Here is what the closet looked light in its messy state (note that the closet is twice as wide as it appears in this picture and the floor on the left side is completely covered to a height of 3 feet).

And this is what it looked like when I got it emptied:

The bad thing is that taking everything out of the closet resulted in a secondary mess.

It is amazing the amount of stuff that fits in a 5×6 closet!

I had purchased and assemebled some shelving to bing some better order to the closet. The tools I use for framing all get stored in here, along with the matte board and foamcore pieces. I also have a good bit of fabric for finishing ornaments and the like that will be stored in here.

I got as far as this stage last night. Tonight, I hope to get a good bit of the “stuff” back in the closet. I’m also hoping that there is less “stuff” that will go back into the closet! The bad news is that I found several old knitting and sewing projects that I’d love to get back to working on.

The Rodeo here in Houston is a HUGE event, with the main rodeo and concert events taking place inside the football stadium:

We were meeting some people there and ended up walking the length of the midway instead of straight through to the cookoff area. The midway provided some interesting sights.

Here is fried just about anything:

I actually tasted the fried oreos before leaving, they were like a funnel cake with an oreo center. An interesting experience once, but not necessarily one I’d repeat.

Don’t forget that everything is bigger in Texas:

I’m not sure if I would want to ride this:

When we finally made it through the midway to the cookoff area, we had to make our way through the maze of tents to get to the one we had tickets for. Then we could eat some BBQ! If you didn’t know bar-ba-que has many different forms throughout the US. In Texas, it is generally brisket, with a side of sausage, ribs and some beans, maybe with potato salad. Anyway, there was lots of food. We actually went to three different tents and sampled goodies at each. Eventually, it was time to head home.

It has been so long that right now there are lots of things I want to say. I like lists, so here’s what I might post in this or some upcoming posts:
1. What’s been going on in my life for the past three weeks (and it has been interesting like the Chinese proverb)
2. What I think about TWDesignworks closing (in a word, sad)
3. New designs I’m working on (the countdown to Nashville begins)
4. Stitching methods
5. Anything else I can think of.

So for now, I’m back and hope to be posting more often!

1. Complete the finishing on the next Advent Ornaments
2. Pin and frame Briar Rose: Page 4
3. Pin and frame Ambigram Alphabet
4. Photograph Ornaments, Briar Rose and Ambigram.
5. Finish stitching super-secret project due October 1
6. Finish stitching class project due before November 1.

I think that is a long enough to-do list for the next week. It doesn’t even touch on working on the other two designs I have in progress that I’d like to get done for Nashville, setting up my virtual booth for the Online show in October and working on some other design sketches. This designing job is alot of work!

I’m definitely not promising to get everything on that list done by next week, but a start would be good. We’re also in the midst of a major late-summer “spring cleaning” at the house. While it does take me away from stitching, I do like having the house in order.

Then there’s the Beatles Rock Band, which I hear calling my name! If I sing “Come Together”, will everything magically get done?

The Tour de France was most of July and finished with TdF cupcakes:

We had a bunch of company in late July to mid August, which meant I did far less stitching that I usually like. However, I did get to see “The Phantom of the Opera” (again).

I went to DFW and saw the cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards:

(Who’s thinking “Saw varsity’s horns off” with me?)

We took my five year old nephew to his very first Major League Baseball game:

Note to self: next time, try to see an Astros game instead of a Rangers game. We have this nice thing at the stadium called a “roof”, which is used not just to keep rain out, it is also used to keep A/C in when it is hot outside!

DH rode in the Hotter n Hell hundred bike ride in Wichita Falls:

And I stitched.

I did finish two projects, Briar Rose: Page 4 and the 13th Advent Ornament.

I uploaded this picture of Briar Rose: Page 4 in mid-April:

Which means I probably started in late March or early April. And it took five months to get to this:

Not too bad, considering I worked on several other pieces in that same time span. This design will be available at the October Needlework Show, so ask your LNS to pick it up!

The 13th Advent Ornament won’t be available until January 2010.

I picked up the large Ambigram Alphabet from the finisher. Now I just have to do the finishing work on the small one and get it ready. That one will also be ready for the October Needlework Show, as will the next three Advent Ornaments (10, 11, and 12).

I’m starting to plan for Nashville 2010 releases. I’ve got two fairly largish pieces in the works that I’m hoping will be finished in time and several other designs in the works for 2010. Then there are some small things I have to get ready, plus a class piece to design for the spring. Things are just busy busy busy around here!

To catch up on the last couple of weeks:
There were Tour de France cupcakes (only yellow this year):

I did have a weekend of stitching, and Briar Rose went from this:

To this:

Now I just have the border to do!

Mocha “killed” her string toy and then “ate” it. She doesn’t really eat it, she just drags it to her foodbowl and then metaphorically eats it:

Now I’m going through Tour de France and stitching withdrawal (been too busy to stitch in the last week). Maybe I can hide away for a couple of hours this weekend and at least get my stitching fix. I’ll have to wait until the Tour of Ireland for my cycling fix. I have managed to get a couple more Christmas ornaments designed, so that is good news. Right now, I have more ideas in my head than time to get them out. Then they end up competing and nothing happens! Hopefully, I’ll be able to whip them into a nice line soon!

Compare that to these pictures when I first refurnished the room for the business.

The table against the window is my printing station. The color printer is on top of the table, the black and white laser is below. Also, the computer is on this table (mostly behind the chair) and my very important TARDIS USB hub. To the right of that table is my “Entertainment area”, namely the TV/DVD player. That is sitting on an old sewing machine cabinet. Along the right-hand wall is my working table. This is where matt boards get cut for framing models, colors laid out, needlepoint canvas gets painted, patterns are put together, and many other sundry activities for running the business. I do most of my stitching in the family room, because I can be more social there and the couch is more comfortable.

I had two problems with this setup. One, the color printer tended to shake the desk it was on a bit. Not too much of a problem, except that it also made the monitor on the desk sway. Two, matt board is bigger than the table I was using to cut it. This made the task of framing awkward when using new, full matt board.

I had the great idea of solving both of these problems by putting an old dining room table in the office and using it for the printer/computer desk and then moving the other tables so that they made a U. This worked perfectly in my brain, and was great because I would be reusing the table. Reality is different from my brain, however:

This setup didn’t leave enough room in the middle of the U for me to work.

So, I got out ye olde tape measure and tried to figure out what would work. I needed a table that was at least 24 inches wide to accomodate the printer. I wanted one with some more stability. It needed to be pretty long to extend from the corner to the edge of the window, but not too deep because I would have to move the shelves that currently lived next to the table. Not too many requirements, huh? I dragged DH out to Ikea Saturday night and we ended up picking up two tables; both are 24 inches deep and together they were long enough for the space. These were mix and match table-tops and legs, so I picked out a shelving unit table leg for the side that the printer goes on. I still have to see how it works under stress.
Here’s what the new setup looks like:

Then I had to put the mess back in place:

But I feel that this is a space where I can be creative:

My goal for this weekend is to spend some time deep cleaning the shelves. I need to reorganize my fabric, so that I can find things more easily. I also got another “screw storage” box for floss. The yarn needs to be stored somewhere out of the way, and I need to reorganize all of my patterns (and this time label the groupings so that I can find them more easily). Maybe after all of that, I can tackle the closet!

We had a very busy weekend at Casa Rocha last weekend. The big project was a reorganization of the garage! We were at the point where it was getting impossible to find a screwdriver, hammer, or some other tool when it was needed. The garage/tools area needed some serious work. So we found some storage cabinets and a workbench to go in the theoretical “third car” area of the garage. I say theoretical because it is behind where the other two cars park, and Mocha doesn’t drive, so she decided we could make that part of the garage a work space. The storage stuff had to be put together, of course, and that turned into a big job. We also added one of those track organizing systems for hanging stuff. That system is really neat, and now our bicycles look organized like a bike shop instead of just leaning against the walls. I managed to run some other errands and do other necessary chores over the long weekend, but didn’t get to the sketching that I wanted to do. However, I did get to experiment with some polymer clay. What I made is a secret for now, but I’m hoping to perfect a cross-stitch tool I’ve been dreaming about for years!

Since we worked so hard over the weekend, we took Tuesday night off and went to see “Terminator: Salvation”. We had some trepidation going into it because the reviews were generally bad. DH agreed with all the reviewers, but I thought it was, well, not terrible. That’s not saying it was good, and there were some really big plot holes, but it wasn’t something I wanted to walk out of.

I did get some stitching done this week, though. I’m trying to stay focused on completing “Octogonal”, so if you pre-ordered that at the Online Needlework Show, please be patient while I stitch the model! I did experiment a little with a piece I’m doing for my LNS that will hopefully be for the Stitcher’s Village Texas get together. I’m not happy with my first result, though, so it is back to the stitching/drawing board for me.

I’m hoping that this weekend will be a bit more laid back. I’m planning on a little more experimentation with the polymer clay and some time sketching. Oh, yeah, and more stitching!