Chill

The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. Robert Frost

Yes...it was one of those April days. But the wind didn't stop me from visiting my favorite scilla lawn on Abby lane.

I had nearly forgotten about it because our spring has been so slow getting going. I'm so glad I checked it today out because it was in its full glory! It almost put a chill up my spine...in a joyful way!

I love this view with the red door in the background. Red and purple are such a pleasing combo.

I take a lot of photos and just hope for the best as I switch between photo and  portrait mode. Then I delete...delete...delete. But I like it when the camera captures one like this where it focuses on the foreground and blurs the background. It looks magical chill world that goes on forever.

Chickens

Some days it's all about the chickens. 

All the chicken shaped pieces are placed in Patsy's wooden puzzle I borrowed. And the browns have been easier than I thought because.... 

....it's all about the shapes. 

And I also have the whole border together too. Simple joys!

Do you see where several pieces came together to form a butterfly on the roof?

 

Try, Try Again

As the old saying goes: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

I found this precious little bloom by the pond. My plant identifier says it's a striped squill or Russian snowdrop...and I couldn't love it more. The sweet blue stripes and yellow centers are a work or art! 

I made another buttonhole book following Jessica's binding directions from an online video. I've been doing the stitch sequence wrong...or at least awkwardly for a long time. The right way is so much simpler. 

The book small....about 3 x 4 inches and fits in the palm of my hand. It has 7 signatures of single sheet medium watercolor paper. 

I'm not wild about my choice to add color to the folded edge of the pages peeking through...but I softened it by adding the rainbow ribbon closure. 

Crisp white pages would have looked better. But my goal was to practice the stitch technique on another little book...so mission accomplished!

Spring Caper

A week or so ago Anne stopped in for some fabric. She was away from her own stash and knows she's welcome to anything that I have! So is anyone else...by the way.

I was so tickled to get these photos of the flowers she made from the fabric.

She was back home in Deer Isle and ready to head out for her spring caper!        

Anne is a avid walker....and she is placing these flowers along her walking paths to welcome spring...and brighten the day for anyone else using the trails.

I'm guessing people are welcome to pick them up...but I also know she will eventually retrieve them if they're any left. How fun is this spring caper!

And how fun is this early homemade birthday card that came all the way from Sue in Scotland! It features a spectacular woven basket filled with spring blooms. 

Just what I needed today! Thank you Sue!

We finally had a beautiful spring day today...and look what I found in the neighborhood. They match the card! 

Strategies

We've had several gloomy...snowy/rainy days in a row. When it finally warms up a bit the moisture should help promote the spring flowers to emerge. One can dream. 

Today was mostly a house chore day....but rainy days are perfect for some puzzle time.

I finished this fabulous wooden puzzle a few days after I got home from Perry and Patsy loaned me another one by the same company.

I will admit this is not one I would have been drawn to....but Patsy encouraged me to give it a try. Wooden puzzles are such a delight...and it's only 531 pieces. But there are lots of browns and muted greens and not a lot of clear definition....I definitely have a style that I'm normally drawn to.

I got it started on it right away and have been slowly plugging along and I'm actually surprised at how engaging it is. It's challenging....but I'm coming up with helpful strategies.

Isn't that how life is! We just come up with strategies that help us through the puzzles of life! 

Given that it's the same company and the same number of pieces...I wondered if the cuts would be the same. 

NO!  This one has some interesting people too...but also a lot of animals relevant to the scene. There's a pig, a dog, a spider, a mouse, and lots of bees and birds....perfect for this country cottage.

I adore these little chickens...and I just placed a rooster at the bottom. 

And I love that I can tell that there are images of the chickens actually on some of these chicken shaped pieces. I'm guessing whoever did the cutting (or set the machine to do the cutting) smiled at this too.

Headed Out

Creativity moves in cycles. there are seasons of making and seasons of not making. Even when we're not actively creating, we're still in relationship with our art: thinking, organizing, and making space for what's next. When we trust this rhythm instead of resisting it, we return to our creativity with more energy, clarity, and joy. Amanda Petrozzini

I hardly ever go out in the evening....but last night I got out of my comfort zone and attended an open house at the Double House Arts. 

Double House is a beautiful community art space in downtown Portland. It's available to rent and also hosts the Double House Arts Collective which provides art opportunities for people with disabilities. Amanda is one of the artists who runs the space and she and her daughter attended my Joyful Puttering Session I hd a few weeks ago. 

The open house featured work from the DHAC artists as well as painted pots with spring blooms.

The young man who painted this pot stole my heart. "It's time to stop and shop" the pot says...and holds a a pansy and some pussy willow. A perfect pop of spring for my puzzle table.

After the show I attended a play at a local theater where one of my neighbors was performing. It's so easy for me to just stay home.....I'm so happy at home. But both these events were just a delight...and I'm so glad I headed out.

And when I got home...the full moon was waiting for me. Had I not been out in the evening...I would have missed it.

It snowed again today....and when I headed out to feed the birds I built a little snowman. 

You might as well find joy in the snow...even if it's April 12th.  My mom would have been 99 years old today. What a wonderful mom she was! 

Visitor

I am spontaneously heading out for the evening....so here's just a simple photo of a visitor who came knocking this afternoon. 

He literally knocked (pecked) at the door....I wonder what he was looking for?

Siblings

Happy Siblings Day!

It's hard to believe that four of my siblings have passed....and they are dearly missed. And oh how I loved my grandma Funk.

Becky, Ed, Grandma Funk, Doug

MaryAnn, LaVonn

Rich, Angie, Marilyn and Nancy

Here we are a little older. I have fond memories of growing up with so many siblings on the farm. We always had enough people for a ballgame in the yard.

Ed, Marilyn, Mom and Rich, Dad and Nancy, Doug

MaryAnn, Angie, LaVonn, and Becky

Paul and his siblings.

Paul, Alyson and Liz

Patterns and Textures

It was chilly this morning morning and the little bit of precipitation yesterday left some interesting frozen puddles.

This one was especially artful....full of patterns and texture.

I made a small art journal for Kelly's birthday. It's been a while since I made one...but I do like using the buttonhole stitch binding technique. She prefers neutral colors...so I went with black and cream paper for the cover with lots of patterns and textures....just like the puddle.

This commercial paper came this way....with strips of the various patterned paper already glued together. 

I covered the cover boards and the two smaller spine pieces with the patterned paper cutting out the buttonhole in the middle. I lined the inside of the covers with another commercial paper.  

I folded 6 signatures. Each has a piece of watercolor paper and two other papers folded in...a combo of either graph paper, drawing paper, mixed media paper, and tracing paper. I think it's a nice mixture for a little travel sketch/art journal.

It's a simple binding technique....but inevitably I make an error or two. I loop over when I should loop under (or something) and my stitch connections don't stack up perfectly at the buttonhole opening.

The irony is that I found a video this afternoon that simplifies the stitch steps...so I'll know better next time. 

Here's the video.....I fast forwarded to the 38 minute mark for the binding technique. Jessica made it so much easier than the written instructions I was following. I should make another right away so I can put it into practice.

But there is beauty in imperfection...making this book a little less precious so it will be easier to be used and handled.... marked and spilled on.

I actually did spill a drop of glue right on the cover...so it's already broken in.

Stars and Tags

Thanks to my friend Adam, I've been folding paper stars from strips of paper for years and years....and back in 2019 I taught Ellen how to make them after she saw them on the blog. I made her a video and she was off and running...then she taught her niece spreading the joy even further.

This past year I taught Jane how to make them. Her granddaughter plays with them in her toddler kitchen making star soup. 

When Ellen saw the skinny strips I posted a few days ago I cut with the wool cutter she wondered if they were wide enough to fold into a stars. The strips are only 3/8 of an inch....so I didn't think so.

But I took it as a challenge and gave it a try. 

It's tedious...but it can be done. The 3/8 inch strip folded into a 1/4 of an inch star! 

Question asked...and answered! 

I was pretty tickled to see one of my little tags attached to card Dotty sent to a friend on some of her handmade paper.

I saw it in a lovely post on her blog about the inflow and outflow of her art in her community of friends.

And just today I got these photos from Tracie.  I made her this small wall hanging many many years ago and it hung on her front door until it nearly faded away. I can't even remember what color it was but I'm guessing it was colorful and I think the colors formed a peace sign. 

Tracie repurposed the backside as a backdrop for the tags I sent her. 

 

Shopping Day

"You really don't need that many pairs of scissors," said 6 year old Eli as she checked out my studio yesterday.  I think someday she might understand why us art types might need that many! But her observation made me smile and I'm going to love getting to know her better. She IS one of us art types...as is her Aunt Kelly.

Spring is struggling a bit...but I'm happy to see patches of green popping up in the still very brown landscape. 

The day lillies at our condo entrance are coming along nicely. I just adore all the lime spring greens!

This morning I shopped with another $90 from donations from tags and some Joyful Puttering. (Thank you Becky and Amanda!) Paul actually found $20 on the street during the Hands Off protest and he added it to my fund.

I wanted to buy dishes and household things...all on the current requests list.  I started at the Goodwill store thinking I could get sets of plates at a good price. Indeed I could....and I also got a very nice set of nearly new pots and pans. I stopped briefly at Marden's, but they didn't have what I was looking for....but I got some good deals at Home Goods and spent about $100.

This is the first day the new facility was taking donations...so I finally took in the two Marden's bags and my new purchases from today: plates and bowls, glasses, pots and pans, towels, a set of sheets, and a shower curtain liner. 

I also did my first volunteer shift this afternoon and it was a pleasure shopping in the new space. 

My first order was for a family of four who lost much of what they had to a mold infestation. The bottom of the large bin is all clothes. It breaks my heart reading the stories...but it also makes me more determined than ever to turn anything extra that I have into an opportunity to help. 

I'm smiling as I say this...but I actually might need most of these pairs of scissors (maybe)....they all have a different purpose. But there are many more things I have that I don't need. Anne came today and shopped for fabric from my stash and I loved that she knew she could....and I love that I had what she needed. Take whatever you want I said! 

I'm going to keep looking for ways to get art supplies into the hands of people who can use them. And if I can get some donations along the way....I will turn them into underwear.

I shopped for a couple of children today....and the sizes I was looking for were pretty depleted.  And...there was NO underwear left.....so I will continue to donate underwear whenever I can. 

Very Special Guests

I had a couple of very special guests in my studio today...first ones in a VERY long time.

Sam's girlfriend Kelly brought her niece Eli over for some art play...and we had a wonderful time. Eli wore the perfect shirt for the occasion. 

  joyful

With Kelly's help, Eli was the one who made a very special card for Margie shortly after her fall. 

Eli's first project was a wreath similar to the snippet wreath I made a week or so ago.

She started with a 6 inch circle base cut from watercolor paper. Kelly put a few drops of liquid watercolor down...and Eli smooshed it around with a piece of plastic to fill in the background. She used a pink/orange/yellow color scheme.

Then Eli shopped from my snippet bin and found several watercolor doodle flowers and other bits of this and that to decorate her wreath. 

She colored in a few of the doodles with markers.

It was soft and pretty wreath and felt like spring and I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.

We went on to some basic gelli printing using stencils....and that was fun too. I think these very special guests will be back for more art play and I'm already thinking about what we can make next.