Crafting without the Barn

 With the exterior construction, many of the contents of the Art Barn had to be removed to allow for enlarging the door frame and installing the light fixture.  What was left inside required covering to keep the dust off it.  That’s not going to get in my way!  Over the past week or so, I have managed to finish a project begun at the 2022 Palmetto Tatter’s Guild’s 20th annual Tat Days held in nearby Lake Junaluska Conference Center outside Waynesville, NC.  There I took Martha Ess’s Rick Rack Sunflake (tm) class and have completed it.  

This was my first experience with using Rick Rack as an anchor for tatting, but I was pleased with the way it came out.  Because of the way the fabric was sewn together, it has a tendency to bow a bit, but a healthy shot of steam from my steam iron seems to have taken care of most of that.  

Organization vs. Creativity

It has been said that we can organize or we can create. To a certain extent that is true. If our tools and supplies are in such disarray, when our creative urge strikes (or is harnaced,) we will spend all our time searching for the items we need rather than actually being involved in the creative process. This is especially true if our crafting space is small. Recently my Art Barn door has begun to deteriorate. When we built the space, we were using the most cost-effective (cheep) materials we could find. So this "exterior" door was indeed 36" wide, but only 77" in height. Add to this, the decision was made to have it open to the OUTSIDE, rather than to the INSIDE. The elements of nature are not kind to any door left open and swung to the outside for very long. While not left open constantly, the building is about 12 or 13 years old and time hgas taken its toll. Se we have made the decision to replace it. Standard doors are 32", 34' or 36' wide - not counting the door frame which comes with the "pre-hung doors" - and are usually 80" high - again not including the door frame. We have found and engaged one VERY brave soul who is going to take the necessary steps to remove the existing door and modify the opening to accomodate a new pre-hung door tht will swing inward. THIS IS EXCITING!! The door will arrive any day now! Once re-construction begins, I will have to be without my crafting space for a few days. That's not too much of a problem, however, I don't wany all my supplies and tools covered in sawdust and other nasties - hopefully they won't be wet nasties! So I am spending my time sorting, temporarily re-locating and covering my surfaces with protective barriers. While I would just LOVE to be creating with my Labor Day Weekend "free" time, that will have to wait for a bit. In the end, I will be glad this has been done! However, at this moment, I am ENDURING the process, all the while reassuring myself that it will be better in the end. It will be better in the end. . . It WILL be better in the end. . . IT WILL BE BETTER in the end!!

New Times, New Blog!

Through the recent pandemic, I've been as isolated as I neede to be to protect myself, my family, my crafting buddies and my clients from becoming ill. Being this sort of confined opened opportunities for continued growth in the crafting world. This has brought me a lot of happiness and made some of it shareable with those I care about. The first thing I was able to do was to turn an outbuilding into. . . The Art Barn!! It's not very big - about 12 feet square, but it has 2 lofts for storage and with the shelving, craft table and organizational items, has been a life-saver - well more of a sanity-saver - over the past several years! Since setting everything up, I have been collecting stamps, dies, papers and other embellishments for creating hand made cards for all occasions. Christmas card greetings for the holidays are items I have created during times gone by, but I'm adding to my skills and collections. Cards for birthdays, graduations, special events and others can be pricy! I checked out Target several years back and at that time a hand-made card was more than $7.00. It doesn't take long for that to translate into $100.00 or more and the crafting items will allow many more than the 12 or 13 cards that $100.00 will buy. Even from other outlets such as Dollar Stores and grocery or variety stores, the occasions rack up quickly. Tatting contiinues to be my primary crafting focus, although I have also renewed my interest in knitting and sewing. I'm sure there will be more to come - with Autumn and Winter approaching, outside times will become inside times.