The building continues

Construction has continued at a pretty fast pace...This is where we were just before Christmas.  In the picture below you can see the walls going up on the upstairs part. Everything is braced at this point although sheer wall is already up on part on the lower section (sheer walls keep things straight during earthquakes and provide more strength to the building)

My grandson Ashton who is constantly finding great things to do on the construction site

The studio is beginning to take shape...this photo is taken from the very front and looks back...the south is to the left and the back is facing west. The garage is attached to only part of the house so it has created a small storage area between the house and the new garage wall.

This is the view of the studio from the middle part near the stairs.  The open area on the right will remain open to accommodate the RV.  The room toward the back will be my sewing room, at least that is what I am planning at this time. The area to the right now has a window and the wall on the right will be a 12 foot design wall. Across the room from the design wall with be bookcases for fabric storage with a large 4 x 8' work table, cutting area and ironing station.

Ashton is busy building his own buildings.

And, ta da!  my sink!  What a beauty!  My husband will put in some shelves on the bottom right that will pull out.  Under the sink is storage

And here you can see just how big that sink is...although I know you have nothing to compare it to.

With all the construction going on, I am having a hard time focusing on any art work....all I can think about is dyeing fabric and doing deconstructed silk screening as now I will have the sink big enough to handle the silk screens and the space to have everything together in on place.  I won't have to drag things home to wash after batching the fabrics....All I can think of is getting in to some jars of new dyes from Dharma!

So much has been happening

A very long overdo update on what has been happening.

Christmas was wonderful and spent with the immediate family for a change.  My father, my daughter and her husband and their two boys, my son and his wife from Ohio....who is now pregnant (my daughter-in-law I mean!)

Got over the cold and am now feeling well again.  Back at the gym to try and build some strength back up...two months in a recliner and a month of a rotten cold have taken their toll on me.  My shoulder is doing much better and some strength exercising of the arms is helping this muscle to remember what they are for.  And about time, too!

In late November we began construction on a new oversized attached garage which will house cars, our motorhome and lots of space for my husband to have a great metal and wood workshop.  I am hoping to be able to park my car in the garage for a change.  In California we are storage deprived as we don't have basements nor attics....and relatively few closets.

So, the big exciting thing is that we are including a new studio for me which will be somewhere between 800-900 square feet.  I will finally be able to move out of my Oakland studio and work completely here at home.  My current studio as home will become our family room with TV and our older, smaller TV room will now become a part of my new studio which will be my office, genealogy stuff, etc.  The new studio has a wet working area, a small bathroom, a hugh, wonderful commercial sink, a design area, lots of storage, and a sewing area where I can set up two sewing machines and their big tables.

So the foundation has been formed and the concrete pumper is working away....8 truckloads of concrete! Fortunately, this was done during a time when were

Then the huge crane comes (it isn't even extended out yet) to unload and set the steel I beams for the moment....earthquake country and this garage is being built to withstand anything!

Here to two huge vertical beams and be bolted to the foundation and the cross pieces are being lifted into position.  

And then the welder spent three and a half days welding all the pieces together that had been bolted together initially. He must be twenty feet up in the air!

I have many more photos to share and I will eventually share some of the collages I have been doing.  For some reason I can't get my cable into my camera so I can download more, which include pictures of my sink and my upstairs just framed in...

So later...