Gettin' Jiggly With It

The jackhammer has arrived...things are going to be a bit jjjjiiiigggglllyyyyyy around here for a while!

I can't wait to see what's under there where a French drain system was supposed to be...

It's Nakey!

The flooring is torn out and the walls are stripped....

My studio is nakey!

The Great Clean Up/Out

So... I'm on day 5 of The Great Clean Up/Out. The first three days were Absolutely Overwhelming... Discouraging... Exhausting.

Yukky.

No matter how many times I sang that familiar jingle - you know the one on TV ads where the insurance agent pops up to save the day - my "Good Neighbor" did not come through with anything helpful except the name of a reputable waterproofing company. Nothing covered on our homeowners, nothing covered on my business policy. Zip. Zilch. Nadda.

Oy.   :/  Say it with me... "That's just wrong!"

Needless to say the first things immediately out of the studio were my finished pieces. Then all of my fabrics. And then steadily everything else. The dehumidifiers have been running and we've had fresh air coming in. Tonight I have my computer set up in my "temporary office" (aka the living room) and come Monday I will be able to get back to work. Well, at least the interior design part. I jokingly told my husband that I might get used to looking up from my work and actually seeing out a window! :)  It may be a while before I get to sew anything except my hexis, unless I take over the dining room too. See, here's another good reason to always have a hand sewing project!

In the great scheme of things we were lucky. We were there when the water started coming in and we were able to keep it from becoming really, really bad. Even after we gave up out of sheer exhaustion, not much more came in. The laundry room took the worst hit and where it came in my studio, where it's carpeted, it was never deeper than a squish. I've seen basements with ankle deep water before. Nothing significant was damaged...well, the carpet and walls have to be ripped out, but I've never much liked that carpet anyway (it was here when we bought the house). Most all of my "stuff" survived unscathed. We were lucky. It could have been worse. At least it wasn't fire.

There's a long way to go to get everything back in order. All of my quilt related stuff is stacked in the spare bedroom. More stuff is stacked in the living room. Lots of stuff is taking a long-overdue one way trip to the landfill. Anything that doesn't need to be climate controlled is in the garage. And all of the stuff in the garage is being rearranged too, 'cause come Tuesday a week from now...

the jackhammers arrive.

We have to have the faulty French drain system ripped out and replaced. Oooh la la.

I just keep setting my sights on the way it will be when everything is put back. The great thing of a lifetime career in interior design is the ability to see things the way they can be, to look past the way the are.

Ah, potential...it's a beautiful thing.

Rainy Days and Monday...

There are benefits to having a basement studio...it's cool and  generally quiet. I have a lot of room and even a fireplace. And I've never had any issues being "underground"...until Monday night.

It rained.

And it POURED.

And POURED. And POURED.

And the waterproofing decided it was tired of holding it all back. So in it came. A spontaneous indoor water feature.

Some forecasters said we had as much as 6"+ on already saturated ground. Fortunately we were home. I grabbed the shop vac and started sucking it up as fast as it was coming in. Then we realized that water was actually shooting out of the laundry room wall like a fountain! So we moved the washer and dryer and I grabbed a trash can and then we started grabbing my (thankfully) empty dye buckets. And the shop vac ran and ran. And the carpet shampoo machine ran and ran. By some unknown stroke of luck we had a roll of heavy plastic which my brave husband took out into the storm and rolled along the backside of the house to try to stem the tide. After four hours of bailing I frantically grabbed and piled everything near or on the floor up onto my work tables. Thanks goodness I have lots of table space and shelves!

So now I'm in the aftermath. I'm swamped with interior design projects. I was supposed to start measuring a 65,000 sf office building today. But I've cancelled the rest of my work week and have begun hauling everything upstairs to higher ground.

Y'all...this isn't just my interior design office. It's also my quilt studio. You know what that means...

I have to move my fabric stash!!!    <:O

And my dyes, and beads, and threads, and books, and....and....!!!

Oy. It smells worse than a wet dog down here. And I'm allergic to mold. I'm having flashbacks to this project.

Everything is going to have to clear out of the room and the carpet is going to have to be pulled out. I have a company coming tomorrow to assess the "waterproofing" and I'm expecting that the paneling is going to have to be ripped off the walls to get to the block. I'm just hoping that the yard won't have to be dug up.

On the upside...when it's all over I'll have a fresh, clean studio! I've been needing to do some major cleanup around here anyway. This is forcing me to evaluate what I have (too much) and what will come back in.

But I'd rather have done it with self-motivation instead of this. *sigh*

So... I'll add myself to my list of interiors clients. And hope that Mother Nature sticks to EXTERIOR design from here on out.

Designing...

I know I rarely post about my interiors projects, but I really do do design! Quite often it's more architectural stuff...as-built drawings, space planning, etc. Things that are fun and challenging but don't necessarily produce the "pretty picture" at the end of the job. A great set of drawings, yes. Awesome use of space, yes. But who goes "oooh! Great blueprints!" or "Wow! Great space plan!" so I don't find those jobs to be post-worthy.

Then there are also projects where I get to do more finish work and at the moment I have two like that. One is a fast-tracker, so I am working on it this weekend. Preliminary colors have been chosen and are awaiting approval from the CEO...meanwhile, I'm playing with tile patterns for their break room!

Next I'm jumping to the other project which is still in the space planning stage and is awaiting some revisions and square foot calculations. My goal is to get caught up so tomorrow - Mother's Day - I can SEW!!!

Happy Dance

I made my first sale on ETSY this morning!! Squeeee!!!!

Thanks Darlene in KS...my pattern is on its way to you!

Playoffs Time!

A heart-stopping 1 point win on a hard fought game...way to go Mustangs!!!! Let's take it all the way Monday for the Championship!!!!

Fridy the 13 at bat! Smoked one to the left field fence!

COURAGE

How do you paint it? (or in my case, fiber art it? :)

"If someone were standing in front of your work, someone needing encouragement and hope, what would you create?" That was the question asked by artist Kathy Brusnighan to 16 selected artists, and the result is the traveling exhibit "COURAGE". It debuted  in October 2011 at Circa Gallery in Asheboro, NC (I wrote about that here) and has since traveled to Randolph Hospital, Moses Cone Hopsital, the Women's Only 5K Run, and the Forsyth Cancer Center. Currently selected works are showing at Baptist Hospital in the Watlington Gallery and on Friday, May 4 the larger body of work, including several new pieces, will open at the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center in Yadkinville, NC.

Last week Kathy and I had the honor of being interviewed by David Ford for Triad Arts Up Close, a featured show on WFDD 88.5 radio. The morning started with a torrential downpour and let's just say we were unprepared for that little surprise! We arrived at the station drenched and I joked that we had a face for radio. :) We took our places at the microphones in the recording studio and proceeded to have a great time talking to David. He made it all so comfortable and easy...our time with him just flew by.

Kathy and I in the studio
(photos courtesy of Kathy)

Our host, David Ford

The interview is being broadcast in two parts, the first segment aired this morning. You can hear it here...and the second part will air Friday at 1:30. MANY THANKS to David and WFDD radio for helping us get the word out about this moving, meaningful exhibit!!

If you are local to the Triad I hope you will come out to Yadkinville and see the exhibit, and also the many other wonderful things that the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center has to offer! The opening reception is this Friday starting at 5:30 and the exhibit runs through July 7.

For more information about the COURAGE exhibit, please visit Art With Purpose.

Teaching the Teachers

On Saturday I had the honor of teaching an Altered Surfaces workshop to some area school teachers. It's always a lot of fun and so rewarding to share techniques that they can take back to their classrooms. It feels good to contribute to keeping art alive in schools!

We played with rust dyeing, several methods for stamp making, and always a favorite...gelatin plate printing!

It was a fun, fun day! Thanks to the Yadkin Cultural Arts Center for hosting this group and asking me to share my love of fiber art!

Hard at work...I mean... Creating!

Stamping with our created stamps!

Some gelatin plate prints

More stamping awesomeness!

Yes, printing with bubble wrap is a blast!

Combined stamping and gel plate print