Next Project

I'm still working on settling in in a new town. Same state that I was born in but a new location. A friend says that it's different because I'm out in the country instead of being in a city. Nope, it could be that I'm not in walking distance of anything. In the town I left, I had four restaurants in walking distance. I could walk downtown, to the library, to other shops. A YMCA and a park were down the hill. Trader Joes was five minutes away. I could do my shopping in half an hour. The farmers market was ten minutes away. Fabric stores and craft stores ten to fifteen minutes away. Yes... I was sort of spoiled. I could see a mountain in the distance, take a bus to wherever. Now, I have to make plans on where I want to go to maximize gas. I will get used to it. It will take time. And I have to be nice to myself about it. Maybe it's more like moving to another country. Yeah, maybe that's it. I can put that in a story.

Anyway, I've started another purse. In between sketching and stitching and watching DVD series from the library. This town has a kick butt movie section. I'm watching Pushing Daises. It's weird and quirky and I like Lee Pace and Chi McBride. It's about a guy who when he touches dead things they/it comes back to life. But only for a short time. If he doesn't touch them again to make them dead again, something/one dies in its place. Lots of weird twists and plays on words. I binged watched the first season. First time I laughed in awhile.

Here's the beginnings of the purse. The new owner wanted a blue jean one. I'll do the handles today and I intend on working on some backyard forest creature.

Welcome November!

Well, October sure did fly by. Once again, I didn't decorate like I wanted to. Things seemed to speed up and I missed everything. I'm sure the move into my studio space didn't help and getting that all set up. I was too tired to venture out for Halloween and well... I guess I'll have to make better plans for next year.

My art table is a mess. I am participating in NANOWRIMO this month and so far I'm on target. But I've got to do something about this table. It's jamming my creative frequencies and I have too much to do this month.

So this is what I accomplished last month.

• one book read (very bad indeed, so behind)
• worked on various writing projects three times (again, not good)
• 6 business quilts longarmed
• worked on applique once
• took a day trip to the Catawba Valley Quilters Show and a woodworking show as a bonus in Hickory, NC
• for entertainment, I went to a bottling party at Sutler's Spirits
• 10 World of Wendy Lu blog posts
• 9 Wendy B Quilts blog posts
• one Halloween drawing
• started watching a new series (for me) on Netflix
• started my first pair of mittens

For this month, I will work hard on being nice to me. I seem to forget that. I will do more of what I like to do and learn some new things as well. 

Nice Day Today

I went to the Catawba Quilter's Guild Show today in Hickory, North Carolina. It was really nice. 278 quilts were judged and on display. I saw every quilt but only took a few pics. And went to most of the vendors. I got some fabrics for upcoming projects. Some felted wool fabric and some cottons.

From the quilt show, I went down the hall to the woodworking show (which was free, can't pass up a free event) put on by Klingspor's Woodworking Shop. Years ago, I used to do woodcarving. I really liked it and want to get back to it. I'll have to figure out how and I did find out there was a woodworking club right here in town. I met a lady who had a table there who just wanted to show people what she did which was making her own rubber stamps. I couldn't believe the detail she got in her pieces. She let me try and I made my first rubber stamp using my own drawing. So many ideas are crowding my head.

Is that cool or what?

#quiltshow #fabric #feltedwool #rubberstamp

Fun!

Being in the studio on the regular can be exciting but it can also be lonely. No one to talk to. No one to bounce ideas around with. Most times I get tucked into a project and when I look up, it's time to go home. Other times it can get to be like watching paint dry. So part of today, I will be making lists of what needs to get done, projects that need to be started and worked on, and things I would like to try.

But yesterday I had fun. I can't remember the last time I actually went out and had fun. I was invited to a Bottling Party at Sutler's Spirits. A legal distillery, the only one in town. They distill run and gin. Well, we bottled 88 cases of gin. It was a blast. We got a brief history on distilling, how Sutler's distills, and how their equipment works. Then we got to work. It was so much fun!

These barrels are full of rum.

On the little stand were the botanicals (lavender, elderberry, and others) used to flavor and make the gin.

Scott, our leader, giving us the run down on how the stills work.

The large still in the front with the round section is for distilling the rum. The one behind it is for distilling the gin.

Me and two other ladies applying labels to the bottles.

Here are the 88 cases we bottled, labeled, and packaged.

And this is what I got for my efforts. The members of the party were nice. There was lots of laughter, good snacks; I had a good time.

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.

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.

Lemony Snicket

Hello peeps!  I went to a Lemony Snicket book signing last night.  I have read all the books in his first series The Series of Unfortunate Events.  His second series is called All the Wrong Questions and book two just came out.  I was also able to get book one and he signed both.  I also got a t-shirt.

Me getting my books signed.

As you can see, he is quite the character.  He is very funny, loud, athletic, can be positive and negative in the same sentence and considers himself quite handsome.

He also likes gimlets.

The Day After and a New Year

Okay then. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, whether you had to work or not, I hope you had a chance to spend time with friends and loved ones.  I did absolutely nothing except cook for the rest of the week.  My schedule is getting full and I've decided to make some changes.  I'm still working on being nicer to me and have decided that my time will be directed more to all that I want to do.  I'm stepping my game up several notches and moving full steam ahead on all things creative.  I don't know if I had an epiphany or what but my eyes have been open to the way I've done business.  No more.

What I am also doing is giving up one thing each month for the rest of the year.  It's a personal challenge I got from Zen Habits by Leo Babauta and I thought I'd give it a try.  It's A Year of Living Without, going a whole month giving up one thing I do regularly.  At the end of the month I will evaluate whether I enjoyed giving the thing up, whether it was worth leaving it out of my life, or do I need to put it back in.  The next month I'll give up something else.  It's an experiment to simplify one's life, finding out what's necessary and possibly making room for other cool things in my life. It's really nice because I can change my list as the year progresses if I find other things I want to give up.  At the end of the month, I will post what I've learned.  Leo is also doing the challenge which is cool.  I was debating on showing my whole list but I guess I'll do it in case you want to try to give up something in your world.  I'll start off with the first three months.

1. July - Give up TV.  Since I only have local channels that shouldn't be that difficult  But it also includes Netflix, You Tube and other video entertainment.  I've cut myself a little slack by being able to watch DVDs that I like because I work better with background noise.  I'll also be listening to a lot more music.  That's just how I roll.  I will replace it with reading more books.  We'll see how many I can finish by the end of the month.

2. August - No longer sitting longer than 30 minutes at a time.  Get up for 15 minutes and do something else. Replacement habit is to stretch more.

3. September - No dairy, that includes eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt.  Replace with more fruits and veggies.

Other things I will be doing as I move forward on this journey will be:

• Again, be nicer to me.
• Get Map Hunter II rough draft done
• Re-do my wardrobe (which is in seriously bad shape after losing lots of weight)
• Take more pictures of me
• Get going on my new Halloween pieces.
• Finish my second pair of socks
• Get that quilt top done 

That's it for right now.  Always a gazillion things to do and so little time.  Maybe I can change that around this month. Stay tuned.

I'm Still Here

I just don't know where to begin. I do hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did. I enjoyed good food, conversation, a couple of practical jokes, lights at Tanglewood Park, an after dinner Starbucks run, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the tube, the Purina Dog Show, part of a football game, and a couple of episodes of Shaun the Sheep. It was my first gluten free dinner and it was very tasty. I did re injure my thumb. The pain shot all the way up to my shoulder. It's at about 80% and continues to ache and not want to do what it's supposed to do. But I have got to get busy for the two craft shows I have next month. So I will suck it up and get back to work. I'll keep icing and heating it but it's getting to be a bit annoying.

I was able to make it to the NC Renaissance Festival. Maya, Amanda, and I are trying to make this our tradition. Still didn't dress up but there's always next year. It was the last day of the festival and oh so cold. It was really nice being able to see the village without a sea of heads and bodies. I would love to see the place at first snow. That would be so awesome! I did get to see some men in kilts.

Next year... next year.

I'm way behind on my NaNo this year. I won't hit my 50k words but that's okay. I am going to continue to get in 1000 words a day, edit one page of Map Hunter so I can get it out there, and continue to finish up my screenplays. I also have to work on a commission. Here's the first pic.

I have re purposed a cereal box. These two will become masks. Day of the Dead Masks. I do hope you come back to check out their progress.

Yes, these are styrofoam eggs. They will be turned into ornaments. Alien heads. That's all I'll say right now. Take care all.

My Birthday Pic 2012

Happy Birthday To Me, Happy Birthday To Me!
Two days into my New Year and I'm feeling pretty good. I've been busy, even though I'm still celebrating my birthday. I've gotten back to editing my kid's manuscript and I've been writing new material. I've sketched some new dollies, and I am content.

My good friend Maya took me out for a birthday dinner and it was so yummy. I even had a martini. Haven't had one of those in many months of Sundays. We went to Bonefish Grill because they have a gluten free menu for Maya. We had a wonderful shrimp and sun dried tomato appetizer. I had a cup of corn chowder, which was oh so yummy along with fresh bread and fresh basil with the best olive oil I've ever tasted. Maya had a chicken dish with fontina cheese, and I had a huge pork chop with mushrooms, cheese, proscuitto, and marsala sauce. We shared a huge macadamia nut brownie with homemade ice cream, and a raspberry sauce. Even the coffee was tasty. With every bite there was a different flavor. I felt like Ratatouille when he was eating the strawberry and cheese. I got a small box of chocolates and was serenaded by our waiter who sang opera on the side. It was great!

Double Barreled Saturday

Sorry this is late but I will do this in two parts.
Part One- I have friends who have a catering business called Butt Brothers BBQ and they had a gig at the Pottery Festival at Old Salem in Winston-Salem, NC. I helped and it was a lot of fun. They will be there at Old Salem again this Saturday for a BMW classic car festival. Please stop by if you're in town.

In the back from left to right: Joel is hiding, Gary. Front row going in the same direction: Rebe, me, Maya, Amanda, and Dennis.

The Butt Brothers BBQ banner.

Everything, including three sauces were homemade. Baked Beans, coleslaw, brisket, and pulled pork were gluten free. The mac 'n cheese was not gluten free but darn good. Several different cheeses were used and then cooked in the smoker.

A view of the Pottery Festival.

It was a great day. It wasn't muggy and there was a nice breeze all day long.

Part Two - After I left Old Salem, I hiked to my car and went home. I took a shower, had to ice my knee, and took a quick nap. Then I got ready for my English Country Dance group's frolic. It took place at Bethabara which is another old settlement in the area.

I won't be able to remember everyone's names but I'll give it a go. Jennifer, Lisa, and Rita on the far right. She's the one who put everything together. Thanks Rita.

I didn't get this lovely young lady's name but her she is with her mother. She is 15 and is all into Jane Austen and the Regency period. Down to the mannerisms for a young lady. A gentleman was trying to take her picture during the break and she didn't want one taken. So she whipped out her fan and put it in front of her face and started fanning. It was great. I could pick her up and plop her down in any of the Jane Austen movies. She reminded me of Darcy's sister in the BBC version of Pride And Prejudice. Her mom told me that she made both their gowns, and that it took forever to do their hair. What an extraordinary young person. And talented.

One of the dancers who turned into one of the musicians.

Ruth and Franz.

We even had an admiral.

Jennifer again.

Mr Woosley.

A mother and daughter. Mom made both gowns.

Jeremy and Riely Woosley.

I was very pretty to see all the color of the dresses and the swirling of the hems.

We even had Marina the gypsy.

It was a wonderful time. I didn't have time to make a gown. But next time, I'll be ready. After all, I've been accepted into the Jane Austen Wardrobe Challenge out of Australia. I will be starting a new blog just for my human type sewing. Until then, take care, and check out my Etsy shop. I now have some pieces up.