How can it be January 26th?!

The dates on the calendar are definitely closer than the appear! I cannot get over the fact that it will soon be February... so very close yet nearly a half week away! Or as the grandma in me would say, "...only four more sleeps." I am remaining hopeful that my chair will be soon be in.

Today, Don and I took a short road trip, in search of the elusive fabric. Unfortunately, I had no luck finding it. However, all is not lost, I've decided to simply cut the last remaining curtain in half and re-seam it. A few minutes of finagling the curtains around on to another curtain rod and adding one of each of the re-sewn curtain to them and all will be well again. I measured one last night, it is 50" long after sewing so cutting one in half and seaming it I should end up with 23"-24" for a grand total of 73"-74" covering a 46" area. I'll just loose a bit of the drape-y creases and fullness. Which will have to work. Afterall, the point was to hide clutter contained within and I will still be accomplishing that! {smiles}

While searching, I did pick up a yard of lovely cream and black French Toile and 2 yards of 2 different prints {$1/yd}, and two patterns for creating Miss Alexxis a few tops, crop pants, and summer dress and panties set with a pattern for a matching hat. I, also, couldn't resist purchasing a few yards of clearance trims and a few big bright buttons to enhance them a bit. I'm such a sucker, LOL!

Before I begin sewing anything, I really need to re-focus my attention back to finishing decorating and organizing the studio. While browsing today on Pam's blog I could not help but to see into her drawers. There I discovered a wonderful answer to one of my studio dilemna's... storage for rick-rack, ribbons, spools, and loose pieces. In Pam's studio, she has a wonderful vintage drawer cabinet {you can see a photograph here. I don't know if anyone will remember my rummaging around in the carport while I was remodeling, organizing, and cleaning, but I have a similar file drawer cabinet! It is a vintage find that I discovered a few years ago, then wondered if I paid too much for it, and what ever in the world will I store within it type of purchase that I recently dragged back into the studio. Well, now I know what I can store within it!!! I'll capture a photograph of it later to share.

Also, on my mind lately has been organizing my colored pencils. I think I may have mentioned that I've been saving my Campbell's soup cans to separate them by colors. Well, last night I re-read through the "Colored Pencil Solution Book" by Janie Gildow & Barbara Bendetti Newton and discovered a lot of cool tips on setting up a colored pencil studio that I can incorporate into my own studio. Not that it will exclusive to colored pencils, just that I am desiring to utilize them more than I currently am. So, I made a few quick notes on index cards to get me on track when I'm ready to accomplish that. However, once I got into reading that book, I couldn't put it down. I read again on designing a great composition using principles of design and elements. It is one of the best that I have ever came across and was like a breath of fresh air. I believe there are some that I want to try once I get back into rubber stamping soon.

And speaking of stamping soon, I really need to get back into the studio to do just that! I have two matchbox boxes with a surprise inside that I've got to get created and sent postal very, very soon. The sands of time is beginning to gently fall into the bottom of the hourglass.