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.

I spent most of my day yesterday beading. I have a green 'bead soup' that I'm using to create a curving path through the trees on my current project. While I was working on it I had my computer beside me and I was watching the Quilting Arts TV series. Anyone see it on TV? I very rarely watch tv so I don't even know if we get it on our local PBS channel. But it's very interesting seeing Pokey over and over; checking out her outfits, watching her relax into her role as she puts more shows behind her, say 'go ahead' again (we all have our own speech patterns, don't we). I'm finding the segments within the show are too rushed, except for the ones I'm not interested in of course. I'm hot to try some felted bowls after one episode, and some of the digital transfers methods are interesting. Mostly, though, it's a really good way to make a boring job bearable. And completed.

And the other part of my day was spent cleaning away the fall/winter leftovers from my gardens. As the snow recedes from one area, I clean it up and wait for another one to appear! It's not so overwhelming that way and I feel like I'm finally doing something positive to get ready for the gardening season. We still have a lot of snow in our backyard, but with temps in the 50's today we should lose a lot of it. And the lake, well, that will be a while yet before ice out. But as they say, "we've broken the back of old man winter!!!" Hooray for spring!

Altered Books

I've joined a new library in Rockport, the town where we'll be building our new house in a couple of years. I guess I'm not starting out on the right foot because I went away on vacation and forgot to renew my books so I ended up returning them two days late. I love libraries. And this one has the feel of a small town library but is up to date, well organized and exciting just to be in. For instance, right now they have an exhibit of 'Altered Books' called Out Of Bounds.
I have taken a few pictures but if you're interested in seeing more you can link to the site. Such a variety; it's hard to choose one favorite. This one, though, was sitting on the desk and I really thought it was a warning to patrons to be careful of your books around pets.

The books were interspersed with the regular books, displayed in little spaces on the shelves or around the corner on a table. Coming upon one was a treat for the eyes.