Saturday!

I've been looking forward to today all week...I'm packing up my sewing machine and visiting my friend Michelle.  We're going to spend the day sewing and working on projects, and I'm so ready to sew!  Here's what I'll be working on today:

The pattern is "Peppermint Twist" and I love the subtle 'non-Christmasy' coloration.  It's the perfect autumn/winter quilt. 

Be safe East coasters...

Friday Craft...super easy

It's not the best picture, but here's what I made today...a zipper flower pin.  Metal-tooth zipper + glue gun = a prototype for Fabulous Faux Flowers II on Monday afternoon at the library.

Lounging...

A couple of weekends ago, I actually started AND finished a sewing project.  Rare, but true...it's a "patio" dress and it's been my clothing of choice when I'm at home...cool, comfortable, and quick to make.  Perfect for this long, hot summer.  Think I'll make another for variety in my loungewear!

Fun is just around the corner...

My addiction to Pinterest continues...and it has inspired my programming activities at work.  Don't you just love this artsy little traveling art supplies poster?

 via Pinterest

The group of four crafty things are on the agenda for Quick Holiday Gifts...a series of three programs featuring make and take crafts...glass magnets, ribbon bookmarks, tile coasters, and a sticky note memo set.  Cute, utilitarian, and my favorite...cheap 'n easy.

 via Pinterest

Next on the agenda...a series of weekly classes beginning in October...Fearless Art Journaling, led by Lynda from Bloom, Bake, & Create.

via Bloom, Bake & Create

 And lastly...but really first on the autumn schedule, Water~Paper~Paint, an introductory art series with projects from Heather Smith Jones' wonderful book.  This class will be led by Connie Walts. 

I can't wait!  We're going to have an Artful Autumn around here.

Obsessions

I've been obsessed by many things in the past few weeks...mini donuts, Lisette patterns and fabrics, art journals, stitcheries, herb and lettuce gardening...random things--but they have engaged me lately.

One of the blogs I look forward to reading every Friday is Under A Blue Moon.  Andrea features her Friday Favorites, and nearly every week there is something that captures my attention.  About a month ago, I was drawn into the world of mini donuts.  It was a Friday Favorite linking to a blog entitled Such Pretty Things. I immediately put the mini donut pan on my "need to buy" list.  Nothing urgent...after all, I'm supposed to be Weight-Watchering.

  While strolling the aisles at Hobby Lobby Friday, searching for yet another obsession...water soluble pastels to create journal pages seen here, I found the mini donut pan in the Wilton aisle.  Two obsessions, one store.  I added cake flour and buttermilk (low fat) to my grocery list.

Saturday morning I woke up with the desire to bake those cute little donuts...the problem?  No cute little sprinkles to adorn them.  I checked out the Facebook page for the local (and very nearby) cake and candy supply shop and found that they opened at 9:00.  White jimmies and two tiny tubs of "petal dust" in hand, I now had everything I needed to make donuts.  I could have purchased colored jimmies, but I wanted delicate, hand-tinted pastel jimmies.  Yes...there is seriously something wrong with me. 

The biggest obsession...garment sewing, of all things...began when I visited Purlbee a few weeks ago.  While I wasn't super fond of the fabric choice on the dress they made, I was intrigued by the patterns.  I visited the designer's website, fell in love with a few of the four patterns available, and off I went to purchase them (while they were super-reduced at JoAnn and Hobby Lobby).  The new patterns are due out any day, along with a fall line of fabrics.  I haven't done any garment sewing for decades, and can't figure out why it sounds so appealing now...and why do I want to start wearing dresses?  Something's up...

Sunday

I've mentioned my "affection" for Pinterest before, but I've just got to say there are some really great ideas posted on the site...linking back to some blogs that I would never have found on my own.  I especially like the gardening/home dec/entertaining inspiration boards. 

I went outside this morning to take pictures of "how my garden grows", but found that the camera battery was dead, so instead, today's post will be "here's what's for lunch":

Pretty dramatic, huh?  A long strip of cucumber wrapped to hold spring mix and carrots.  Easy and elegant.  I "heart" Pinterest and all of the interesting and creative people who contribute to it.

Photo 1:  nobiggie.net
Salad photo : Framed Cooks

May Review...

Did May fly by, or what?  Lots of fun things happened in May...

A couple of really good programs at our little library branch:

•       Bicycle Safety and Maintenance--with fuel prices escalating (and coming down really slowly now), pedal power may be the way to go.  We learned how to change a bicycle tire, how to lube and maintain the chain, how to check the brakes, and most important--tire inflation.

•      Discard to Decor--a local business owner, Tresa Miller from Grateful Threads, brought in a few wonderful chairs that had a makeover treatment...one with slipcovers, and the other reupholstered.  I fell in love with the upholstered chair...it was done in French Laundry fabric...tea names in French.  As soon as there's money in the budget (or if they do another Groupon!!), I'm going to order the fabric in the red graphic colorway.  Adorable.  We also learned about new color trends...go big or go home...and she presented a slide show with lots of before and afters.
•      The annual Newburgh Art, Wine & Jazz Festival...the rains stopped just in time for this event.  Some really good wines, and a few not-so-good wines...but a good time was had by all.

•      A punch-needle embroidery class...I've had the equipment and patterns for years...now I know the technique.  I'm also interested in starting a little "inchie" embroidery project...a square a day.  More details to follow...

So, we've talked about the fun things...now the "unfun" things...rain, rain, and more rain.  Cool (verging on cold), gray, damp weather for weeks on end.  Flooding...which didn't impact my abode a few blocks from the Ohio River, but devastated many residences in the northern part of the county.  Storms, tornadoes, hail...heck;  we had it all.  Now it's just plain hot and humid.  No spring-like weather to speak of this year.  I'm just grateful that we've had it easier than many parts of the country.

Maybe June will be a quiet month...nice weather, sunshine and blue skies.

Wanna Build?

3.5 inches of rain yesterday...find your Cubit Converter and Ark size Calculator here.

Ark graphic:  St. Joseph Parish, Wisconsin

Sunday Evening...

 If it doesn't stop raining soon, I'm going to have a bumper crop of zucchini in my front window.  I tranplanted the squash and tomatoes into #10 cans...they have outgrown the peat pots this week. 

 My friend Michelle dropped off  white geraniums this afternoon.  I pulled the terra cotta pots out to plant them in, but it's raining too hard to do that.  Another day...

 Here's a random photo...a dried arrangement I purchased a month or so ago.  Blues and lavenders...cool and pretty.

...and this is what took forever to list on eBay today.  It's been a while since I've listed anything, and just like Blogger, they've made lots of changes I'm not used to.  I have lots more to list...all Gail Wilson Designs kits, but right now it's too much to wrap my head around.  I have probably two dozen of the Early Amerian Doll furniture and clothing kits, and from what I understand, they are no longer available.  Gotta get them listed...need any kits?  Check out the listing(s) under the seller:  oldbluequilt.

May Day

Rabbit, rabbit...have to get the "first of the month" important stuff out of the way first.  I love the month of May.  One can generally count on pleasant weather, sunshine, and the beauty of new plantings.  Green grass, dogwoods, rosebuds, peonies...ah, Spring!

Good Day, Sunshine...

The Beatles' song came to mind as I looked out the window this morning....sunshine, no clouds...looks like it's going to be a beautiful day.  There are lots of things on my "to do" for these four days off...outdoor cleanup, digging, planting, and indoor painting, purging, and upholstering. 

On another note, and something I'm more inclined to do...I found this online while looking for something else (isn't that always the way??)...

It's a mystery stitchery by Brenda Gervais.  If you don't have a local needlework shop, just Google "Birds of A Feather" mystery stitchery.  You'll find lots of online shops offering this project.  I've been feeling the urge to stitch lately...along with the urge to piece a quilt top.  My friend Michelle (MadRedHare) is doing a block of the month feature on her blog, and I've made two of the four blocks assigned.  She just sent out the next two blocks, so I hope to work on those sometime this weekend.  Just before the first of the year, I decided that I wanted to do an embroidery project...a square a day, just like the projects I've read about on OPB's (other people's blogs).  By the end of January, I had my cloth ready...one inch squares drawn 19 x 19 with four squares at the top for the year.  365 blocks.  By the end of February, I had stitched around the borders of maybe 1/3 of the blocks.  I pick it up in spurts, and I'm hoping that by the end of May I'll have all 365 blocks outlined.  My stitch-a-day plan hasn't worked out so far, but there's no reason (like I have concrete "rules" about much of anything?) I can't run my year from June to June. Sounds like a plan...

Better get to work!

Good Day Sunshine artwork via Deviant Art xbooshbabyx