trying to return to "normal"

some grocery shopping needed doing after we'd been gone off and on for almost two weeks

and I spent some time working on the beading of this piece

moving along slowly



since we had helped with pumpkin picking at our daughter's we also knew there would be pumpkin picking at our house

these five beauties are sitting on the deck right outside my garage where they can finish turning completely orange

there will be some good eating out of those!



and there should be a lot of good eating out of these too

the two orange ones are hubbards and we had a bumper crop of butternuts too

these are hanging out in the house for now, while we decide when we'll cut, clean, cook and freeze




and right now the living room looks like a laundry

before the last load got finished yesterday the dryer quit working -- it goes round and round but doesn't get hot, so I hung all the kitchen towels over the rods on the warping board to let them dry

obviously we'll have to do something about that issue

and this morning when I got the oil changed in the van I got the bad news that it needs about $800 worth of work

geesh -- could use a break here!

A busy weekend

Actually, the past two weekends have been a whirl wind of activity

The first weekend I was the house and pet sitter for my daughter so she and her husband and Mr Cute could go to visit with her husband's parents

During that weekend, the DH and I spent time creating all of the baskets for the Charity Auction that I chaired again this year

This weekend was the actual auction -- set up on Saturday morning -- it was raining and cold and we were worried the whole thing would be a bust because the silent auction items were across the street from the theatre where the program was going on -- but the weather did cooperate and the program and the auction went off without a hitch -- in fact the program was a rousing success and the auction had only 6 items that didn't sell -- WHOOO HOOOOO!

when we do these auctions, we stay with our daughter

which means we get to do things with them on Sunday when the work is all done

like helping pick their pumpkins -- that biggest one is starting to turn orange, and in a week or so will be a really beautiful pumpkin

and when they were gone they had the chance to pick fresh plums which they brought home (two big bags full)

so a lot of them got turned into jam

a lot of jam

and it tastes great!

some of this came home with us

and there was the baking of brownies

which made for a really pretty dessert -- brownie, ice cream, chocolate sauce and raspberries

yummy -- very yummy





during all this activity Mr Cute had time to play with our big dog

she just lays there and lets him crawl all over her

such a good dog with him

here he's holding one of his favorite "toys" (he also had a cardboard egg carton over the weekend)

his daddy calls the spoon "the whapping stick" --

he's soooooooo adorable



when we returned yesterday I actually did a little work on the beading project I've been doing

it's coming along slowly


this week I'll be getting ready to do demos at the opening of the TriLakes fabric art show on Saturday -- jumping right from one event to another!

and of course all that time back and forth in the car meant lots of time knitting afghan squares

here's the stack!

time to get moving -- laundry to do and then there is the demo stuff to organize

Ping! Ping!

the time for tomatoes is winding down -- the weather forecast for this weekend is for the temperature to drop below freezing, which means we'll be stripping everything bigger than a ping pong ball off the tomato plants and bringing them all into the house to ripen

yesterday afternoon there was the canning of more of the ones that had already been picked

a dozen pints of tomatoes -- skinned, mixed with some lemon juice and put up whole for use later as soups and pasta sauce and swiss steak --- yummy

ping! times 12 -- love it

even though I'm still up to my eye balls in charity auction paperwork, I'm still trying to spend a little time every day working on something creative

the bead work on this project, for instance

the surface is slowly being filled with beads -- and I'm now getting to the part that will include some interesting patterns created by the beads

and it's becoming more clear to me as I work on this bracelet that I'm going to be taking the idea to the next step as well -- a collar necklace that will use this idea but also include some open work -- more digging for materials to follow!

progress continues on the Christmas sweater

both of the fronts with all the wonderful cables are off onto "stitch holders" (heh, right, read "scrap yarn") while I knit the back and the sleeves

(after that all the stitches at the tops of the pieces get picked up and knit into the hood)

I have cast on the back and worked up about 3 inches already -- looking good


yesterday the DH and I got our flu shots -- this is your reminder to go and do likewise!!

morning glory

the past few days the big black dog that lives here has been waking me up in the middle of the night

I'm not sure what's going on with her, and frankly I'm feeling a little draggy because I'm sleeping in 2 hour stretches -- it's like having a baby in the house

the up side of this early morning activity is getting to see the sunrise -- which was especially colorful

today is the deadline for the auction catalog, so I'm guessing I won't get much time in the studio ---

time to get to that pile of paperwork!!

and the verdict is

more fronds

lots more fronds

since I had been steadily stitching fronds onto the redwood branches I decided to take a picture to see how this is looking

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed -- unlike the aspen leaves that really show up and give the real impression of there being enough leaves on those trees, the redwood still looks -- well, bare

there will obviously be a lot more stitching

I picked up another spool of deep green with very subtle variations to do the next batch -- after I finish the layer I'm doing right now

seems this project will take a bit longer to finish than I thought it would

onward

beading progress

no matter which way you turn this piece, it's looking pretty awesome

last night I finished stitching the bronze-y beads around the stones so now it's on to the next color





earlier in the day I had been out and about and stopped off in a bead store

where I picked up some beads that will probably turn up in the piece I'm working on right now

also got some new stone pieces to work around including a matte finish cabochon that is called African Turquoise, but is actually a jasper

I've never seen a cabochon with a matte finish before, and I really like it -- unusual -- so now I'm thinking about an equally unusual piece to put it in to

and that pink behind these items? heh, well, the mat I had been using in my beading tray for a long time is pretty grubby, and I was able to get this new one for less than a dollar -- now I can wash the old one (wonder if the dirt is what's holding it together) and have two of these and be able to work on two projects at once -- yeah, like I need THAT encouragement!

also stopped in another quilt store and picked up some additional fabrics for the Four Seasons pieces

the brown tone pieces I had already still just didn't speak "tree bark" to me, so I was still on the hunt for something that did

this one is much closer

the brown and the blue on white patterning (which I plan to use in the winter panel) are commercial fabrics, but the third piece is a hand painted fat quarter which has a lot of colors that I'll be able to use in the spring, summer and fall panels -- nice!

all of these fabrics, and the ones I got the day before need to go into the laundry before I start cutting into them

meantime, I'm researching the proper angle for shadows in each of the panels

having fun!

more bounty from the garden

as the nights start to get cooler, we're out picking the garden with more intensity

the tomato plants have become a huge interwoven wall of green to the point that you can't tell which plant is which -- the beef steak tomatoes and the romas are distinguishable, but every thing else is a "tomato"

the zucchini is slowing down -- fewer blooms on the plant, and I'm picking them when they are smaller

the one plant that seems to have kicked into over drive as the season draws to a close is the jalapeno -- we're going to have to figure out what to do with all of them

I made a trip to the fabric store yesterday

after I had been through the bins of fabric that I had in hand, I had discovered that I just didn't have enough fabric to use for the sky in each of the four pieces, and the fabric for the trees themselves was iffy as well

found these lovelies yesterday

the plan is to use each of those sky fabrics in two of the panels

and the white on white is for the winter panel

all of these have to go into the washer first, however


and then there were these two pieces that just jumped into the pile all by themselves

I like the colors and patterns of these -- even though right now I don't have a specific use for them

stash building


meantime I'm still working hard on auction stuff -- this time next week I'll be setting everything up in the facility

time to get back to the paperwork!

back to slogging

I'm still slogging along through paper work and organization on the upcoming charity auction (9 days and counting down) --- awk!

I did spend some time yesterday working on the latest beading project, however

I have 3 of the bronze-y circles done and started in on the 4th one

nice

work on the trees quilt is coming along nicely

as is the sweater front

pictures again soon -- I promise!

more bounty from the garden

it's that time of the gardening season that we're putting something up almost every week

this week's endeavor was putting up whole tomatoes

they just get skinned and put into the jars -- and they are the basis of future soup or sauces this winter

yummy

after running around to pick up items for the charity auction yesterday afternoon, I actually had some time to work on this bead work project

this is coming out amazingly well

slowly

but nice



today is payday, so we're off to do our monthly Costco trip and other shopping --- hopefully time in the studio after that

more beads, more fabric

looking good

love the bronze-y beads -- they are Charlottes which have a cut surface that makes them have more "sparkle" than a standard glass seed bead does

nice!




I did the great "fabric dig" yesterday (and may I say it is much easier when the tubs are all organized!)

found most of what I need -- with one glaring exception -- no sky fabric

which means I can't really start on this project until after pay day --- BOOOOOOO!

oh well, I do still have art projects to work on

and the ever present charity auction paper work -- only 11 days to go!!

new challenges

one of the quilt groups I belong to has issued a challenge that I'm actually going to participate in

the theme is FOUR

anything that comes in sets of four qualifies, and we are not restricted to size, materials, etc., etc.

I've been thinking about doing a series of the four seasons for a while, and this seems like a perfect excuse to get me moving

not to mention that aside from the Out of Africa pieces that are on going and the huge Trees project, I'm not right in the middle of any pressing deadlines and I think I can manage these between now and March, 2012

so this drawing is the skeleton of the four pieces which will be 6 inches wide and 16 inches tall

depending on how this all goes I may put them all in a frame together -- or not -- we'll see how that goes

today I hope to pull out fabrics to get started
started the bead work on this piece yesterday afternoon

the bezels went really quickly and now I'm working my way across the surface with the next ring around each piece of stone

moving right along


today's activities includes laundry and back to work on the charity auction -- only 12 days to go!

start lots of new things -- and Christmas project progress

as you may recall, yesterday I decided that I needed a day to play -- and then I promptly spent about 2 hours in the studio rearranging boxes and cleaning -- but it was creative time for the brain!
this will be the next bracelet

the stones have been glued down and it had to "cure" overnight before I start messing with it with beading

this is the piece that prompted our trip to the Gem show last weekend

and it's pretty amazing that I'm actually getting to this so close to getting the materials

and while I was sorting through the boxes, I discovered I had all of these pieces of Rocky Mountain Beach Glass just waiting to be put together into something

so I have this piece of jewelry to put together too

lots of building of bead nets to do for this one

it's good to have a couple of things going at once -- at least for me it is


while I was working on those two things I was also thinking about some new quilt pieces -- one of the email lists I am part of has issued a challenge titled "Four" -- I had already been thinking about doing a series of small pieces of the four seasons, so I may just do that for the challenge -- I'm still thinking about it

last night I got the right front of the Christmas sweater I'm making for Mr. Cute to the point where the stitches go on a "holder" (read, "piece of scrap yarn") to be used later for the hood

ta da!

so this afternoon I'll be casting on for the left front

the DH says "it looks so big", but I put it against the size 12 months sweatsuit that I used for the Halloween costume, and its just about the same size (a bit longer)

moving along nicely -- it took about 10 days from when I cast on, but there were several days that I didn't even touch it

and I know that the back and the sleeves will go much faster than the fronts because there are no cables on tiny size 2 needles involved there

nice -- very nice


one more afghan square complete!

this is almost always my "watching the 10 pm news" project -- meaning sometimes I knit a row and fall asleep with it in my hands -- so it takes a while

the box is getting full though -- I'll need to mail it off soon


I hope to spend some time working on those quilt designs later today -- after I write all the checks for the October bills (Bleah!)

onward

taking a break to play

finished the bracelet last night

and this morning I listed it on my Etsy store this morning (so if you'd like to see more details and pictures, you can use the link there on the right hand side of my blog)

I'm real happy with how this came out -- even though I ended up using tan leather inside the bracelet because I didn't have anything either orange or black


as I mentioned a couple of days ago I've been working pretty hard on the charity auction -- and I've now got enough stuff finished that I've decided to take the weekend off from working on it and just do some art work -- sort of a mini vacation!

and from the files of Mr Cute --

the DH says he has that "don't mess with the kid" look

my daughter said the caption should read "dad won't give me the remote"

he's definitely looking less like a baby and more like a little boy every day

adorable even when he's being stubborn

love it!

creating art to keep my sanity

this week I've been up to my eye balls in work on the upcoming Charity auction that I'm chairing --

piles of paperwork every where --

lists of materials and staging needs and to dos on every work surface in my "office" area --

yikes!

I really will be happy when this is OVER!
I did take some time late yesterday afternoon to finish the bead work on the tiger bracelet and did the stitch sealing with the fray check

I hope to get into the bin and find either some leather or a piece of upholstery velvet to back this with today -- black would be good

I have another project that I want to get started on (actually I have two, but I only have the right materials on hand for one of them), and I'm hoping to find time between auction "stuff" to start on that this weekend

onward

Utilitarian sewing

sometimes what needs to be put together can't really be called art

but it is a useful object

earlier in the week my daughter asked me if I could make a fleece blanket for Mr Cute to have in car now that it's getting cooler

she has lots of really nice quilts and afghans for him, but I can understand her wanting to have something that she doesn't have to worry about getting somewhat abused by riding around in the car all the time

and instead of heading off to the fabric store right off, I headed to the fabric stash and pulled out the two big bags of fleece scrap -- these are pieces left over from making vests and scarfs and bathrobes and sleepers

ta da! the finished car blanket -- put together out of what was available in those bags

and this whole job made lots easier that it would have been because I pulled out the newly acquired walking foot to use while doing both the seams and the zig zag top stitching -- and all future fleece projects will be made using that foot -- it made the project a lot easier

and since I was on a roll with the walking foot, I decided to do this project too

when we go anywhere that we'll be staying overnight we take our pillows with us -- hey, we're senior citizens, we need our creature comforts!

for quite a while I've just been using a big plastic trash bag to put them in, but over the past few years that means I've used several

and when I went through a few of the tubs of fabric that I've been sorting and cleaning out, I discovered several pieces of corduroy -- a good sturdy fabric for making bags

so yesterday I stitched together a patchwork of pieces and created a bag that we can use over and over for those pillows -- including I can throw it into the washer as needed

another useful project complete -- more fabric out of the stash -- and more joy using the walking foot --- how DID I live without it?!

the tiger is almost finished

this afternoon I should get the last beading done

YIPPEE

then tomorrow I can put the "sandwich" together and finish this piece up

which means I need to start thinking about what I will work on next

hmmmm, time to get to that list of project ideas!

Grrrrrrr!

that's the tiger growling!

yesterday when I had about half of the beading finished all the way across the piece I was able to measure against the actual bracelet blank

as usual, there was a need to expand the length that I had drawn a bit (about half an inch), so you can see there on the left hand side where I've extended the tiger pattern a bit further

this is looking really neat -- and because I'm using a sort of mixed combo of beads both in the black and the orange, the bracelet will have a cool kind of sparkle too

definitely nice

I started another project yesterday, but no pictures yet -- maybe today

meantime I'm trudging along through the heaps of paper for the charity auction -- which is my next big deadline

time to get to it

finished monkey, and a new project

the Halloween costume is finished

the wings are made up of shiny satin back crepe fabric I had in my stash over a very heavy interfacing that gives them some body

all of the "accessories" are attached to the sweat suit in a way that they will be easy to remove after Halloween, so Mr Cute can get some additional wear out of it

can't wait to see the pictures of him in it!

this project is buzzing along

we're definitely more than half way now, and I really like the way it looks

should have the bead work done by the end of the week at this rate


yesterday the DH pulled this out of the storage shed and took it into the garage work shop

he took all of the hardware off and took the bottom apart so he can replace that water damaged wagon bottom

I even found a place on line where I could order replacement hub caps for the wheels (one was missing and the other three are real faded)

when he gets done it will look as good as new

yippee!

time to get to work

Sunday afternoon play

you may remember a week or so ago I talked about this sweat suit that my daughter asked me to turn into a Halloween costume for Mr. Cute

I'd been thinking about it since then and yesterday afternoon I decided it was time to actually do something about it






so a little time with the iron

and the sewing machine

and a bit of hand sewing

it's a monkey!

now on to the wings





worked on the tiger beads too

this is about half done -- movin' along


today there is laundry to do and that front lawn needs to be mowed -- but time in the studio should materialize this afternoon

the great slog along

as sometimes happens I'm working on a couple of projects because I need to get them finished, but my heart's not really in it -- I'm thinking about some new pieces instead!

this piece for instance

I really like how it's coming out, and I think the design is fun

I just want it to be DONE -- so I can start on something else

heh, like I said -- slogging along

I feel the same way about the quilt and the knitting I'm currently working on

and I'm now in the endless paperwork cycle of the annual Charity Auction that I'm chairing again this year -- writing up the bid sheets and creating the endless lists of what still needs to be done

last night as I watched the news I finished up this afghan square that I had started on Friday in the car

one more for the box

time for breakfast