The cat and I

Cleo Belle has helped enormously with this post.

She has now moved to her basket and is eating the best part of my chicken sandwich, all is as it should be.
Steve has completed an exciting change to the studio, a proper lighting set up for taking pictures of work.

This balances the shadows and reduces hot glares of light.

The location allows me to set up a tripod or use the light shelf to rest the camera on. He has used a gizmo to attach a rope to the left cleet. This can be unclipped and

the shelf lowered down. The lights and cords tuck into the closet (where the mess on the wall is) and the studio returns to the usual chaos.

I guess in accepting oneself, one has to recognize that work habits might be embedded. Every time I worry more about what the room looks like, I end up stuck. Note to self: "Laureen, you work best with piles around you and while sitting on the floor. Keep doing yoga so your bum won't hurt."

Along with the gift from Steve of the lighting station, I also received from a friend a 3 lb. baggie filled with buttons. I pulled out the ones I most liked as well as 7 small groups of buttons for Phoebe and her school-mates. I chose a variety of styles, colours, shapes and themes. I hope they have fun playing with them. They are all the Masters program at Carleton University studying topics related to Museums, archives and conservation. These buttons can be used to illustrate many academic theories.

These are my two favourite. I sent them along to Phoebe so she can start her own button collection.

There were 9 of these and they were the most interesting structurally. I think that the brown twisted lines on the left are the threads that come out the back. There must be an inner layer where more threads come out because there are more threads on the back then the twisted plies on the front. There is a metal ring around the perimeter of the button instead of the usual ornamented top that looks like a mushroom top. That style has an under piece that snaps up into it, providing securement as well as a place for the button to be attached to the cloth. On this button, the many threads act as the securement, as you can see from the remnant of the coat-strength thread that has been tied through.

For my own securement issues related to my stitching, I have found these rings made of a pale green shell. Part of January's goal is to do all finishing work on the projects nearly done. These will be used to provide a hanging system. And then I will take better photos of everything and do a recap.
Now that the cat is full and sleeping in her basket, maybe I can get some chicken and fix my sandwich.