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Word for 2011

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

Last year (I had to search my blog to find it), my word for the year was

Simplify.

Even though I had actually attempted to do that over the course of the year, the fact that I didn’t remember the word (sigh) will tell you that I have some work to do on that score!

The word for 2011 is

Breathe.

The year, as I mentioned yesterday, is starting on quite a stressful note thanks (well, NO thanks) to the owner of the house on which we put an offer.  Our house has sold, so we MUST move  (we have a short rentback from the new owners and think we can extend that a bit), but we don’t know if the current owner will comply with the requirement to be out of the house for *us* to occupy it when we go to closing due to a lot of things that have gone on since we got the contract to sell our house.  So we will know next week when closing happens if he will be out, and if it will be this month……

In the meantime, I am trying to breathe.  Trying not to feel like a quivering mass of stress.  Trying to pack up some things, clear out junk (to Goodwill when suitable, to the dump when not!), keep up with paperwork, not snap at the hubster and children.  All will be well in the long run, but at the moment it is pretty nerve-wracking.  Again, I’ll ask for you all to send vibes for things to work out the way we would most like!

Happy New Year to one and all!

Sold! Now where?

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Hi all…just ducking in to wish you all a blessed and peaceful new year filled with joy and creativity!

Made using Susan Brubaker Knapp's pattern in Quilting Arts Gifts 2010-2011 issue

This past week we became tenants…yes, we sold our house!  It was on the market for an unbelievable twelve days before we had an offer!  That good news has led to a bunch of difficulty, however, with the owner of the house on which we had already made an offer (the only reason we listed our house was to purchase the one we had just seen).  Let’s just say things are turbulent, so please send good wishes for the desired outcome!  We are renting back for the rest of this month, but at the moment we don’t know where we’ll be living in six weeks!!!! EEEK!Let’s just say things are tense…..

That, of course, has seriously stymied creativity.  That and the fact that I should be packing and cleaning out in preparation for our move!

The photo above, by the way, I’ll blog about more…. I had a pattern included in the Quilting Arts Gifts issue for this year (2010-2011), my fabric frames.  My favorite other pattern in the issue is my friend Susan Brubaker Knapp‘s beautiful mistletoe.  Since I didn’t have the embroidery floss or wool balls I had to improvise, but I love the way these turned out.  I made them as gifts for my Frayed Edges friends, so will blog about our Frayed Edges meeting soon and also the making of the mistletoe.

Now it’s time for dinner, so I’ll sign off and wish you all a Happy new year!

Time for a little creativity even!

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Yes, while the turkey was roasting on Christmas day and the potatoes were boiling and the pie and stuffing were done, I took a little time for art!  About a thousand lifetimes ago (meaning last winter, maybe February-ish) I took an online class with Sharon Boggon (her site is here and is now called In a Minute Ago, here blog is  Pin Tangle)  about a “working” sketchbook.  Not a fancy, work-of-art-in-itself journal, but about using a journal as a way to flesh out ideas and stimulate creativity.  Here’s a link to the class description…I really enjoyed the class!  Alas, I have been abysmal at keeping up with it–simply too much life happening.  BUT…. I have the journal and the supplies and the desire.  So on Christmas I made the time!

I just LOVE how this turned out....it makes me happy. Being creative and noodling around just makes me content. I should do this more!

I took some of the squares I had cut from magazine pages, and some words and phrases, and started gluing them up.  One page became two…. then I took my WONDERFUL Christmas gift from hubby:  a set of 72 Derwent Inktense pencils

The Inktense pencils are in the upper left. My magazine snippings are in the box, and the bag on the right is my travel-art bag, with room for a set of 6 graphite pencils, a 12-travel-set of watercolor, a waterbrush, glue stick and a couple odd pens are inside in their custom-made pockets

and a waterbrush and, in the evening after supper while watching Starman with my family, colored in the background.  I LOVE IT!

And I cannot let the last Christmas posting pass without Kate’s candles–I’ll blog about our Frayed Edges meeting in a few days, but I had to share these.  Kate found the votives in cylindrical glass cups then re-purposed old (tossed out) sheet music.  The large one is from Stonewall Kitchen (a Maine company) and smells of “Maine Forest.”

My new Canon G12 has a "candlelight" setting on the dial, and this was taken just holding the camera still, no tripod or bracing...love it!

It was a good one….

Monday, December 27th, 2010

The pug always gets top billing...and he loved his raccoon! See how proud he is!

The before:

Twas the night before Christmas, and the goodies were actually wrapped!

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care (using my new best thingies, easily removed “command strip” hooks):

I promise...the stockings really are there, just off to the left....

The during:

That's Paul's hand in the lower right--he tends to glare at the camera so I mostly take pictures of the boys, when they tolerate it....

We had a lovely Christmas and hope you did, too!  I recently killed my beloved Panasonic DMC FZ-30 camera.  The first death blow was when hiking about 3 years ago and I slipped and the camera banged against a rock hard enough to chip the metal on the rim…miraculously, the camera still took good photos…good enough that all the studio / in progress shots in my book are taken on that one “after the fall” (and no, I didn’t get but a scrape…I was a lot more upset about the camera)!…the final death blow was a couple weeks ago when it slipped off a pile of fabric on my work table.  I had moved it, foolishly, to the top of a not-terribly-stable or flat pile to make room to cut something.  Then I bumped the table.  Ooops.  Landed lens down, and that led to a repair that led to the front of the lens coming off.  Erg.  So I bought a Canon G12 as a carry-around camera (not one of the fits in a jeans or shirt pocket size, but fits in a jacket pocket or purse easily) and have discovered it takes AWESOME pictures.  These were almost ALL taken *without* flash and handheld…. I could never have done that on the old camera!

The not-roast beast:

Thumper had to check out Paul's gift of salami, which beloved SIL Joyce sends from California since we can't get this here on the East Coast

We will only touch briefly on the fact that Paul left the salami on the table and the next day the pug, temporarily persona non grata, helped himself to one of them.  Including a lot of the paper wrapper.  Astonishingly, the pug was not sick. Paul was a bit queasy about the loss of the one salami, but he didn’t ask the dog to return it.  Ahem.

Are you done taking pictures yet?

After snapping about a dozen pictures of the boys and Paul, I hit their limit….. but I DO like the camera!

It’s going to be a White Christmas!!!!

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

Here’s what we woke up to this morning….much more snow than anticipated…WOOOHOOO!

Looking over the front lawn to the street

The front porch...hmmm....

The driveway---or it will be once we shovel!

And a perennial favorite of mine, snowy woodpiles!