Food For Thought

In the spirit of getting back to why I started this blog, to share the art and craft of what I and my friends are working on, I wanted to post the pages of a gorgeous fabric and paper book my sister Kate made for my bithday. I was surprised to get a handmade gift at all this year since she had been working on a quilted wall hanging for her sister-in-law. We share an interest in good food and she had quotes she wanted to use and some new techniques to try. The second page is a paint to paint transfer of a magazine image and is quite lovely but my favorite is her collage to accompany the food for thought quote from Walt Kelly. I hope this wonderful gift inspires me to get back to paper/fabric experiments.

Winter on the Funny Farm

I'm not sure how these pictures inform what a winter this has been. We didn't get as much snow as Washington DC or even Pittsburgh. I can't seem to get photos of snow laden trees as the wind clears them too quickly. But you can see that the wind shaped our icicles so that they go south at the bottom and swirled snow up onto the covered deck where the firewood is stored. Some of the snow had to be shoveled because the plow was being serviced at the tractor dealer across the street when the first snow hit. It took Ken a few shots to learn how to use the plow but he has gotten much quicker with it. The day I tromped out to get the pictures of the field and treeline, the snow was at least 15 inches deep in places although there were places I got surprised by it being only 6 or 7 inches deep.

The plastic cup of ice has been sitting in the garage since Valentine's Day when we went to Mansfield to see Avatar. I guess when the ice in the cup changes its shape we'll know it's been above 32 degrees.

Not With a Bang...

I've been away from here for a while. On October 1, I sat myself down to produce the ornaments that would get me through the sales season of 2009. Thankfully, I had made some prototypes sometime earlier in the year because leaving only a month to do my production work was crazy. But even then was a little soon for the garden work; we ended up taking huge bags of produce to the local Salvation Army. I continued to make the ornaments through November and most of December, but it was obvious I hadn't done enough. So because it was my last year of production and I had run out of all of the new ornaments, I offered to make anything that was ordered by January 15. That turned out to be 98 ornaments and I finished them this morning, February 7 at 11:03. Which I recorded on this little clock that I've used for the last 20 or so years to measure out my life in little clay hands, and feet and noses. Well, maybe, it's the second clock I've had.

As I worked, I found that I had lost my patience for sitting such long hours and realized that it wasn't a second too soon to be moving on. There was actually quite a bit of whimpering and whining as the jobs seemed to multiply like the fishes and the loaves. And there is still a tentative order for a gingerbread house lingering in the back of my mind. But this morning I feel free to choose how to spend the next 24 hours. And then it's time to start working on my income taxes!!!