Busy Bees!

Oh my, busy, busy, busy!  We are always busy, no great surprise there, but somehow we've surpassed our business!!  I don't even know where I'm at right now.  There is shop stuff everywhere.  You can't walk in a room without stepping over things.  It's exciting and frustrating all at the same time.   I want to be in that shop NOW!!  

The good news is that every day we get closer.  I wasn't going to show any pictures until we were done, but I couldn't hold off our local ladies any longer and truth be told, I'm very proud of how it's coming out.  Way surpassing my expectations.  All we have left is to enclose the support beam, trim work and seal the floor, then the REAL fun begins, filling the shop.....

Wood plank floors and walls....

Old tin from Alexandria Bay....

Soon to be a light over the project/class table....

The one thing I knew for certain was that I wanted a tin ceiling.  I have always loved the mix of industrial with chic, softness of the woolens mixed with the tin ceiling will be visually appealing...

I painted the wood walls white, then polyurethaned them, prepping them for the glaze that I rubbed on to make them look old....

The walls sure do look old don't they?  I had those two chippy painted beams in the barn for years and when we decided to support the cross beam in the garage I knew I wanted to use them..

.....hubby blowing in insulation.  Guess who had to fill the machine?  Me!  

...and when I'm not working in the shop I am working on stuff to put in the shop....

...here are some gorgeous hand dyed velvets...

 ...so then I got to thinking that I would like to try to hook with velvet, haven't done it yet, will let you know how it goes...

One of the great things about being a military wife is that I've been around...............that didn't sound right, did it?  I mean that we've lived a lot of places and I've had favorite things from each place.  I have some spooky Halloween pieces coming from Missouri along with some great jewelry made just for the shop...

....here's some amazing scented rosehips that I threw my own packaging idea on...some great candles from Indiana, dip mixes from Vermont....

...and when I do sit down at night I punch new designs.  Here is my 8 Point Stars.  I designed this specifically for these amazing boxes.  I already have listed the punch pattern and boxes on the website, be sure to take a look:

www.theoldtatteredflag.com

...and some happy news for Mom this week.  Ollie (short for Olivia) joined us.  We think we may call her Molly, similar in sound to Ollie, just because Mom feels sad thinking of her beloved Ollie who passed a couple months ago.  Molly has settled in very nicely, I'm not sure how Baxter feels yet.  He is the star of the household and Molly has taken away a bit of his thunder.  What he doesn't realize is that we are all dog lovers, there is enough love to go around.

Max is unfazed, he's just a good ol' boy, nothing bothers him.....

...and today was Open Hooking, but I decided to show them how to make little pumpkin pin cushions.  Actually I didn't really show them.  The good thing about a bunch of creative women is that kind of just go with it and do it!!  Everyone's pumpkins turned out great!!

...here's mine.  Inspired by Maggie Bonanami's tomato pin cushion.

..and when I was taking pictures in the shop I noticed this thing of beauty right outside the window..

ah nature!!  Can you see the little bee?

So, with that you are now up to date with what's been going on here.  I am snapping pictures daily so keep checking back.  

Until next time.....