Hanging in there

I found this little fellow the other day living on a rosebush I trimmed; he's not typical of frogs we see regularly. I enjoyed his moves and think I know how he feels, holding on for dear life.

Gardening in Texas is not for the faint of heart. If nothing else we've got fire ants & mosquitoes. I'm pretty much a fair weather gardener so most of my waking hours have been spent outside lately as this is the prime window of opportunity to get everything in shape before the wicked Texas heat comes bearing down. My energies, creative or otherwise, are outwardly focused for now.
We did take a break to camp in Austin over Mother's Day weekend. The highlight was brunch done by the kids on Sunday morning topped off by a nice massage. Definitely enjoyed.

This past Sat. we did lots of outside work with Ashley & Frank's help and then we took a break to visit the Marquis' homestead in Stoney. They were having an auction (lots of great collectibles) but my favorite treat was the gardens. I think June's been working on them 20+ years and it shows. Wouldn't this fence be great for rust dyeing?

My birthday was midmonth and I had multiple celebrations with family and friends. I like Karl's idea that you get to celebrate longer the older you get. I'll take any opportunity for chocolate & Michelle did herself proud with this cake.

I hope I've been missed a bit in blog land. I've missed keeping up with some of my favorites and finding new ones. I'll be back inside soon as there's no doubt the temps will head upward. I hope to bring some inspirations from nature with me to the studio.

A Small Part of the Whole

Collage Mania is a BIG project and I played a tiny part. Here's another project that I'm happy to be part of, International Fiber Arts Collaborative Tree. My leaf is there somewhere.

Smiles & Chuckles

I'm taking a break from sorting fabrics. Karl called from town; he's having to wait for a prescription so he'll do some grocery shopping & pick up dinner too. Isn't that a nice treat? I can keep working until he gets home and then maybe do more this evening as there won't be much kitchen cleaning. I've been busy today clearing work surfaces and organizing before my next project. I tend to think that other people don't make as big a mess as I do. If I could spend as much time producing art as I do cleaning and organizing I'd really have lots more to show for it. It would also help if I didn't get sidetracked so much but at this point in life I don't expect dramatic change.

So far I've got silk scraps mostly in the right drawers; spring/summer clothes fabrics where I can find them easily; winter wardrobe fabrics packed away; frames and boxes (for assemblage) moved to the garage; and 2 big boxes of collage materials ready to go to a new art ed program. One of my "shelves" is an old changing table; if the prospective parents are interested it might revert to it's original purpose and I'll get a taller shelf to use in it's place. I have hopes of sending more papers away next week to collage artist friends who have voiced interest. Last week I sent 4 boxes and an exercise rider off to the Habitat store so progress is being made. If anyone wants to pay postage I'll send a box to you too. I've got years worth of good stuff.

I have several small quilts in progress but the BIG project ready to launch is a quilt for my first grandchild. She is due in Aug. to Celeste and Elliott. I want to have the quilt done by the end of June. Ashley blogged yesterday about how much fun we had picking fabrics over the weekend. The colors comes from butterflies and make me smile. I hope this will be a quilt for more than just baby years. I'll start it next week when I'm getting together with quilter friends.

If you need a laugh watch animals. Hobbs, one of Karl's 2 goats, aka lawn mowers, likes watermelon rind. This was our first melon of the season and I picked up the rind from the yard after the chickens cleaned out all scraps of red. I thought it would go to the compost bin but Hobbs was more than happy to have what remained. Too bad he hasn't learned to share with his sister Valentine.

Another reason to smile this afternoon is both of my collages for Collage Mania have been acquired. That makes me feel really good. I won't know who got them until I'm notifided after it closes tomorrow. The total raised was up to $16,000 when I looked a few minutes ago. There's still great art left so it's not to late to make a contribution. The one I got is above, 51/52 2008 by Naomi S. Adams. Isn't it lovely? Hope you're having smiles today.

Variety of Greens

"Be careful what you wish for". I'd been voicing a wish that the pond fill up before summer. We got it full, and then some. with 6+ inches in a very short time over the weekend. In addition to filling the pond it ran right in the front door. We did flood diversion in '07 but obviously we now need to do more. I surveyed with the neighbor yesterday and we can see where some up about us have diverted their water and made our situation worse. Living in a small town that doesn't maintain the roads and drainage has become a problem that didn't exist when we moved here in 1987.

On April 23rd the National Show of the Visual Art Society of Texas opened in Denton. Not only are there several fiber works in the show but the top prize was won by Pat Kumicich with her art quilt titled "Just Quit". I don't have Pat's permission to post her image but I did meet Pam Lowe of Austin and she gave me permission to post "No Drought this Year Austin". She said she moved to Austin in a rainy year and this is her interpretation of what the water can bring.

The newest green in our lives is the color ON the house. There will be cedar shutters on the downstairs windows and brackets on the posts but I'm already excited about the new look.

Today's the BIG day

I've showed these pieces before but I'm reposting them as a reminder of a great project that goes thru Thursday. If you need a gift or just want to treat yourself while also doing GOOD take yourself over to Collage Mania. It opened this morning at 10am CDT and some of my favorites are already gone. This is an opportunity for you to get a great original fiber art piece while making your contribution to American Cancer Society and it is the last of "Fiber Arts for a Cause" fundraisers started by Virginia Spiegel and supported by many other art quilters. Let's take this project out with a BANG by raising at least $20,000.

Today the collages go for $80; tomorrow it will be $40. I did a very small part and I hope everyone reading this will help too.