Hello 2011

Someone pulled the trigger on the starter gun January 1st and I haven't quit running sense...this first month has been really busy for me so I am sorry I have waited so long to journal.  Just everyday living has kept me running.   I think I am ready now to get back to my creative list.  I have begun to sort through boxes of paper and other things to start my first Etsy Shop.  I hope to have an announcement for all of you soon.  I hope to have a great shop loaded with old papers, old pictures, old studio photographs, and other goodies for collages.  I have found old jewelry, watches, old lace collars, and other sewing notions.  I have gathered for years and need to clean it out.  Watch for my opening in February.  I will give notice on my Facebook and Twitter account too.

This month I have started out taking Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon "Get Your Paint On" ecourse.  Just the first week's assignment has set me on my heels, made me think about painting with a whole new light, and I am so looking forward to what is next...if I do something I like I will post a picture.

I love winter, the snow, coats, scarfs and gloves, warm fires, hot cup of tea, a blanket on my lap, a dog laying next to me and another one at my feet, time to read, snooze, plan, and dream.   The change of the seasons, changes our way of life, our moods, our appetites, our wants and needs, and too even our dreams.  We seem to slow down during the winter months just as nature seems to slow down, regroup, and recoup.  Here is to another month of wishing and dreaming and rest.      

Thanksgiving this year.

My how time flys.  I should have had pictures for Thanksgiving this year, we had such a good time.  The boys got lots of birds.  We went goose hunting in the pits which I always love.  The pits where you hunt from are down in the ground so that when you stand up you are looking straight across the horizon and up into the sky.  Of course this is perfect for watching for geese but it is also beautiful to watch the world from too.  You just listen for the sounds of the geese flying.  It is such a peaceful time.  I'll try to take some pictures from the pits next time we go.  Sitting there looking into the sky makes me so aware of everything I have to be thankful for...my family especially and all the good times we spend together.  We are so lucky that our kids like to spend time with us.  We enjoy them too so much.

Now we are down to crunch time, those short weeks before Christmas, when you are checking your lists once a day to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.  All my Christmas is bought or made and mailed and I am doing my baking this week for friends.  And we are ready to see the grandkids in their school Christmas activities.  That is the best time.  We will make our rounds at Christmas this year to see what Santa has brought everyone.  We will be missing one this year, our oldest grandson is in his Navy boot camp for the holidays and my heart will be with him too.  And all our wonderful service men and women who are spending the holidays away from their families.

This is my favorite time of the year, with all the warm memories from the past and the ones that we are making everyday.  Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year.

I love old houses

During my Friday dates with my husband we have been just driving through the countryside.  The weather has begun to change from Fall to Winter and it has been so nice just to relax before the busy holidays.  This week we found a great big house standing all alone up on a little knoll, in the cold wind but bright sunshine, still standing after all the years.  I can't even imagine what this house has held in it's lifetime.  I could see the summer breeze blowing through the windows with the white curtains blowing in the breeze.  Little kids running around the yard playing while their Mother was working inside and their Dad was out in the field.  It almost made me cry to see this house standing all by itself, empty and alone, after all the shelter it has provided for so many years.  It doesn't seem right that it should be left to die alone.  I wonder what has happened to a family that would make them leave their home to just fall apart.  I can't seem to get this house out of my mind...I wish I could save it.

Friday Date

My husband and I have been trying to take every Friday and go on a date for the day.  Usually it is breakfast and a drive through the countryside.  We try to take off a different direction, a road we haven't been down before, or a little town we haven't seen yet.   I love to take pictures and what's is down the road and of course we look for little junk stores to see what we can find (and I usually find something).

This week I saw a little house that just caught my eye.  It always breaks my heart to see a house empty.  I always wonder how it looked when someone lived there.  And how excited maybe a man and his wife and children were the first day they moved into their new home.  I used to know a poem about just this and I think about it every time I see something like this.

 What a cute little house.  

Even empty I love the mossy green color that it has take on with age.

In our part of the country they are bringing in the harvest and the colors of the grains are unbelievable.

It is opening day for pheasant hunting season and my boys will be home soon hungry for supper so I had better get busy on the mashed potatoes for supper...enjoy.

My postcard

This is my postcard for "The (great big) Stitched Postcard Swap.  It was so much fun and I hope my partner likes it.  The minature log cabin quilt square was left over from several years ago when I made a wall hanging minature log cabin quilt.  It was the first time I used paper patterns to sew my pieces together and it was really neat and worked for me.  I also used my new old sewing machine.  I am waiting for mine to come in the mail.  Can't wait.

I made another postcard "thank you" for my mother-in-law but I didn't think of taking a picture. duh!  I also used this last week to drop picture postcards in the mail to my grandkids just to say hi! and I miss you!  Everybody loves getting something in the mail...it's like a little Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas and getting something in the mail.  I got my early Christmas this week too.  I ordered myself some patterns to use for rubbings with my "paintstiks".  I found a beautiful cape made of silk that was done with "paintstiks" that I would like to make for someone.  I just want to make it, I don't wear things like that, don't go anywhere, but I just want to make it.  Or maybe a lap quilt would be fun too.  No sure just love the patterns and colors.  I also ordered some beautiful craft metal to emboss and use in some jewelry.  Fun stuff to do!

New Old Sewing Machine

I am ready to go now. I am so excited, my Mother-in-law gave me her old Singer sewing machine. They are such workhorses. Weather has been wonderful and it is supposed to be cool the next few days so I am looking forward to staying in and sewing. Until then...

















I have signed up for "The Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap being done by Beth Nicholls on her blog at aspecialjourneyofmyown.blogspot.com. I have my idea in my head and I hope to set at my new old sewing machine tomorrow and sew. I will add a picture when I am done. Come see.

Getting ready for Winter

It has been a while since I wrote but I have been settling in for the winter months here. Fall weather has set in and the evenings have been wonderful. I know this sounds crazy but my husband and I were wishing for a rainy weekend to set around the house. Hasn't happened yet but I know it will soon enough. Our old bed has gotten a new paint job probably for the last time and it looks so nice and clean. This bed my husband built for me before we were married some 30 years ago. The corner posts are made from cyclone fence posts and he made the rest himself. It is so heavy I can't move it so where it is set up it stays. I have a trip to make this week but when I get back I am going to make new curtains (using old quilts) for the bedroom too. I have my idea in my head I just hope I can make it work and it looks ok.

I am working on setting up my sewing room. Shelves, tack board, thread holder, ribbon holder, etc. I want to make it as organized as I can to help me put all my "stuff" out in front of me for inspiration and ease for projects to come. I know it is a "job in progress" to get it just right and I am looking forward to that too. I love organizing.

Soon it will be bird hunting season and the kids will be here on the weekends so I will be cooking and cleaning but laughing and loving every minute of it. Warm homemade bread, pots of soup, chili, chicken and dumplings, yummmm. And then the holidays...so looking forward to them this year.

New life adventure to begin!

Almost Home Texas again...with lots of things running around in my head. At long last, plans that we have been making for retirement are going to be put into action. Time to organize, sort, hang, and get ready for my pursuit of happiness in my art projects. I have been reading the latest Where Women Create magazine looking for jumping off points for my work stations and everything I have seen is swimming in my head so i have decided to start a list of items/projects/dreams to work from or inspire for to stay on track and what better place to wish from then my blog. Any ideas you want to share I would love to hear them and hopefully I will be able to keep you up to date over the next year with pictures too.

...sewing space in ks house
...paint/paper space in ks house
...jewelry space in ks house
...take Lexy for a walk everyday I can
...join a photo group and enter a photo challenge this winter
...finish at least 1 quilt I have already started by next spring
...recipe book for my niece
...1 photo book organized and ordered a month
...make Christmas gifts for my freinds and family this year
...make my Christmas cards this year and actually mail them this year too
...make a ribbon holder
...make a thread holder
...have an artist date with my husband each week
...visit every junk/thrift store near our home in ks that we can manage
...reconnect our love of exploring every nook and cranny of a junk store
...lace, lace, lace, make a lace book
...quilt, quilt, quilt

Bare with me here...it is a wish list

...inspiration board for my sewing space in ks
...paint and wallpaper (large floral) in my jewelry space in ks
...button embroidery picture
...work on repairs to my grandmother's crazy quilt
...scarfs from sewn flowers, felted pinwheels, old hankies
...need more old jars for sewing notions
...quote a week to a friend
...more, more, more vintage material
...list old papers and pics on easy
...stamp/paint buttons
...be more free with my color!
...material bib necklace for my girls
...skirts,skirts, skirts
...1 assemblage piece this winter
...hang all my pics
...use an old window to frame pics in a group
...1 set of earrings and a necklace made from my metalsmithing class
...black background/silver and gold leaf paper drawing
...make chandelier for my painting space in kc
...license plate(s) pic
...mud boots for ks
..........ok I quit for today. I will be dreaming about all these things tonight!

I have a lot to do in the next month to get me ready to go back to KS for hunting season, pack, prepare for sale on etsy, clean my house in TX. I have been looking forward to this for so long I am so excited but it is going to be some work and fun to get both my houses ready so that I my things in both places as I travel back and forth. Wish me luck!!!

Talk to you all soon.

...
mt

Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project

Hello everyone from Kansas. We have been at our home in Kansas for the last month so I have been busy with some of my projects. It has been hot outside but it has kept me inside busy setting up a new sewing room for myself getting ready for wintertime. I hope to be able to maybe finish a quilt this winter that I started years ago.

But I really wanted to tell you about the Brooklyn Library Sketchbook Project I heard about from another blogger. It is so neat!!! You receive a blank sketchbook from the library and send back a full sketchbook that you have made and it becomes a part of the library's catalog of books. They will tour the books before they return to the library to remain so that anyone can check them out. Such a neat thing to be a part of...check out their website and all about it from the button on the right side.

Talk to you soon.

Gathered and Sown

Dear Friends, Just a little post to introduce you to my beautiful niece's (and her friend)etsy shop called Gathered and Sown. It is a shop of fun bags and other accessories that are hand made and wonderfully done. I have one myself and I get so many compliments. Please check it out. More soon!