Honestly, I have been doing art work!

First off...CONGRATS to my friend Susan! Her stained class piece has been juried in to the IQA Spring show. I can't show the quilt (until she wins!) but I'm showing one of her quilts she finished a year or so ago. This is ALL hand pieced and hand quilted. I believe it's 200+ different ways for triangles. I know that's not a correct title but you need to click on the picture to get the full beauty of her work and workmanship. Anyway, I'm really excited for Susan. Just wait until you see the piece that was accepted! It's AMAZING!!!







It's hard to follow work by Susan! Just remember this is just my sample piece I'm working on for my online embroidery class with Susan Sorrell. We're on lesson 3 and doing some basic embroidery stitches. It's nice to have some of Susan's insight on embroidery stitching and suggestions for changing them up by elongating or not being so 'perfect' with your stitches.

It's hard for me to NOT try and make the stitches all match up, yada, yada...but then it gives me a good excuse when they don't!



We'll be getting lesson 4 this week and I hope to sign up for another of Susan's classes.

Today is finishing up the edges on my fiber Valentines so I can get in the mail the end of this week. Tomorrow I'm going to post some of the finished cards for friends that don't use the Internet to look at my blog.

AND my friend Carol and I are signing up for a cooking class at The Dish! We are both pretty excited about the class but it's not until the end of February. It's called the Fundamentals of cooking. Along with wine (of course!) here is our menu and what the chef will be cooking for us!

• French Onion Soup
• Classic Caesar Salad
• Chicken Piccata
• Mocha Custard with crème anglaise

Sounds good doesn't it!! I can't wait!

Yes, I do have talented friends! I've shown some of the watercolor my friend Carol T has done on my blog before. Here are some of her pieces from her Joggles online class with Jane LaFazio. I do follow Jane's blog and their current 'on location' watercolor is being done at a coffee shop. Mary and Carol sat at Border's cafe yesterday and did some drawings. Can't wait to see what they did! These are from Carol's 1st lesson, which was 'keys'. Aren't they great!

And look at what Carol made me for my BD gift! It's a really nice tote bag which I'm sure I can fill up on my adventures! Thanks, Carol!

More stitching today then I'll be posting pics of my work! Temp is 52, a little over cast today but should be warmer than yesterday with temps in the low 70's. Perfect weather for me! Bob is golfing but he's having problems with his muscle in the leg he had hip replacement in. Hip joint has never bothered him, just the muscle. Sure hope he gets feeling good again. He had about 3 days of no pain, no nothing! That was nice (for both of us!). Enjoy your Sunday, I sure will.

Lucky Me!

Lucky me!!! Yep, I am lucky!! I left a comment on Mortira's, Inspirational Beading, blog. And today I received an email saying I won Mortira's tutorial on her circle peyote pendant. It's really a nice tutorial!!! The instructions are well written and Mortira has included pictures for each step, which makes it very easy to follow. I'm really excited about trying this new technique out but have to finish some projects before I get into beading. You really should visit Mortira's blog and her web page. If you can't get inspired from her work, posts or tutorials, then I'm sorry my friend but nothing will inspire you! I enjoy reading each and every post Mortira puts on her blog and from time to time I drool on my keyboard! She is so giving at sharing her beading knowledge and experiences. Thank you Mortira!!
I've have been working on other gifts so I haven't been able to post any pictures! But soon, I hope!!! I do have four fiber cards made and only 16 to go!!! Then on to my other projects!! Today I'm heading off to my favorite bead shop here in Ocala, The Bead Strand! Gee, I better check to see if Bob left me his credit card!

Wine Tasting

Wait! Where's the wine, you say? Well, there was wine at the wine tasting we ladies went to tonight at The Dish - Artisinal Dish but the food was over the top! I expected to have some wine with cheese or maybe some fancy appetizer but this place outdid itself. They had sliders (made from their own Wagyu and American-Kobe beef raised here in Ocals) w/leeks/blue cheese/horseradish sauce; risotto w/mushroom and cream sauce; stir fry vegetables (again all raised here in Ocala and fresh!); blood oranges w/goat cheese; Shrimp wellington, just to name a few of the dishes!
The picture above is one of the two chefs/owners of The Dish. The cooking area is set up for cooking classes so you can see what they are cooking while you drink your wine! Here's another view of the kitchen area. That's the Risotto in the pan on the right!!
This is the cooking area where we filled up on food after filling up on wine! It doesn't look like many people but the place was packed. At times, hard to get a taste of wine!
This was some of the fruit they had which was quite good.
They had two tables set up with wines from different countries. This vendor had information in picture frames and suggested we try the wines from left to right, which was quite nice. they provided lots of info. I did get a bottle of their Merlot.
This was the other vendor and again wines from Italy to Australia. Peggy bought two different wines from this vendor. So I'm going to take my wine to her house so we can try the different wines (again!). like we need an excuse!
These are my friends Peggy, Sharon and Carol (too bad you can't see their faces!). They were getting some information on the prepared foods the deli offers on a daily basis. I've bought their crab cakes twice for Bob and I for dinner and they were excellent!
Just a picture of some of the deli offerings. It's a very clean deli and the food is gourmet cooking! Only problem it's only 2.5 miles from the house! That's called trouble for me!
All in all we had a really nice evening. My hubby was our chauffeur and dropped us off and picked us up so we could enjoy our wine tasting! Too bad I didn't sneak some food for him! Maybe next time! And yes, I hope there's another wine tasting on my agenda before we head home!

Quick Post

Just a quick post. For those who know of Melanie Testa and her wonderful art work, please read the blog post here. If you don't recognize her, I'm sure you would her book, Inspired to Quilt.

Hands are busy, blog isn't!

Yes, my hands have been busy but my blog hasn't been! I've finished lesson 2 of my embroidery class with Susan Sorrell.
The pic on the left is a screen printed piece I did a few years ago. Actually, in Susan's first lesson, she had us stamp/paint our own fabric. I've had two of my screen printed fabrics I brought to Florida, so thought I'd use one of them. Susan did comment that the fabric background would work but I'd have to play with the color of threads. Both of these pictures show the detail of the hand stitching I'm doing. It's given me an opportunity to study colors for sure. I'm using dk green and dk rust/orange threads on my piece. Susan recommended I now try a lighter shade which I'm going to do for my 3rd lesson, which I just printed out.

I've also been working on my fiber Valentines but I can't post pics until after my friends have received them! You can see a peak of just some of them on my blog here. I'm combining machine and hand stitching along with painting on fabric my 'doodles' so it's taking some time but it does make good handwork while watching TV!

And of course we've been busy with friends! It was Tony & Carol's anniversary this past Friday, so we met up with them and L&J, S&P for dinner at one (there are so many favorites!) of our favorite fish restaurants.

The restaurant gave them a slice of key lime pie. Stumpknockers has the BEST fish, shrimp and pie. Bob and I are trying to be good and not eat dessert out this year. In fact, I haven't even been making dessert at home! That's a first for me!

There's a story behind the picture below. Instead of bread at a fish restaurant, they give you crackers! The guys seem to dive into the bowl of crackers as soon as we get seated. In fact, Bob ended up with cracker wrappers in his pocket (thanks to Larry!). I just had to get a picture of all the cracker wrappers.

So today, I'm taking off with Carol to run to JoAnn's and others stops. We're aren't gone that long and the stores are only 6 miles away so we can hit lots of places in a short amount of time! Of course I'll be watching the Steelers play later today! And also hoping for Green Bay to win! I should get lots of hand work done today!!

Sister's are great!

My sis and me!! What a great day I had yesterday. I left in the a.m. and drove to Apollo Beach, which is only a little over 100 miles from here to visit my sister. They just had a house built in one of the Deb Webb communities and their house is wonderful!

After our hello's, we put "ma ma" (Nancy's mom who lives with them) and I in the car and we drove to the club house in their community. Very impressive for sure but I was most impressed with the 'Coffee Room'! Who knew!! I had to take a picture of the coffee machine which makes lattes and any other coffee you'd like! I'd buy in this community just for the coffee room! Yes, I'm a coffee addict!

This is just a small shot of the huge pool! It's like being at a resort. They also had a resistance pool which is in the back left. The Del Webb communities are really beautiful and are built to allow folks to not have to leave the community!

These are some shots from the house, as we sat in the Lanai. Talk about peaceful. Bob would be asleep in 2 min. if he sat out here. It's really so different from having a house on the golf course. I think I'd prefer this setting even though we LOVE Ocala Palms, I think this setting is fantastic.

Ducks, turtles and birds galore! And yes, the occasional croc! But that's ok, they have to live somewhere!

The three Musketeers! Nancy, my sis and me!

This is where we had lunch. I was treated to the BEST hamburger!! Yes, my friends, I ate a burger and fries!!! AND I ate the entire meal!!!!

I was treated to my 'last meal' at this great grill on the beach. We had margarita's (Nancy and I), my sis had some cranberry and vodka drink and even 'MaMa' had wine! The wine was two for one and 'MaMa' seemed to enjoy both of them. I feel bad I didn't get a picture of her too!

I had one of the best days visiting with my 'sis'. We laugh every time we're together and just have a great time. Nancy is delightful and always a hoot as well. Even 'MaMa' was a so sweet and she's lucky to have my sis and Nancy to take care of her.

So a HUGE thank you, MAW!!! Love you lots!! And thanks for a wonderful day (and a blog post!). Now I'm off for my bike ride to work off the burger. If I don't post for a week, it just means I'm still riding my bike trying to work off the calories!

My BD gift(s) and projects

Don't these look good!! Well, they are!! Chocolate covered oranges! My daughter sent these via Edible Arrangements on my BD! Who knew they even made deliveries on a Sunday! Dawn knows how much I love chocolate covered orange slices in the candy stores so these are the next best thing!
And just to have a few more pounds added to my body one of our friends here in the community DELIVERED a carrot cake yesterday!! What a surprise and so nice of Verna. Verna is a gourmet cook, trust me on this. We've eaten dinner and desserts she's made and they are delicious! Well, the carrot cake is outstanding!! Bob's so funny..he's like "how come this is SO good?". I told him it's because she doesn't use egg beaters, no fat cream cheese, splenda and all those other low fat/no fat/sugar free ingredients I use! What a hoot!

So what did Bob (ok, what did I!) buy me/myself for my BD?? Yep, I bought a Tsuineko workstation (overstock.com along with my 20% coupon)!! Now, I've tried these inks before and thought they were nice/ok so why did I buy them? Well, they are VERY similar to Setacolor (diluted) transparent paint but I liked the different colors and the consistency with them already diluted, so to speak. OK, so finding them on overstock.com at the cheapest price along with 20% off and only $2 for shipping just added to my desire!










I really like the the bullet and pointed brush stix's that come with it. The ink glides on so easy and consistently. I did pick up some of the bullet stix's at Michael's last week to use on my fiber cards with the setacolor paint, which worked pretty good. But again, diluted setacolor can be diluted differently each time unless you measure, which I don't do. I like to use setacolor right from the bottle for darker coverage so it's nice to have different options with inks and paints.

So here's a peak at what's keeping me busy during the day and at night! I'm combining machine stitching, hand stitching and painting my Zentangle hearts I drew a few weeks ago. I scanned my drawings and then printed out on fabric. I have a long way to go since I'm making between 18-20 of these!
All the black lines are from the printer. The colored areas are hand painted either with fabric paint, Setacolor or my new inks!
This one is ready for some hand stitching.
This one is ready to be cut up and made into a fiber card.
Another beautiful day today (mid 60's and sunny), although we had rain yesterday, so no golf or bike riding for me! I did ride 1.90 miles today!! I'm trying to get up to 2 miles.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to Apollo Beach to spend the day with my sister! They just had a home built this past fall and I haven't seen her in over 5 years!!! Yes, we email and phone chat and she reads my blog but it will be SO good to see her in person!!! I'm really looking forward to the day. I'm sure I'll have lots of pics to post!

Another day, another BD!

OK, I just love the "Listen Doll" greeting cards. I think they're a hoot and so I sent myself a BD card today! You really need to go to their website and read some of the cards! Last year several of us stood around a greeting card stand just cracking up reading them!


These are some of the gifts I got from the kids. Actually Dawn gave me my Scentsy candle at Christmas! Scentsy Warmers use a low-watt bulb to melt a scented wax block slowly. There's no flame to worry about (which Bob is always paranoid about!). I only used two small pieces of the wax and the house smelled so good. I didn't bring the candle with me as Larry/Jan have tons of candles and infusion sets around the house. At least I know the house won't smell like 'old folks' home when we get back to Michigan. It only takes a few minutes to put a wonderful smell in the house!

And my 2nd present from Darrin and Kris is the Polaroid PoGo printer! This is the coolest little printer that you link wireless to your camera! How cool is that! At Christmas, Dawn printed out our family Christmas pictures on 2" x 3" paper! I couldn't figure out how she did it then she showed me this mobile printer. I'm going to try it out tonight when we go to dinner for my BD. How much fun is that!!

So today this 64 year old biked 1.5 miles in 11:56!! My friend Peggy was with me and I know it was due to her power biking that I was able to make this time. On Friday I did 1.5 in 12:43 and I thought that was great! I'm hoping to get up to 2 miles this coming Thursday. It's another beautiful day with temps going to upper 60's. Sun is shining, Bob's golfing and I'm waiting for the kids to SKYPE! I already talked with Dawn this a.m. so my day can't get much better.

January Warped Weavers Meeting 2011

Today was the Warped Weavers meeting!

And to greet us at the door today was!!! OK, the eyes look a little strange but that's due to the
photographer and not the dog! He's a sweetheart! Thanks to Betty for hosting us today at the weaver's meeting.

It was so much fun to see all the ladies again! They are so much fun and are so sharing of information and providing inspiration!


Betty showed 3 books on Zentangles! For those who aren't familiar, this is a fancy name for doodling and Betty is hooked. She even has a large zipper case with all her pens and papers to take with her at a moments notice! This is a very relaxing technique and very creative at the same time!


These are two woven pieces that Betty brought for show and tell. They are so delicate and soft. Just beautiful!















But my favorite piece that Betty made is below. I've mentioned to several of my fiber friends a woven piece that Betty did several years ago. She was/is considering making a purse out of this piece, but I think it would just make a perfect shawl. I love the pattern and the colors. I remember when Betty started this piece at Cracker Days a few years ago. I just wanted everyone to see the piece that I talk about often.
Caryl has been busy taking an online class from Joggles.com . She actually made this to give to her daughter for a present. Isn't she cool! Check out the horse! The entire piece was made from foam and paper mache.
















I think Caryl did a wonderful job and check out all the detail on the lady! I wonder if she'll give it back to her daughter!

Caryl also brought the project that we'll be making at our February meeting. She'll be sending out the supply list but start saving your old envelopes ahead of time!


















We had a new member today, Marilyn from Ocala. Actually, Marilyn was Pat K.'s show and tell today!

Check out some of the pieces that Marilyn brought!




You should be able to click on the pics below to see some more of Marilyn's pieces. I tired to put them in panorama to save on space.

Very nice work!

And Mary has not been sitting around eating bon bons! Knitting and felting has kept her busy!! The pic on the left is a felted cell phone case. And the piece on the right is rightly named "an ear bra"! Go figure!

Yep, the pieces above were all made by Mary! busy lady, right!

The piece on the right was a gift by Pat McL's sister (or was it SIL?). Anyway, she's just starting to weave! What a nice gift!








And our very own Queen Of Purple, brought some show and tell but they weren't purple! hmmmm Must be those little rug rats are finally getting to her. In fact, I didn't hear how many more days she has until she retires! This is a quilled sheep Jan received as a gift. It's really cute!

And this is a paper snowflake?? At least that's what it looked like to me. I think they made a smaller version of this at last month's meeting. Cool isn't it! It's made up of six pieces of paper.

Our very own Theo made these very pretty gloves. They're a gift for her grand daughter up north. So delicate!

For those weavers not at the meeting, you can see what I brought by clicking here to see my doodles; here to see the small quilted bag and here to see my Bead Journals from 2010 (minus my Dec. tree, which should be finished by next month).

All in all we had a great day of show and tell, food and great conversation! It was really nice to be back in the 'fold' again!

Temp was 68 on my way home from the meeting and is suppose to remain the same for the next few days so Bob's happy! As long as I don't have snow outside my window I'm happy!