Orange

"Everything has beauty....but not everyone sees it."  Confucius    

Orange seems to be the theme here: a found object, a full fuzzy bloom. and another one starting to pop.  I'm so glad I took a close look at the succulent before I headed back to Lexington today.  And continuing to celebrate orange is appropriate since it's still officially Thanksgiving weekend.

I absolutely love the way the orange bloomlets are slowly bursting out of each little budlet.  If those aren't real words....they should be. 

Couldn't be More Lucky

It was Paul's birthday today...another reason to celebrate.

I couldn't be more lucky to have such a wonderful life partner. Paul gives me space to be whoever I want or need to be and is my biggest cheerleader for all my creative whims and adventures. 

Paul is passionate about his work and makes a big impact on peoples lives on a daily basis.  I admire his faith, and his ability to keep it real for those of us who struggle with it sometimes. 



We had a lovely day together doing this and that.  We poked around Portland and took a drive which included Kettle Cove in Cape Elizabeth....one of our favorite coastal spots.  It was blustery....but the views were spectacular as always.

We met dear friends at Top of the East in Portland for a birthday toast and had sweeping views of Casco Bay and enjoyed a lovely sunset.

We ended with a holiday light tour around Portland and Paul indulged me and pulled over when he could so I could take a few photos. He knows the drill....and he's a good sport.

Happy Birthday to my best friend.  Lucky me!

The Man on the Horse

After exchanging texts with one of my sons, talking to one sister and exchanging e-mails with the others, Paul and I spent most of the day with Margie at her place. It was nice having a Thanksgiving feast cooked for us.

We got Margie's apartment mostly decorated for Christmas including changing the simple grapevine wreath on her door from fall to Christmas.

We also got the fabric wall panels hung in the bedroom and I will admit that I like them better laying on the bed than I do on the wall...but they'll be just fine. They add warmth and texture to the space and give you something to look at from the couch. All in all....not bad for nearly free.

Here's the view from the couch where they will be most often seen.  There's a saying we use in the liturgical arts world that "it's good enough for the man on the horse."  In other words....just fine from a distance. What a joyful way to spend a thanksgiving!  

Pops of Color

Today I'm celebrating a few pops of color.
My Christmas cactus is blooming just in time for Thanksgiving.

Colorful found objects make me smile....this time a red golf ball and a yellow thing-a-ma-jig.

And...I'm pretty excited about the pop of color on one of my succulents....a fuzzy orange bloom.  The succulents live outside on the patio all summer and inside for the winter.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Look for....and be thankful for pops of color.

Out and About

It was one of those wonderful warm and sunny late November days where you couldn't help but spend most of it out and about.

I started in the woods.

I carefully placed my pumpkin in the woods yesterday because it was starting to get mushy.  Can you see it back in the distance?

 I was ticked to see that the squirrels found it. 

This branch (or maybe it's a whole tree) was super long....and fell in an artful way making an interesting horizontal line where there are mostly verticals.

 The woods was full of textures and colors. 

 

This afternoon I headed to South Portland and made the rounds at some of my favorite spots like Bug Light Park....

 ....and the Junk Beach. 

And as I was driving home by way of the Baxter Boulevard around Back Cove the sun was setting. So I parked the car and walked the path until the sun disappeared. It was a good day to be out and about on a warm and sunny November day.

A Little Experiment

I own several rope necklaces from a talented artist in Poland (yes, I mean Poland....not Portland) named Marishka and actually was wearing one in yesterday's post similar to this one.  Her Etsy shop is called Mariscapes  and her work is colorful and reasonably priced. I love them and always get compliments when I wear them. 

If you follow this blog you know I've been obsessed with wrapping things like sticks and wheat for a while now.  Inspired by my necklaces from Mariscapes, I'm now experimenting with cording and twine.  I don't know how Marishka does so much so perfectly....it isn't as easy as wrapping a stick....but I'm giving it a go.                                                                     

                                                                                                         
I'm trying out yarns with fuzzy textures.....

and nubbly ones...

...and wrapping thicker cotton cording. Ultimately I hope to incorporate these into some projects....but mostly I'm having fun wrapping new things. I've got several bins of colorful yarns and strings to play with.

These were the ingredients for a little rainbow project that's been in my mind for quite some time.

I wrapped little pieces of twine in ROYGBIV...red, orange yellow, green blue, indigo and violet.

Using a background of periwinkle blue wool I started glueing down the cording in a rainbow shape.  I was way too impatient for the glue to dry.... 

...so I got out the glue-gun....I haven't used one in years.  I only tacked down the ends as they would be hidden under the frame and the instant stick and no wait dry time was the definitely the way to go!

I think my little experiment is kind of sweet and has some potential.

The opening is just 2 x 3.

All Under One Roof

There's nothing that brings me more joy than having my family all under one roof.
My heart if full.

Make it Work

"Use it up, wear it out, make it work, or do without."
author unknown

More and more....these are words I'm trying to live by.

The fabric wall panels for Margie's bedroom are done....and just in time for her official family birthday celebration tomorrow. They're far from perfect....but I think they just might be good enough.  And it felt good to mostly use recycled materials and just make it work.

I had to chuckle a bit because I didn't realized until they were completely done and I stacked them up that they're not all the same size.  The two on the left are a bit longer and wider than the one on the right.  Oops!  My intention has always been to hang them in this stair-step arrangement....so now I'll have to hoping to make the size difference less noticeable.  As the old sayings go...."make it work" and "done is better than perfect."

Phase Three

Just for fun I put this photo from yesterday's post into the palette builder and was quite taken with the serene color scheme. Other than the pop of black...it's the perfect segue into the next phase of Margie's recycled wall panels.

I needed to secure the fabric to the back and was pleased to learn that a staple gun worked well...even on the cardboard. For those of you haven't been following...the bases are recycled cardboard forms for fabric bolts. The backs aren't pretty....but they don't have to be.

I last reported that I found some commercial trim to cover the long horizontal seams....but needed something less heavy for the smaller ones. I auditioned ribbons and trims from my stash and even did a bit of shopping with no luck. 

In the end I decided to make my own using strips of upholstery fabric. Some of the fabric has a very distinctive loose weave and can be cut and fringed to made trim-like strips.  The advantage of this is that it keeps the color scheme very tight and doesn't introduce yet another element.  

After some auditioning I decided to go mostly with this one particular fabric that worked from both sides.  I could use the dark blue side where I needed the contrast...and the lighter softer side in a few other places.  I got things glued down this evening  and hope to finish them up tomorrow....so stay tuned for the fourth and final phase of this recycled fabric project.

Soaking It In

"I don't mind being busy as long as it doesn't go on and on and get in the way of me spreading my arms out wide and soaking the whole world in."  Brian Andreas

The pond at the condo was smooth as glass late this afternoon and Paul and I soaked in that stunning reflection as we kick off a nice long stretch here in Portland.

I mentioned yesterday that I started decorating my Lexington house for Christmas.  For two days I decorated a while....then sat at the puzzle table....decorated for a while....then sat at the puzzle table...over and over.  My goal was to finish this iris puzzle before our party on the 6th because the kids at the party use the table for their games and puzzles. But this morning (as I was riveted by Fiona Hill's testimony) I finished it up. This one was challenging and rewarding and it's up for grabs if anyone wants it.  I don't think I'll do it again.  I am going to let it sit here until the party....and just soak in the beautiful colors.

I was absolutely sure this piece was missing and I braced myself for the blow at the end. Every time I sat down this past week I looked for a bright orange and rusty red piece....it just wasn't there.

I know it's clear in these zoomed in photos...but I hadn't looked closely enough at the pieces around it or at the box cover.  It wasn't going to be just orange and red...it was also going to be purple....and in the end have hardly any red at all.  And this morning there it was....waiting patiently to be noticed looking totally different than I expected.  Certainly there's a lesson in that.  😌