Catching up

 Here's the front of the new house, right after the landscaping went in.

 A shot of the back looking west.  The garage door is still waiting to be painted blue-gray and white.

 Here's the back looking east.  Wrought iron railings will edge the deck.

Thanksgiving, 2012, Round Rock, Texas.  Mother and Daddy drove down with us for the weekend.  We rented a house, which worked out great!

 Here's a picture of the dining room in the Enid house after a day of packing.  We lived like this, with boxes everywhere, for a week because I delayed the moving day until February 16.  

First day of "retirement"

My sewing machine and I have a renewed friendship - after making the travel organizer, I made a new knit top for the trip.  I used an Indy pattern and it turned out really cute. Here's the pattern:  http://sewliberated.com/products/paloma-top-tunic-and-dress

Getting ready for France...

Lately, I've been sewing for myself in anticipation of nearly a month in Europe.  First, my parents and I will accompany Archie on a business trip to the French Riviera.  Then, Archie and I will go to Italy on a music mission trip.  So, instead of learning the music for the second trip, I've been stretching and swimming to prepare my body and doing some sewing to cover it.  


Today, I made a travel organizer by following the instructions in this blog:  http://www.thimble.ca/?p=1443  

Of course, I had to modify mine, because I had only one zipper and I wanted to line the pockets on the left side.  So, I made a flap with Velcro to hold one of the pockets on the right closed.  If you'll notice, the zipper is metal - who knows how long I've had that!  The organizer didn't cost me anything, since I used what I had on hand.  I think it will work out well.  We'll test it in France this month.


After I took these pictures, I picked out the final top-stitching around the edges so I could get the folded papers inside easier.  It works much better that way.

Back At It

I'm going to try to post my new artwork, then Pin to Pinterest for more exposure.  If I get some pins, then maybe I'll reopen my Etsy store, or maybe I'll just create for my own enjoyment and whomever else wants to watch.  Since I'm still trying to find my niche in the art world, there will be a variety of styles.

Above is a small piece with paint, stamping, paper, fabric, ribbon, clay and a button.  

These next pictures show a tray I did last night to replace one I had to take down while the house is on the market.  (Apparently, houses sell better when there are no personal photos on display.)  I just collected all kinds of red and black things.  The top right rectangle represents my sewing and below it is a travel rectangle.  

Here's the entire tray.

Now, let's go on to this collage.

 Here's a close-up of the door, made from pictures of lots of different doors.

In this collage, I used paper, stamping, paint, decoupage, rub-ons, ink and a half-bead for the doorknob.

Two Months!

Can you beLieve that it has been over two months since I posted anything? That kind of coincides with my new boss coming to town. There is an enormous amount of work, now, and I am supposed to be part-time.
We visited Mark in Texas last week and he is doing great. We did a little sight-seeing, but mostly just hung-out with him.
I have been inspired to do a You Tube video and imbed it here in my post. However, I don't have the proper set-up and don't know how to edit a video. Maybe this is where Archie could help. I would like to demonstrate some of the techniques I have learned recently.
I threw out my back yesterday, but think I know the problem - degenerated muscles - don't know how to regenerate them.
Guess I'll sign off now.

Inspiration

Christy Tomlinson's art really inspires me - and she does too, even though she is a Mormon.  Somehow, she seems to get so much done while battling fibromyalgia and raising 5 children, while I seem to get so little done with only a bad back, arthritis and 3 grown kids.  Anyway, for those who are interested, I'm going to try to add her badge to my blog so you can find hers.  BTW - I used red for the font color because it's one of my favorite colors!

New Stuff

Here's some of my new stuff:

These are all 5" x 7" mixed-media art on canvas.  The backgrounds are either pale yellow or creamy beige, with accents in red, brown and black.  All four are for sale in my Etsy store.