We're here!

Kalee watching Ocala Palms residents this a.m.

We're here!!!  We arrived around 3 Saturday afternoon.  We did run into one traffic snag and had to sit for about an hour...but we played with our smart phones, along with everyone else sitting and waiting.  Kinda funny actually!  Times have changed haven't they!

You can see in the picture all our electronics we have in the car!  Nav system, two smart phones (plugged in to recharge) and I'm sure my Ipod is there somewhere as well!!  Makes the trip go faster playing with our toys.  

All in all it was a good trip down with no other issues than the one traffic hold up.  Kalee did quite well in the hotel and she slept the entire way in her crate.  Once we got to the house, she ran and ran...almost like she remembered being here last winter.  I did forget her bell at the hotel but I called today and they're mailing it to us!  I found an bell/ornament at Walgreens yesterday so we hooked that  up to the door in between time.  Kalee has always been so good at ringing the bell when she wants out so we want to make sure the bell is still there for her!

So this is what greeted us upon arrival to Larry & Jan's house!  

 

This is one of the last hibiscus left on the bush.  Isn't it beautiful.  


Kalee sat outside this morning just watching cars and people go by.  The backyard is fenced for her so we hook her up with leash/collar so she can also go out the front door and watch folks walk.  That's what they do around here!  It's either riding the golf cart or walking!  We do both!
Oh yea...Bob does the golfing 7 days a week!  Not bad for a 73 year old fellow!  Just hope his body holds up and it's his love...yes, I'm second on his list but that's ok!  I can compete with golf...well, he has to come home to eat, thank goodness!

So off to get my sewing room set up!  That takes me about an hour or two but I like to have it resemble where my supplies are at similar to home.  Just takes me a few minutes to remember!  Thank goodness for pictures!    

 

 

Merry Christmas from our families to yours!

Thanks again, Harry!

I mentioned in a previous post how much I love receiving my Christmas card from my buddy, Harry!  I've saved every card he's sent me (you can read/see my previous post here).    I just love this year's card too!!!  Isn't it great!  I can see so much in this card...sure would be fun to use as inspiration for an art piece wouldn't it! 

Thanks, Harry!! 

And, no, you haven't sent me this one before!!!


Today, I did the final scrubbing of Gracie's cage.  I like to have it nice and clean so when we come home, she can go right in her cage.  I use Press 'n Seal to cover the edges of her cage base, which really helps in keeping it clean too.  I've found this a lot easier to rip pieces off her cage and replace rather than having to scrub it daily!  Works for me!  I also made some sugar cookies today and did a load of laundry.  Kalee and I made a run into town and did some walking in Davison.  Cold...cold...cold!!!  We still have about an inch of snow but it's drifting because of the high winds.

Tomorrow, I'll be making some dishes in preparation for kids coming Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I do love having everyone over!!!  It's always hard to say good bye to the kids and especially to my best bud, Amber!  Nick could care less that I was leaving, although he has shed a few tears through the years as well!  Always makes me feel good and bad at the same time!!  With SKYPE and being so busy in Florida, the time does go by quickly. 

So off to read some blogs and get ready for the Lions game!  They play @ 7:30 tonight!  Which is good...gives me all day tomorrow to finish off my 'to do' list!

Well, today was finishing up packing my sewing and art supplies...and I'm happy to say that I finished it all!  Yippee!!!

These are pics of all the 'stuff' I have to pack in the back seat and floor of the SUV.  Most of this will go on the floor as I put the space saver bags with our clothes on the seats to give the bird and dog a better view as we travel.  Kalee is in her crate and Gracie is in her travel crate too!  But they both can see out and, in fact, like to look out the windows! 

The first year we headed to Florida, I think I packed up every different media I had as well as ALL my paints, dyes, beads, threads and fabric!  I've learned to not do that through the years and now have it down pat as far as what I need or will use while we're in Florida. 

I made chicken chili this a.m. and will bake home made cornbread along with salad for dinner.  My neighbor had knee repair surgery this morning, so I'll take them over some dinner today.  Must be the time for surgery, as our SIL, Jeff, is having the same knee repair surgery on Friday!  I'm sure all will go well for Jeff too.  This is his 2nd knee repair but he's a golfer so now's the time to get this taken care of! 

A belated BD wish!

Yesterday was my hubby's BD!    We celebrated by eating at a local Mexican restaurant, of course!  We really had a very good dinner and the margarita's weren't bad either!  Yes, those are the big ones!! 

We kept our waitress entertained as we took pictures of each other throughout dinner.   No kidding!  I think we took about five or six pictures each!  Eyes were closed half the time and it wasn't due to the margarita's!  Our waitress kept saying "you two are so funny".  Hmmmmm  Well, we aim to please!

So belated Happy Birthday, Bob!  Love ya!  Now, we have to get back to work preparing for our Florida trip!

Tribute To Peter Max

I finished Peter Max yesterday and handed off to Carol (curator of our Master's exhibit) today at lunch.  Both Mary and Carol seemed to like the piece and I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out myself. 

Picture above is a detail shot.  Yes, I just had to burn some of the Tyvek!!  My buddies at the fiber meeting last Monday "encouraged" me to not burn the center of it.  I do value their opinion so I only burnt the edges, which I'm happy with.  I didn't like it just a square. 

This is a picture of the back and label.

My thanks again to Rick Thiemke for allowing me to use his digital photo. 

Now onto deciding what to do for 'Dr. Seuss'!  Yep...Dr. Seuss...he has some great illustrations that are not part of his books.  I also have a design made up if I decide I want/need some hand work...it's another Peter Max but I'll do reverse applique on that one. 

and here are the 3 Musketeer's!  Or the 3 scarf ladies!  We met for lunch today...won't see my BFF's until the spring...so of course we had to have dessert!  It was a berry cobbler that was delish!  They also had Saunder's hot fudge cream puff...but we opted for the healthy fruit dessert instead.

So off I go to pack up some sewing supplies...no more machine work for me until Florida...then it will be my self portrait that's due the end of January!

Eye candy!

Talk about eye candy!  WOW!  This is a wood cut print done by Paul Roden & Valerie Lueth.  This piece reminds me so much of the prints by Ernst Haeckel.  I actually have the book Art Forms in Nature by Haeckel and have used some of the pictures for inspiration/doodling. 

You really need to check out the link above for Roden & Lueth...this piece is amazing! 

Today I'm going to try and finish up Peter Max.  I'm meeting with Carol and Mary on Monday for lunch so I'd like to take "Peter" with me and turn in to Carol.  I'm not sure where or when the next 'Masters' exhibit will be but at least my piece will be done.  I want to do another reverse applique technique from my Q Buddy, Susan, in a Peter Max style but it might take me two years to finish!  It's pretty labor intensive and I never work on just one 'piece' at a time...hence, I need the 2 years! 

And....my angel has a new home!  The angel charm was sent to me by Sherry, over at Createology a few weeks back.  The plug you see at the end holding her was something I found at the bead shop,  Beadin' Mon.  It fits into your audio slot on your phone or Ipod/etc.  Pretty cool, right!

So here she sits!  I get to look at her every day and think of Sherry!   Thanks you again, dear lady!!!  I'll take good care of 'my angel'! 

Off to sew!  If I can get my dog off my sewing table that is!

Memories.....

I met with my friend, Alice, yesterday for a nice, long lunch...and a HIGH calorie one at that...but that's another story!

Anyway, this is Alice and me (no, It's not Dolly Parton minus the boobs!)...check out my hair do!  This was at my son's wedding in '90...was that the look back then??...at least Alice was sane to not have the 'look'!  Geeeezzzzz  Alice looks as pretty today as she did back then.

Anyway, my cousin, Jimmy, passed away this past week, which is sad...I was going through some of the old photo's I had and found some that I'm sending his mom.  Inbetween, I found some of these in my 'horse' days!  What a hoot!  This picture was just sent to me from one of my horse pals.  Guess she was going through pics too!  This was at a fun show at the Davisburg fairgrounds in '78.  This was one of my best mares.  She produced really nice babies and pics follow of one of her paint foals.

This was one of the first Paint foals I raised.  The picture above is Mr. Love (haven't a clue why we named him that!) when he was a wealing.   I had entered him in the fall futurity so I would pony him daily to build him up.  The horse I'm on was a Tenesee Walker.
This was Mr. Love as a yearling!  He was really nice and we placed quite well in halter and color classes as a yearling and a 2yr old.

This was a foal I showed for my horse pal, Carol R.  She was a nice foal and actually from really good bloodlines. 













And these are pics from the 80's with my Aussie dog and my cockatiels!  I raised cockatiel's at that time.  The male bird sitting on top of my Aussie would actually 'preen' Calico's whiskers!  It was a hoot!

 Check out the 'skunk' hair color!  Yes, I'd bleach it myself...I couldn't do the back sooooo.......

This was Echo and he and Bob bonded when we got married.  I only have Gracie left now (blue front amazon) so no more raising babies. 

Well, off to mail Christmas packages and do some cleaning....I need my weekend to sew Peter Max!  Or else he won't get finished until Florida!

Wednesday, already???

I can't believe it's Wednesday already!!  Geezzzzz  I have something to do every day this week outside of the house with the exception of Friday!  Then I'm not going anywhere!!!

Last night I was watching a YouTube from Suzanne McNeil and saw these origami CC holders!  They're made with card stock or heavy weight paper...cute aren't they?  Good to doodle on too!  I think you could make your own fabric paper which would be cool....too many ideas and not enough time!!!

Well, maybe they don't look that cute in the pictures but I think they'd be fun for kids to make!  Easy that's for sure!

This is how the CC sits in the holder.  Actually both front and back will hold a card...library card...business card..whatever. 

Yes, I kill time in weird ways but a gals gotta do what a gals gotta do, right!

Today I have some errands to run before I head down and pick up kids from school...tomorrow is finishing up Christmas gifts (I hope!!) and meeting my bud, Alice, for lunch in between! 

Saturday Work!

I really want to start packing up some of my sewing and art supplies for Florida but have a few projects to finish before I can even think about that!  Actually, Bob and I don't even pack our clothes until the day before we leave!  I box up my sewing and art stuff a week or so before just so that's out of the way.  Guess we have it down pat now on what to take and not take!
I did finish another Tila bracelet, adding the clasp yesterday.  This one I'm keeping since it's in my colorway!

I also finished up some more snap bags yesterday.  The purple/blue bags are from my embroidered circle piece I showed about a month ago.  I had to buy another metal tape ruler as I used up the last one!  These are smaller to hold 'gift cards' in.  Not sure what folks will do with them after they spend the gift card!

The green one in the background started out like this pic below.  It is made of fabric samples from a swatch fabric sample book my sister sent me several years ago.  Yea, yea...it's that "waste not, want not" thing! 

Anyway, I wasn't happy with the stitching or the fine thread I used so I painted the feathers with some Luminere fabric paint a friend gave me.

The fabric paint takes your eye off the quilting and I think looks much better.  The picture above is before I stitched the sides up. 

And I think this is the last hot pad I have to make...at least I think  it is!  I have Christmas gifts on the pool table in the downstairs family area...so until I get everyone all put in their respective 'piles' I won't know how many more hot pads or snap bags I may need!  Yikes!  Hope I'm done!

Today I'm going to work on quilting Peter Max.  I did get the piece sandwiched last night after dinner so all I have to do is set up the machine for quilting.  Hope I don't mess it up!  I sure don't want to repaint another piece of Tyvek! 

Angels and Patchwork!

What a surprise I had in the mail the other day! 

This was from Sherry, one of my blog friends, over at Createology!  Sherry is a very generous person as you'll see when you read her blog. This isn't the first surprise I've rec'd from Sherry!  You can read and see my thread catcher Sherry sent me, on my post here.  I use my thread catcher all the time now!  Although, Bob says now he doesn't have all those thread pieces to "find his way"  to where I'm at!

I love my little angel and I'm actually going to put it on a hook that fits into my Smart Phone ear slot.  I'll post pics once I attach it.  Thank you Sherry!!!  You are a sweetheart!!! 

Yes, I've been working at night on my patchwork piece!  It is slow going but worth it...I hope!  I do have a few other projects to make before Christmas and hopefully Peter Max will get some work done on it this weekend as well. 

Still working on filling in some squares...I got bored so I started the next stitching below!

I'm adding more echo lines around these lines....just busy work!

Progress on Max

Here's my Peter Max painted on Tyvek fabric.  I did a post on where the design came from which you can read about here.  Today, I'm going through my fabric stash to find just the right background. If it's not in my stash I may have to just dye a piece.  I wasn't happy with the dye painting pieces I did.  I'll be using one of them for the backing so no waste there!  I'm still not sure if I'll cut the painted Tyvek square or just cut out the design itself and quilt to the background (& burn!).  But before I do any art stuff I have to take Kalee on her walk then I can play! 

Look what I won!!!

Look at the beautiful pin I won!!  This was a give-a-way on MarveLes Art Studios!  Leslie is one talented artist and I've so enjoyed reading her blog and seeing all the different media she works in! 

I have been behind blog reading off and on this past month so I was really surprised when Leslie sent me an email that I had won one of her pins! 

No sense in me repeating Leslie's description so I'll refer you to her blog post which describes this beautiful pin. While you are on this post go forward or backward to new or old posts just to see some of Leslie's artwork!  Amazing work!  I also enjoy seeing the area where Leslie lives!  My friends know that I'm a 'southwest' kinda gal so I'm always interested in her pictures of Montana!  Check out her Christmas card!!  Love it!!  It's by Carol Hagan and artist from Billings, Montana. 

 I'm going to wear the pin on my white car length coat that I wear on our way to and from Florida!  The pin should look great on the white!!!  THANK YOU, Leslie!!!  I love my pin!!!

And speaking of talented people...this is a Christmas card we received from my Florida friend, Peggy, who does paintings.  Her card is so delicate and beautiful.  I've posted before on Peggy and her hubby, Sammy (who does wood carvings).  So much talent that surrounds us!!!

So I'm off to roll my body in some of these unique items to see if some of their talent will rub off on my old body!!

Inspiration comes from many places

This is a piece I did back in 2002 for the MQAI traveling exhibit...theme was Oriental.  It's 20" x 24".

Just a little info on some of the techniques I used...being that I'm the technique queen...always want to try different techniques! 

The flowers were made by fusing fabric,wrong sides together,  then cutting out each petal; the center of each flower has beads sewn in with thin jewelery wire!  Yes, that was hard to sewn through the fabric but I did it!  I wanted the beads to bend different ways.
I used foiling for the 3 designs, couched gold metallic thread around the center piece and the 3 triangles and made the tassel with the same thread.  The branch under the flowers was hand appliqued and I hand quilted the background.   The Chinese letters were printed with black ink!  That was really scary painting and making sure I had them as correct as I could!

Now the story behind how I got my inspiration for this piece.  Years ago when I was emplyed with EDS, I worked with another EDS'er on the GM account.  His name is Harry Yee....Harry was a hoot to work with and a good worker besides being fun to work with.  Harry and I have kept in touch all these years and I have every Christmas card he sent me. 

These are some of Harry's cards I've saved.  I just love each of them...so colorful and some so inspirational. 

So when the theme "Oriental" was announced for 2002, I went to my greatest source of Oriental pictures.  This was the card which turned out to be the  inspiration for my piece. 

I remember at the time, I wanted to put the Chinese writing on my quilt but wanted to make sure I knew what they said.  I emailed or called Harry, assuming he would know!  NOT!  He had to ask his mom or grandma (can't remember who) to translate for us.  I don't remember now but I think he had something to do with good luck, good wishes...

Sadly, Harry's father passed away on Saturday.   My heart goes out to Harry and his family.  I'm posting his picture from his facebook page.   It is a sad time I know but as Harry said " Dad will whisper to me and say, everything will be OK....and it will be."   

My thoughts are with you Harry!!!

Brag Time!

I love surrounding myself with talented friends and I enjoy bragging about them as well!  For those who are AQS members you'll see this article in the current AQS magazine.  It's my friend, Susan, with her stunning quilt!!!  Susan won 1st place at the AQS Des Moines show!!!  Congrats, my friend!!!!!  Can't wait to get to Florida and help you spend your winnings!