Time Flies

My how time flies! I can't believe it's November and we're heading into the holiday season! A few days ago I delivered 100 Christmas match boxes to Folly 101. I highly recommend checking out this lovely store at 101 Exchange Street in Portland, Maine over the holiday season...it's always a treat!

Starting tomorrow I'll be out of town for a few weeks....planned long before I knew I'd be away helping my sister. I'll spend time with friends and family and attend a nephew's wedding in Wisconsin... then on to Colorado for a week with Margie, my mother- in-law.  I won't be quite so unplugged during this trip so will likely be in and out here on the blog. 

Happy November! Christmas is right around the corner!

Braces

It takes a sense of humor and a little creativity to put braces on a pumpkin! Now if it only had a nice curly stem it would be perfect...but the little scruffy tuft at the top is cute too!  Happy Halloween!

I found this image on Tumblr and it originated here.

October Scheme

I'm going to repeat a quote I've used before from the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert...

"Allow what you do to be stupendously imperfect....done is better than perfect!"

I do love Folt Bolt's October color scheme....but I'm a little iffy on my outcome. I squeezed it in here and there this month so it feels a little scattered. I can see so many things I would have done differently....but that's part of the learning process. I'm a life-long learner.

I have loved so many things about this year long project. It has pushed me to be creative every month and has challenged me to work with a scheme that might be a little out of my box. 

Now I just have to remember to apply some of the lessons I keep learning....I missed some of them on this one....but there's always next time!  And it's OK if it's "stupendously imperfect!"

Beautiful Process

"I love getting older. My understanding deepens. I can see what connects. I can weave stories of experience and apply them. I can integrate the lessons. Things simply become more and more fascinating. Beauty reveals itself in thousands of forms."
Victoria Erickson

I absolutely love this line-up of leaves....you can so clearly see the progression of the chlorophyll retreating....such a beautiful process.

Splash of Color

Speaking of the whole box of crayons....I stopped in one of my favorite stores today...Artist and Craftsman Supply in Portland, ME and they most certainly used the whole box on the back side of their building. What an inviting splash of color!

Whole Box

Life is too short not to use the whole box of crayons!

Nesting

Paul and I enjoy watching the squirrels in the woods from the back patio in Maine....climbing, chasing and foraging. Silly? Yes. It doesn't take much to entertain us.

This photograph is by Peeblespair can be found here.

This sweet image caught my eye on Tumblr and reminded me of the nesting mode I feel this time of year.  The temperature may say summer...but shorter days, falling leaves, and putting the gardens to bed remind me it's time for fall nesting.

I'm quite fond of the colorful mosaic of images on my Tumblr archive page. You can check it out here:
http://putteringaround.tumblr.com/archive

Bigger images can be found here:
http://putteringaround.tumblr.com/

Stitching...

...makes a big difference.

   

This scheme reminded me of the ginkgo leaves. We'll see if my tree performs this year.

Gardening In Her Shoes

Today was a garden clean up day...dumping tired plant pots, repotting plants to bring in, and cutting perennials back. I had a car load of yard trash to dump so headed to the city transfer facility....I actually find these places fascinating. 

What I had forgotten is that sometimes it's a gold mine for evergreens and other clipped treasures. Someone had just dumped large branches from a crabapple tree and the colors of the fruit were spectacular. So of course some came home with me....I want to watch them shrivel.  I also found some marigold blossoms to dry and a little bittersweet.

I have to tell you about my shoes.  One of my requests after Connie's passing was to have her barely worn clogs....there were several pairs. Her daughters thought I was crazy...but I wanted to use them as my gardening shoes. They slip on and off easily as I go in and out of the house...and somehow I find them comforting. You've heard of walking in someone else's shoes....well I'm loving gardening in Connie's shoes!

Autumn

"I am made for autumn. Summer and I have a fickle relationship, but everything about autumn is perfect to me. Wooly jumpers, scarves, thin first, then thick socks. The low slanting light, the crisp mornings, the chill in the my fingers, those last warm sunny days before the rain and the wind. The moody hues and subdued palette punctuated every now and again by a brilliant orange, scarlet or copper goodbye." 
Alys Fowler

When I left for Missouri at the end of September it still looked like the end of summer.  When I came home it most certainly looked like fall.  The reflection of the trees on the pond at the condo in Maine was just beautiful.

When you have a new place every season brings something new.  The complex is fairly woodsy....and I'm enjoying watching all the trees.

The maple outside my window is still mostly green...I wonder if it will turn...or go straight to brown. 

Morning Coffee....

....and a sweet little puzzle....again.

Long before the Consciously Creative class I purchased a couple puzzles from Philippa and this morning was the perfect time to put together this sweet fall one. You can see the other one in this post.

Her shop: http://5ftinf.bigcartel.com/products
I just purchased her 2018 calendar for my kitchen...her photographs will be inspiring me all through the year.

I'm pretty sure I'll be picking stuff up and watching them shrivel and  decay for the rest of my life.  

Falls in the Fall

Paul and I walked to Penobscott Falls this morning....it was a perfect fall day.

Ha ha...that's a pun!

The sky was blue...the air was cool and crisp and the company was outstanding!  Oh yes....and the views were so bad either!

On our way we walked past this little gray house with the yellow door....perfect segue into how I spent part of my afternoon.... sitting in my studio with my lovely view figuring out my October gray and yellow color scheme project.

I have the basic idea in my head....now I need to top stitch the background and start placing the components. Then I have a hand stitching embellishment I want to try. 

It was a wonderful day!

Wabi-Sabi Rainbow

I couldn't help but play with my shriveling wonderful wabi-sabi collection this morning.

There was one sprig of beauty berry in a bouquet my sister Angie brought home from the hospital.


After a week I reworked the arrangement and pulled it out and watched it dry. And yes, I brought it home. I can't believe how it's holding that beautiful purple color. The sunflowers also came from the bouquet....and I brought home every petal!  Thanks Angie!

Shadows and Texture

Anita and I came across this nearly perfect textured heart in the pavement yesterday morning. I didn't think it would photograph well...but it came out OK. I'm also quite fond of our shadows.


We also walked by one of our favorite fence line gardens and the dahlias were beautiful. But given my new appreciation for wabi-sabi...I liked this  version just as much as the near perfect one. Beautiful colors and textures!

October Scheme

It's October 17th....time to get going on my monthly Folt Bolt color scheme project. This month it's grays and golden yellows.  I'm actually quite fond of this scheme.

Like pretty much any other scheme....I have plenty of fabric in my stash to work with.  I started these little wool and felt medallions while I was at my sister's and I'm mulling over what to do with them. Stay tuned.

A Creative Jouney

Today was the final wrap up session for the "Consciously Creative" class taught by Philippa Stanton, better known as 5finf. 

It's been a wonderful experience for me....sometimes even a little emotional.  Being with  my sister Angie in farm country for two of the weeks added a whole other dimension to it.

This past week was about a journey towards a composition..but for me it was mostly about the journey.  I had to squeeze the composition in at the end before I came home. I would have liked to have spent more time with it....but it worked out fine.  There's plenty of time to play with composition.

Once I got home I put together a "Steller Story" as my final project. We were encouraged to include a Haiku, assemble a composition of abundance, then rework it in a more simplified way. To see my "consciously creative" journey...click here to connect to my Steller story.


I have come away with so much....and it will most certainly influence my art and the way I observe and appreciate the world around me.

Thanks Philippa!

"Word Play"

While out on a walk today I wandered in to take a look at the new exhibition at Gallery Blink here in Lexington.  The theme was "word play" and once again from the moment I walked in the door I was in awe. It's certainly worth checking out....it ends October 22nd. 

All the art was inspired by text and several pieces incorporated old books, recycled magazines, or hand lettering.

 I am constantly amazed at how beautifully the pieces are displayed and I always drawn to the mantle displays. The green balls on the mantle were eye catching from a distance...and I couldn't believe what they were when I got up close. Notice the racket next to the fireplace screen.

Journaling

I spent the day at a beautiful retreat center at a workshop called "The Art and Craft of Journaling."  It was taught by my friend Muffy Paradise who is one of the most creative and deeply thoughtful people I know.  I blogged about one of her nature journals she copied and made into small accordion books...you can see mine here.

It's going to take a while to digest it all but Muffy wanted us to see that words and and letters can be pictures themselves.....they are, after all, just lines and shapes on the page. Creatively using words along with images can make for beautiful journal pages.

We played around with various types of lettering and did several exercises to loosen us up and get us out of our heads and into the lines. Muffy did several demonstrations and shared many of her beautiful journals and artwork....that alone was worth it!

Truly an inspiring day!

Bravo Muffy!

Pops of Blue

I couldn't help but smile when I saw this little pop of blue in the corn a few days ago.

It's good to be home. It was a bright, crisp fall day here in Lexington and the sky was another lovely pop of blue.