Creative Space

Today in my continued effort to create a room I feel enticed to play in each time I pass, I went to town on the shelf in the corner of our cozy little den. I found the organizing baskets at JoAnn Fabrics and filled them with yarn, crochet hooks, beautiful paper, and other fun things. 

In this room we house our piano, another shelf stacked full of books, a corner desk. And hopefully soon, a sewing table in the only remaining open corner. Are you feeling crowded yet? I'll be honest, it's not much space which can stifle creativity but if I can keep it uncluttered and organized, plus looking cute, I think I might enjoy its company.

Some things I love:

The way the sun shines through the curtains,

The bowl of two dozen dried roses from my man on our first date,

The recovered cushion of the chair,

The very old piano,

And the curtain holdback that has a not-so-functional mirror front.

I will keep you posted as this room evolves into something truly lovely and inspiring. 

Hope you all have had a wonderful weekend. It's about to storm outside so I'm gonna go cuddle up with a book and some tea.

A Peek into the Past

Things I remember about my wedding...

Feeling beautiful...

Pretty flower arrangements created by my sister, sparkling apple cider, my shoes...  

I loved my shoes...

And the sparkler send-off. What are some things you remember and love about your wedding?

Coloring On the Lines

Who knew a summer course on score preparation could be so much fun? Stressful yes, but also a little bit fun. Did you know another name for the Trombone is Posaune and a Glockenspiel is also called jeu de timbres? In my head I imagine myself saying jeu de timbres in a beautifully French accent and its wonderful. 

 This week, we are learning how to sight-read by singing fixed do as opposed to movable do. Not really at all like Julie Andrews singing "Do, a deer, a female deer..." but it comes to mind.

My favorite part of this summer course has been the coloring. 

Our first assignment was to color code our scores.  

RED for the loud dynamics

BLUE for the soft dynamics

etc., etc.

I'm finishing up my final project tonight. Working through the first movement of the orchestral score of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. I played this in high school, not exceptionally well, but well enough to understand it a little better now. Anyone else taking some summer courses?

Lovely Greens

I've been meaning to use up the yarn in my basket for quite some time and really wanted to make something I'd never tried before which meant no mittens, scarves, or winter hats. Here's what happened:

Supplies? Various shades/textures of green yarn, a size 5.00MM crochet hook, and my latest library find (The Crochet Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden). This particular shirt is made using what Betty calls the "wavy checkers" stitch with the exception of the collar trim where I used a slightly modified version of "lace clusters."

The design is something that's been floating around in my head for awhile as I tried to wrap my mind around the details of making it work. The decision of when to change yarn was conveniently made for me. Every color change you see means I ran out of that particular yarn and had no choice but to switch to something else. What do you think? Would you wear it?

So I Sewed and...

I finished it: a very plain and very comfy light bluish grayish shirt!!! Thanks to Mikalah from Posy the Porcelain Pig for all the inspiring project posts on fashion. And also to my dearest sister Candace from Curlly Willow who blogged on this very topic not so many blogs ago.

And now on to my little sewing story: I started this very plain and very comfy light bluish grayish shirt project waaaayyyyy back in January? February? Not sure anymore. And I had very good intentions but no follow through.

I thought with all the dreary weather lately, I might as well put the "indoor" time to good use so back to my good intentions I went. It wasn't easy or fun at first. I got fed up with the pattern about halfway through (mostly because I couldn't find steps 3 and 4). And also because the "recipe" called for puffed sleeves and I didn't want puffed sleeves at which point I took my scissors and improvised.

I had a lot more fun when finally I decided to wing it and hope for the best. Following of course a few guidelines from steps 1 2 and 5...! I'm not so sure this sewing thing is going to be my cup of tea because my patience runs a wee bit (short? thin?) most days but I'm not quitting yet. Maybe just maybe next time I will pick a more interesting fabric, throw the pattern altogether out the window, and have a lot more fun from start to finish. I'll let you know. In the mean time. What do you think?