Taking a break

Right now I'm taking a break from painting the studio.  I tried to tell myself we could get away with not doing it but good judgement got the best of me and if I'm to present this room/the whole house in the best light it needed to be done.  Trouble with ideas like this is one leads to another.....

Every thing is piled in the middle of the room and I also have a birthday sewing project to finish before Thurs. and want to go play with dyes with friends tomorrow.  But some time you just have to take a break. 

While stopping to check emails and browse around a bit I came on this site.  I've enjoyed some of Hugh McLeod's cartoons before and now think his book sounds good - especially the first 25% that he offers for free.  I'll put that on my check out later list. 

Last week I took a whole day off.  I went to Lu's to celebrate her birthday (belatedly) and it was a a lovely day. We discussed our quilt (she's started quilting) and other projects and then went off to lunch and shopping.  I lucked out in both departments - transitional clothes on sale and ideas for the new house decor. 

To add a bit of color to this post I'm showing the beaded flowers I put together for Lu.  She added them to her studio shelf where her lovely felt rose pin cushions are.  In the sorting & purging of beads I had found bits of flowers left over from Ashley & Frank's wedding (all the attendant's bouquets included beaded flowers as keepsakes as did the bouquet Ashley "tossed" - actually gave to her cousin).  Rather than toss the bits or put them back into storage oblivion I put together this group as a token of love and friendship.  Another bit of Lu's bd box was the old silk thread box; she already had the cotton so it has company in it's new home.

Hope your day is full of color.  Now I'd better get back to the white walls.

Checking in and staying out of heat.

It's a slow "news" week; purging and packing continue (won't I be glad when there's a different story to tell).  Empty shelves and packed boxes are about the most inspiring thing I have to share.  It does make me anxious for the blank canvas of a new space to grow into a home and of course, I am hopeful someone will find this place to their liking.   

Thanks to Karl & Justin the garage is almost a clean slate of bright white.  It  certainly it looks the best it has in lots of years.  K & I battled the heat yesterday (official high temp 104) to get it cleaned out.  I wimped out today and came up to continue the tackle in the studio.  Trim paint accidently got carried off to chemical disposal so we'll get more this week for the windows, doors & touch up on the front porch.  Karl's new mailbox is the most creative new thing around here lately.   Actually he's working on a really neat rough hewn mantel right now but it's for someone else's new house.  Think I'll go fix him some ice water. Maybe after grocery shopping I'll take a sewing break.  Stay cool. 

Smiles & Barbs

I ran across this critter the last time we were in San Marcos.  He/she doesn't look too friendly at first glance (that barbed tail)  but the quirky expression does make me smile a bit.

Life has been a bit like that lately mixing the barbs and smiles.  A couple of Sundays ago a group of us did a workshop with Margie Woods Brown.  Deborah wrote eloquently about it in her blog on 7/14.  It was lots of fun and I can definitely recommend Margie's workshops.  Most of all it was a lovely day to be with friends before we part ways (at least geographically).  The barbs of missing friends are mixed with the smiles of pride and hope the future.   
 

The next weekend I did an assemblage workshop with Beverly Mangham at Eye of the Dog Studio in San Marcos.  It was fun, creative, and used up some of my "treasures" plus some of Beverly's.  She is an  amazingly talented and generous lady.  Her art is featured in the gallery at the Center among other places.  That experience was definitely smile worthy and has carried me through some of the less fun days of late.  

Last Friday our small art group got together to share our round robin books started last fall.  If the others feel as I do these books will be long treasured and the source of many smiles.  It was a great day of sharing, laughing, eating and feeling a sense of camaraderie that is rare and beautiful.

The biggest barb lately have been the lack of time to make art.  Mostly we've been working outside where the heat, humidity, dirt & grim are pretty prickly, not to mention exhausting.  I am smiling at the progress we've been making but have to laugh at the realtor's assistant's comment that we should get the house very "pristine" - not a word I've ever used to describe my abode but we're working on it.