Honest I have been busy!

Can't believe I haven't posted in days!!  I know I have been busy at home and on the road!  I'm working - slowly but surely! - on my beaded bird!  I forgot how much time sewing on tiny beads takes!

This is the bird, which I printed onto a Wash-Away Applique sheet. I forgot to add this step in my original post:  The Wash-away sheet has a fusible on the back of the sheet.  After I print (using my ink jet printer) I then fuse this onto a piece of pellon -( medium weight I think!)...same pellon I use for my fiber cards.   Then I stitched it onto a piece of fabric so I can work from my Q snap frame.  This keeps the beaded piece from being distorted when all the beading is complete.

And this is what I have finished so far!  I do enjoy 'painting' with beads!  That's how I look at it...just because I can't paint with normal paints!

I'm going to try and keep track of the hours on this one.  Yep...we are always asked, aren't we!  Does it matter...no...but it's fun to look back on and it's a good gauge for project deadlines, which I have on this piece!



Sunday was a beautiful day so off to Rainbow Springs for Cracker Days!  What fun!!!  And Kalee came along too!!  She loved all the dogs and people...yes, she thought they were there to see her!

It was a wonderful day and I love just walking around the park.  I also met up with Annie, who is a weaver I met the 1st year we came to Ocala.  She was doing a demo at a festival and invited me to a 'weavers guild meeting' back in 2005.  No, I don't weave but the group was very diverse - quilters, knitters, etc.  The group is now disbanded but it was fun to see what everyone was working on.  And it was fun to meet up with Annie again!

The waterfalls are wonderful and there are several of them around the park.

Just a fun time....but now it's back to beading and of course dinner out!!  It's Thursday, which means "the gangs all here"!

I'm reading War & Peace!

I started to read Stephen King's version of War & Peace! Yikes! I had ordered this on CD but come to find out it's on TWO sets of cd's over 30 discs. I was also 40 something on the list so a few weeks ago I saw the library had ordered the large print book and I put in my 'order'. I was able to pick it up on Monday..yippee!

I'm not kidding about the size of this book..check out the number of pages! I did get to start it last night while cooking dinner and it's got me hooked already!! Geezzzz that's the problem with 'reading' a book vs listening to a book on tape. I can't bead or sew while reading. I'll have to divide my time up as I really want to read this book.
Yep, it was a sleepy day on Sunday...no, the dog isn't dead...just resting. He was one of the visitors at Cracker Days that Carol and I attended at Rainbow Springs Park. This is an annual event and fortunately it was a beautiful day out. So after stopping to get our Starbucks coffee off we went to enjoy a day out.
One of two waterfalls in the park! Just a beautiful sight. Now if I had Stephen King's book with me I would have been all set!
Yes, there were some azalea's out in bloom!


How's this for a photo!
My daughter will be proud of me for taking this photo! You can see the water from any view in the park. it's just beautiful and so nice to be outside walking in the sunshine.
Kayaker's take advantage of the beautiful weather and water at Rainbow Springs Park. I talked to the folks and they said they love to kayak by the moonlight. On a full moon, they said you can see to the bottom of the water and hear the frogs all night long!
Just to show how the vendors are set up outside. It really does remind you of what it might have looked like way back when. There was a young man who did wood carvings that were fantastic! His name is Alex Vichot and you can see some of his carvings here. Check out some of his tables and wall carvings. This kid is good! I would have bought one carving he had of an Indian but it was just too large to try and put in the car...unless I leave Gracie here with Larry or Bob!
This is the rabbit lady who spins the fur from her rabbits. The rabbits do need to have their fur plucked more than once a year and the timing always seems to work. She makes some beautiful items from the fur she spins and weaves. Amber loves to see pics of this lady. Not sure Nick cares but I think he likes the rabbit!
This was the rabbit the lady was plucking the fur from one of her rabbits. This rabbit just sits so quiet and nothing seemed to phase him.
Hmmm I don't see my food processor or coffee grinder! Must be in the tent!

This was the man explaining about all the utensils and tools they used back in 'the day'.

OK, this was kinda gross...these men had some meat hung on a line and were cutting off chunks of it and putting in a pot to cook...glad they didn't ask us to dinner! Check out the dog looking for a handout!
Funny, I loved camping out with my horses and friends and nothing tasted better than food we cooked outside. BUT, my women friends and I were pretty good about making sure everything was refrigerated and cooked 'clean'..I know, camping outside and clean don't seem to go together but we did it!

The breed of this horse is actually called a Cracker Horse which is a Spanish breed. The history on this little horse is quite interesting. Check out the web site for the Florida Cracker Horse Association here.

This is a very short video (make sure your sound is on) of how they used the whip to make the 'gun shot' sound. Pretty cool. They usually had someone doing demo's but we didn't see any of the demo's at the time we were by their 'home'.