I can't wait for Friday.

I can actually see my craft/cutting table... I am getting organized even if it is taking forever. I can see my sewing machine too, though I can't yet actually use it. I really need some new skirts and I have plenty of fabric and patterns. If you know me, you know that is an understatement of supreme proportions! I just can't see buying them when I can sew them. Soon, soon.

In the meantime, I am listening to Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series, one of my all time favorites. The first pic is Trouble, helping me organize by tossing the stuff he doesn't like on the floor. Love that cat! He is on my silk shelf, but he helps with whatever shelf I am working on.

My Daughter

She makes me so proud! I will make a quilt for my studio with her pics on it, similar to my son's, but I wanted something up in the meantime, so I made this. It is Meg in San Diego, this year, and I love the picture. I love her too. More. I gave her wings...

Also on the piece is a silver butterfly, because she is coming into her adulthood so beautifully, a heart on angelina fiber, a flipflop charm (her personal symbol for me!) some painted fabric beads, a couple more charms, and a Tigger pin. I love her so, can you tell?

Barely Any Ice

Just enough to have to scrape the windshield, roads are just wet and salty. The firebowl cover made such a wonderful pattern in the ice, I plan to use it as a background to one of my corsets for the trade! Too cool. My son is out getting paperwork done, preparatory to going to Okinawa for 2 years. That is a very long time to have my son on a faraway continent. Any prayers will be appreciated! I am about over my cold, DH is about over, Meg is coughing... isn't winter fun? Really, I like winter. Just not the colds that go with it.

The Ice Cometh

The weather here has been weird. Seems whereever I go, the weather guessers say it is the hardest place to predict. Hah! My headaches and old joints have a much better record of precip prediction. 5oo years ago, I would have been burned as a witch! (But then, I actually look out the window, and think about what the weather has done in similar circumstances. How strange.) So when they actually get it right, everybody is astounded, especially VDOT (roads guys). So after missing continually, last week they were right, and the roads were awful, no salt, no sand. Then this week they said another big ice storm, and the salt trucks were out in force, and (you guessed it) no storm. Tonight, supposed to be a huge storm, and I say only a moderate one, but then ice is bad in any amount. In the morning, we'll see.

So the birds have been needing the sunflower seeds we put out for them. The squirrels love their peanuts, and chatter at me through the door if I am slow in getting their breakfasts ready. They are so fat! Big as small cats! Note that this one lacks his left ear... must have had an argument with another squirrel, or fox or cat or whartever. He doesn't miss a meal though. Tough little guy.

The book is one I made for my weaving info. I find keeping records sure makes a difference if I want to repeat the project, or make a similar one. So I record the type, weave, fiber, measurments and how it went. If I can, I attach a small piece of the project. The book is single needle coptic bound, hardcovered with paper. My favorite kind! Tomorrow, I start on a new book, one for a friend who did a very very kind deed for me. It will be a two needle coptic with wooden covers with some form of metal decoration. I am still sketching ideas, but I can start the book while I do that. What did I do with all my time and money before I discovered art? Nothing this fun!

The beautiful one

She is, isn't she? I have her next to my mirror... doesn't look a bit like me, but I like to look at it anyway!

I found the background on a little roll of wallpaper border, and the beaded tassle was a castoff from my work again. The text says "And who are you, beautiful one"? I used a matte medium transfer, it is my favorite kind. I would like to do a series of transfers to see the differences close up. Hmmm, in my copious free time.

I have a cold

Or maybe it is the flu. Or some fatal malady. DH says I won't expire, I just want to... Gosh I hate colds. Only one little piece this weekend... It is a study of texture for my surface design class. The horse is Xpandoprint through a stencil, and the face is Crayola Model Magic! Love to use kids art stuff, makes me feel like a kid again (albiet a decrepit kid!).

My Heart

My heart is very sad today. For the second time in 3 months a dearly loved friend has lost a child to causes unknown. Before Thanksgiving, a 26 year old, Mom is doing as well as possible, always with the addition of the phrase, under the circumstances. Then, last Tuesday, another friend lost her 21 year son. He was his mom's youngest, her baby. She has 4 other sons, and a daughter, but don't think that makes it any less horrible. I pray constantly for her and her family, if you feel you can, please join me. This burden is too great for anyone to bear alone. No parent should have to bury her child. Only through the grace of God, through His holding us close to His heart, can we survive. My own two darlings are shown here. May I never lose them.

The Ice Storm Cometh

They have been forcasting the ice for 2 days, so why did it catch VDOT unprepared? Sigh, well, it did make for some pretty scenery. Click on the gargoyle to see the ice better. The squirrels don't seem bothered, but the birds are frantically feeding. I put out extra food this am. The purse is a class I am teaching at G Street Fabrics on Saturday. It is a fun technique I cobbled together from several books and classes I have taken. The base is silk, with bits and bobs collaged on top of it, then covered over with tulle and stitched to secure. I then stamped, hand embroidered it, bound it, folded it and used a magnetic closure. It makes a great little evening bag.

Nothing much...

The first item is just a little card I made while playing with a product called "etal" a nice fibrous metal "paper". It is the framing. The other is a little travel folder with two pockets and two small journals. It provides a writing surface when opened, and I have decorated it with pics of Hawaiian beaches. Today it was 43 degrees and the temp fell all day, and the wind is gusting to 40mphs. Hawaii sounds pretty good to me. There is a wonderful image giveaway here, go see! It isn't Hawaii, but it is pretty darn nice! Tomorrow I have two physical therapies and one docs appointment, ugh. I am ready for this to be over, and it seems likely to go on forever. sign, okay, I am through whining. Now go make some art!

A Little Green...

This was a fun little piece, using two things I haven't used alot...copper mesh and a tiny canvas. I used Bo Nash powdered adhesive to add gold foil and added the word "love" to the left of the canvas. I had two little pieces of beaded home decorating trim from a vendor's outdated book. I love that I could use a throw-away item in my art! Check out this month's Quilting Arts magazine, they have an article on green art!

How nice it was to have lunch with Patty! Thank you friend for a pleasant interlude. Another piece to put up today...

This is a fabric postcard. I started with a Timtex foundation, and ironed tissue lame on top. It doesn't show true color, but the shadow to the right is glimmery Angelina Fibers, and the couple is a phototransfer using Lazertran on polymer clay. The color is actually ink on a b/w design, Lazertran is a fabulous art tool, there is a kind for most uses, on a very thin waterslide decal to be made in toner copiers, a type for inkjet printers, a type to be used on fine weave fabrics and polymer clay, and one for fabric transfers by ironing, so many uses!

Dimensional mood

Just a quick post this am... DH is driving my son back from satcom school, and should be home today... I am excited to see him Funny how his being gone makes me anxious to see him. I did alot of art in the last couple days, so here is a peek at one piece...it has a

doll made of shrink plastic and glossy wings on a backgroun of Tim Holtz' crackle paint. Boy I love the paint, it really doesn't show up on monitor, but it has great texture! I like the dimention of the "silk" flower too. I am in a dimensional mood, I guess.