Jan and Rocky hit the beach

Yes, we went to the beach.  The weather was a bit foggy, as you can see in the above photo.  I was practically in the water before I could actually see the ocean.  This photo was taken on my second day.  The first day was hot, the second day was cold and foggy, and the third day was just right.

Rocky, smile for the camera!  He's feeling a bit shy, it seems.

I stopped at a little goat dairy and bought some cheese.  The man took me back to view his French Alpine goats.  Pretty ladies.

 

 Then he took me to the separate pen to visit the buck.  I didn't get too close to the buck but I think I can still smell him.  He only had eyes for his ladies, but I didn't mind. The goat, not the man.

Jackie over at http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/ recently did a post about her trip to the Outer Hebrides and she included a photo of a rusty building, said her husband really likes old rusty buildings.  So this photo is for her and him.  It is pretty decrepit and rusty.

I had brought some beads to work on but I didn't even take them out of the bag.  I just read and walked and hung out with the Rock.  Very relaxing and pleasant.  Now I'm back home, I'm going to get those beads out.  I'm intending to have a giveaway in honor of my 100th post coming up so watch this space.

Be well.

Dooleybobber # 7

Here is my latest needle felted, beaded, stitched piece. 

Again, this is built on a piece of wool batting.  The finished piece measures about 5.5"x6.5"

I pick up old jewelry at garage sales and some of those pieces are finding their way into my art, which is why I buy them.  The little 4 point thing with turquoise in the center of the buttons was a part from an earring. 

I love these little felted beads.  The dark pink fringe stuff at the bottom there is a piece of selvage from a cotton fabric.  I knew I was saving that for something! 

The white thing is a piece of shell from the beach, and the star pin is another garage sale find.  Oh, and a bit more avocado net bag in there.  Can you tell I am really enjoying creating these little dooleybobbers?  Finding a way to use all the little collected odd bits and pieces.  On to my next piece.  Hope you all are enjoying your weekend.

Be well.

Susan's ATC

Recently a blogging friend and I agreed to do an ATC trade. I received hers before she received mine but I'm a bit embarrassed that she blogged about receiving mine before I got around to blogging about hers. That one above is from Susan over at http://sjmcdowell.blogspot.com/ The funny thing is, we didn't have any theme, it was just make what ever you want. Yet, our ATC's to each other were remarkably similar.

I forgot to take a picture of mine before I sent it so I have taken this from Susan's blog.  You see that we both put butterflies into our ATC's.   I love my newest ATC and will put it into my growing collection.  Susan has only begun, this one to me might have only been the second ATC she made.  It's lovely!  Thanks Susan!  Fun trade.

Today I am listening to NPR's list of 50 most important music recordings.  It is a pretty interesting list, with contributions from listeners.  Here is the link in case any of you want to listen to the song selections:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120326033  I sure enjoy hearing new music.  Right now it is a song by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss from Raising Sand. An unusual pairing that really works.  

Still having wonderful hot weather here.  I hope the rest of you are enjoying some fine weather, where ever you are.

Be well.

Marathon Sewing

I knew there was a baby shower coming up but I had forgotten what day so I searched around for the invitation and lo and behold it was Saturday.  And this was Tuesday! Luckily I have my go to quilt pattern, Wicked Easy Quilts, and I was able to whip this one up in a couple of days, plenty of time to have it wrapped up for the party.  My friend Anne  over at http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com/ had recently sent me a box of juvenile print fabrics so I was able to put several of them to use in this quilt.  (thanks Anne!)  I didn't go to the shower but I heard the quilt was well received.  I used a hot pink solid soft rayon for the backing, same as the binding.

I make and sell dog collars at my veterinary's office and I needed to replenish that supply so I have been stitching these up for the past couple of days off and on.  Above are some of the fabrics I use to cover the nylon webbing. 

Here are a bunch of the finished collars.  Cute, huh? 

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It finally got warm here, been about 90 for the past couple of days.  I like to sleep outside occasionally and have been for the past couple of nights.  Since the Perseid meteor shower was going on, it was a good time to be out under the stars.  You can see Rocky's bed there next to mine.  Charlie cat sleeps cuddled up against me too so we are all pretty cozy.  It was so gorgeous when I awoke at 3am and looked up at those stars.  Not a cloud in the sky and no moon, it doesn't get any better than that around here for star gazing.  No cities close by so not much unwanted light.

Hope you all are having some more moderate weather.  I know many of you can hardly wait for autumn but I am just glad we are finally getting some summer.

Be well.

Birthday greetings to Silke!

Happy Birthday to Silke over at http://silkepowers.blogspot.com/ Hope you are having the most wonderful birthday ever!!  Here is a cake for you, don't eat it all at once.  Or maybe you would prefer this one:

Depends on how old you are I guess.  I am quite sure you aren't as old as me, so be careful how you answer that one;-) Have a wonderful day, Silke!!

Doolybobber #6

I need to just start numbering these pieces since I seem to be unable to come up with good names for them. Here is another one of these doolybobbers. I guess this would be about number 6. Must be a series!  I photographed this on top of a piece of golden batik fabric, that is not part of the piece.

This one measures only about 6"x6". I used a wool batting background and needle felted various colored rovings and strips of silk fabric and scrim before doing hand stitching and adding buttons, bottle caps, felt beads and a stamped, painted piece of paper clay. Oh, and there is a little bit of netting from a bag of avocados too, there next to the green heart. A few beads, of course.

Below you can see the bottle cap with a little paper flower on top. 

I like the paper clay piece, I have made several of these and this is the first time I have used one.

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Tomorrow is my Stitch n' Bitch day, meeting up with my BFF's.  That is always fun, we are going to make some more of the little folded books.  It has been cool here again, temperature wise.  Only got up to about 62 today.  I was painting papers to use in folded books, I finally had to iron them dry so I can take them with me tomorrow. Listening to Radiohead.

Be well. 

Broken Hearts

This is what I have been playing around with lately. I found a box of acrylic felt pieces at a garage sale awhile back and gave myself permission to play around with them.  I hand stitched some circles of felt together, then cut them into quarters, rearranged them and put them back together.  A bullseye. After I machine stitched them down on the felt backing I began adding bits and pieces of felt shapes and beads and buttons.

Originally I was going to make this into a pillow but after I saw how much pet hair it was picking up just by carrying it around, I decided it would not be a good pillow.   Plus it would be uncomfortable with all the beads and buttons.  Imagine what your face would look like after resting your cheek upon it!

I had fun embellishing using some rayon threads and fiber strands. 

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I especially like this orange and hot pink heart, I love the way those colors look next to each other.

I will leave you with this picture I snapped after noticing Charlie sleeping in the chiminea.   Doesn't he look cozy?

I see I am coming up on my 100th post pretty soon.  I haven't been blogging much lately, too nice outside to be inside.  I hope it stays nice for a couple more months yet and that my 100th post is a ways off.  Until then,

Be well.