New Doll

I've been seeing on Facebook that Raggedy Ann is 100 this year. I thought I'd do my take on her. I sketched, made a pattern that I liked (the second one is a little larger than the first), cut out the pieces and sewed them together. I plan on stuffing the little thing today and maybe start painting her.

I will also get back to sketching. I've been slacking. I seem to do tiny things and I guess that's okay. Still working on getting over that everything has to be just so to get started. It doesn't. I am working on a five second rule created by Mel Robbins. If you think about something you want to do that will move you forward, within five seconds, do it. Don't think about it because if you don't do it, you won't do it. I've started reading her book Stop Saying You're Fine and of the many empowerment/self help books I've read, this one is different. She gets to that little voice buried deep in your head that tells you that new things are scary and difficult, so don't change. On the surface, it's like, yeah, I can see that but trying to get out of that being stuck is quite difficult. But I will keep working at it because there are many things I want to do, places I want to go and I have to make the conscious effort to get moving.

Another thing I will get to today, finally, is my Halloween Cat. I got the applique part done but have been procrastinating on the embroidery part. I want to get it done, even though I won't have a place to hang it just yet but at least it will be done. Have a good day!

#melrobbins #stopsayingyourefine #raggedyann

Happy June!

It's a new month. My birthday month and I will be working to do some neat things leading up to my birthday at the end of this month. I'm excited. I haven't been excited about my birthday in a long time. I'm grateful that I've made it to this age. I've done quite a few things in my life that others may not get a chance to do. But let's wrap up May.

May

• Read 4 books
• I did some writing but didn't get my short story finished, I guess I'm going back to 100 words or one page a day for June
• I longarmed 5 quilts
• I planted a veggie garden and I've got flowers popping up
• I went to the One Way Art Show in King, NC
• I went on an overnight stay with two friends to Hendersonville and Flat Rock, NC; saw some lovely quilts at a quilt symposium, had dinner at Hubba Bubba Smokehouse and breakfast at Tupelo Honey Cafe.
• Did 6 daily sketches and some other small sketches for Halloween pieces
• Started watching a series on Netflix
• 12 World of Wendy Lu blog posts
• 5 wendy b quilts blog posts

I had a great time going out of town for a day and overnight stay. Sometimes you just need to get away to clear your head and rejuvenate your creative being. Now I feel like I can rock 'n roll. Here are some sights from Hendersonville.

My friend Hattie was looking for antiques for her jewelry and artwork. I was the one who found some treasures. Cigar boxes for some ghoulies and Deliverance, the novel. Hardback even. I've only seen parts of the movie, never all the way through even though the river scene was filmed in North Carolina.

I've got some sketching to do, writing, and catch up on some sewing now that I have my sewing machine back! I have some plans for the month but left room to do other things. I hope you hang around to see what goes on in my wild and wacky life.

Drawing Day 6

I'm doing better than expected with these little drawings. I did this one late last night. Late because I told myself that I couldn't go to bed without my sketch for the day. I know, I'm just now posting it. But I did it.

I also got my sewing machine back. I'd had it for about 11 years and never took it in for anything. In a way, I guess that's saying I bought a good machine but I also could have been playing with explosives. I was having problems with the bobbin winder but that was it. And with the amount of costumes, clothing for me, dolls, curtains, and quilts, I'm sure there was a lot of lint built up inside where I couldn't get to. So my baby is back and I have no excuse to not do the projects I have lined up since I took it in. The shop, Sewingly Yours had a special on machine repair last month. $25 bucks off. That truly helped things. Okay, I'm out of here. Got to really catch up now. Five months until Halloween, six months until the end of the year.

Here's a Quickie

Day 5 drawing. Trying to get into Halloween mode.

Drawing a Day- 4

I have no idea where I'm going with these sketches a day. Just to get back in the habit of sketching something in my sketchbook. Right now, it's whatever comes to mind. I don't know if I'll get to a theme or not but first I want to build the habit. Seeing that it's summer (at least where I am), I did flowers.

Drawing a Day 3

I am behind a drawing. I helped friends with their food stand at the BMW Classic on Saturday. And it's the holiday, so I may or may not catch up. It was late when I did this and the only thing I could think about were the dog biscuits near me. Then I turned the biscuit shapes into people. Have a good one.

Drawing a Day 2

Got another quilt on the frame, ran errands this morning and got my drawing in. I couldn't just do one day and quit.