Art and Stitch : March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Wishing you a Happy Easter,

Happy Spring,

and a Happy Day!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Life Goes On

Hello friends - just wanted to say

"I'm still here!!"

Here's what's been going on -

Last week I visited my sister (who lives about an hour from here) and made her a pretty blue and lavender spring wreath.

Did I remember to take a picture of it? Of course not!!

But I did take a picture of her beloved cat, Emily Elizabeth (who once bit me, but we've made amends)!

I've also been thinking about having some changes made in our kitchen.

This is a b/w photo I'm working with. I'd love to have the cabinets painted a milky cream/white

and get some new countertops. That is a door to the porch on the left, but it is blocked off by a cabinet we purchased. The door is unnecessary since there is a sliding door to the porch in the next room. I'd love to have that cabinet painted white also. My husband and I have been contemplating this project for about 11 years, since we moved in, so I think it's time!

Snow still lingers, although the bulk of it has melted. Here is a photo from my porch, taken one pretty evening last week. Our forsythia bushes are lined up, neatly trimmed since last fall, waiting for some warmer weather to encourage them to bloom. I had thought about bringing in a few branches to force bloom, but never did. They will be a blaze of yellow before too long!

Unfortunately, I hurt my right arm and shoulder while shoveling snow last week, so I'm trying to take it easy until it gets back to normal. My husband returned from a two week business trip to Asia this past weekend, so I'm feeling like things are going well. It always leaves me feeling a bit adrift when he's gone. I'm still trying to organize, but it's slow-going at the moment. My blogging friend Paula in Buenos Aires calls organizing "a good energy shuffling" - I love that! She is doing a whole year of organizing her home and blogging about it, with helpful ideas for everyone.

I've been trying to catch up with blogs because I love knowing what's going on with everyone in my blogging world. If I haven't visited you recently, I will soon.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wishing You ...

Hope you've had a lovely day!!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Snow Day

My calendar tells me that tomorrow is the first day of Spring,

but my eyes tell me otherwise!

10 inches of snow accumulated last night and throughout this day.

Here's my car, midway through it's clean-up!

I shoveled quite a bit this morning, until I heard about a snow plow operator

who could finish the last and worst part of the driveway (to the tune of $50),

so I made a path to the front door, did the front stairs and went inside with an aching back!

Meanwhile, Rosie had found my daughter's childhood afghan

and completely made it her own for the day!

Can't wait for my husband to return from his business trip!

Oh, and by the way, I apologize to my readers for having to install

word verification for comments. I've had a deluge of spam comments lately

and felt it was necessary.

Hope you've had a great day!!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Doing What Needs to Be Done

I wish, I wish...

that I could once and for all get my sewing room cleaned and organized!!

I've been working hard for days, going through boxes and boxes of fabric and

craft stuff, making decisions, discarding, making bags to donate and recycle.

Creativity has been stifled as I go through this process,

but I'll be back soon, with a clear mind and some new work.

Coach Irma is prodding me along,

and soon I'll have my work space back to looking like this -

as it looked after my last big clean-out several years ago.

See you soon!!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Making a Paper Rose Wreath

Last night I took a class in making a paper rose wreath at the wonderful Silver Clay Gifts.

The class was taught by AnnMarie Gallivan, who makes all sorts of beautiful things with paper.

I was there with my friend Barbara and only one other student, so we had individualized attention!

AnnMarie had these scalloped spirals all cut out for us. We started rolling the spiral from the long end around a thin wooden stick, loosened the roll a bit and hot glued the rose at the bottom.

Here's Angus today investigating one of my leftover roses.

We arranged the roses and some precut leaves on a cardboard base and hot glued them down.

Here's the back view, shown with the hanging ribbon.

All in all, it was easy and a lot of fun - we had a great time.

Today it has been snowing steadily and we've accumulated about 10 inches.

I just shoveled part of the driveway and am about to crash - I know Bill will do the rest with the snow blower when he gets home from work. I'm starting to wonder whether winter will ever end!!

Hope you're having a great day!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Blooms and Blossoms

Outside it is snowing lightly,

and inside...

my Christmas cactus blooms prettily.

Come spring, I will definitely give it a bigger pot!

Rosie is cuddled in her bed near the heat register...

and Angus chooses the camouflage of his black fleece cushion.

Tonight I'll be taking a class in making this beautiful paper rose wreath!

I'm really looking forward to it, and will show my results tomorrow!

Hope you're having a great day!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

An Exchange Between Friends

This is an Artist Trading Card I received in January from my friend Janice.

The words are printed on a transparent overlay and the last verse reads,

In January

when there's snow

we get our sleds

and away we go.

Love it!!

I'm playing catch-up, since we had agreed to trade cards back in January, and I hadn't made any until now. There's something about this relatively tiny size that intimidates me! But last weekend I set out with scrapbook paper, scissors, xacto knife, glue and other supplies and spent the afternoon creating.