A Long Winters Nap

UH OH

Blue Doggie is no more.
Too much LOVE.

In Work

so you know I am not just sitting around
eating Fudge and drinking Hot Buttered Rum.
That does sound good though.....

Early Present

Tessie got an early present. It is a blue squeeky dog that looks like a balloon animal.
It is her new favorite toy.
We call it Balloon Doggie.
No it is not snowing.
I was just messing around with "Picnik" on Picassa.

Happy Holidays

Journal Madness

It is grey and messy here and has been for over a week. Everything very dull. It is a good time to stay in and work on something colorful. I have been trying to finish some journals I had started and had spread out all over the place. What a mess. I should have shown you a picture of the work table before I cleaned it up. I don't know how anyone can work like that. No matter how much room I have, I always end up working in a two foot square area. Anyway, I got them mostly finished. The yellow one still needs it's button attached.

Meanwhile, I also put the finishing touches on the sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2011. If you would like to see the pictures, they are on Flicker. There is a link on the right hand side of this page.

Junk Mail Snowflakes

Fine 120

Once upon a time, I went to Europe with my daughter Bonnie. We had a wonderful time, but when it was time to come home, we spent several hours waiting around in the airport in Paris. It was there that I ran out of cigarettes and bought a carton of the French ones I had been smoking.  Back at home, when they were all gone, I couldn't bring myself to throw out the carton. It wasn't all that special or anything, it just represented a fun time. It wound up behind the seat in my little pick-up until I traded in my car for another one. Then the box went into a pile of papers in the studio. I almost threw it away a million times. I mean, I am NOT a hoarder! I don't even smoke anymore. But I finally found a use for it. It is my new Duct Tape Notebook, complete with Zebra duct tape.

Christmas Lights

When I woke up this morning, I thought I would show you a photo of my
Mermaid
doll.
 I made her a good while ago, but I haven't shown her to you and I have Mermaids on the brain.
 One of the bathrooms in my new house has a
grotto,
and I think it should house a Mermaid.
Not the one I made, as it is cloth and polymer clay and doesn't need to get wet
 (an odd situation for a mermaid)!
 But, I will have to show this doll another time.
 I cannot find one single photo of her (or of two other dolls).
I know I took some,
but I have either lost my mind (likely) or they never made it onto this computer.
So here are some
Christmas Lights
I know.
A Mermaid
would be more interesting.
 Another time perhaps.

Duct Tape and Rubber Bands

I may need an intervention!

Obsession

I read this post here, Diana Trout making duct tape journals and I just went nuts. Maybe I have a serious mental disorder? I had these boxes I have been saving (please don't mention hoarding) to make books and this was the perfect way to do it. So easy. I made them until I ran out of boxes. Yesterday, my husband and I were at the grocery store and I found myself picking out products to buy because of the packaging. My husband said I was probably one of those people who selects wine  because of a cool label. Well yes, I confess. I actually do that. Don't tell anybody OK......

Water Under the Bridge--with stitching

Undo

I hate when you fill an area with Seed Stitch and then decide you don't like it!

What's In A Name

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

I am curious. How do you title your work? Does the title come first, or the piece? The old chicken and egg sort of thing. Maybe it is different every time? The titles for my pieces just pop into my head--most of the time. Once in a while, I literally dream it up. And I would say that the titles are mostly after the fact. I rarely have to think about it very long. It is like the title is already there--waiting.

Water Under the Bridge

Water Under the Bridge
15"x20"

This still needs to be quilted, but I wanted to see what it looked like.
Sometimes the best way for me to see is to take a photo!

November Review

Gelatin Prints

Rayna Gillman's first book
 Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth
came yesterday and so I was inspired to do some
 gelatin printing today

Design Wall

Here is what my design wall looks like at the moment.

The small pieces on the left are some designs done with Paintstiks.

 At the top and on the right are some monoprints and in the middle,

I have the strip pieced experiments.
Just wanted you to know I have been working!

Sewing Strips

12"x15"

Rayna Gillman's new book, Create Your Own Free Form Quilts came the day before Thanksgiving. I had a hard time baking my pies! I just wanted to play with strips. Rayna's book is fun to read as it makes me feel like we are just having a conversation. Have I done strip piecing before? Well yes, but this is a different way to approach it and I am having a ball. I have sort of been hanging on to my hand dyed or printed fabric--afraid to cut into them, but after I read what Rayna says about the great garage sale in the sky, I cut right into several of them. Big fun. So I made the piece in the photo (no title yet) and hand quilted it last night. I started sewing more strip sets this morning. Oh and printing some fabric.........   

New Stamps

I wanted to show you some new stamps
and the fabric I printed with them.
Aren't they fancy?
And very expensive!
Styrofoam packing for a painted wine glass......

Ripple

I am really beginning to question my sanity. I have several interesting and creative projects in work and suddenly I decided to crochet a blanket. Have I been reading too many blogs?  Several people I follow have been making
                                        Ripples.
At any rate, I had this bag full of magenta acrylic yarn that I bought at the thrift store for $2 (I was disappointed to find that it wasn't wool) and I have been trying to decide what to do with it. This seemed a good project for it, but then of course I had to get MORE acrylic yarn to make up all of the bright colored stripes I wanted to do. Sigh.....I had no idea it would end up being so big! Still, it is a mindless project and relaxing. Maybe I will even finish it!

Memories Are Made of This

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday
to my girl
Forever young
1962-2006

Small Weaving

Small Weaving (4x6)
primarily Pearl Cotton

A Neck Cosy?

I am not sure what this is.

I guess it is sort of like a cowl only narrower.

I wanted to knit something fun and quick last night

 using some of my funkier

handspun yarns.

I spun these yarns (there were two small balls)

from all the leftover stuff.

That includes:

fabric

lace

net

ribbon

sequins

scraps of hand spun yarn

novelty yarn

the kitchen sink!

In Between Things

In between things I have been drawing Zentangles again.
MEDITATION
My little book has 30 drawings.
But
I draw them on scrap paper as well.

Small Loom

Here are photos of the front and back of the small loom I mentioned yesterday.
The weaving area for this size is only about 4x5.
There was a smaller one too!
And larger ones...
It is made by Hokett Would Work
in New Mexico.
I couldn't find them on the web or I would send you the link.
(if you find them let me know)
I really wanted to do some more shopping....

Wool Market

On Saturday, I went to the Central Texas Wool Market with my husband and a friend. I had no idea it would be so big. After we had been all through one big barn like building, chock full of everything having to do with fiber, my husband said, "There are two more buildings." What! And there were. It was great fun. I saw a few people I knew and walked around with my mouth hanging open like a country bumpkin. I didn't buy any wool or yarn etc. You may recall that I just bought several bags of roving at the thrift store. You might say I am overstocked. I did buy the coolest little loom. My husband spied it it at a woodworking booth. It is shaped like the letter "I". After I warp it, I will take a picture to show you. Before we left, we went to see the Llamas. There were some children from 4H showing their Llamas and that was a delight. The children were really small and they were leading those Llamas around on their harnesses with all the confidence in the world. I have always heard that Llamas are kind of mean, but these Llamas and children were all very sweet together. I came home inspired to spin and so I did. The photos above are the result. There is another piece too but it is still drying. I learned some things by watching the spinning demos and I think I am getting better!

Pieced Triangles

When my daughter, Robin married in 1990, I made all the dresses as well as the tablecloths. I had a lot of fabric left over and decided to make a quilt. Well, I started it. Look at all those tiny triangles I sewed together! The top is only about 3x4 (I think I had plans to make it bigger). I thought maybe it would make a nice baby quilt for the first born. But somehow, it never got beyond this point. Last week, I found the project, carefully put away in a storage box. My daughter died in 2006. Her first born, a boy, is 18 and her little girl is 12. But I think I should finish it don't you?

Plain Buttons

I finally got around to making these buttons that came out of the button class.
These are rusted fabric, worked around a metal ring.
I just left them plain. Nothing fancy....

More Cuff Bracelets

Pear Tree Again

A Pear Tree

It has been so dry here that the landscape is mostly

brown, so the fall color really stands out. This is my

Bradford Pear tree. When we planted it, it was about three feet tall and now, it is at least ten feet and probably more.

I am not good with measurements. Basically, it is a lot

taller then I am! The red leaves make a good natural dye

and they hold their color. In other words, if you gather

them now, they will still be red whenever you get ready to use them.

CUT and PASTE

I haven't made any books for a while, but late last night, I started two. I didn't worry too much about it. I used a glue stick and some used computer paper. I had a lot of that! I made the covers of both books from some paper I mono printed last week. I would show you more of the inside pages, but they are not finished yet....

The small book is titled--paste cut paste cut paste cut paste cut

The long thin book is titled--cut paste paste cut paste paste paste paste paste   paste paste paste

Cuff It

A Fabric Cuff
Needle felted
Polymer Clay beads
Embroidery
Embroidered Puff

Ball Buttons

I finally finished my ball buttons for Karen's class. For some reason, these took me forever. I had a hard time keeping them even and now, looking at them close-up in this photo, I can see all the mistakes! The large one (the knobby pumpkin) is about three quarters of an inch and the small one is about half an inch. I used a cotton crochet thread that constantly knotted and twisted. Why did I start the second one (the smaller) with the same thread? You would think I would have learned something from the first one.

For A Few Dollars More

I was feeling a little down this morning after a meeting with my Mom's doctor, so I decided to treat myself to a trip to the thrift store. In the "sewing" bin, I found a plastic bag of fun stuff, but what interested me most were the curtain rings. I have been looking for more of these to make Dorset buttons. Another fun thing in that bag is a little dispenser type box of gold thumb tacks. Lots of fun things here for about $2.

 I also found these pieces of embroidered linen. There was a lot of this type of thing, but I am already overstocked! I especially liked the baby sized pillow case with the embroidered dogs. One of them looks a little like Tessie!

And then, for a few dollars more, I found five bags of wool roving. A major find at 50 cents a piece. I am so excited. Lots more wool to card and spin.

Grand total spent--$12 and change. I am cheered up!

October Review

The Trees Again