A really BIG finished object

After working on this for months in bits and pieces I'm delighted to say that it is FINISHED!!

This began as a project to follow along with a pattern that had started over at Mason Dixon Knitting, but it just took on a life of it's own.

First of all, I can tell you that absolutely NOTHING was purchased to create this loveliness. In fact, about 90% of the yarns I used were recycled from a sweater of my daugher's and a sweater of the DH that had ceased to be useful clothing and I decided to "un-knit" and use the yarn for something else.

There is something very "Gee's Bend" about this. Little odd shapped pieces, an interesting spatter of different colors all tied together with the gray (which was the duster style sweater of my daughter's, which she wore all through college).

When I started this project, I wasn't at all sure what I would do with it, but I have since decided that it will be a perfect Christmas gift for my friend in California who has been fascinated with the Gee's Bend ladies ever since we first heard about them.

So, one more Christmas present done!!

Remember the balloon drawings from yesterday?

Well, here are the graphs, all ready for me to start in with creating each of the balloons.

We were in the hardware store yesterday and picked up a piece of plexiglass that is big enough that the DH can experiment with the painting on the back without worry of ruining the only piece available. We still need to pick up some other materials -- like the bottle of conditioning coat (sort of like the clear undercoat in a manicure) that goes on the plastic before the paint.

We're moving along!!

I was also in Walmart yesterday --- our once a month journey for those things that are absolutely the least expensive in that location.

Magazines are one of the things I buy there, and this time there were two that I couldn't pass up.

The beading magazine is full of techniques that I want to experiment with, and pictures from the latest bead competition winners.

The Quilting Arts will be a month's worth of reading and probably the source of some inspiration --- possibly for some projects when we go to California to "hob nob with other wizards" in June.

I already have a full page in my spiral notebook jotted down for online searching, and I've barely started to read the articles!

yummy!!

Ok, so it's time to get busy