falling into winter

at least that's what it feels like this morning

when I walked Mr Benson down to get the mail it was snowing and the snow landing on the still green leaves of the trees sounded like water droplets hitting a hot pan --- hisss, hisss --- a sound I had never noticed before

since my last blog post, we've had a bit of household excitement

two weeks ago when I cleaned in the kitchen I discovered that we had a leak around the garbage disposal -- not what I wanted to be dealing with just now, but I know better than to let a leak go because my experience with that in the past is that it only costs you more

we made the decision that if we were going to replace the disposal, it made sense if we could swing it to do the whole job -- the sink that was here when we bought the house was a porcelain coated steel one that was badly stained and chipped by it's tenure as a rental house and the spray attachment didn't work properly ---   I had hoped at some point to replace the counter top and have a nice under mount sink installed, but that was just not in the budget

so, off we went to the local hardware store and did some shopping and pricing

last Tuesday morning the installer came and installed the new sink, water supply lines, faucets and garbage disposal --- all in stainless steel which matches the appliances in the room and because I paid a bit extra, I now have a 9 inch deep sink which is wonderful for doing some dye washout projects too

and because the leak had marked the veneer of the bottom of the cabinet, I picked up some self stick vinyl tile squares and my wonderful son-in-law installed those for me last Saturday

YEAH!  a small victory and learning to be grateful for what we can do even when it isn't "the big dream"

from now until Christmas, my studio takes on the look of having a million things going on at once

October is usually taken up with working on a special Halloween costume for Mr Cute, and this year is no exception

over the past 7 years I have created something custom that was requested by either his parents (the first two, when he was too little to express an  opinion) or by "the little man" himself

he's been a winged monkey

Linc (from the Legend of Zelda game)

a dinosaur

a fireman

a Ninja turtle

Captain America

and the Hulk

this year he requested a pirate outfit

and not just any pirate ---- nope, we're going to give Captain Jack Sparrow a run for his money

we ordered this pattern (and had to wait  F O R E V E R  for it to arrive)

while we were waiting, he helped me create the wig he would need to wear to make this a proper Jack Sparrow costume

this was created by using one of those soft net bags that cantaloupes come in at Costco as a base and threading bulky yarn into it for the hair --- a trip through my beads and metal charm stash provided the ornamentation -- looking good!

and now that the pattern is here, I've already made a good start on the sewing -- the vest is ready for it's buttons

the stack of fabric for the annual Christmas pj bottoms has been washed and folded and is waiting for the cutting and stitching once the costume is done

meantime, quilts continue to be entered and accepted into shows

this piece, titled "The Wheel" was originally created as a test of techniques for another piece -- because it worked so well, I finished it off and put it in with the pieces to be shown

yesterday I was notified that it has been accepted for a show titled "Overlooked" in Cumberland, MD -- I'm very pleased!

and this piece that has already been in two shows has been accepted to be printed in a special edition of the Surface Design Association's magazine in a grouping titled "Family Matters" --- WOW!

this piece is moving right along on the design wall

the figures are done, and the background is coming together ---

the background of this piece is almost complete too --- and I'm amazed at how well it has come together

as usual when I'm getting close to the completion of a piece, I'm already thinking about what the next two or three will be ---- so many choices!

this picture of Mr Benson is a candidate for one of them --- I love the light and shadow on his face and for once he is looking right at the camera without bouncing around

time to get back to the studio to work!