making Felt while the rain falls

Yesterday I did some wet felting. I don't exactly know what I am doing but it doesn't matter. I'm learning as I go. I intend to do stitching and beading over these pieces. I laid pieces of colored roving over a piece of half felted wool batting, then wet felted each piece.

I think they are promising. It will be interesting to see what develops with them. I know they will be a lot different once I get to fooling around with them.

In the meantime I am working on a different piece. I'll show that one later.

Listening to A Prairie Home Companion as I have nearly every Saturday for the past 30 years.

Where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the dogs are above average.

Winner of my giveaway

I know I said my giveaway winner would be announced on Friday but I don't think there will be any new commentors between now and then so I went ahead and used the official picking the name out of the basket random winner generator and it is...................
AUDREY!!!! of http://magicmiraclesjoy.blogspot.com/
Congratulations Audrey! I already have your address so I will get these tidbits out to you tomorrow. Thanks everyone for wanting to win my giveaway. I truly appreciate you all stopping by and reading my posts and commenting. What a wonderful world this is in bloggsville! I have so enjoyed meeting you all, and welcoming new followers of which I see there is another. I'm sorry I haven't even checked you out yet, I will go do that right now. Thanks and welcome!

The photo is one with the Sun Spots 2 on the outside studio wall. That's me and my boys from the summer.
Be well.

Sun Spots 2

                                                                          56"X56"

Sun Spots II

This one I made two years ago. It had been in the gallery and now is folded up in a box in the studio. I enjoyed all the color and stitching on this one. It was fun to make. There is a Sun Spots I also, I'll show that another day. It was a smaller experimental precursor to this one.

Notice the skull fabrics in black and white.

Listening to Greg Brown today, his song "Cold Dark Wet" describes today perfectly.

Be well.

For contrast

No, this is not me today. I just thought it would be a good contrast from the old photo of me yesterday. This is a current ad I saw in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I must say I applaud Fruit of the Loom for being brave enough to show a woman who looks more like most of the women we see these days. Not that I see women walking around in their underwear all the time, but I'm just saying.

And thanks for all your kind comments on yesterdays photo, thanks for letting me brag a bit on my bygone days. Now, back to real life.

Be well.

My former glory

Me in my better days, about 1989.  I looked and looked for a picture of my brother who was also a competitive body builder during the same period but I couldn't find one.  That was before everyone had digital cameras.  I thought you all would enjoy seeing a picture of him more than of me.

My First Giveaway!!

As a thank you to anyone who has ever stopped in and taken a look at my blog and especially to those who have bothered to leave a comment and even more especially to those kind souls who have become my followers, I would like to host my first giveaway.   I have been rather overwhelmed by all the friendly people I have met since starting my blog this year, and the kind, sympathetic or hilarious words that have been left in comments and emails.

Since I received lots of curious questions about the alcohol inks, I thought they would be a good thing to giveaway so someone can try them out themselves.  This is the Nature Walk pack with Wild Plum, Butterscotch and Stream the colors included.  I'm also giving a beaded bead I made in spring like colors.  It's about the size of a fifty cent piece.  Then I tossed in a few lacy bits for good measure.  Are there supposed to be rules?  I'm not much into rules but I guess I need something here.  How about anyone who leaves a comment on this post will be put into the drawing for this giveaway.  That's it. Leave a comment.  I will draw a name on April 9th.  And thanks again for all who have extended the hand of friendship through this blog. 

Awards!

A big THANK YOU goes out to Marlene of http://marlenes-musings.blogspot.com/ for awarding me with this Sunshine Award.  I am truly honored that you would think of me for this award, Marlene.  I hope any of you who have not yet visited Marlene's blog will hop on over and take a look at her charming work.  She does very cute and sometimes amusing work.  I have one of her ATC's proudly displayed in my collection.

~Here are the Sunshine Award Guidelines~

1) Please thank the person who gave the award to you.
2) Copy the award and place it in your blog.
3) Link back to the person who nominated you.
4) Name 6 things that no one would really know, about yourself.
5) Nominate your Sunshine Award bloggers and post links to their blogs.
6) Leave a comment on each of those blogs letting them know you have nominated them for the Sunshine award.
 

But wait!  There's more!  I also received this Kreativ Blogger award from Nicole over at http://beadwright.blogspot.com/  Again I feel honored to receive these awards.  Nicole has been doing her fabulous bead work for many years and gets better all the time.  Plus she is having a birthday giveaway this month, and special free shipping in her online shops.  Check her out!!

These are the rules to be followed for this award:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you. 2. Copy the logo and place it in your blog. 3. Link the person who nominated you. 4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.

5. Nominate seven 'Kreativ Bloggers' 6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate 7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

It seems like people who's blogs I follow have already received these awards so I may be hard pressed to find someone who has not yet received it.

1.Robbie at  http://robbiespawprints.blogspot.com/
2.Tanya at http://tttl1998.blogspot.com/
3.Mary at http://kmgaragesaleshints.blogspot.com/
4.Tam at http://artinflight.blogspot.com/
5.Susan at http://sjmcdowell.blogspot.com/
6.Marilyn at http://ourvictoriancottage.blogspot.com/
7.Emmy at http://emmyschoonbeek.blogspot.com/
8.Judi at http://approachable-art.blogspot.com/
9.Anne at http://elmilagrostudio.blogspot.com/

I could list another 9 deserving bloggers or 19 but really, everyone deserves one of these awards who blogs with any regularity.  I am going to leave it up to my nominees as to whether they want to follow all the rules, or just say "thanks for the award" and leave it at that.  And since I got two awards at once, and they are so similar, you can pick which ever award you want to display, they are both fun!  I believe the gist of these awards is just to share some love and the fun of learning about blogs you may not have visited before.  Am I right?

Next rule is that I am supposed to list some things about myself that you may not know about me.  I have been giving this some thought, so here goes:

1. I have lived in my same home for nearly 34 years, since I was 21 years young.  Just a kid, really.  I still love it here and intend to stay another 34 with any luck.

2 .I was a champion competitive body builder for about 10 years back in the 1980's.  Competed about 15 times and never placed lower than second place.  I never used any performance drugs!!  I was a total natural.

3. I love dogs.  I have always had a dog and at one time I had 8 dogs.  My favorite breed is the Bully breed, I love Pit Bulls.  Mine are nice, although I only have one at the moment.  I always say don't worry about those teeth, worry about them hurting you with those hard tails wagging against your leg!

4. I like to climb trees.

5. I have never owned a Barbie doll, never wanted one.

6. I chose to not have children.  I have pets and plants instead.

7.  Music is also a passion of mine.  I don't play any instruments any more but I love to listen to music, mainly acoustic folky singer songwriter music but I also enjoy some of the new young stuff I've been learning about lately such as BonIver, My Morning Jacket, Anais Mitchell, and some old stuff like Frank Sinatra, Louie Prima, and musicals such as the Music Man and Phantom of the Opera.

Seven things is enough.  Now you know some things about me you probably didn't know before. Thanks for  being interested enough to read this far.

Be well.