Tickled Pink

Welcome to a world of fun...

...with Tula Pink!!

Hello my lovely friends!

I hope this cold winter day (or maybe not so cold for some of you around the world) is treating you well. Right now, a few flurries are slowly falling through the cloudy skies - makes me want to curl up in a beautiful quilt. How about you?

Well, I cannot think of, hunt down, or even begin to create any quilt that equals Tula Pink's talent and unique style. If you don't know this lady because you are thinking, "well I don't quilt," let me tell you that you are cheating yourself out of a tons of inspiration for whatever passion, craft, or hobby you may currently be engaged in. She is a fabric designer that creates fabrics like no other. I had the great privilege to photograph her for the current issue of Artists and Makers (Spring 2015 issue).

This is a great magazine that highlights artists and not just their craft, but as a whole person. Tula Pink has a fabulous feature with lots of info and of course, lots of pics that I shot for the feature. I thought you might enjoy a few pics and seeing her FABULOUS studio/home. 

If I didn't love Tula so much, I would be green with envy, but instead...I am just tickled pink! (I know, that was bad, wasn't it?)

Enjoy!

Is this a great space or what? I flipped when I first saw it. She lives in a very old renovated dairy barn!! How cool is that?

I love this chandelier and it came with the barn! Now, that is once fancy-schmancy barn, if you ask me...

Tula hand-painted this table as a reminder that while creating a new creation, we can be like tender fruit when others render their opinions - especially when they weren't sought. We artists don't really want to hear what you think when we are in the middle of creating, and especially when we haven't even formed our own opinion of our own unfinished work yet - yup - totally get that - thank you!

Okay, I really love Tula, but in her spare time she loves to sew by hand and sit in her favorite area to do it. I love working with photography, and yes, in some of my spare time, I will just shoot for fun...but Tula is fanatical about her sewing - which  makes her such an expert at what she does. Me, after a shooting gig, I will garden, cook, or whatever, but won't shoot for a bit to refresh. Sewing IS Tula's downtime/refresh time. I was just amazed at that. Would love to poke around in that head of hers to see how her wires are stitched together...could learn a lot from her, I am sure.

Love her fireplace with the deer head and her Tula Pink boat - which of course, she made herself. If I didn't love her, I would be sick by now - hahaha. But seriously, her talents still amaze me after knowing her since her first book.

I know, I know, I am dying too!! Can you believe her patio???? I swear, it looks like something right out of a little town in Europe. Those are the original barn doors-  L  O  V  E!  Okay, that's it, I'm finding me a darn barn next week, can't stand it...ready to pack up and live with the livestock! :-)

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my photo shoot with Tula Pink. If you want to see more and read her story, pick up an issue of Artists and Makers - lots of great info and stories in this issue. 

Also, on another note, I am soooo waiting for warmer weather - I got my bike and all its fixins'!! I can't wait to ride it and of course, take pics of it and share with you my first riding experience n almost three years. Also, thank you so much for visiting my new Instagram site - I have had several friends over the years ask when I was EVER going to get on any social media? Well, a little over two weeks ago I decided to jump in and I received such a warm, warm welcome from other Instagrammers (I think that is a word?) and I so appreciate the reception!

Have a great, creative evening, even if it is just in your mind, while snuggled under a fab quilt, and staying warm!

from my house to your house,

Fall Back...Spring Forward

Since we all gain an hour tonight, I thought I would use that extra hour to visit with you all. The air turned very cold this evening and while snuggled on the sofa, I started to go through some old image files and clean them out. I discovered that I never shared with you  our visit to Abe Lincoln's home in Springfield, IL.

It has been a few years since that visit, and as I started to look through the images, I discovered something kind of funny. I began to notice how familiar Mr.Lincoln's home began to look to me. While it is wildly decorated (and you will understand the term "wildly" in a moment once you take a gander at the wallpaper), there is a vague sense of familiarity to it as well. I also find it ironic that I made this discovery on the night we all turn our clocks back an hour. It might be only an hour we turn back, but as I look around my room, here, I think my clock has turned waaaay back, so far so, that I am finding quite a few things in my home that are also a part of the Lincoln's home. 

I thought you might like to visit Abe's home, and maybe you might find yourself feeling a little familiar with some of the objects you see as well.

Here is Abe Lincoln's home. And while it isn't as grand or stately as many brand new homes today, it does have a feeling of purpose...shutters that actually work and close off the windows. Not like the new ones today which are just ornamental. Windows galore, as there wasn't electricity back then. A strong fence to keep IN the kids, rather than to keep out strangers. Two chimneys to house the several wood stoves...the only source of heat. Yes, a very pretty house, with lots of purpose.

Upon entering, there are two main rooms. One on the left and one on the right. This is obviously the room for visitors who came calling. For a man who is always shown wearing black, his house is very colorful. Mary Todd Lincoln, I am sure had something to do with the decor, as she was determined to be fashionable.

This is the other main room, on the other side of the house, where little light was getting. I apologize ahead of time for some of the dark or fuzzy photos. We were on a tour and had to "keep moving" along. But this room is more of the family room as you can see much plainer furniture...

The wallpaper is different in every room. And the rugs all seemed to have some sort of red pattern as well. 

The bedroom were very cozy and all had wood stoves...

But as I began to zero in on the items in the room, and not the room as a whole...that is when that feeling of familiarity started to creep in. (Who is that in the mirror? :-)

I zeroed in on the ironstone, of course. And the linens? I have some just like these right next to me almost within arm's reach.

And being married to a barber, yes, we really do have a razor strop hanging in our bathroom (and he uses it), along with a straight razor as well.

Of course, I spied the soap and the ironstone soap dish...how many times have we all spied those dishes at antique stores...and while we might like them, it is neat to think that Abe's dish is as common as those we find, collect, and even use.

And I thought how funny to see his old books on the table, and how many of us LOVE old books and stack them on the table for decoration? I really wish I had brought my big purse that day...never can have too many old books...I'm just say'n...

More old books. I tried to get a better pic of his items in the cubby holes, but the desk was too far away and I'm stuck behind the rope...but I really relate to the cubby holes...as I have cubby hole shelf on my desk, and it is filled with goodies too.

Heading towards the kitchen now, I stop in my tracks as I eye the beautiful ironstone and even smile as I realize I have very similar plates and soup tureens as well. Now I REALLY wish I had my giant purse with me...

Now the kitchen is where I really felt at home! I cook with cast iron all the time...Have a French towel hanging on my wall just like the one in the back. Jars, jugs, and crocks...yes, those too. And the cutting board, well, I love very old cutting boards.

And the mortar and pestle? Have several and I do use them. I have no doubt that many of you have these items as well. And I even have an oil lamp hung on the wall, over my stove, with mercury glass behind it that I do light in the winter. Suddenly my "stuff" seems a little bit more regal, and not so ordinary.

After my visit with "the Lincolns," and revisiting these old images, it is apparent how much we, as a culture, have changed. And yet, how many of us grasp for a bit of the past? Why? Do we want things simpler, even though harder to do and inconvenient? In my very limited knowledge of history, culture, and anthropology, it is in my humble opinion that while life may be "easier" now than back then, we do more. Period. 

With a quick flick of our finger, we have light. Back then, the lamp must be filled with oil, the wick trimmed, and the flame adjusted periodically, as well as the glass cleaned after it cools down. All for a less-than-perfect light. But the thing is, lighting an oil lamp took time. And while we can just flick a switch in seconds...what exactly do we do with all that time we just saved from not having to light an oil lamp?

See where I am going with this? Easy to flick a switch and it saves loads of time, but what exactly do we do with all that extra time we just saved? Want a hot bath? Turn on the faucet. Back then? Chop some wood,start the wood stove, heat up water, and fill and refill the tub over and over again. After our quick bath...what do we do with all that extra time we saved? 

I think since we get to have an extra hour tomorrow (Sunday), I am going to suggest we all use that time to really think about how exactly do we spend all these extra hours that we have in our day that Abe and Mary just didn't have? (Or rather, their servants, really.)

Abe and Mary got 24 hours just like we do. But how those hours were spent in their home were so different than today's homes. Not better. Just different. But if we seem to gravitate towards the past, the antiques, the "old way" of doing some things...then maybe our heartstrings are being plucked for a reason.

Turning the clock back one hour is always a neat treat. But we don't need to turn the clock back to slow down. We can do that at any hour. We just need to decide what we are slowing down for.

May your extra hour be spent well while you enjoy the gift of time.

From my house to your house,

New Space, New Passion, with a Little ROLL Playing...

For those of you who emailed me or left comments, wanting to see the result of my sewing project that I started a couple of months ago...well today is the day. The "project" was more about creating a new sewing space than   actual sewing itself.

Like so many other creative spirits, my creative mind wanders much wider than my narrow abode can handle. After a long rehabilitation of knee surgery last November, I decided to take up my very long lost hobby of sewing. I can rest my knee, while trying to relearn skills that I haven’t used in 30 years! It wasn't long before I realized that sewing took up quite a bit more space than my writing and photography career.

I also realized that I liked having all my textile goodies within sight and my reach while designing my projects. However,  the more I dug them out, the more I took note that I had no place for them all: Scrap materials, threads, buttons, trims, vintage lace, tablecloths, yardage, and bolts of fabric from all those years of designing for my clients and from my travels. 

You may remember a few posts back my starting a project? You can read about that adventure here called  "It was a Crime of Passion."

My sewing projects quickly turned into treasure hunting as I rediscovered my textile stash that had been packed away in plastic bins that now took claim of my living room. I spent more time searching and less time sewing and pooped out before my projects really ever got started!

After weeks of this material mania mess, I decided that our tiny “dining area” was going to be my new sewing area. But my big dilemma was how to turn that area into something I wouldn’t mind looking at everyday, not have it look like a “craft room,” while not losing my only dining area since I do enjoy cooking and entertaining guests. That is a large order to ask of a tiny space.

Right smack in the middle of my remodeling brainchild, I got a wonderful email from my good friend, and creator-of-all-things-good, Jo Packham. Jo Packham from Where Women Create has partnered up with Create-ologie.com and gave me the opportunity to review some items that I think my readers would love. Knowing my creative and talented readers, I felt this would be a perfect time to share some of Create-ologie's items with my readers, who will undoubtedly be as thrilled with the selection as I was! 

I also have a special coupon just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering "Elizabeth Maxson" at the checkout on create-ologie.com.   

And so I am going to share with you  a peek of what I found. I was thrilled that I discovered two perfect Create-ologie pieces for my sewing/dining room dilemma: Rolling furniture! They are great assets for my sewing needs and I could easily roll them out of the room when I wanted to entertain! 

I always loved the industrial look and I found this industrial console table on wheels as the perfect extra worktop space I need while providing extra storage underneath. 

When I am wrap up a day of sewing, I simply put my project underneath and cover the table with my antique grain sacks! 

The matching industrial shelving unit also on wheels is the perfect size for my yardage and I can roll it next to me while sewing. I love the way my textiles look on it and it fits in perfectly with my decor. 

While perusing Create-ologie.com, I also stumbled upon this great glass/bottle drying rack I am using to hold all of my trims! What a perfect solution for my need to see my stash and have it near me while I designed my projects. It turned out so beautiful, I keep it in the room all the time. 

I needed some of the  shelving in my china hutch for sewing items, so out came my silver goblets to make room, and onto the drying rack they went with their stems wrapped with my trims. Triple bonus! I get to admire my goblets, they hold my trims, and and now I have more space in the hutch for more sewing goodies. 

When I am in the mood to entertain, it takes no more than ten minutes (yes, I timed it to see), to toss my sewing items on the console table, roll it into another room along with my matching rolling metal shelf, toss a cover over the table, pull up some chairs, set the once sewing/now dining table, cook some fab food and wait for friends to arrive for a tasty meal. For bigger gatherings, I am thinking the console table would make a fun buffet server, rolled to the side.

I’ve been showing you just “sneak peek” shots of my space... are you now ready to see how the whole room turned out? 

Like I said, I needed a real sewing space that I can live with daily, but do real work in, but still have a place to dine and entertain:

So, when I my tidy up my sewing area, it looks like this:

And when I am happily playing with projects, it looks like this:

And within only ten minutes, I can turn it back to a dining area like this:

What freedom to have a creative corner to really play in, mess up, and have all my sewing stash within an arm’s length away. Yet, it cleans up quickly, blends in as an extension of my living room and not as an interruption to our daily living. I found a lot of practical and creative ways to store a lot of sewing items that are right in the room, out of the way, and look as though they are just part of the decor. 

I will share how I did this with many more tips and lots more photos of my creative storage areas in an upcoming issue of Where Women Create, which I will show... 

Tips on my practical storage ideas...

Show you how to use what you already have:

And how you can recreate what you have into something new:

And...

There is a whole part of the room that I haven't even shown you one bit of, but it will be in Where Women Create. Here is a sneak peek of that recreated area:

It gives me great pleasure to have a creative sewing space in our tiny bungalow, and yet I am able to serve dinner for friends as well.

And I am loving that I pulled out my French gum ball fringe which, many years ago, once hung in my kitchen in my apartment above my store.

One really nice surprise of my new area is that I didn’t expect to get so much pleasure just looking at my new space when I am watching TV, only a few feet away. Also, I am so happy that I not only did I not “lose” my dining area, but actually gained more space with just a little creative roll playing!

If these create-ologie.com items inspired you...then you haven't seen anything yet!

These fab work lamps, I found at World Market. They clamp on the table, which I love because it allows for max table space. They are super bright and I can easily adjust them, swing them, or turn the lamp towards my project.

Please take a gander at create-ologie.com and do a little (or a lot) of fun shopping. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

I have a special coupon code just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering 'ElizabethMaxson' at checkout on http://create-ologie.com. I have no doubt you will find the perfect item that you just can't live without. And what a great place to start early shopping for Christmas gifts as well.

And yes, I will be showing a few things I have sewn in the near future...until next time...may you find a creative space that allows you to express your passion and your unique talents.

from my house to your house