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.

Day 1- Drawing a Day

I did my drawing last night using a prompt from Craftsy.com. I haven't cross hatched in a long time. It was easy enough to do, I used a smaller sketchbook, which was a suggestion of theirs to keep your drawings small. I don't feel as intimidated. We'll see how long I can keep this up. I don't want it to be something that I stress over but with the small amount of energy I had left last night, I managed to get something done. Here it is.

Update Post

I told myself that I would do better at posting on my blog. Well, I'm still working on it. My longarm quilting business is picking up. I received 5 quilt tops to do in one order. So I will be busy working on them. I had asked the universe for 5 quilts by the end of the month and I got them. I am grateful.

I am almost done with the rough draft of my first short story. That's been a struggle too. I don't know why I can't finish it. I know what the ending is but Bad Wendy is being a bear right now. I will get that done today. Seeing that I haven't been sketching at all, I will attempt to start today. One drawing or sketch a day. Today's may be very simple but I really want to get back to drawing well. Plus I need to sketch out some Halloween stuff. Halloween. So behind. I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it. I have been practicing on the longarm, making quilts, and doing applique. But I do miss making things; dolls, figures. It's only Wednesday and I've a good chunk of the day left.

I will paint the ceiling of my roombox today. Possibly stain the wood floor too. I will post a pick of my sketch of something later today. Have a good one.

Garden

My garden is growing. The past few rains have helped. They love it. I have little blooms on one of my tomato plants. And buds on the cucumber plants. I'm so thrilled. I even got out there and weeded some. It feels good to play in the dirt.

Little tomato flowers.

Tomatoes and purple cabbage.

Cucumbers on the ends and peppers in the middle. I truly am excited to be able to finally grow something that I can eat.

Miniature Roombox

I've always wanted a dollhouse. I never had the room for one or the money. Through Facebook, I now have a wonderful friend who also likes minis. I was feeling low last year and she surprised me with a roombox. Something to get started with to see if I could handle a full size dollhouse, which I still don't have room for. I am so glad for this roombox because it took some time to figure out how to put it together. And then there was the floor, which I won't show because I messed it up. Why did I mess it up? Because I didn't stop when I got tired. I'm learning that with minis, you don't push it. It's a long term project. So far, I do know what I will do differently with the next roombox or dollhouse.

It is upside down. I've primed the ceiling and walls with gesso. I will paint the ceiling white and the walls will get wallpaper. I will stain the floor because it's a hardwood floor. I was worried about getting stain on the walls but that's why they have baseboards. This room will be a writer's room. I have instructions to make a rope bed. I will make a little quilt for the bed and probably make a couple of rugs. I've seen a typewriter (yes, I'm old school- I actually typed a manuscript on a manual typewriter) that I like and I may have to make a desk because I haven't found one that I like yet.

This is my long term project. I'll work on it when I can. And collect things along the way. I want to do other rooms too. One for an artist, seamstress, and my friend suggested a potter or weaver/spinner/knitter. But first, this one. I hope it won't take too long to post the next step. I do have the wallpaper, wood for the baseboards, a window, a door (they have to be primed and painted too), and stain for the floor.

I'm excited.

No Pic Post

Yes, no pics this time round. The quilts biz has been keeping me busy. The weather has been a little crazy too and we've had our fist tropical storm, Ana, a month before the hurricane season starts June 1st. Today it will be almost 90 degrees with lots of humidity. I don't mind the heat but the humidity makes my curls curl.

I've prepped two more canvas panels for painting. I will get back to my room box, I will get pics for that. I put in a floor and messed it up because I didn't stop when I got tired. I kept going and messed it up. I don't know if I'll be able to fix it but if not, I can cover it with a rug or a bed. Note to self: when working with miniatures, take your time and quit when you're tired.

I've started my list for some Halloween pieces. Been doing some tiny sketches, improving on them and take some pics. I'm still a little apprehensive about getting back to sketching, it was one of the things I didn't really like doing when I was in art school. But I really should get my ideas down and then I can see if they will work in the 3D realm.

I've been reading like crazy. Discovered mystery writer MC Beaton who does the Hamish Macbeth series. Like those a lot. And I'll be going to Scotland one day.

A Painting

I finally got a painting done. I had started it a month ago and made time to finish it. I used Walnut Hollow oil color pencils on a canvas board covered with black gesso.

Here is my initial sketch and the transfer onto the panel.

I like how the colors pop on the black background. I didn't like the texture of the canvas panel. So for the next one, I sanded the panel a little to make it a bit smoother. I will then add on one or more coats of black gesso. Such a wonderful idea I got from another artist friend.

We'll see how this one works out. I have a series of mask kids because I have that many panels. Cheers!

Happy May

Oh my gosh! Late again. Oh well, it's spring. Things are way green outside and the the flowers are blooming like crazy. My tomato plants have grown an inch after the torrential rains we had. Still working on being positive. But let's recap April. Oh April. Not as bad as March, but there is room for improvement.

This is what I did:

• 5 books read
• Only worked on my short story a little bit. I know I said I would have the rough draft done but life happens
• 1 business quilt done on the longarm
• 1 quilt almost done for me, gotta sew on the binding
• Attached binding and hanging sleeves on two of my mom's wall hangings
• 6 world of Wendy Lu posts
• 5 wendy b quilts posts
• 2 day trips: one to Pittsboro to visit a new doll friend and one to an art show in King, NC
• finally appliqued the pieces down on my Halloween Cat wall hanging

Not bad. I'm going to cut myself some slack. I have a whole new month. New pics are coming up. Thanks for hanging in there with me.