A Very Satisfying Day

This is the final version of the exchange offering for the steampunk deck for my TravelersHart Group on Yahoo. I have been a bit worried about it all coming together, it really started out to be something quite different, but somehow it all did. The final and coalescing piece was the hand charm gifted me by a student of mine, and voila! It works! It helps to be listening to another Mary Russel story, this one is The Moor, referring not to the Moorish people but to Dartmoor, a foreboding and bewildering place when it is raining (frequent, I assure you) but simply stunning when the sun covers the peat and stone in a honey-colored clarity, and the sky can be a remarkable blue. I was there on such a day, and was captivated. It is a high moor, and not to be trifled with, and I remember a feeling of real presence there. Not evil, nothing sinister (though I never saw a fog, thank goodness) but the moor is not just dirt and rocks. No more than the ocean is just a lot of water. Anyone who has sailed her knows what I mean. The moor is like that. So once again Holmes is solving a mystery on the moor, and Russell is with him. I think I will go listen some more, and stitch on my wee quiltie!

What a Lovely Day

I had an absolutely splendid day, it couldn't have been better. I went to a friend's house, we climbed in her car, and off we went on a day of camaraderie, shopping, and all around good fun! The weather was perfect, sunny and 70 or 72f and it wasn't too crowded on the roads or in the shops. We hit both antique shops and thrift shops, though I only purchased something at the first shop. I got a lovely shawl and a cabinet card to make a book from, and I think I may go back there to pick up a picture for dh and a pennsic potty for me. Seems a worthier purchase than a spinning wheel right now. If my Etsy shop kicks off, maybe a wheel isn't too much later, but not to trek up the hill at night in the rain... oh, heaven! I haven't seen Lynette in way too long, and she is a treasure. She is my own angel too, she is generously helping me both mentally and physically get my art business started. Scary, but good. A great day all around! More tomorrow, I have a date with a pillow! Love you Lynette!

You Wouldn't Think...

That I would be particularly happy about the rain, but really, I am. Well, maybe not this much rain. But if this had been snow, it would have been 17 inches! So yes, rain seems pretty good about now. We did have some lovely weather last week, but as in January, it was just a tease, I know. That is okay, I will enjoy it all the same. While the Farmer's Almanac is still predicting another snowfall in March, I am hoping for none. The rest of this week looks to be in the 50's and 60's, and sunny by week's end too. After that, it's anyone's guess.

I spent this weekend on samples for new classes. I only got one done... stopped one midway through, hated it. That is always so disconcerting, it takes time to regroup afterwards, I can't just move on to the next idea. I do like this one though, so that is okay. I will make a series of these cuffs, and do one each quarter. I have been asked for more project based classes, and may let my surface design series rest a year.

I am almost done with the last Laurie King novel in the Mary Russel series, The Language of Bees, before her newest comes out. This one is as good as the rest, and I shall reread the first to refresh my memory. Fitting series for someone with a steampunk deck upcoming.

So Cute

So I was looking around the internet and found this really cool site, and then discovered every month she gives away a little embroidery pattern, something simple to get the creative juices started. This is one of them, and really, isn't it so cute? I know, I am not exactly known for cute, but these are just irresistable! Go ahead! Try to resist, I dare you! So here is her site. I am already working on another, along with a rather more serious piece with a more celtic look and a more medieval flare.

I am currently listening to one of Laurie King's Mary Russel books, Locked Rooms. It is set in San Fransisco in the 1920s, and is quite good. She makes the times and the characters very believable, and I look forward to the next in the series, the Language of Bees, and then the new The God of the Hive will come out in the spring. Is it spring yet? I hope the warm weather comes soon and doesn't turn hot too quickly!

I am also reading Ellen Crosby, a local writer's, series, Murder in Wine Country. The current offering is her latest, The Chardonney Charade, and with it I have read all four. I am so glad to have run in to her at work. I have enjoyed each one, and will surely enjoy any future books as well. She has just the right touch of down home reality, Washington weirdness, mixed with worldly wisdom and a little viticultural information thrown in. It all makes for a very good read.