A good start in the new year

I spent the last two days organizing a few things in the studio. I actually got rid of a whole box of 'stuff' and gave away three bags of crap stuff that I had been hanging on to because I might need it one day. Funny...that day never seemed to come around! With the studio freshly purged and organized, I was ready to continue on doing more fun things!

I never did like the way my colored pencil set had to be accessed by the trays inside a tin. (120 Prisma set) The set is sold this way but it always bugged me to try and find a color when drawing. I had to balance layers of pencil trays or clear off a very large space to lay them all out on a table. Today I cut a cardboard coffee tin in order to make it into a pencil holder for just this set alone.

To my surprise, it was too big to hold the pencils in the way I wanted them to be!

Next I tried a container that steel cut oatmeal comes in. This was very close to the size I wanted. It might be a bit snug but it will do for now.

 Ideally I would like to find a box that is heavy enough to hold up to use and one that I can put a divider inside so I can keep groups of colors together. I am thinking a ceramic container with a home made divider inside will do the trick.

Remember our Christmas snowstorm?

 This is a picture of the same spot with the branches and bamboo removed:

The board is up to keep the dogs from jumping in the corner and maybe going over the fence. The bamboo had been so thick that it shielded our neighbors from our dogs barking and such. It also gave us privacy. The bamboo will grow back. It was so tall that it had gone over the power lines during the storm.

My husband, son, and I all worked for several days to cut the bamboo off our fence and power lines, along with all the trees and shrubs that had been destroyed. The pile of bamboo and other debris is over 50' long!

Click on the picture below to see a larger version of it. The arrow is pointing to my son who is 5'6" tall.

It looks like we have a huge hedge along the front of our property. We have nothing but grass in that area though. It will take a long time for this to be cleaned up by the city! Thank goodness they WILL be doing that though!

I have been working in the studio too. I am working on the Three Bridges quilt and I think I have finally found the right coloring for the tree I am working on.

It looks odd now, but I know once I have blended in some other colors that this tree will pop like I want it to.

Hey Jaye, if you read this you will be pleased to know that I actually did about 20 minutes of sewing on the U is for Unicorn quilt today too!

That's all for now folks. I am off to watch a bit of TV and to sew on my My Tweets block. I am finally on the last one of 12. After that, the boarder work begins!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and Happy Sewing!!!