Happy Birthday!

Yep...it's happened!  I'm another year older!  But who's counting..not me for sure!  Some of my lady friends took me to lunch this past Tuesday for an early BD celebration.  What a fun afternoon! 

Patricia, Verna & Jan
Susan and I

We are at a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant called Feta Mediterranean Cuisine downtown Ocala.  What a great meal!  I had Spanakopita! Wonderful!

Two of the ladies had chicken pita and one had a veggie pita...all said "great"!

Susan had their feta bruschetta, which was yummy!  And their home made hummus....yes, we did share!



We headed back to Verna's house for one of her special desserts and we were greeted by Bandit!  Well, actually he was waiting for the dessert to be served!  

Verna  had the table setting for us, which was so very pretty.  She is a wonderful quilter and does beautiful Heirloom work!  

Verna made an Orange cream Meringue pie that was so good.  Just the perfect end to a wonderful afternoon....

I even had a birthday song and got to blow out the candle with a wish!!

AND in addition, the ladies gave some great presents!!

Just fyi...this wine glass holds more than 5 oz. but that's ok!  This way Bob will think I'm being good in just having one glass of wine!  HA


I am so lucky to have been introduced to these ladies several years ago and to have them remain my friends to this day.  

As it turned out on my BD, Bob was under the weather with the start of 'the' cold that is making the rounds.  Actually, I was fine with not eating out so I took the girls with me for a drive to Publix, did some shopping then walked the girls around the complex...came home and did some sewing....then I made chili for dinner (in  my instant pot of course!)...it was a very relaxing and pleasant day!  And I hope to have many more!!

When it rains....it pours!

OK, weather is actually beautiful here in Florida!  The "when it rains...it pours" is refering to when you patiently (or impatiently) are waiting for items you ordered online to arrive!  And  then you have all your orders and project arrive the same day!

Well, my orders are almost all here!!!  I received my Setacolor paints, my yarn and have one more order of dyes to arrive soon.  And in additon.... Susan, Verna and I went fabric shopping this past Saturday so I could  make a purchase (yes, I bought fabric!) to make a quilt for a gift. 

So now...what project do I start to work on!  I've gone from only having my online class lessons to do and only with limited supplies to having my yarn and fabric and paints.  Today I decided to use the Setacolor paints that arrived and do another lesson!  woohoo....

First layer....

This was the end result for my first 'playtime today'.  I have to say I've never been more happy with the results of using my stencils. 

  This had two layers of stencils on it...again using a bronze and yellow.

I added a mix of leftover paints...you can see there is a little green in it too!   Waste not...want not!  Right!

Not all the colors I chose are great but for the most part I am happy and I do love the orange palette  (remember my hex's  I  love orange, purple and turquoise !).  Think I will keep in this color range for awhile...until I run out and need to order more paints!  Yikes! 

Yes, I'm still loving Hilary's online class...learning so much!!!! 

Next up to start on my knitting project! 

Dye Painting Stencils

We are still having beautiful weather here in Florida!  Actually, my kind of weather.  It's in the 50's but with the sun it feels like 70!  Fine with me...so much so I did my "MIP" (Make It Personal online class with Hilary B.") today!  I'm going to show the original piece first and the over dyed piece.

First up

This is the stencil piece I did last week.


 I'm still waiting for my paints but after today I know I need to order some dyes!  I brought a few with me but....I'm not sure what color(s) I want to work with and the dyes I brought aren't exciting me too much!  But here are my results of dyeing on top of my stencil papers.

I overdyed the piece with blue violet

I used purple violet and lapis....hmmmmmmm  Similar to the first piece.  Nothing earth shattering but not bad.

Keep in mind I was using cheap acrylic paints to stencil with..didn't have my order yet so these were stenciled using cheap acrylic paints.

 I'm sure this piece can be used somewhere!  Or stenciled over, again!

 These are the original stenciled pieces. 




I think the next  overdyed pieces are the best!!!  I used pretty much the same dye colors (violet, lapis, and one other!) to over dye the orange papers.

I'm quite happy with this collection and they will all go well together in a piece.  I'm thinking I like the purple/orange combo are in my color wheel! 

Yep...I need to order more dyes!  YIKES!!!

I like the way the stencil  pattern shows up.  I love geometric patterns so these are right up my alley!!

And my papers I blotted the pieces with...these turned out pretty cool and I should be able to stencil or over dye these as well!

I am having so much fun with Hillary's class and learning so much!  If you get the opportunity to take her online class, I would highly recommend it!!!!  Unless you will be in the UK you could take her class in person!  That would be awesome!


I am sharing my work but I won't share what we're learning!!  I know folks will understand...no point me/us paying for a class and then sharing all the tips and what we are learning. 



So until I get to play some more....I hope you enjoy seeing I am working again!!!  Now to go order some more dyes and paints!!!  Oh yeah, I'm still waiting for my yarn to arrive!!!!  I'll be keeping UPS and USPS busy this winter!!!

Day 2 - Stencil work

My 'day 2' wasn't as successful as my Day 1 of stenciling...due to my experimenting!  I'm still waiting for my Setacolor paints and I got bored working in the yellows.  I had the bright idea of adding some fiber reactive dye powder to the cheap acrylic paints along with some pouring medium!  DUH! 

Talk about a thick paint...who knew!  Obviously not me!  HA  And I used some different stencils!
I was surprised with how bright the green turned out as I used Robin Egg Blue dye powder!  And did I mention how thick this paint was!! 

So I scratched that paint and started over using the 3 different shades of yellow and orange(s) I had.

Nothing fantastic but a great learning experience.  I am really excited for this week as we'll be overdyeing our stenciled papers!  How cool is that! 

I also ordered/downloaded a new knitting pattern from Berroco. 

  I think it's really cute and it uses a totally different yarn than I've used before.  Now to wait for another order to arrive!!!!!  My patience is wearing thin....I'm quite bored....tried to work on several different projects but I don't have all my supplies...ugh...hope the yarn gets here soon!!  Hope my paints get here soon!!!!

First lesson with Hilary!

I mentioned in my last post the online class I'm taking with Hilary Beattie from the UK.  The class is a monthly/one year study to learn a variety of surface design techniques.  I'm quite excited.  Only problem, with just arriving in Florida, I don't have all the supplies I normally bring with me! 


I had to order some paints and architecture paper, which should be here by next Friday.....But I did have some Mixed Media sheets so I just grabbed two to print on along with some cheap acrylic paints.  So guess what I did!
 

Our first lesson from Hilary was using stencils. 

This is the stencil I was going to print with but another lady in our group used it and her work was beautiful!  Figured mine wouldn't look as good so I elected to use a different stencil.

This was the geometric stencil I decided to use.  I have used This stencil gets a lot of use from me.  It worked great with h Solar Fast but the stencil is stained.  Doesn't hurt it but it looks bad!  HA

 This is a Mary Bath Shaw's stencil I purchased several years ago.

I started with a dark orange first then a yellow paint, which I added some fluid medium to.

This is the second pass....using the yellow













Next I had a pumpkin acrylic paint I mixed with the orange then I added leftover yellow and orange.

And my 2nd finished stenciled piece. 

All in all I'm quite happy with just the two pieces I did.  Looking forward to getting my Setacolor paints and other paper to print on!!  It's wonderful to see some of the work the others have done in our class.  Very inspiring!!!! 

We're here!

Whew!  What a trip south!  We arrived in Florida on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. after speeding down I-75 for 2 1/2 days along with the thousands of other travelers!  This is our 14th year, leaving on the same date and we have never had the amount of traffic nor the speed folks were driving.  Bob usually has the cruise on 73 but had to up it to 75!  And we were still being passed!!!  I give my hubby credit because that type of driving is very nerve racking, especially at that pace, consistently.

Sunday, I drove to Inverness to meet my sister and my niece, Kelli.  I haven't seen Kelli since 1987 when my son had his graduation party!  It was great to see her and meet her friend, John.  They were college school mates back in the day.

We also had the annual New Year's Day party to go to which was very nice and we got to see our Florida friends again.  Our hosts were John and Marilyn who always do such a wonderful job.  Food and friends!  How much fun is that!

Marilyn made these with Irish Cream and other goodies!!!  She called them 'shooters'...and they were delicious!  But only three of us had room to taste them!  But I know where the leftovers are!


 I've been unpacking, doing laundry and visiting the grocery store five times as of today!!!  Geezzz   Today I'm headed to get my roots dyed!  And they really need it!

I am also really excited about an online class for learning a varity of surface design techniques.  This class is being taught by Hilary Beattie!  I've followed Hilary for a few years now and after our first video and lesson plan(s), I am totally impressed with her organization!  Our class is for one year with lessons, videos and a FaceBook group where we can show our work and ask for critiquing. 

Our first 'homework' is working with stencils.  I'll be showing my work on my blog throughout the year.  I'm quite excited....but I first need to find and gather all my stencils and paints! 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS! 

When you're bored it's hex time! Or is it knitting time!

I've been bored at night with no hand work so I pulled out some of my hex's I had packed away.  I just can't sit at night watching TV.  Have have to be busy.  HA

I am adding white and some pattern fabrics to this collection..what am I making, you ask?  Well, I have NO idea!  It's busy work!  I get bored, remember!

I have also been looking at a few knitting patterns....this is a really cute sweater on Craftsy.com. 

I would knit this in a cream or white...isn't it cute!!
The reviews are mixed on the instructions...some say even an experienced knitter had a problem with them.  Then another person will say "no problem...well written"....hmmmmm  I think it's a chart which may have caused issues with some...I'll wait until we get to Florida and I may just try to order the pattern. 

And, I wish I saved the blog where someone posted a link for these adorable knitted rabbits!  Thank you whoever!  How cute is she!!!  They have pigs, elephants and rabbits...so adorable!  I am going to purchase a pattern or two. 

I 've gone to the Little Cotton Rabbits web site and to her blog.  This is a link to her Facebook page...and here is her blog and then all the patterns for her little animals! 

I say "her" because I didn't find her name yet!  But it doesn't matter...her patterns are adorable and from the reviews, instructions are spot on!

I will definitely be making a few of these while in Florida...well, that's my plan...if I have time between buds, art work, dinners out, and of course, my margaritas!