junior Masterchef, or Mini Masterchef as I like to call it? Those children are all so talented. So many of their dishes I'd love to try.

Well, cheerio for now :)

xx

My pinboard project + studio update

It seems like an eternity ago that I decided to make a pin board for my studio.

Well, here it finally is!

This old piece of board was going to be tossed out at work so I saved it and took it home. I covered it in a very pale blue fabric by stapling it on the back. I love my electric staple gun - boy it has some kick in it!

 I bought some hardwood frame profile at the hardware store, measured it a million times (so Lyndon couldn't laugh at me when I got it wrong - measure twice, cut once he always says) and cut the angled joints on the drop saw (that thing is scary!).
Lyn them helped me nail it all together and I painted it with the left over turquoise paint from my old step ladder project.
I then put it all together thanks to the staple gun, attached a hanging wire and we got it up on the wall.
I'm really happy with the results.



There's still things to do in my studio room. I'm still sorting things, have curtains to make and hopefully add in a reading chair when the budget allows. I love the room though.

I don't think I ever showed you my rug. It's a Laura Ashley Malmaison design in French Blue, now discontinued I believe. I bought it from a German seller off ebay. It was less than half the retail price. She posted it and it seemed to go missing in transit. When I asked her to check it out for me it turns out there was a terrorist threat on one of the planes DHL used and so all the parcels were plonked on a boat. I decided to trust her story and sure enough, a few months later it arrived!

Initially I was thinking about bright rugs for this room, but I'm very happy with this one as it doesn't overpower the room. It's a timeless design that I'll be happy to use forever.

A piccy of my space :)

(must make a cover for my chair)

My desk is messy already. Too many little projects on the go.

As you can see, my shelving is well utilised! I just love it. For those of you who are newish to my blog, I'm very proud to say that Lyn and I built this shelving from scratch. It was a mammoth effort but I just love it.

A closeup of my pin board. Lots of flowers and bird inspiration. It will be full in no time!

Thanks for looking and wishing you all a great week.

Hugs xx

Studio details

I'm still tidying and sorting out my studio room but here are a few snippets...

Lovely French lace (a great Ebay find) and below is my fantastic Penny Malone 'button'. It is hand stencilled linen and looks like a giant covered button. I just love it. Penny is a local Tassie artist.

Lots of books and my recent little purchase, a glass dome.

I'm really loving the pale blue wall colour, all those shelves and the chandelier.

A few more bits to organise and tidy up and waiting on the delivery of a rug. Oh, and the curtains! I'm planning on making some, maybe over my Christmas break :)

xx

ps still decorating so Chrissy posts to come!

I have lots of stuff

To say that I have been a bit overwhelmed at all the stuff I have had to unpack and sort in my art room would be a bit of an understatement. I have so much stuff! How on earth I ever fit it in my tiny apartment where we lived before Molly's Maison I'll never know.

So many books, piles of fabric, odds and ends.

I really am trying to get organised but you know when you go to tidy up you always end up with more of a mess before it starts looking ok again? I'm at that really messy, disorganised point in my re-organisation. *sigh*
But, the upside is that I have been rediscovering some really nice things...

Above are some very pretty old French beaded flowers and below is a length of stunning sparkly trim that I thought would be very "Collette Dinnigan" on a pretty dress someday. It has hundreds and hundreds of seed beads, sequins, pearls and paste gems. I love sparkly things :)

What more treasures might I discover?

Well, I'm off to watch the Block on tv. Why is it when I am so over renovating do I enjoy watching other people do it on tv? I really do feel their pain.

Have a good evening everyone xx

Studio update + curtain dilemas

It was a very busy weekend here at Molly's Maison. It was probably a good thing that it rained non-stop as it meant we weren't itching to get outside. Instead, we painted my studio room and finished off a bit of plastering. Lyn has installed two downlights in the verandah part of the room and today I ordered a nice chandelier for the main ceiling.

Things to do:

- get the floor finished

- install main light and ceiling rose

- fit cornice

- order, paint and install replacement skirting and picture rail

- fit new window hardware

- clean, clean, clean

- curtains??????

- move in and enjoy!!!!!!

Regarding curtains, I keep changing my mind. Due to the replacing of the floor, my curtain budget is now about $10 (sort of) so unfortunately no fancy Designers Guild fabric for me. Boo hoo!!

Because they wont need to be insulating curtains and I will probably not ever draw them (privacy is not an issue) I was thinking maybe something sheer? I was toying with the idea of the Tord Boontje "Until Dawn" panel, but would need two unless I do a centre panel and then a simple drop at each side, perhaps just a cotton voile. I could even replicate some of the shapes in a hand-made print on the drops?

Any ideas/suggestions from all you creative interior design folk out there would be greatly appreciated.

xx

1st image by me, 2nd and 3rd from dedeceplus

A can of worms

At this point I was hoping to post my newly polished studio floor. No such luck.

Above is my not so newly polished floor sitting on the front porch.

It's not a fun story...

Muzza the floor guy came the other day to sand the floor (above is the before shot).

All looks ok but when you looked closely there was big areas of rot, especially in the old verandah boards over near the window.

We decided that the floor needed to be replaced. We had discussed it a while ago but I was hoping that when it was sanded it would be ok. No such luck.

Sooooo.... Lyn ripped up the boards, in fact, half the room's worth.

The old joists in the end part of the room weren't even attached to anything and some had rotted.

This is where it got nightmarish. You now the saying, "to open a can of worms"?

Well, how about "a room of worms"???

We discovered a leaky pipe and heaps of mushy soil. It gets worse...amongst the soil were colonies of worms. It was truly disgusting! We had to dig out a few wheelbarrows of soil and worms, put in brick supports, a new beam and joists (as you can see below).

Starting to take shape.

Site supervisor Molly keeping a close watch on things.

Yay! A new, level, solid floor - all in one day!!

$600 in materials and plenty of super sore muscles later we are much happier!