June Wrap Up

I can't believe that another month is gone. The Summer Solstice has happened and the days are getting shorter. For many, they haven't even begun to have summer yet, for me, I'm ready for the cool breezes of fall. Fall and spring are my favorite times of the year. I can wait. I have a garden this year, so summer is okay. But soon we will be bombarded with back-to-school commercials and Christmas commercials. It would be nice if things would just slow down and we could enjoy the moment.

I did some nice things to celebrate my birthday month. I had fun and decided it was time to make some big decisions in my life. And right now, I'm very excited and looking forward to the future. So here's what I did this month.

• 5 books read
• 2 business quilts
• 1 Sashiko kit
• 4 day trips- quilt shop; Sparta, NC, Black Mountain and Asheville, NC; picked blueberries at Sandy Creek Farm
• 10 days of practicing a new language (didn't start until late in the month)
• 13 World of Wendy Lu blog posts
• 4 Wendy B Quilts blog posts
• worked on my roombox- painted the ceiling and walls
• started 2 new dolls
• went to a dance recital, art reception

It may not seem a lot but it worked for me. I did a lot of soul searching to figure out where I want to be, what I want to do with the rest of my life. I am off to a new adventure. I hope you will join me.

A New Year!

Yesterday was my birthday. I had a fun time doing things throughout the month to celebrate my special day. Capped it all off spending time with some friends at an art reception and eats at Muddy Creek Cafe. It was so good talking and laughing with good people.

Today starts my New Year. I have some major plans on the drawing board and will have to work like a maniac for the next two years for it to happen. I've been in this spot for nine years, it's time to make a move. I have started my recons to the  mountains of North Carolina and I think I've found the spot where I want to settle. It has everything. A great art/craft vibe, lots of interesting people, tons to do: tubing down a river, rafting, hiking and biking, fishing, museums, great places to eat, lots of festivals just about all year round, and natural beauty. That's for the move, I will also kick up the creative projects up a few notches. My artwork, quilts, writing will all go into override because I am moving to the mountains. I've been toying with the idea for the past several years and now I've put it out to the universe.

Am I scared? Heck yeah! But the excitement is even more powerful. You can accomplish a lot when you're excited about something. And I will document everything. So let's get started.

I got these today from a local craft store. It has a point program and if you get so many points by the end of the year, you get a $10 coupon. Yeah, yeah, you spend more than you get back but when that $10 comes in at the beginning of the year, that's when I really need something from the store. So I'm good. I've just about run out of my paints. Some, not very good ones, so I've decided to go for the gold and get better paints. One, you don't have to use as much to get the color you want. The color saturation is so much better and basically, you get what you pay for. Plus, I haven't used artist grade paints since I was last in college and that was a long time ago. Years. Eons. You get the point.

I love the little beach chair. What will I do with it? I don't know but if I'm going to go back and get a couple more, I need a good reason to do so. I have an idea and will start sketching it out. The paint is Golden Manganese Blue Hue. Coupons help too.

I've got a list to attack. Have a great day.

Sashiko

I got my first Sashiko piece done. Once I got into it, I really enjoyed working on it. Now I will have to get another kit. I don't know what I'll do with this one. Oh well, it's done.

Monday... Again

Another Monday. Okay. My eye is bothering me. I spotted a white something on the edge of my right iris. Scared the you-know-what out of me. It feels like there's a bump on my eyeball. Of course seeing so many horror movies and a couple of episodes of Monsters Inside Me has freaked me out. I called my optometrist's office this morning and have an appointment this afternoon for her to check this space spawn out.

I finally broke open my Sashiko kit. I can't get the needle to go the way I was shown, so I'm winging it. Maybe in the near future I can learn how to do the stitch properly. So far, I just want to get my stitches even but it's very soothing once I get into a rhythm of doing the stitches.

I'll keep practicing and probably get another kit with a different design. Make a wall hanging or something. I have an idea for a bigger project and that is still on the drawing board.

I worked on the Verity doll pattern by Deanna Hogan this weekend too along with watching a bunch of movies with a repeat of The Blues Brothers. I thought this was going to be an easy week but the eye has me on edge. I have a day trip on Thursday and a blueberry festival planned on Saturday.

Cruise In Part 2 - Cars

Cars

Corsair- Corsa

Didn't get the name of this one.

More Birthday Fun- Cruise In Trucks

I went with a friend to a local cruise in of old cars and trucks. Many were absent because the clouds had opened and poured for over an hour. But there were some die hards still there.

I love old trucks. This is a GMC one. A nice blue one.

Inside a Ford.

Army truck.

My friend's 30 year old JEEP called Moss. I painted the two skull light covers.

Birthday Celebrations Are ...

Birthday celebrations are a go!

Seems that they just aren't special places I go to but little things that happen to me during the day. Yesterday I finally went to the Mast General Store. http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/
I've always heard about it but never had a chance, until now, to visit one. Wow! I'm in love. The clothes are great and moderately priced. There's something for everyone. Kitchen items, food, candy in barrels, books, toys, camping gear, and shoes. I can't wait to see their fall/winter wear. It's a financially dangerous place. Wink, wink. It's my favorite store now. It's actually setup like an old-time general store in a small town.

Seeing that I was already downtown, I decided to see if the Fiber Company was open. I used to have some of my dolls in there. I wanted to talk to one of the owners about putting in some Halloween things but they were closed. So I went to a gallery where I used to work, across the street, and said hi to some of my ex-coworkers. The person (Jane) I wanted to see, actually came in and I was able to talk to her. I told her about getting things ready for Halloween and she said that the Black Theater Festival is the first week in August and asked if I would put something in for that because she's got regular customers who come back every two years during the festival. Jane is part of the co-op that is the Fiber Company, a group of weavers. Great stuff. I said, "Sure." She said that she knew it was short on time but if I wanted to, she would be glad to have my work in sooner.

How cool is that? When someone likes your work so much that they ask if you can put work in their shop for a special event. I felt very honored. So I guess I'll be staying up a couple of nights to get some things done. This is so exciting.

And next week I get to go to Asheville for a day. Squee!!!!!!!!

Things Are Happening

My garden is growing nicely. Still working on some pesky cabbage caterpillars and found a natural bug spray to make in the kitchen and those plants will get sprayed this evening. The beet plants are doing well and I will allow them to get a bit bigger before putting them in the ground. I've got little tomatoes that seemed to pop out overnight. I've had to water the garden every morning for the past couple of days because it's been in the 90s.

Cucumber flowers. Lots of them. Yay!

My first cucumber is here!

Seeing that the beets sprouted quite nicely, I'm trying bok choy. We shall see!

Next Up

First, my beet plants are doing well. I will put them in a small container with some dirt so they can get a little bigger before I put them in the ground. Then by fall I can harvest them.

I'm making progress on my Raggedy Ann. I'll start painting her today.

Here is a pattern I've had for a long time. It's the Verity doll by Deanna Hogan of Blue Heron Dolls. I love her work, so I'm going to try the smaller doll.

I have a small break between my next longarm project so this week will be doll week.

This Month

June is flying by so fast!

What the heck! And I've been slack in posting. Will be working on that. So, for my birthday celebration month, I went to the Winston-Salem Ham (operator) Fest. One of these days I will practice and get my license. That was Saturday. On Sunday I went to see my friend's daughters (my play nieces) at their end of year recital. I was impressed with all the dancers. The studio even takes special needs kids which is great. The older kids, 18 years old, did special dances because they were aging out. The studio takes ages 3 to 18. The tinies were cute but I really like the mid-ages from about 6 - 10. They hadn't been jaded yet and danced because they didn't have a care in the world. They weren't thinking about how big or small they were. No hangups yet and they were great. I had fun and when the 18 year olds were doing their favorite time during their stint, there were many wet eyes in the audience.

I will go onto a local art museum's site to see what's on. That along with a movie or two is on my birthday list. A day trip to the mountains would be nice too.

Moving Right Along

I've been working on my Raggedy Ann doll. Her parts have been stuffed and will be ready to paint today. I may even work on some other dolls too. The day is still young. I was invited to a fiber arts guild meeting earlier this week. The meeting changes locations each month and this month was at one of the member's home. Nice place. It was in a part of NC I hadn't been, Sparta. It's very pretty there.

I also finished longarming another quilt top.

 
Last Saturday I went to the local farmer's market. I found beets. I love beets and they were worth every penny spent because I knew they hadn't been treated with a bunch of chemicals. Plus, I'm helping my local economy. I had seen articles on growing new plants from other plants you get and cook with. Like onions, bok choy, celery. So I thought that I would try the beets. I asked the farmer if he had any plants and said it was late and they would have plants closer to fall. That beets can be planted in the fall, covered with hay and they will be ready for harvest in the spring. Nice. But I didn't want to wait so I did this. Cut off the tops, and I do eat the beet tops too, and place this remaining part in a little water. The worse would be for the thing to get slimy, moldy and just die. Or, it could sprout, like what it's doing here in this pic. Amazing. So maybe by fall, I'll have some beets.

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.