Sticky Buns and Journal Writing

We're back from our fabulous family vacation. I'm one of the lucky ones who has 7 brothers and sisters and each has a spouse or significant other who all like each other so we all spend a week together in Bayside on the coast of Maine. I posted this winter about something I was planning on doing with all the kids while we were there- journaling our week. So I made journals for everyone, baked sticky buns and froze them, gathered doo-dahs and crayons, markers and glue and packed everything to go. What a fun way to start the day! By eight o'clock I had between 4 and 12 people drawing, writing and eating! I was so surprised at how much time the little kids spent on their journals, first decorating them and then thinking of things to write about.

We had little kids like Charlotte and Ella:

And Katherine and Bridget:

And big boys who very possibly only came for the sticky buns and white donuts, though they did make an effort the first morning :)

And white donuts. Why do kids like white donuts????

The writings and drawings were inspired by what happened the day before and what was to come. Such a nice vacation! And now back to reality and my studio.

Blueberries and Birds

Can you see all the blue?

Up bright and early this morning and was it ever worth it. These are the special things of summer. I know what we'll be doing with Carey and Charlotte come next week.

It took about 15 minutes to pick all these. First we'll read Blueberries for Sal....
And maybe if we're not too full from gorging on blueberries, we'll walk to the heron rookery.

OUTRAGEOUS!!

I'm having so much fun getting ready for our extended family vacation. Not extended vacation (which is what life feels like to me now that I'm retired!) but extended family. I think at last count there were over 30 of us for dinner on any given night. And lots of kids. They certainly don't need to be entertained, but they don't mind it now and then. So, a while back I could feel my creative juices start to overflow and remembered the "Sixtyopoly" game featured in Cloth, Paper and Scissors. I decided to make up my own game for little kids, one that would have no right and wrong answers, one that used their imaginations to fuel the game. So out came "OUTRAGEOUS!!" Making the game was the easy part; figuring the purpose and play options was harder. But I started to make these cards that the kids draw when they land on a particular square and the goal seemed to come of it's own. Using pictures and things from family events of the past, I put some questions to them and the kids will have to either make up a story or answer the question any way they like. No right or wrong, just silliness.

The cards say things like "What just happened?" and shows my brother with fogged up glasses, or a sign we saw in Ireland of a car going over the edge and the card says "What does this mean?" Funny. Silly. I'm hoping for lots of giggles.

The board is scraps of paper from magazines and on several there is a pink dot. If you land on that square you choose a pink card. If you land on a green dot....I haven't decided yet. Suggestions?

And everyone will have their own game piece. I still have a few to go and a little more 'fancying up' to do on these, but it's nearly done and ready for our BIG WEEK!!!

BEADS!

On the way to visit my sister I stopped at The Beadin' Path in Freeport, the most amazing bead store in Maine. Last time I was there it was still a small establishment. I imagine since the article in one of Pokey's Quilting Arts Magazine came out they've become the place to go for a great selection of any sort of bead you can imagine. It was so everwhelming, I didn't find a thing to buy. But the colors! Oh my.




It's like dessert for the soul.

Happy Fourth!

Have a safe holiday weekend everyone and see you next week. I have lots to share!

Sea Glass

I'm always up for new and creative things to do with the thousands of pieces of sea glass I have collected over the years. Having access to the coast and having time to troll is a good thing. I don't know if I'll ever get around to making anything with them but it's fun to take pictures of things others have done. This is one part of a large mural on the outside of the Lubec Library. The library was closed when we were there, otherwise I would have gone in and asked a lot of questions about this piece. There were lots of other book titles mentioned, so I think the kids were able to choose their favorite books and scatter the names here and there.

I also really liked the combination of wire and glass in this fish. Bith of these works are very appropriate for the town, a small fishing village on the coast of Maine. Still fishing. Barely.

Puffins!

We took the most incredible boat trip yesterday. We left Cutler Harbor in the fog aboard the Barbara Frost and headed out to sea 9 miles to Machias Seal Island. The island is being claimed by both the US and Canada, but the sweet little atlantic puffins, the razorbills, and the common murre's that call it home in the summer months don't care who owns it as long as they can stay long enough to raise their young. Which is usually from now till the middle of August. We've taken boat trips to see the puffins before, but this one was different in that we could actually get into a blind on the island and see them 2 feet away!!! I'm not a birder like my friend Loel is, but this was exciting!!! And as we talked about over a glass of wine at the end of the day, it's nice to have friends who have different passions and will draw you into their world. They've done their share of art galleries with me and mostly enjoyed it, but at the least endured it. As long time friends will.

This photo was taken on the main street in Lubec, where the sun rises first in the country. Well, maybe Eastport makes that claim, but this is a close second. The lupine are at their peak and just beautiful. One of my favorite wildflowers for sure.

Lupine
Preening
This little guy settled right down to check us out!

You'd think since I'm retired now I'd have lots of time to post all the new and interesting things I'm doing/learning. The truth is I'm learning to move, think and 'do' more slowly, not on screech anymore. There's no need to rush through everything. And it feels good. I have been doing some quilt related things which I'll post about tomorrow, but for now let me just say, LIFE IS GOOD!! The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens fair in June with my best friend Gretchen who is equally as gray/white as I am:

Drinks by the shore in Camden Harbor. I could do this every evening and will when we move closer next year. Maybe. Drink, that is.
And yesterday, a books signing for the book we (Frayed Edges) have several projects in. It's a lovely book, full of wonderful ideas and photographs on new things to try. This is Sarah behind the table laden with many autographed books. Sarah is smiling extra big because that's her pomegranate piece featured on the cover! It was also an added bonus to hang around in a quilt shop for several hours surrounded by all that inspiration. It reminded me of my own beginning, in a small but fabulous quilt store called Quilt Array in Hallowell, Me. I was a mother with small children and I wanted to do something like get a job, but Deana, who owned the shop, couldn't afford to pay me so I volunteered and to reciprocate she passed on commissions and teaching gigs to me. Hours to be creative. Surrounded by fabric which at the time was $3.99 a yard.

So, it's all good. The summer, the garden, the projects. Trips, though we aren't wandering far from home. Gas you know. But we are taking a trip downeast this week to Machias Seal Island to see puffins up close. I'll take pictures.

And it Continues...

One thing I noticed about Natasha's studio is that there was a little bit of everything there. Works in progress. Works for sale. Supplies to make more things: paints, dyes, yarns, toothbrushes, (toothbrushes??) groups of this and that. Groupings, that would be key.



Balls
Baskets of yarns.

Boxes of rocks.

I took a workshop with Natasha several years ago, maybe even 10 years, and I remember her journals. Places where she keeps pictures from magazines or books that have some sort of meaning or will be used as fodder for ideas. I immediately started my own and now have a good dozen on my shelf. It's fun to look back on them, but how much more fun would it be to have it in front of you for instant inspiration?

I came home with so many ideas for my own new studio. Someday.

Frayed Edges Goes on a Field Trip

'Tis the season, right? When I was in Boston last week, having a wonderful, extended retirement party, the school buses just kept rolling in with hundreds of kids , HUNDREDS, enjoying the spring day and not being in school. So, in keeping with this particular rite of spring, Hannah arranged for us to go visit the studio of artist Natasha Kempers-Cullen.

We drove up to this. The door to her studio. And I knew we were in for a treat. Even before I saw these:

...or these incredible, irresistible, (at least for an artist and lover of color) "garden girls":

...and a closeup:

She uses wood frames that she's hand painted and from them hangs all sorts of found (saved) items. I'm pretty sure she hasn't thrown anything away since 1972. Whimsical garden art. She has empty spools wrapped with metallic foil, bells, beads, slinkees and golf tees of all colors for hair, too, too many things to mention. Needless to say, I was jazzed before I even got through the beautiful yellow door. Please check out her website for an address and if you're in Maine this summer on vacation, this is a MUST STOP studio.

Here is a little taste of the inside for you. This is just one little corner of her studio with Kate in the middle.

She has books and bead jewelry and art from friends everywhere! So much to see. More tomorrow.

Endings

Today is my last day of work at the same job I've had for the past 21 years. I started when our oldest was getting close to college age, and didn't mean to stick with it so long after the fact. But I ended up being one of the lucky ones that loved what they did. And the women I worked with. (nine women in one office and for the most part, all got along!) Which is probably the saddest part of leaving. I know there are big things afoot in the office today. There'll be balloons and cake for the patients, and well wishes and despite the fact that I'm very happy to be retiring, it will be sad. I spent yesterday making these little pins for each of my co-workers, taking into consideration their distinct personalities. It was a little hard to decide on words for each because with some of them I had to remember they MAY wear these in public so I had to be nice!

I had ordered some legs from Artgirlz, but unfortunately they didn't arrive in time. My fault for waiting till the last minute, so I had to improvise with beads and charms. They look good so I'm happy. And no one is expecting a surprise from me, so bonus!

We leave for Boston after work...for a planned meeting and for the real part of my retirement party. I know we're going to a very nice restaurant, and I heard something about going out to a bar/club/Dick's Last Resort???!!! after. One last fling on the boss!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

And what a beautiful one it is in our part of the country. We've been feeding Laddie carrots. He's never had so many carrots.

We've been fishing. Doesn't even matter we didn't catch anything.

And paddling in the "Kiboat".

Next is the parade and more family fun! Nothing like a holiday weekend! Hope yours is as nice as ours.

Spring in Maine

I haven't had much to say lately. I feel guilty about that because I feel when you have a blog you have a responsibility to anyone who may wander by on a regular basis to have something semi-interesting for them to read. I will try harder in the future for sure. There's always fun things going on in the summer.

But I do have a beautiful picture to share. I love pansies for the first taste of COLOR after the grays of winter. It's been an incredible spring here in Maine and I've been spending as much time outside enjoying every minute of it. I've been one of the ones in the past that is the loudest to complain about "what happened to spring??" so this year I'm thankful and uncomplaining. And enjoying. I have peas coming up in my garden. As well as lettuce and spinach. The orioles and hummingbirds are back and at my feeders. Life is GOOD.

I can't believe I just spent 40 minutes crafting a very clever post about the joys of Audible.com and of holding the perfect pen in your hand, and now it's gone. Very loud grumbling here. I haven't had this kind of trouble in a long time. And even though it says it "autosaves", I'd like to know WHERE! Tomorrow I'll be more positive.

Project for a very Rainy day

It poured so hard yesterday that an old woodpecker tree became so waterlogged and heavy it just toppled over on my newly raked, almost green lawn. It rained so hard that when I went out to put the chickens to bed, I sank up to above my ankles in mud. So I spent yesterday indoors working on some little cards i intend to sell to some ladies I'm doing a trunk show for. My studio was it's usual cluttered creative mess...always right in from of my working space.

The cards are no bigger than 3" by 5", some even smaller than that. I have 12 different designs, but just a few are embellished at this point.

I apologize for the colors. The pictures were taken in less than ideal light, and some are not as focused as they could be. But you get the idea.
These are REALLY the prettiest purple beads in natural light. Now to figure how much to charge for them. Everyone has this dilemma, I know. I want to sell them, but I don't want to give them away either. To buy a birthday card, a regular birthday card is at least $3.99 these days, and sometimes almost $10 for some of the fancy singing and dancing ones. So, a unique, handmade, framable work of art should sell for somewhere over ten...

one more bowl

This is my favorite.

Felted Bowls

I'm NOT allowing myself my first cup of coffee until I get this written, as penance for not posting for so long! I don't know what happens to time between one post and another. It just zooms at warp speed. I think it's called life. And lots going on in my life these days now that the weather is finally warm enough to go out without mittens. Still need boots sometimes because of the mud, not snow.

I planted peas, lettuce and beets the other day. Our ground is soft enough to work though the ice isn't out on the lake yet. Today, I'll bet. It's so close. So, working in my garden. Next, I have decided to leave my day job of hte last 21 years and retire. Starting May 29th. Whew. Glad that the decision part is behind me and now I can look forward to more time to play with fabric and paint. And last, FELTED BOWLS. These are so much fun to make. And quick. Love that little white one. Can't you just see daffodils coming out of that? Soon.