Today's Agenda

Painting Painting Painting ... no not me (I wish!). Today is day 5 of the great house painting adventure. They guys have been working hard and squeezing out every ounce of daylight. There were a lot of repairs that needed to be made, so that took care of the first few days. We've been fortunate that the weather has been perfect this week. Rain coming tomorrow, but I think they will finish up today.

My front door is being painted red as I type this - I think the color is called Fireweed. It's a red with some brown in it. I think I'm going to love it! The house already looks so different.

In the meantime, I am dyeing a color run from Musk Melon (Prochem) to Sky Blue (Dharma). I hope to end up with some nice browns in between. I have never been successful at achieving an even color in my dyed fabric - usually I don't want an even color, so that's fine, but in this instance it would be nice. They just started batching, so we'll see what we get later on.

I am also down to the wire for planning my daughter's "eco-friendly" birthday party, which is tomorrow. I need to make the cake, buy snacks, rent a movie, figure out lunch, etc etc, but I don't really want to leave home with my doors hanging wide open, so I'll get out later. We are going to tie dye silk scarves and make some recycled creations. It should be a good time. Hopefully it won't rain too much! there's always the garage...

I hope you are enjoying your Friday, and that life brings you joy!

A Sweet Autumn Treat

Still no photos - sorry! I am working to build up my bottle cap supply for fall sales, the first of which is in early November. I also learned I have until the end of the month to get those ten little pieces made for the show - so of course, I am procratinating!

We are having some faulty siding replaced on our house this week and soon it will be painted! The new color ... Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay, a soft gray with a blue/green tint. I can't wait! The current color, called Moonlight, is a buttery yellow, so it will look like a new house when it's finished! I'll share photos when I can.

I thought I would leave you with a recipe for a quick autumn treat that is warm and filling and not too bad for the waistline .... enjoy!

Take one apple, core it and cut it into wedges. Put it in a small microwave safe bowl. Top with a small bit of butter (about 1/4 tsp), a sprinkle of brown sugar (about 1/2 tsp), a few raisins and a few chopped walnuts. Microwave 1 minute on high (1.5 minutes if the apple was in the fridge!). Let cool just slightly and enjoy! You could dust it with cinnamon, too, if you want. Mmmmm...

My First Priority: Alzheimers Quilt Sold!

I can't access my photos right now :o( so I have nothing to show you, BUT I recently donated two small quilts to Ami Simms' Alzheimers Art Quilt Innitiative. It is something I've wanted to do for a while. These quilts went with 1000 others (yeah, 1000) to Houston Texas for the International Quilt Festival. All these little quilts are for sale, with proceeds going to fund Alzheimers research.

Ami is sending out "tweets" as quilts sell, and one of mine sold today! I'm so pleased with this! I thought I had a photo of it on my blog, but I can't find it, so if you want to see it, go HERE and it is way down at the bottom - quilt #4428. The other one, which is still available, is the first one that you see on this blog post HERE. I hope it will sell soon!

It must be something else to see all those quilts together!

Another New Adventure

I made this little piece today ...
It is 5"x5". I am participating in an art show/sale where the pieces have a maximum size of 6x6. When I signed up, it didn't really register that the pieces are due in the middle of October. Yikes! So here is my first one. I like how it came out. I am debating adding a word, as that was my original intention. I printed some of my photos onto fabric - this one was from our recent trip to the zoo. I decided to solder the edges, since these are required to be "ready for hanging". It is my first time soldering, although I've had all the supplies for quite a while. It wasn't too hard. I'm not that good at it, either, but I'm sure I'll improve with practice.

I had to offset the hanger due to the weight of the beads on the right. I kinda like it that way.

I would enjoy constructive feedback on this piece.

A little problem solving goes a long way

Phew. The final September obligation is finished ... just a little late. But I am pleased with the results, I learned a lot, and I'm glad I forged ahead. As a firmly left brained analytical person, I have often pondered what draws me to art. Through this project, I think I have realized it is the problem solving ... it's what I do, and it gives me great satisfaction.

I belong to a small group of women who help to manage a larger online group. We have been working on our own little project since February, called "A Dream House". We are making 8x8 pages for each other to put together into a little book. Each page is a "room" though we've used that term loosly. This is my last one to make. It is for the lovely Leilani aka Studio Gypsy. Her dream home was a sculptural and poetic, creative place in the hills of Tuscany. My room for her is actually a threshold ... the "Doorway to inspiration". It is the first piece of interactive fiber art I have made ... thus the need for problem solving.

Of course the "key to creativity" is what opens the "Door to inspiration" and I had fun beading this old key.

Whenever Leilani is feeling a creative block, she can find inspiration here ... by pulling the strings on the left up or down, she can choose a color direction...

By spinning the wheel in the upper right corner, she can set the mood ...

By flipping the tags on the right she can settle the details of her piece ... each tag is has its opposite on the reverse side.

The background is a piece of fabric which I knew I would not use as is, so I painted it in the colors of Tuscany ... reds and orange like the poppies of the fields, lavendar (well, maybe that's French, but I used it anyway) and olive green. I free cut some petals from the fabric before adding the olive green details and made these flowers, which I am rather fond of. I hope that Leilani is dreaming of the Tuscan sunshine and finds inspiration wherever she looks.