Getting organized!

I have really been working hard on getting the office/studio in shape. On a whim and in a fit of impulse buying fury, I snatched up the last two Liberty of London bins from Target a few months ago and promptly filled them with important stuff. One holds my patterns (see disaster above) and the other (a different size and shape) is filled (well, actually overfilled) with clothes I plan to repurpose.

After not being able to find any of the patterns I was looking for, I tore the whole thing apart and took care of business. Here is the newly organized bin. I took out all of the photocopies and pages I printed from the internet and pdfs and they now live sleeved in brand new binders sorted by type. I bought two "natural" cardboard-like ones from Office Depot and two shiny brown ones with cool covers from Target. I'll hot glue some ribbon down the spine of the shiny ones because they are too shiny and, well, I found that ribbon I mentioned before and I think it will look so cool.

I'll show you the whole space as soon as it's finished. I picked up some more of that cardboard looking stuff in the form of photo file boxes from Michael's to replace my plastic lidded tubs. Mr. Lemon is now using the tubs and they are perfect for him. The best thing is that even after a trip to Ikea during which I found NOTHING that will work for the space we have, I stumbled upon a little gem at our local Lowe's that is precisely the dimensions I need to be both a coffee/side table and a storage solution. But it's out of stock so stay tuned. I did find it online but shipping, wow. Patience, grasshopper.

The only problem for me is that I have these fabric cubes that fit in the square spaces and the green ones are so ugly to me and I hate them. I bought them on clearance but I want to get rid of them and that is just not something I can do if I can't use them somewhere else in the house. So maybe I'll cover them up or something. We'll see.

NYC Summer: Purl Soho

We took a weekend trip to New York recently to gather some supplies. Every time we hit the city, I make a point to stop into Purl. It was my first time in the new location and I thought it was great. Very roomy. They had a really nice selection of embroidery flosses, what seemed like the same amount of fabric, and a nice spot to look at patterns. Of course, there was the usual gorgeous crafty inspiration hanging out on every shelf and every corner.

The first thing to catch my eye were these little wool felt dolls by Mimi Kirchner. I didn't take any notes or photos of them while I was at the store but I couldn't stop thinking about them. When I got home, I did some snooping and found this awesome free pattern. I'm going to try to make one. I've had an idea brewing for a long time and I think this is what I needed to make it work.

I started my collection of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II with these lovelies. My color palette has been leaning toward this yellow and I bought several different versions of it on the trip (more on that later this week). The only embroidery floss available here is DMC and its generic counterparts so I decided to try some Trebizond silk (teal) and Londonderry spun linen (jonquil). They are both really lovely.

Of course, some Alexander Henry. I'd seen the larger print before but never the smaller one. I think they'll look lovely together and I have a pattern in mind. The polka dot trim caught my eye and I think it will look good with some fabric I picked up at Ikea. You never know...

Finally, I bought a teeny tiny bit of this Liberty of London gorgeousness to match the storage boxes from Target. I'm going to recover some pillows we have on the pullout in the office and I thought it would be nice to throw in a bit of this as an accent. It's not the same pattern but I didn't want to be too matchy matchy.