It's Like Potato Chips...

One Quilt Project Finished (Finally) and Another Ready to Start

2011-11-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

I had a creative breakthrough the other day and was finally able to finish a small wall quilt I've been making for my sister. The center has been finished for at least a year but I got stuck on what I wanted to do for a border. I got an idea for the border the other day and was able to get it all finished in time to give it to my sister tonight when she was in town for her Gaelic lesson. One project checked off the list. :)

Now I can get started on making the quilt I promised Alex so he has at least one real blanket for his bed. :)

Here's the design I came up with. It's based loosely on a quilt I found on this site. http://www.thequiltingedge.com/2011/02/qayg-strips-on-circles-2011.html

I really, really like the quilts she makes and she even uses the quilt as you go method that I've been dying to try so I think this is going to be quite a fun project! So far I've dyed the batting black so it won't show when I quilt and I've washed half the fabric. I have high hopes that I might get started on the first block this weekend!

New Paintings...

2011-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

And I'm only a few days later than I said I'd be. :) I was hoping to find time to finish the 2nd and 3rd paintings in a series that I'm doing in acrylic so I could post them too, but I haven't gotten to them yet...

Enjoy. :)

I have another blog post all ready to go about quilt projects I've finally finished (yay! right, Gayle?) and ones I'm about to start so if you're interested, check back tomorrow. :)

Making Stuff...Or What to Do When Your Washing Machine Breaks

2011-11-08T23:28:00.000-08:00

Actually, I started this project before the washer broke but it's been a good stress reliever and distraction when I've gotten sick of trying to research how to repair it or replace it. Especially since the projects I had planned to work on were put on hold because of not having a washing machine. :)

Last week when I went to my painting class, I noticed a couple of people who had these neat paint brush holders that stand up when you unfold them. I really liked them but they're only available in black and black is way to boring for me so I decided to try to make one that's more colorful. It took a little while to figure out how to design and sew it but over the course of the week I came up with a good plan for it and I finished it in time to take it to painting class tonight.

Here is the holder all folded up and ready to go.

Here is a picure of the inside.

Here it is when the top is folded back so it stands up.

I also made a zippered bag out of the black and white fabric to hold other miscellaneous painting stuff so, along with my big red canvas bag that holds all my stuff, I'm quite the coordinated painter these days. :)

I should have another post by tomorrow night of some new paintings. I'm too tired tonight to set up the camera and tripod. :)

Some New Paintings...

2011-10-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

I think I need some more exciting titles...THIS JUST IN! AWESOME ARTWORK AHEAD! Nah, maybe not. :)

Anyway, I have a few paintings I did last week of various Autumn scenes. Hope you enjoy them!

This is a farm on the far side of Waitts Lake outside of Chewelah, WA.

A grain elevator somewhere in the Palouse. I took some creative license and changed the tree foliage to fall foliage.

A gourd someone brought to painting class a week ago.

I'm starting on a new quilt project sometime this week or next (whenever I can get the last of the supplies I need) and since I'm designing it myself (loosely based on a quilt I saw online) I'm planning on doing some blog posts about the process. Stay tuned...

I'm Back! (Finally!!!!)

2011-10-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, it feels good to finally be doing a new blog post! It's been a long time, hasn't it? I've made good progress on figuring out how to edit photos on my new computer using a new program so I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes the way I've planned. :)

I'm still playing with watercolor but haven't had time to paint every day. I have been going to a class once a week with my mom so I've been painting one or two paintings a week. I figure it's better that nothing, huh? Anyway here are some of the things I've done since July. Hope you enjoy!

The Palouse

painted sometime in late July. 2011

Beach scene (class assignment from teacher's photo)

painted Aug. 2, 2011 in class

Beach scene (in class, from my photo)

Painted Aug. 9, 2011 in class

Black-eyed Susans (in class, from my fertile imagination)

Painted Aug. 16, 2011 in class

Pienza, Italy (in class, from my photo)

painted Aug. 23, 2011

Pienza, Italy (at home from my photo)

painted August 25, 2011

Lavendar fields (painted in class from reference photos and my imagination)

Painted Sept. 13 and Sept. 27, 2011

Pen and Ink scene (in class with my photos)

painted Sept. 27, 2011

Snow scene (in class, from teacher's photo)

painted Oct 4, 2011

Mushroom (in class, from teacher's photo)

painted Oct. 11, 2011

Dead Computer Blues

2011-07-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

Boy, right now I'm very very glad I have my iPhone. Tonight my computer crashed in a major way. I can't even get it to go into safe mode. I think it's probably a virus because the anti-virus software quarantined a virus right before the computer went all blues screen of death on me.

Anyway, until I can figure out how to fix it, I won't be able to post any sketchbook pages...

Hopefully all will be back to normal soon. :)

Pictures are Here!

2011-07-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, my photo program is running--sort of--and I was able to get the latest sketches ready to post. Hope you enjoy them. :)

I probably won't be posting anything this week. I'm leaving for Oregon on Sunday morning for a 5 day watercolor workshop so I'll post some stuff after I get back on the 15th. :)

Dear Computer...please start working...

2011-07-07T00:05:00.001-07:00

No posting sketches tonight. I've tried three times and my photo program keeps crashing. I'm hoping I have better luck in the morning. :) Stay tuned!

Can You Believe It? Sketchbook Entries for Days 162-168...

2011-06-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

It's really late and I've erased what I've written three times now so I think I'm gonna just post the paintings quickly and get my tired body to bed. 8a.m. is gonna come pretty quickly.

Latest Stuff from My Sketchbook

2011-06-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe another week has gone by already! It was (cross my fingers) my last busy week until the first part of July so I'm hoping for lots of time to catch up on gardening and sewing and just lazing around in the sun. :)

Here are the latest...enjoy!

A Little Late, but The Newest Sketchbook Entries are Here...

2011-06-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm a few days late this week. We just got back from a nice 4 day trip to the Palouse where there was sun and rolling hills of green grain and sky...so much beautiful sky. Hopefully I'll get the almost 400 photos I took edited in the next few days and put up the best ones. :)

I have lots and lots fodder for new paintings so I anticipate fields and barns and grain elevators to be showing up quite a bit in my next paintings. :)

My Latest Paintings...or The Good, The Bad and the Brainless

2011-06-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

This last week of painting was all about being stubborn. Last Monday, I really wanted to paint some daisies so I figured out how I wanted to do them and started painting...everything went well until I got to the background. I made a valiant effort to make it look good but it turned out like most of the background foliage I've done; pretty craptastic.

That's where the stubborn came in. I don't like being defeated by things or giving up so I decided to spend the rest of the week trying get better at negative painting--focusing on painting background foliage. I think that day 142 and 143 turned out pretty well for that.

And, even though they aren't background foliage, I really like days 144 and 145 because I love seeing the texture you get when you add salt to wet watercolor.

But, the last two days--brainless. I forgot to really think about what I was doing and it shows...I know that I'm not going to be happy with every painting that I do but I'd like to not keep making the same mistakes over and over again...sigh.

I just have to keep telling myself over and over that I am getting better at this the more I practice...

New Drawings...Day 134-140

2011-05-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

I played catch-up again all last week. This time of year there is just too much to do and way too little time to do it. :) But, with a few late nights (including last night, which is why this post is a bit late) I managed to get everything up to date. Hope you enjoy them. :)

The Latest Drawings from My Sketchbook

2011-05-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

I did a lot of playing catch up with drawing this last week. It seemed I spent the whole week at least a couple of days behind. This week will probably be the same because I have band concerts Tuesday and Thursday evenings so I'll be extra busy. Once I'm through with this week, though, summer "vacation" can officially begin...which usually means even more busyness--trips, gardening, family, outside projects. :)

Latest Drawings / Paintings

2011-05-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

This week I seemed to have a desire to paint buildings. I'm not sure why but it's been good practice. :) I actually had a breakthrough with the second and third ones. For the first time, I didn't overwork the painting. Huge step for me. :) I would still like to be painting looser but one step at a time, huh?

Here they are. :)

This one counted as two days--it took a lot longer than I thought it would. ")

Drawings or May 2nd through May 8th

2011-05-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

New Drawings are Here...

2011-05-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun this week messing around with some pen and wash drawings. I don't know why I love them so much except that the process of washing over the pen can transform a so-so drawing into something that looks really cool. I even tried something that I always avoid--I drew a portrait. It's not perfect (sorry Alex) but I got a lot closer than I thought I would. Made me happy. :)

This Week's New Drawings

2011-04-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Making a New Watercolor Sketchbook

2011-04-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty close to being out of pages in my current sketchbook so I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I wanted to make the next one. I wanted one that was easier to use for doing landscapes and that would include drawing paper for doing value sketches. I also wanted to be able to add and remove paper if I needed to. And I wanted something that was easier to photograph--right now, I have to use rubberbands and masking tape to get the pages flat enough to take photos.

I looked online and checked out how other people were making their sketchbooks and found some good ideas to try.

I started by dividing a 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper into eighths, which gave me pages that are 7 1/2" x 11". Then I cut 9" x12" drawing paper in half to make pages that are 6" x 9". The last step with the paper was to measure and punch two holes in each sheet. Then I cut two peices of book board that were slightly bigger than the size of the watercolor paper and decided on some paper to cover the book board.

Everything all cut out and ready

After changing my mind 3 or 4 times, I finally decided what paper to use to cover the book board and started the process of gluing the paper onto the board.

Gluing the decorative paper onto the front side of the book board.

Gluing the paper on the inside of the book board.

After the covers had a chance to dry, I decided to have some fun and I dropped and splattered paint all over the paper to make it prettier.

After the paint dried, I put clear Contac paper on the covers so that they would be waterproof. (I want to be able to clip a piece of paper to the front cover with bulldog clips so that when I'm painting I can keep the paper from warping so much. I hope it works!) The I punched holes in the covers. After much noisy hammering and slightly bruised fingers, I had all the makings of a watercolor sketchbook. Here it is all finished. I can't wait to start using it. :)

Fresh From the Sketchbook

2011-04-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Most of this week's drawings are the dreaded P word...practice. :) I checked out a very helpful book from the library on watercolor landscape painting and it gave specifics on how to paint things like skies and water and trees and stuff so I did some practicing in my journal...until I realized it would be pretty boring to look at and I need more practice than one little painting a day. :) So, in the interest of not boring everyone to death, I'll do that kind of practicing in another sketchbook.

Anyway, enjoy this week's offerings.

You can get some fun effects with pens from Office Depot!

Done with a Pilot V Razor pen and water.

Practicing painting looser,

New Drawings

2011-04-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest crop of art journal entries. Lots of spring themes. Enjoy! :)

Drawings from Day 78-84

2011-04-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

Here are the latest. It was a tough week for doing anything because I was sick with a nasty cold/flu all week--I'm still trying to recover. :) I did keep up though!

This Week's Drawings

2011-03-28T00:57:00.000-07:00

I did a bit more doodling this week than I've done in the past. I can't decide whether it's because I really like it or if I'm just avoiding doing harder stuff like trying another big watercolor. Probably a bit of both. :)

I saw a cool show on PBS tonight about 3 women artists who are in their 80's and still working very productively. It made me hopeful that there is still time to learn lots of stuff and make some good art. :)

Finally, As Promised, Studio Pics... and An Extra Bonus

2011-03-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not as pretty as I'd like yet but I promised that I'd post some "whole room" studio photos so...

For some reason, I can't seem to get a really good picture of my new space--it looks much better in person. :)

I still have to make curtains, chair covers and covers for the white shelf baskets so that I'll have a bit more color in the room but it is so nice to be in here and working on stuff! It will take some time to get used to how things are set up though. Last night I did some work on a costume I'm making for Hannah and it was weird because the sewing machine scissors and garbage can and everything are not where I'm used to having them so it made sewing a little awkward. :) Hope it doesn't take long to adjust. :)

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I spent a good part of this afternoon in the studio, working on my daily drawing and getting ready totry painting a full size watercolor. I decided to look through the pictures I took of our trip to Italy, hoping to find some inspiration. I found a few things that I thought would be easy enough to start with and picked a sunset photo. After doing a small watercolor study in my journal, I decided I liked it enough to try to do it full size. I had fun doing it and learned some new stuff so I consider it a success. :)

This is a view from the medieval city wall of the town of Pienza, in Tuscany. It was an absolutely beautiful evening in one of my favorite places we visited on our trip to Italy.

This Week's Drawings

2011-03-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

New Drawings... (I Think That I'm Gonna Be Sick of This Title By the End of the Year...)

2011-03-14T23:45:00.000-07:00

What a week. Have lots of reasons why I'm so late in posting pics, like two power outages and 8 hours spent in the car one day on a trip to and from Scappoose, Oregon but at least I finally have them done. Hope you like them. :)

Latest Drawings

2011-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

I tried something different today when I was taking pics. I finally got the studio all set up and so now I have access to my light tent and lights so I tried them out for taking pictures of my art journal. I still have some things to figure out but once I do, I think I'll be able to do a better job with the photos, cross my fingers. At the least, I won't tweak my neck any more trying to shoot them. :)

New Drawings

2011-03-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's Day 53 already! I know that there are quite a few days left in the year but I'm starting to feel like drawing every day is becoming a habit so hopefully I'll make it through. :) I even made a sketchbook cover and finally got all the pages sewn in tonight.

Here are the latest...

Almost Done...

2011-02-28T00:58:00.000-08:00

I am sooooooo close to having everything organized and put away in the studio. I know, I know, I keep saying that but it's true. The washer and dryer went in today and tomorrow I go into town to get a utility sink. My vintage cameras are out of their cases and on the shelf and the only thing left to do is clean up the last dregs of stuff off the cutting table. Yippie Skippie is all I've got to say. :)

I took some fun photos to give you a little glimpse of what it looks like. Hope you like. :)

Drawings Day 43-48

2011-02-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

I finally got some time to take pictures today of my latest drawings and even got the kids to stay off the computer long enough to get them downloaded. Of course tonight was the night that Photoshop decided to be grumpy and not work right. I finally got it going though and ta da, here are the latest drawings from my journal. :)

Make sure to check back on Monday because I should have some nice studio pics up by then. :)

New Drawings from Day 39-42

2011-02-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

Drawings--Day 34-38

2011-02-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

Studio Peek

2011-02-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

I've been hard at work this last week trying to get all my ~~crap~~ studio stuff out of boxes and onto shelves. The knitting and spinning stuff went pretty fast but the fabric has taken forever! Of course, I decided to iron it all and put it on mini bolts on the shelves instead of just folding it so that's part of why it took so long. I got the idea from various sewing blogs when I was trying to figure out how best to arrange stuff in the new studio space. I love how creative people are! The smaller mini bolts are comic book boards that I got at my local comic book store. You can see the blog where I got the idea here.

My fabric for sewing clothes is on pieces of foam core board that I cut into pieces 15" tall by 6 5/8" wide (a 20 x 30 sheet of foam core cut this way gives you 6 mini bolts). I got the idea from this blog but had to change the size of the pieces because a lot of my apparel fabric is 60" wide.

The sewing area is 99% done though. Tomorrow I'll go through the last of the trims and odds and ends that are left and find homes for them. Then it's on to the art and jewelry areas...sigh. I think I might have to take a break to clean house; it's looking pretty messy right now. :)

Here are the shelves in all their loveliness!

Here they are with the pretty doors closed. I love that I can still see all the colors of my fabric!

Here's a close-up of the many, many small pieces of quilting fabric I have...I really didn't realize just how many until I started putting them on the mini-bolts.

Drawings Day 29-33

2011-02-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit obsessed this week with getting the studio unpacked so everything else has kind of fallen behind. Like posting pics of my drawings, writing a blog entry on the progress I'm making, doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, sleeping...

Oh, and I ran out of journal pages this week so I'm drawing on loose pieces of paper until I can unpack my book making stuff. Here's to getting everything else painted, put together, and unpacked this week!

Here are some more drawings...enjoy.

Drawings Day 25-28

2011-02-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

New Drawings--Day 20-24

2011-02-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Here are the latest drawings from my journal. I was getting ready to take photos of them last night and realized that in the 3 1/2 weeks I've been drawing every day, I've filled up almost as many pages as I had in the last 3 years. The good part about that is that I feel like my drawing and watercoloring skills are getting a bit better every day. The bad part is that I'm gonna have to get creative in thinking about what to draw--sometimes nothing appeals to me. Better make a list of possibilities. I have a lot of days left. :)

Awaiting the Final Signature...

2011-01-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

New boxes of IKEA shelves, old boxes of precious stuff I packed away almost 8 months ago...

All waiting for the final inspection signature that will mean that this project is finally finished--at least the construction part. :) There are still shelves to put together and shelves to attach to walls, and desks to paint, and loads and loads of stuff to find homes for.

Friday, projectman and I spent all day at IKEA loading up 3 carts full of shelves and other stuff. Here's what the back of the truck looked like when we had it all loaded. It was pretty full--we even had one long shelf in-between the two front seats becasue it was too long to fit anywhere else.

Saturday, I had to get most of my boxed up stuff out of the garage so projectman could drywall the ceiling. So with some help from my dd and some of the neighbor boys, we moved all the boxes and stuff either back into the studio or onto the front porch.

Sigh...I wonder if I'll ever have a front porch that doesn't scream "white trash"...

Drawing Day 15-19

2011-01-29T14:21:00.000-08:00

Whoo Hoo! It's Finished...Sort Of

2011-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Yes, at long last, the studio is finished. I can't move in until the smoke detectors are installed and drywall hung and taped on the garage ceiling (which, God willing, will happen next weekend), but the room itself is finished. We spent last weekend finishing the floor and painting trim and filling nail holes and I've been working on getting the doors all painted. I am so very excited! I have an awesome husband! He's worked his butt off to make this room for me and I can't even find words to say how much I appreciate it. :)

So without further ado, here's my new empty studio--just waiting to be filled...

Isn't it pretty?

Drawings for Day 11-14

2011-01-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

I know it's only 14 days in but I'm impressed that I'm still drawing every day--especially since I've been really busy trying to help projectman finish the studio. :) Here's to making it another 14 days!

Drawing--Day 6-10

2011-01-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

Ahhh...New Year, New Yarn, New Sweater

2011-01-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well, the new sweater part might be a stretch since I get bored with knitting very easily and put it down to do other things too often. But, it is January still, so I'm gonna think positively and set a goal to knit a little each night when I watch tv. Who knows? I might get a whole sweater done this year--heck, maybe I can even finish the socks I've had on the needles for a year and knit the hat I promised Hannah and finish spinning the superwash wool on the spinning wheel and ~~fix the global economy and end world hunger and bring about world peace.~~ Hey, you never know, stranger things have happened. :)

On to the details. The sweater is a Berroco design called "Ditto" I may do a few mods on the pattern. First, I like the short sleeves but I will probably make long sleeves since I don't like being cold, and second, after seeing my friend's "Ditto" sweater, I know I want to do something with the neckline because it's too stretchy. I'm not sure what I'm doing yet--maybe I'll knit an extra inch or so and turn it under for a neckband. I'll leave that decision for later on in the sweater-making process.

I'm making it out of a yarn called "Amity" by Ella Rae which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool. So far, I like knitting with it. It's not a yarn I'd ever heard of before but WEBS had a great sale on it so I thought I'd try it. So far, I've knit 2" of ribbing on the body so I have a loooooooooong way to go, and there is a lot of plain stockinette stitch ahead of me (snooze) before I get to the interesting part, which is the yoke. I hope my magpie brain doesn't get distracted by a different, shiny, glittery project before I get to the fun part.

New Year, New Attempt

2011-01-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

I would like to stretch a little bit this year as an artist so I've decided to try to do something creative every day. Since all my studio stuff is still packed and stacked in the garage, I've decided to keep it simple and just draw every day. When I get everything unpacked and arranged and prettified, I might expand my horizons but this way I'm at least doing something.

I know I won't be able to post every day but I'm hoping for a couple of times a week, since I'm also determined to blog more this year. :) Ahhh...isn't the start of a new year fun? All those things we want to do better this year and in January, we still have the desire and drive to do them. Good thing I have friends to kick my a** if I lose momentum (yeah, I guess that was official permission yas).

Without further ado, here are my first 5 days of drawings. Hope you enjoy!

P. S. Hope you all noticed the new Picasa Photostream gadget! I still have lots of albums to load so it's not as up to date as I'd like but there are plenty of photos to look at. :) As of right now, the link to the photo gallery isn't working but if you click on any of the photos it will take you to that particular photo album on Picasa and from there, click on the Web Albums tab and it will take you to my other albums.

Of Calendar Making, Photoshop Playing, and Just Plain Fun...

2011-01-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

For the last ten years or so, I've been making family photo calendars for my parents and my in-laws. Last year was the first year that they didn't get done and I had decided that I wouldn't continue making them since the kids are getting older now and aren't as "cute" but my mom really, really wanted me to make her a calendar so I've been scrambling, trying to find enough pictures of the kids and get everything done before January is over. :)

In my tried and true tradition of making things much harder than they need to be, I decided that I would try making some of my own backgrounds using Photoshop. After all, I have a book I bought years ago that I thought I really ought to use. :) It's called Digital Designs for Scrapbooking by Renee Pearson.

After a whole day of dinking around, I finally got realistic and found some editable backgrounds to go along with the ones that I had made. After a few color changes to make some variety, I had enough to get started adding photos. I digitally cross-processed most of the photos to make them more interesting looking (well, at least I hope they're more interesting).

I really like the way they turned out. These are a few of my favorites.

I'm definitely looking forward to playing around some more with making background pages and other things like tags and stuff that I can use for scrapbooking or mixed media art projects.

So Close I Can Almost Taste It

2011-01-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

There is paint on my studio walls (thanks to my dh, since I have been sick and had no energy) and outlets in the boxes and lights on the ceiling. Today I'll get the outlet covers on and hopefully, the window and door trim painted . I'm starting to get really excited. :)

The plan for this week is to get the flooring cut to size and sanded so we can put a coat or two of Varathane on it and then get it put down. Then we can do another coat of Varathane in place and the floor will be done. Then we have to move all the boxes and furniture in from the garage and pile it in the middle of the floor so we can drywall the garage ceiling. Once that's done and we've added the two necessary smoke detectors to the house, we can call for our final inspection and then I can start buying shelves and painting furniture and unpacking. Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!

Digital Xpro fun

2010-12-27T04:17:00.000-08:00

I had a ton of fun playing around in Photoshop tonight. I wanted to post some Christmas photos on Facebook but I didn't really like how a lot of them looked so I decided to try some digital collage and cross processing to see if I could make them more interesting. Here are a few of my favorites.

I think they really look very vintage and analog, don't you? The picture of the tree branch was cross processed and then layered with a transparent background to give it extra texture and interest. I even learned how to create an interesting border around the photos, although I'd like to find a frame that simulates the border you'd get when you do a polaroid transfer. It looks a lot messier and grungier, which is what I like. :)

A Very Melissa Lace Project

2010-12-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, on my birthday, I decided to get my bod out of the house and go do something fun. So I headed up to Silverdale (which some might consider idiotic instead of fun since it's so close to Christmas time) to dink around doing some shopping. My first stop was at the local knitting shop where I ran across this book.

I fell in love. The whole concept behind the book is freeform lace knitting. The author gives several basic shapes usually used when knitting shawls (i.e. triangle, square, rectangle, circle) and shows the pattern for creating that shape and then gives ideas for knitting the fill-in lace without slavishly following a pattern. What you do with the lace is entirely up to you. You can take various lace stitch patterns and place them where you want or you can totally wing it and just put yarn-overs and decreases where you want. The only "rules" are to pair each yarn-over with a decrease and, if you're doing a shape like a triangle that has symmetrical shaping on each side of the center, to count the stitches on each side of center every few rows to make sure they stay symmetrical. Sounds like my kind of lace knitting! So, since I had some lace weight merino and mohair yarn that I'd just finished ripping out from another project, I just had to try my hand at making random lace.

It's hard to really see the lace "design" because it's not blocked but I love the process of knitting it! No making mistakes and having to rip out rows and rows of knitting. No having to stop every few minutes to find your place on the pattern chart. It's definitely not a technique that everyone will love--the gals at my knitting group were all looking at me like I was nuts when I showed them last night--but it's definitely the right fit for my personality. :)

Studio Dreaming

2010-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

It's getting closer! All the drywall is up in the new studio and once the drywall inspection is done next Wed., we can start the final slog through taping and mudding and painting and all the other myriad of stuff that needs to be done to finish this project.

I've had a basic floor plan for all the furnishings and storage stuff for a long time but this weekend I pulled it out again and spent ~~way too much~~ some time rethinking everything. I moved a few things around in the sewing area so I can make room for a bigger ironing area and more shelves for fabric and drew some elevation drawings so I could see where I could find room for small storage on the walls. There are still a few areas that need some rethinking but I'm getting close. Now I can think about the making it pretty part. :)

Ive been having a lot of fun this weekend checking out blogs showing all kinds of sewing and craft studios. Tons of great inspiration out there! I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Anna Lena's studio

Love the colors and all the neat organization here! She must have read my mind because these are the colors I'm wanting to use for my new studio. Are you cringing at the orange, Y?

I really love this cutting table! Look at all the storage! Drool, drool, drool... For more pics, click here.

Crafty Intentions studio

Absolutely love the colors in this studio. In fact, it inspired me to make the curtains and chair cover that I did for the studio before we tore it down. And I love the wall with all the glass bottles for storing cool stuff. Also, you can't see it well in this picture, but click here to see a closer picture of the cool tin can corsets and to see lots more pics of this great studio.

Allsorts studio

Another really wonderful studio. for more, click here.

Modkidboutique studio

Isn't it fab? So colorful and neat! And I love the cutting table. It's made from two Ikea shelves tipped on their sides. Very tempting to make one for my studio! For more, click here.

I can't decide if these studios inspire me or discourage me. I think it's a bit of both. :) I know that my studio will never be as pretty as the ones above because...well, I'm too messy and some of the stuff I have to store would be impossible to make pretty. But, I still plan to try and make my space as pretty as I can...Ikea here I come.

Turning a Vintage Suitcase into a Camera Case

2010-11-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

I had such great plans for blogging this last week...and then we had snow, record cold and an almost 3 day power outage. We got our power back Wednesday afternoon--just in time for frantic catch-up cleaning to get the house ready for having family over for Thanksgiving. Oh well, company's gone now and I have some time to dink so maybe I can catch up on what I wanted to blog about.

First up is a sort of tutorial on the camera case I made for my friend's birthday. She's a photographer and vintage camera collector and I wanted to make her a fun camera case so she could take more of her cameras with her when she goes out to take photos. Of course, since she loves vintage stuff, I had to find a vintage suitcase to start with. I scored at a local junktique store and found a great Samsonite make-up case. Then I found some cool vintage-looking fabric at a quilt shop and bought a cheap walmart sleeping pad to use for the padding.

The raw materials

The first step was to make padding for the top, bottom and sides of the case. I measured the dimensions of the top and bottom and measured the inside perimeter of the sides of the case and cut rectangles out of the sleeping pad to match those dimensions.

Then I cut out fabric to cover the padding. The fabric was cut to twice the dimension of the short leg of each rectangle plus 1 1/2" (1/2" seam allowance on each side and 1/2" of extra ease for the thickness of the padding) and the length of the long leg of each rectangle plus about 2" (1/2" seam allowance on each end plus some extra for ease and "just in case"). As an example, the bottom padding was cut to 6" x 12" so I cut a piece of fabric 13 1/2" (6" x 2 plus 1 1/2") x 14" (12" plus 2").

On the long piece for wrapping around the sides of the case, I sewed on strips of velcro before sewing it together so that I could later attach padded dividers. Normally I would have sewn the velcro all the way around but I was short of velcro and didn't want to make yet another trip into town, so I just sewed enough on to cover the long sides of the case.

Once that was done, I folded the fabric rectangles right sides together, and sewed them, leaving one short end open so I could insert the padding. After turning the fabric right side out, I slid the padding inside the fabric covers and folded the raw edges of the open ends under and hand stitched them closed.

Here's what it looked like after covering the padding with fabric.

After putting the padding in place, I decided that I wanted to add a pocket and some elastic to the top pad to hold small cameras and film. That meant figuring out a way to attach the top padding to the suitcase that would be strong enough to hold the weight of a few plastic cameras and film. Back to the drawing board...I eventually ended up ripping apart the top fabric covering and adding industrial strength velcro to the back of it.

Then I added a pleated pocket with flap and a fabric covered strip of elastic to the front of the fabric cover before sewing it back up and putting the padding back in.

The case with the redesigned top padding in place.

Once all the padding of the case was done, I measured the inside dimensions of the case (with the padding in place) so I could make some padded dividers. Since the velcro was only on the long sides of the case, the dividers were made to span from one long side to the other. I made the dividers tall enough to come to the top of the uppermost strip of velcro so that the dividers could be oriented either vertically or horizontally. The process of covering the padding was pretty much the same as for the earlier padding except that I left about 2 inches of extra fabric on the short ends of the dividers so I could sew a strip of velcro on each end. My velcro strips were about 1/2" wide so I trimmed the ends so that I had enough fabric to made a double 1/2" fold plus a little extra. Once I did that, I layed the strip of velcro on top of the folded edge and sewed it on with a zipper foot. To make is really secure, I sewed around all 4 edges of the velcro.

divider

Once the padded dividers were sewn, I decided that the camera case was fffffinished. I think it turned out pretty well and I can't wait to make something similar for myself. :)

Since this is my first attempt at any sort of tutorial, let me know how I did! Were my explanations understandable or just confusing? I'd like to do more tutorials in the future so I want to make sure I'm doing a good job of making everything clear and easy to follow. :)

Fort Worden...or What I Did Last Weekend

2010-11-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

Every year in early November, I usually go up with some of the ladies in my knitting group for a knitting retreat at Fort Worden State Park. It's a time to get away from everyday life for a while and just spend the weekend knitting and relaxing. Of course I wanted to take my spinning wheel up with me and I was determined to dig out something new to spin, so that meant I had to ~~get off my butt~~ get busy and finish what I had on the wheel and ply it.

I had some wool pencil roving that I'd had on my wheel for...well, let's just say it was on there a lot longer than it should have been and leave it at that. Anyway, I finished spinning the last bobbin and then took the three bobbins I had and plyed them together to make a worsted weight yarn. Whoo hoo for finished projects! Now I just have to figure out what to make with it. :)

The night before I left, I ~~went totally insane~~ spent a lot of time deciding what to bring with me. Way too many things I want to do, not enough time to do them and way, way too much ~~mindf***ing~~ overthinking them. Good thing I only had to choose from the fiber and yarn I left unpacked during the studio remodel. Otherwise my brain might have spontaneously exploded.

I finally did make my choices and brought just a few things to work on. It was a pretty productive weekend for me--I didn't have to frog anything, I finished 2 of the 4 projects I brought to work on, started a 3rd, and kept my sanity (well, that's debatable) despite being sick with a cold and suffering from a severe lack of sleep.

I got a full bobbin of lace weight singles spun from some yarn I dyed with Wilton food coloring a few years ago. The hat is from yarn I bought last year after retreat, and the green is yarn I've had lying around for a looooooonnnnng time that's finally being slowly turned into a lovely warm cowl that I can put on my neck or around my shoulders this winter when I get cold. Maybe I should say hopefully this winter. As you've probably figured out, I'm a little slow to get things finished. :)

Of course, the whole weekend wasn't spent just knitting and spinning. Friday was spent shopping at fun shops in Sequim and Port Townsend. I didn't spend that much on knitting and spinning stuff but I did indulge in some french-milled soaps and lotion and a new cookbook. Can't wait to try some of the recipes out on my besties!

Yum!

I did have to buy this sock yarn. Earlier this fall, I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and bought the bright, happy spinning fiber at the back of this photo so when I found sock yarn to match, well...how could I resist?

Studio Update

2010-11-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, once again, it's been awhile since I've blogged. I've been busy trying to get some clothes sewn for myself so that's been occupying all the brain cells I have left. I've resisted blogging about that whole process because...well, for a lot of reasons, one of which would be that it just might be the most boring thing anyone has ever read. :)

The progress in the studio has been slow and steady. Al has been out there as much as he can, working on the electrical. It's been a bit more of a challenge than we thought because in order to finish up the wiring at the panel, he had to test every outlet and light in the house and re-label everything because very few of the original labels in the electrical panel were right. I think he's really close though and hopefully can call for the electrical inspection and the framing inspection this week or next. Then we can start insulating!!!

The outside is all done and beautiful. Here are the pics I took of it on one of the last sunny days we had.

I have to admit I'm getting pretty antsy to get my studio back. It's been almost 6 months now and I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to look something up in one of my sewing books (I keep having to check out books I own from the library because I can't get to mine) or fix a piece of jewelry or buy a something like zippers or velcro from Joann's because the ones I have are packed. And then there's the whole "sewing at the dining room table and cutting stuff out on the kitchen counter" which works in theory but not so well in practice--especially when 3 other people need the table space for their work and the counter is the only counter in the kitchen that is useable space for cooking. :) I really sound whiney, don't I? :)

That's not my intent, really! It's been pretty funny most of the time watching how this "hormone-driven mid-life person I don't recognize anymore" called me trys to deal with two of her biggest stressors--lack of organization and lack of space. Maybe my son could make a movie out of it. :)

Almost Famous

2010-10-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night was a night to thrill any mom's heart. After an awesome day spent with my bestest friends ever, I got to jump in the car and head down to Tacoma to watch my oldest son's film "The Match Girl" on the big screen. The film was a selected film in this year's Tacoma Film Festival.

Notice the ticket stub :)

It was such a fun evening. The first thing that happened was that my daughter and I stood in line right behind the actress that played the grandmother. I recognized her and introduced myself and we had a really nice conversation. I even asked her for her autograph for a little "mom"erabilia.

Then we noticed that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were in line ahead of us (too far ahead to visit with but we at least waved). And then my budding superstar filmmaker showed up with his friends and fellow filmmakers and I got a huge hug and an introduction to the executive producer of his film. He was the one who believed enough in the film to shell out money for post production costs.

After the film, one of Alex's other filmmaker friends somehow recognised me as Alex's mom and came up and introduced himself to me. That was fun. :)

I was hoping to post a pic I took of Alex and friends after the film but I took it on his phone and he didn't get it sent to me before he had to leave for Seattle for a paid shoot. If I ever get the photo, I'll post it here--he looks good all spiffed up. Black shirt, black pants, white tie, blond hair sticking straight up. :)

Leaf Love

2010-09-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

Even though I've been a whiny girl about the rain this month, I'm glad to see Fall here. I love when the leaves start to turn colors. It makes me want to do a happy dance! :)

I was driving home from errands today and the sun just happened to be shining and I happened to have my camera with me and I just happened upon a beautiful tree with leaves of orange and gold and as it happened, I took some photos. :)

Beauty happens.

Studio Progress

2010-09-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd better try to get a few pics up since it's been so long since I've posted anything. :) I now have a roof for my studio. Yay! It came with a bit of suffering for my sweetie though. He smashed his finger really badly (I had to take him to urgent care where they stitched him up and put a splint on it) and then he had to keep working because the weatherman was predicting rain. And man did it rain! Not just the typical Northwest misty rain, but a freakin' deluge. Made me really glad I hate heights so much. Other that going out to encourage everyone and check on progress, I got to stay inside because there was no way I was getting on that roof.

Anyway, everything is weathered in and my floor has dried out and I'm so very thankful for all the help we had getting it done.

Yuck! What a miserable day this was. The floor got swept about 5 times and each time there was a good 1/2 inch of water on it.

Roofing day was better...only intermittent rain and lots of helpers so it went really fast. Thank you God!

I'm hoping that maybe I can be all moved in (or everything can be ready for me to move in) by Christmas. I don't think it's gonna happen sooner than that. I'm missing my books and my cutting and sewin table a LOT, so I will be a happy camper when it's finally finished.

New Guest Room--Phase 1

2010-09-03T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well, the priming and painting is done, and the bed is set up so I will have a place for people to sleep this weekend. Right now, the room is pretty boring because there's nothing on the walls and the quilt I want to make is still just pieces of fabric in the garage but the room is definitely on its way.

(Ignore the quilt on the bed--it really doesn't look that great with the wall color but I needed the warmth of another blanket.)

The color is prettier than the photo shows. It's a light greenish yellow called Summer Resort. I laid out the quilt fabrics I bought and I like the way they look--I really like the orange and lime green ones the best so I might change directions with the quilt and go with only those two colors. Another idea is to go with aqua and green--there is a nice quilt at Target with those colors that I think would look good and then I wouldn't have to make a quilt...decisions, decisions. Too many to make right now. :)

Wish I didn't hate returning things so much because then I'd just go buy the quilt at Target and try it out in the room to see what I think. I might do it anyway, since I have to go to Costco and get party food tomorrow.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2010-08-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything. It's been an insanely busy summer and I have to admit I've been too tired to do anything creative lately. Hopefully I'll get inspired soon and can blog about what newest thing I'm making. I did make a skirt for my daughter to wear to a wedding next weekend and boy did it make me miss my studio. I haven't had to cut out a pattern on the dining room table for many, many years and I'd forgotten how hard it is on the back. I'm getting antsy to have my studio back!

Thankfully, DH has been making very steady progress. Yesterday morning, it looked like this...

by late afternoon, I had a real subfloor that I could walk on...

Today I got walls...

All I can say is whoo hoo!!!!!!!

I was busy today too. Since we're having a big party here in a week, I figured it was about time I tackled painting the "soon to be" guest bedroom. When we first moved in 2 years ago, we painted it bright, bright lime green for one of my sons and, although I really love the color, it is a little too intense for a guest room so I'm having to repaint. I've painted one coat in the closet so far and am headed up to start priming the walls now that the kids have taken everything out of the room.

I just hope I can find my painting mojo again--I usually like painting but I'm pretty much hating the whole process today. The best I can say is I'll be glad when it's done. :)

What Do You Get When You Combine Goodwill Silverware, a DSLR, a Lightbox, and Photoshop? Magic...

2010-08-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking at a home dec magazine the other day and fell in love with some black and white photos of silverware and I thought... hmmm... I have a light box now, I should see if I can take some shots like that. So this afternoon, I got my light box and clamp lights out of the garage and set everything up on the dining room table and started clicking away.

I had to do some tweaking in Photoshop to get the really high key look I wanted--I'm not sure I could do it all in camera or not. I'll have to do some more reading and experimenting to see if I can get the look a little closer in camera than what I managed today. I still have so much to learn...

I can't belive how good this stuff looks in the photos compared to real life. Ah the magic of product photography. :)

Gotta say that shooting these photos was a lot of fun. I can't wait to find some more cool silverware and utensils at the thrift store. I might even print some of these and frame them. :)

Have I Ever Said I Love Blue?

2010-08-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

Azure, cerulean, cobalt, peacock, turquoise, periwinkle, navy, teal, midnight...I love them all. So, I've been trying to figure out how to add some more blue to the kitchen and to the living room. I thought about a valance for over the kitchen window but I really don't like valances so I had to think of something else. Ideally, I wanted to find some cool metal grates or registers that I could paint blue and hang up but I didn't have any luck finding any today when I went to Goodwill and the local junktique store. But, I did score at Joann's. I found these cheap coasters and buttons and put them together and voila...some new color for the kitchen.

I think it looks pretty good although ideally, I'd still like to find some cool metal grates or something more industrial that I can paint blue and hang up.

Here are close ups of the coasters.

I also picked up some dye at Joann's and dyed my living room and dining room curtains. I figured that I didn't have much to lose since they were originally cheap Walmart sheets that I bought when we first moved in. The color is about the same as the edge of the coasters or maybe a shade lighter. I don't hate them, but I don't love them either. I'll give it a day or two (and some daylight) and then I can decide.

Maybe it will give me the little shove I need to go out and find some curtains/curtain fabric that I love, although the search for curtains (and bedding, and towels, and lots of other stuff) usually ends up being very frustrating since the colors I like are brighter than what the majority of people like...

Photo Fun With Light Boxes

2010-07-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Well, one good thing I can say about how unpredictable the sun has been this summer is that it's pushing me to try some new things with photography. I love shooting landscapes but have always wanted to try doing some studio photography too--especially interesting product type photography. But, studio equipment is freakin' expensive so I kind of dismissed ever being able to afford to do it. Until I ran across a book at Barnes and Noble and a few websites online that talk about really cheap ways to make studio equipment. Man, I love the internet!!!

Because I don't have studio space (and storage space) right now, I decided I should start with something fairly small. So, I decided to try making a light box or light tent. Basically it's a box or tent made with white fabric that is used to photograph close ups of small objects--think etsy and ebay photos. I found some instructions online to make one out of a cardboard box. Here's a link if you're interested in finding out more. http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent

Anyway, I went to Lowes and bought a cardboard box, a few clamp-on work lights and scrounged around till I found some vellum and some masking tape and voila, I had a light box.

Here is the basic set up I used today.

I took all the camera photos in my last post using this set up and then tried some pictures of glass.

I still have a ton to learn and I need to try a few different techniques in order to get the kind of photos of glass that I really want but all in all, it was a fun day of experimentation. :)

Vintage Camera Find

2010-07-20T23:39:00.000-07:00

...or Sometimes it's Really Nice That Your DH Loves Auctions.

Projectman went to the auction Saturday to check out a cement mixer and ended up bringing home 8 vintage cameras for me. He called me mid-auction to tell me they had a few old Kodaks and asked if I'd like him to bid on one. When he went over to get more info for me, he discovered a treasure--a Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex camera. I've been wanting one since I first got into this new hobby of mine and so I was suitably
excited (read panting and drooling and crossing every finger and toe I have), hoping there wouldn't be anyone at the auction who knew their real value. Anyway, being the wonderful man he is, he and DD stayed for a few extra hours at the auction, sitting through innumerable ugly crystal knick knacks, in order to bid on the Rolleiflex for me. Instead, they auctioned all the cameras off as one lot and I ended up with quite an addition to my tiny vintage camera collection. And I think I got some real beauties too. :)

This blog post is obscenely bloated with photos because I have tried 3 times to make a collage in Picassa but the menu for that option seems to be disabled for some reason. I guess that means y'all will just have to look at all of my lovely cameras individually. Heh, heh, heh...

Kokak 3A Autographic Camera Model C circa 1913-1919

Kodak 1A Pocket Camera Series ii circa 1926-1932

Even though it doesn't look like it from the photos, this camera is about half as big as the 3A

Brownie Hawkeye No. 2 Model C a British model circa 1907-1914

Brownie Reflex Synchro Model circa 1949-1952

Kodak Duaflex IV circa 1947-1960

Brownie 8mm Movie Camera circa 1951-1956

Kuribayashi Petri 2.8 Color Corrected Super 35mm Rangefinder circa 1958-1962

And the whole reason I have a bunch of new-to me vintage cameras.

Rolleiflex Twin Lens Reflex camera 2.8C Model K7C circa 1951-1953

I took the photos using the new DIY light box that I made yesterday out of a cardboard box, vellum, masking tape and poster board. I just love it when I can make stuff for cheap! :) Next post will have a bit more about the light box and some of the things I've tried to shoot with it.

For Rent: Plein Air Studio

2010-07-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

Beautiful light filled space in the middle of the woods. Hear the sound of the birds and watch the squirrels frolic as you work. Comes complete with partial basement and plumbing. Don't miss out on a great opportunity to create in this unique space.

Sounds great doesn't it? Too bad the reality doesn't match the fantasy. :) My studio is officially gone now. There's nothing left. I'm way past due for some photos showing the ~~destruction~~ progress so far. Enjoy!

All the walls and roof disappeared by about the 4th of July--it makes a nice patio doesn't it?

When I came home from Mom's on the 9th, I had a new hole in the ground.

By the end of the weekend, DH should have the forms for the footings all finished and we can call for our first inspection. Since I'm starting to suffer withdrawls already (if only for a place to put all my "stuff"), every little bit of progress is a good thing.

Miniature Garden Birthday Fun

2010-07-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of my bff's birthday and her gift theme this year was garden stuff. She's become intrigued with miniature gardens, so I decided that I would make her one for her gift. I'm not sure what "mentally challenged" part of my brain was involved in that decision because life has been just a bit busy lately but regardless, I bought plants at a nursery in Chehalis and found some cool stuff at the thrift shop in town and set to work Thursday night creating.

I have to say that it was one of the funnest things I've done in a long time and I'm gonna have a really hard time not making a lot more of them. They're seriously addicting.

Making these reminds me of when I was a kid. We spent a lot of weekends in the summer camping at Fish Creek Campground in Glacier Park and I would always find a tree at the edge of our campsite, hollow out a spot between two tree roots and collect rocks and twigs and bark and make tiny gardens with bark huts and twig fences. Until I made this garden the other night, I'd forgotten how much I loved making those gardens.

I see at least a few more of these creations in my future. :)

Bye Bye Studio...

2010-06-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

...otherwise known as what I've spent the last two days doing.

This summer my studio is getting a makeover. The roof leaked all last winter and there's no quick and easy fix, so we really have to redo the whole roof, including half of the garage roof. And since redoing the roof means we have to rebuild the walls anyway, my sweetie asked me if I'd like to have a bigger studio. Well, I could hardly say no, could I?

I picked up the building permit on Tuesday and since I have to leave to go to my mom's on Friday, that left just a few days to get everything packed up. I started Tuesday evening and packed 8 boxes of books before I went to bed. I took some pics of it in its almost normal state when I got up on Wednesday morning.

art table area

sewing area

jewelry area

Wednesday morning I hit it hard and worked all day packing stuff. I had to go into Lowes once to get more boxes (yikes, I packed a whole lot of boxes) and I stopped to eat dinner, but all told, I spent about 14 hours packing. It seemed like every time I turned around, there was something else to pack. :) Here's what it looked like this morning before I started in again.

nothing but bare shelves

35 boxes of stuff stacked to the rafters in the garage

This morning I took the time to finish the the buttonholes on the shirt I made on Monday so I could pack up the sewing machine and the last of the sewing stuff. Once that was done, it was a quick half hour for my husband and son and a few neighbor boys to haul all the furniture out to the garage, and presto chango, it was all done.

looks pretty much like it did when we moved in two years ago

all my stuff, anxiously awaiting its new home in a few months--a few months, right sweetie?

Happy Birthday Giggle!

2010-06-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today is my sister Gayle's birthday. In honor of that I decided I'd post some pics of the mini quilt I'm working on for her last year's birthday. So like me to be a year behind, huh? :)

I think I'm about finished adding flowers so now I have to add the beading for the centers. I did a few centers on the small flowers last night but I don't like them so I'm going to have to cut the beads off and start over. I think I might have to buy some different beads to get the look I want. When the beading is all done, I have to decide if I'm going to add a border to the quilt. I think I want to machine quilt the words of the song that was the inspiration for this quilt on a border but it's something that I'm going to have to think about for a while.

Nestled In My Backyard...

2010-06-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Al finished the siding on my new garden shed (thank you so much sweetie!) so now I can show it off. I still need to paint the trim and bring the door up from my mom's and get in installed but even with that still undone, isn't it awesome? If I were a little girl, I'd be finding furniture and a tea set to take out there and make it my playhouse.

I can't wait for a sunny day when I can get out in the yard with a sketchbook and my paints and try my hand at capturing it on paper.

Sneak Peaks

2010-06-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time on the road the last few weeks, alternately going to my mom's and bringing her up here to stay, so I haven't had much time to blog lately. But I couldn't let any more time go without showing some sneak peaks of my almost finished garden shed. I have to find time to search out an old door and then the rest of the siding and shingles can be put on and the trim painted. I'm very, very excited about how it looks so far--exactly what I wanted!

I can't wait until it's all finished! How can it not be cool? It has two of my absolute favorite things--old windows with peeling paint and old metal roofing. The windows were found on Craigslist for cheap and the roofing scrounged from my folks house.

Oh the Beauty of the Earth

2010-05-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

I noticed last night that it's been a long while since I had a new blog post. I've sat down at the computer many times over the last few weeks, intending to blog, but haven't managed till now. May is usally a busy month for me because it's the end of the school year and there are band concerts to get ready for and year end tests and such. This year it's been busyness plus loads of worry for my mom and stepdad, who spent the last 4 months in various hospitals in Las Vegas, struggling to fight off one infection after another after his heart surgery. Last Friday, Harry lost his struggle and passed away.

It's been a tough week. But, it has been a time of consolation and healing too. This last weekend I spent most of my time getting my yard and garden in shape for a jazz band concert scheduled to be held on my back deck last night (the concert had to be moved because of rain but that's not important). Anyway, as I was working in the warm sunshine, pulling weeds and planting beautiful, colorful flowers and seeing the beauty of the flowers and trees already there, I was filled with such peace and joy. God's creation is so beautiful and I am so thankful for having eyes to see all the colors of the foliage and the flowers, and ears to hear the birds chirping and the sigh of the wind through the trees.

Here are a few of the things that bring me joy in my back yard.

My new peppermint and spearmint container garden

Blue bottles salvaged from the recycling center

One of my rose bushes in full bloom

Another rose bush

A lilac in bloom

This year's big outdoor project--finishing my garden shed and finishing the landscaping around it and around the stream and pond.

I might try to post one more time this week but then I'll be gone for a week or two as I stay with my mom and help her out. She'll be home from Las Vegas this weekend and I'll be really glad to be able to give her lots of hugs and just take care of her for awhile.