Additions to my corner...

Today I finally got around to putting up my wall-hung thread rack. It has taken me a long time to hunt down some mirror plates small enough to mount it with...you wouldn't think they were that hard to come by, but they have proved to be most elusive. I finally found them in a wonderful little independent hardware shop that gave them to me completely free, as I realised I'd put all my change into a parking meter and they didn't take credit cards...so kind!

I'm sure you can imagine quite how much fun, and how entirely satisfying it was to load up the rack and fiddle around with colour order. My dream is for one day each spool of thread to have a bobbin sitting beneath it loaded with the corresponding colour...can you imagine how dreamy that arrangement would make the prospect of threading up one's machine! A few threads already have their partners...I am so excited about my next use of those ones.

I had been thinking about moving my sewing space into the playroom once Dinosaur-boy goes to school in September, but actually I think I like it where I am in the corner of our bedroom: I have a fantastic view, inpromptu visitors don't have to see mid-project room-devastation and I don't have that horrible 'last one up the stairs' feeling if I work late at night. I've realised I just need my space to be a little better organised. I want to make a pincushion that velcros onto my machine to try and encourage myself not to just hurl pins into the air as I've finished with them, I would like to wall-mount a little pot for scissors, seam-ripper and mini-ruler, as well as a little pot where I can put stray threads. All of these things will mean that I spend less time looking for things that I have only just put down and will hopefully mean less time is spent clearing up each night.

So here is what my little corner looks like now:

I am simply loving looking in the mirror from this angle for double-bobbin fun! Heaven.

I must also tell you about a new fabric marker that I have come across recently (finding the perfect one is something of an obsession of mine). This one is made by Sewline and is apparently of 'Japanese selection'...I don't know why, but it felt like that might have been written on there as a marketing ploy to make it seem a little 'cooler'...it worked, I wanted one desperately!

Anyway, this particular propelling pencil is supplied with specially formulated ceramic leads and produces the finest and clearest of lines on fabric, which you can then erase with the little rubber on the end or with a damp cloth. I have (of course) had my pencil filled with pink leads, but I believe it can be filled with things slightly less fluffy. I bought my own locally, but a quick search on the Internet tells me that they can be found here (I've never ordered from this company though, so have no idea what their service is like).

On a slightly different note, lets talk about vignetting. I am being driven to distraction by it...I had never really noticed it as a phenomenon before (and still don't when my photos are large) but while Ian's been working on creating my little shop a lot of my photos have had to be reduced down to thumbnail size and then it really is noticeable. Reading about it on the Internet just confuses me and launches me into a land of camera technicality that I don't feel mentally-equipt to enter. If you happen to be in possession of the non-technical solution, then please do tell (most especially if one must eat chocolate to make it work).

Wishing you all happy weekends...another bank holiday. Yipee! And then a whole lovely week with the little Teacakes free from their educational pods, I can't wait.