This is weird! Pictures are coming and going on my blog! I replaced the hawk and felted flower photos. Now there are two flower pictures. The other hawk may come back.

Accipiter striatus, I think!

My daughter and I watched this small hawk, wrestling with, killing, and eating the dove on the driveway of our home. This is in the city! Not exceptional photography! But exciting to us.
Link to a better photo.

I have been reading, knitting, sipping mint tea and ice water, napping with heat on my face, trying to get over an awful head cold. I am sampling different yarns with a flower pattern from Nicky Epstein's book KNITTED FLOWERS. So far I like the thinner yarn especially the Shetland Jumper weight yarn from School House Press.

I just put my first samples on the scanner to show what I am doing. I plan to knit leaves and some kind of centers. I have lots of ideas for using flowers but at the moment I'm not feeling very motivated!

Paper Dolls

I have always loved paperdolls and made reams of paper into dolls, clothing, and various accessories as a child. With paper and pencil I could quietly occupy myself for hours. (Still can!) Add scissors and colors and I was in heaven! When I first got markers, in the late 60s, my dolls' clothing was covered with flowers, stripes, and other wild patterns. But mostly I was interested in period and fairy tale costumes.

Last Sunday afternoon I taught a children's art class at a local art museum. First we reviewed museum etiquette and visited a display of antique and vintage clothing. Then we made paperdolls. Our one boy made paper aliens but I didn't get a close-up of his creatures!

Basic paperdoll guidelines:
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't make the neck too thin
don't forget the tabs
most mistakes can be fixed
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't use too much glue
you must have shoulders to hang the clothing on
don't run with scissors!
don't cry, we can add tabs
shoulders are hard to add after you cut it out
you don't need to cut around every finger and toe

MY Unfinished "MANGA" STYLE EXAMPLE

Yesterday morning as I was checking my regular blogs and viewing photos from my "Flickr Friends" I found this blog from Judy Scott a fiber artist who is documenting, or "blog-umenting," her City and Guilds Machine Embroidery studies at Dundee College in England. I was very inspired by her work including a very lovely reference photo of foliage. I decided to go over to the our local college and take photographs of a variety of leaves and a few late flowers. I took a half a dozen shots before my camera batteries went dead! When I got home all my other batteries were dead. I was disappointed but decided it was a good time to try something new. I placed flowers on the scanner and took pictures with the scanner lid up.

Then I played a while with Adobe Photoshop to get this.

More About Doodling

I have fun scanning my art, combining files with Adobe Photoshop, changing colors, etc. Here are some recent examples.

One of my constant activities when thinking, waiting, or listening is to take verbal notes interspersed with doodling. The doodling is almost "mindless" or using another part of my brain!
At other times I doodle intentionally and even in color. Lately I have felt difficulty concentrating and it seems that doodling focuses my brain by keeping that other part of me busy!

Question: How did the very manly Scottish garment get its name?
Answer: Someone asked "Why are you wearing a skirt?" He was kilt.

Being creative every day is one of my goals but I am still mostly a mom!

Last year in November, my youngest son and I went to a Saint Andrews Festival at a church in a nearby town. We had heard about the bagpipers and free Scottish food to be had at the annual event. We went early to visit with friends in the band and to ensure a good seat. When we heard the first bagpipe a few feet away, my son's eyes got huge. He said, "I want one," or something to that effect. When he saw the knife, sgian dubh, in the sock traditionally carried by pipers he asked if he would get a knife if he learned to play the bagpipes! The sgian dubh, pronounced "skee(a)n doo" is the ceremonial Celtic dagger traditionally worn tucked into the sock (kilt hose) of Scottish Highlanders.

He got his practice chanter last Christmas and has now moved up to a borrowed bagpipe and kilt! He has been brave enough to appear twice in public, at a halloween party and the next night at a Fall Festival at school. When asked to play the pipes he has done so, "Amazing Grace," to enthusiastic applause from his mostly jr. high friends. Last night he played the very best I had heard him play. He even remarked later that contrary to his own expectations he did better with an audience!

Yea! My daughter is home from college for a three day weekend. We had not seen her since late August! It was, maybe, the longest stretch of time that she has been gone without me going to see her. She still has homework, so she is reading a lot. And I still have tasks I need to accomplish each day. We may go to a coffee shop, she to read and me to grade papers and of course, we will have coffee and maybe something sweet to eat! Or maybe we will stay home to do it. I found a Napoli Panettone and brought it home in honor of her visit and her 23rd birthday next week. It is a wonderful Italian sweet bread we see in stores about now till Christmas. It is much more reasonably priced in the stores, Walmart or Sam's, than online. Also, we have a wonderful homemade pumpkin bread sent by her "mother-away-from-home" who is also more like an older sister in age. My daughter lives with a homeschooling family on some acres out of town and has enjoyed the children, chickens, etc. this past year during her studies at the university.

More about the panettone. I have modified and combined several recipes for panettone to come up with a yummy version in my bread machine.

2/4 cup milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, chopped up
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Next ingredients subject to taste and availability:
1/2 - 1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed (really a must if you want the authentic flavor!)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cups dried and candied fruit
dried fruit like cranberries, currents, and golden raisins
candied orange or lemon peel
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips

My daughter believes that this bread tastes best when torn rather than cut but it does cut nicely and makes a very elegant tea sandwich when spread with cream cheese and jam!

We may also do a craft project today. We both need to make gifts for Christmas. If we manage this today I will post pictures!

I found time to pull out yarn, wool, and fabric Friday evening when a friend came over to play. She had seen some of my raw edge applique picture quilts and had a desire to make a fall quilted hanging with pumpkins. I showed her how to use needle felting and fabric on a felt background. I did a little color blending but didn't seriously work on my own project being more interested in enjoying the visit. I finished these little experiments the next day.








Saturday morning I went to an awesome huge charity garage sale. I stood in line to wait till it opened at 8:30 and made a bee-line to the "notions" area where I found a beautiful supply of wool tapestry yarn, embroidery floss and pearl cotton. Then I looked at the neat bundles of fabric for wool to felt and found 2 yards of creamy off-white wool knit and a yard of woven wool fabric. I plan to dye these to use in doll making and art quilts.








I looked for wool sweaters to felt but there were none to be found! I don't know if they had been purchased the previous day. I did find several garments to wear.

I saw such a wealth of discarded items that I am quite inspired to do more without buying new from stores! Of course that garage sale is not available year round and going regularly to small garage sales is time consuming! Oh well, I have enough now for a lifetime of art and crafting!

I just found the funniest AND most thought provoking blog I have read in a long time. I started with this post about junior high and just kept reading.

I usually read blogs by women who are artists and or mothers,... dealing with questions and problems sort of like mine. I read book reviews, view craft tutorials, and travel around the world seeing sites, viewing and commenting on art and life.

Brant Hansen is definitely male, a Christian, funny, and very creative! All this and serious at the same time. (Do I need to say that I don't necessarily agree with everything he says?)

Here is an old photo that I came across recently. We were 19 years old. I am glad that I can spin for the fun of it. I don't do it of necessity.

I have been consumed, eaten alive, by the start of school and the weight of my world. I have had some short bursts of energy to spend on fibers and dyes, but most of my little time in the studio of late has been spent organizing and cleaning. I am ashamed of the volume of stuff I have. I am behind and overwhelmed in almost every area of my life and consequently feel like a failure. What I think I need is a month off, to stay at home! Is that a common feeling these days? I think so, from talking to many people I know.
We have a running dialog, at this house, about the technologies that effect our lives either positively or negatively and can't agree if it is a net gain. I am very thankful for hot and cold running water, air-conditioning, cars, and yes my computer and the internet. But the speed and complexity of the business of life... the paperwork, the news, economics, bills, maintaining all those laborsaving devises, budgeting, various activities that children need transportation to, overseeing homework, grocery shopping, nutrition... As well as the time needed to maintain relationships.
I can hear, "It is a matter of priorities, making lists, delegating, and simplifying." When I manage to actually do that I will let you know... but don't hold your breath!

Art Studio Moving/Utility Room Redo

Sometimes I just need to write, even if I think I don't have anything to say! Blogging was suppose to fill this need but I have become too self-conscious and returned to a white legal pad to do my ramblings. I decided to do it here this morning.

I am pleased about what I did Friday evening and all day Saturday. I cleaned out and painted the utility room. I even painted the floor, mostly. It had been painted before with dark gray base, and barn red brick pattern sponged on. It was clever but always looked hideous to me. There were enough random other colors, dark and light to hide a multitude of "sins, which was it's redeeming feature. The walls were a very dark avocado green. It took 3 coats of a thick, expensive, one coat covers all, white paint!

I am trying to move my art studio out of my kitchen and dinning room but I have too much and am boxing some materials and storing in the garage. I gave an old fridge (40-50 years old) away to friends for their rent house. It was too old to sell. And it was given with no guarantees!

The trial of this new studio will be when I get all the laundry going on in there. There is a significant leak when I wash which I talked to the "landlord" about yesterday. Right now it is a very appealing place to work! By work I mean laundry and art. My sewing is still in the other room where it will stay, for now.

Books I Am Reading and Project I Have Started

I reread three volumes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkien this summer. Then I re-read the HOBBIT and THE SILMARILLIAN. Now I am reading the UNFINISHED TALES. I did not remember reading it at first but as I read I could remember reading it when my mother was in the hospital. All the stories were familiar but the actual reading had been lost in the memories of that traumatic time!

When I am too occupied with work to have much time to be creative, or if I come home too tired to do anything but the essentials, I like to have a project book to be reading and dreaming about!

I have a tendency to start new projects when I am frustrated and not having much art time. Then when the schedule is more reasonable, I will work on finishing several things in one or two weekends. My Art Quilt Group is using Jane Davila and Elin Waterston's book for our monthly meetings.

I have started making two dolls using Patti Medaris Culeas's book and patterns, though I used felt for the body and plan to make another head. She is not dressed yet except in a "make-shift" fashion for modesty! The character design is fun yet to come! Will she be an elf maiden or medieval princess?

First Week of School

amo, amas, amat...
ego, mei, mihi, me, me....

Mission accomplished! I got my workbooks ready, to and from the printer before the first day of school. I teach Latin to 110 children in grades 3-6 at a small, unique Christian School. My students learn Latin vocabulary and rudimentary Latin grammar as part of two and 1/2 days at school per week. They have two days of homework we call "homestudy" each week.

One of my duties this year is greeting children when they arrive and helping them out of their cars if needed. It turned out to be a joy rather than burden and will help me get to know the parents.

There is a beautiful eagerness in the faces of children who are wanting to learn something new. After the first day several moms reported to me that little Jonny or Jenny said Latin is their favorite class. This is mostly from 3rd graders. The older children tend to reserve judgment.

My time recently has been spent getting two older children off to college; they mostly got themselves off. The eighteen year-old needed more help (mostly with my check-book!) working his way through the system at the local college. It turns out that his textbooks in some instances are more expensive than tuition!

My two younger boys are in our classical Christian junior high school, associated with the grammar school where I teach. Last week I attended three orientations!

THE LONG, LONG ROAD

Sketches in the Field

I decided to break in a new journal on my camping trip this summer. It is a 5x7 inch Canson spiral notebook with warm creamy white paper. The paper is too thin for lots of water but works well with Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and a small amount of water. I used pens on some pages: Pigma Micron 05 (.45mm line width) in brown ink and a Martha Stewart Crafts pen in sepia also 5mm. I like both pens and neither bled through the page but I can see through to the next page slightly.

Friends, Hiking, Capes, Food, Music, Stories, Jokes!



I have been camping! No internet for several days and I didn't miss it; I was having so much fun! And working hard. When I camp I enjoy cooking, especially breakfast but everything is more work. I would get up as quietly as possible and build a fire, with mostly wet wood this year. Then I cook on a small camping stove. I heat water for hot drinks and make Malto-meal. This is "first breakfast." A few of the kids would be up by now and ready to eat by the fire. Then I made "second breakfast." We didn't have many eggs because we ate scrambled eggs the first night. But made fried biscuits and, well, I admit it, fried spam! It is a tradition left over from my childhood camping days. It is one of those things the kids notice if I forget to do on a camping trip but they wouldn't want to eat at home.


Two of my children went with me to New Mexico. We camped with friends in the Sacramento Mountains at almost 9000 ft above sea level. It rained a lot but didn't dampen our spirits, for long. The campground is one we have visited for years. It has had some recent improvements. We paid extra for the site with covered picnic tables. And it made all the difference in the world in our enjoyment of the rainy times! We sat out the rain singing, reading, playing games, and I did some drawing.

The kids, ages 8 to 24, hiked and wore out Andy the basset hound! Here are some photos. The pictures with people and dogs were taken by my long time friend, Kathy. Her children and mine have been friends for almost 16 years. We have camped together about 10 times. Four of my children were unable to come this year because of work or other trips. Next blog will show my photos and sketches of wildflowers.