GOODBYE 2015 - HELLO 2016

Many bloggers write thoughtful posts reflecting upon their activities, accomplishments, and ups and downs of the departing year. It's fun to read their memories.  However, I'm more of a 'look forward' kinda gal......so you won't be seeing any of that here.  

Instead, let me take this time to thank all of you for allowing my world to evade your space!  I'm so grateful for your visits and comments.  The connections with new and old friends have meant a lot. Please always feel free to jump in and chat.

Let's look forward to a new year filled with creativity, good health and happiness.

A LAUGH FOR THE DAY

Totally true!!!  

(Thank you Lynn for sharing this cartoon!)

QUILT LEGEND GEORGIA BONESTEEL

Georgia Bonesteel, and her PBS TV show, Lap Quilting, can surely be credited for getting a huge majority of quilters hooked on quilting.

I'm pleased to know her first as a colleague, traveling the quilting circuit and now as a member of our local 14 person PTA group (Professional Textile Artists - a photo of us can be seen about midway through the show....it's the first one when Georgia talks about her groups.) I feel honored to call her a good friend!

'The Quilt Show' visited Georgia at her home and her stomping grounds in Flat Rock, NC......the episode is being aired for free now until Jan. 3rd.  Click here to enjoy her important journey!

ON ANY SUNDAY

With only 2 more games to go........I'm nervous.  The injured ridden Packers are not the same team that started out the season.

They will be facing the Cardinals today, an energized team who have been picked to win by the experts.  Nonsense......  BUT.....on any given Sunday......any team can add a W.....  Let's hope it falls in the Green and Gold column.

GO PACK GO    GO PACK GO

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From our house to yours……wishing you good health and happiness in the coming year.  

Create lots of art and enjoy life!!!

ONE LAST BOWL

I'm putting my felting supplies away until after the holidays. Here's the final embellished bowl, featuring ruffled beading.

All currently unsold bowls should be in my online shop shortly......but if you are interested now....email me using the link on the right side bar.

5.5" x 3" tall - wet felted/bead embellished

SOLD

EMBELLISHING FELTED BOWLS

There's no better reason to create wet felted bowls than to do some post project embellishing......which is my favorite part of any creative endeavor.  These items will be going into my gallery shop shortly.  First 4 bowls @ $22 each - pixie bowls @ $18 each - plus shipping.  Interested??  Email me using right side bar link. 

 4" wide x 2.5" tall  SOLD

 4.50" wide x 2.5" tall SOLD

 4.75" wide x 2.5" tall SOLD

 5.5" wide x 1.5" tall SOLD

Pixie wet-felted bowls - appx. 3" wide x 2.5" tall
*bowls on left and right are SOLD

SAY IT WITH ME......

    GO PACK GO!!!!   GO PACK GO!!!!!

 Casual Friday has a new meaning to school kids in Green Bay.....they celebrate Green and Gold Friday!!!

The Pack travel to Oakland for a late game today......unfortunately it's not being aired here so we will be huddling around the computer listening to an online broadcast.

Now you know the drill.........say it with me......  
                GO PACK GO!!!!!

MORE BOWLS

It's surprisingly time consuming to create wet felted bowls.  Either I'm too wimpy with my agitation or that's just the way it is.  Even with all my supplies already out and ready to go, it took a good 6 hours to make these 3 bowls.

 Here you see them stuffed with old cloth napkins which help to retain their shape as they dry (on a wire rack...which was removed for this photo). 

I worked with colorful strips of roving for the red bowl.  Lesson learned:  the roving strips needed to be more consistent and perhaps pre-felted a bit to prevent them from shifting so unevenly.  The answer might be to use pencil roving (which I don't own) for a tidier presentation.

I'm happy with the results of the other bowl.....which will be embellished with the very last piece of root beer colored sea glass that my friend Jo shared with me.  The look and added texture of the wool curls is pleasing to me.    Hummmm....I wonder if one can buy sea glass?  Note to self:  check Amazon.....they sell EVERYTHING!

Lesson learned on this small 4" diameter white bowl:  the balls of wool embedded in the layers of roving needed to be larger and firmer in order to retain their shape during the felting process.  As you can see....only a few are visible.

I'm not discouraged...........

FELTING - SNAKES AND BOWLS

I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time with my two grandsons.  The three year old is ALL boy......and the 3 month old is of course in the perfect snuggling stage.

 My suitcase will be packed with some felting supplies....the goal.....to make some snakes.  This should be a project suitable for the hand/eye coordination of a 3 yr. old, and hopefully provide quick enough results before boredom sets in.  

To speed that up, I decided to make some felted 'cores'. So then all we have to do is wrap wool roving around the outside and do the final wet felting stage.  For the final touch on this sample, I needle felted the eyes.....which of course is not a step a child can or should try to do.

As long as the felting supplies were out......I made a couple of bowls.  I haven't played too much with locks, curls, or wool neeps that add another decorative dimension.  It was easier than I expected and I like the look!  

I'm guessing there will be lots of creative projects flowing from studios right about now....so check out these links:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday,  Richard and Tanya Quilts, Crazy Mom Sews, Whoop, Whoop Friday.

SPEAKING OF MOUNTAINS

Back to the subject of mountains.....of course that best describes where we live in Western North Carolina...... 

 Back in 2007 (surely I was much hardier then)....'the husband' and I climbed Looking Glass Mountain.  Well....not the face of it....this view can be seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We took a rough trail from the backside of the mountain.  When we reached the top....this was the view.

And where I rested FAR from the barren edge!!

So yes.....we have managed to explore some of the zillion trails within the many local forests.  Unfortunately, there are not many that allow dogs....and now that 'the husband' is more bonded with our black lab than he is with me......we haven't visited too many sites lately.

FIBER JUNKIES CHRISTMAS GATHERING

If you've been following this blog.....you know about the Fiber Junkies......a 6 member group of like-minded quilters who love to experiment with new (and old) techniques. It's a very close knit group who truly love spending time together.

Gen hosted our holiday party.  I've said it before and probably will many, many more times......we ALL want to be Gen when we grow up.  She's mastered all styles of quiltmaking, not to mention knitting, journaling, and just about every other craft you can think of.  Here's one of her stunning quilts on display.

Like so many of us 'oldsters', esp. those of us whose families don't live close enough to celebrate the holidays with us, she's scaled back on Christmas decorating.  Yet, her touches were charming and festive.

 Don't you just love this creative center piece? It's made with a large candle, white popcorn and fresh cranberries.

Several years ago our group decided to exchange Christmas ornaments.....but then we realized what I mentioned above.....our decorating has mainly been scaled back so we don't need more ornaments.  Instead, we switched to giving other kinds of small handmade gifts. We make a gift for each member.

Creativity extends to the wrapping.

Inside we found a small fabric covered notebook. Kate created each piece of fabric....mine was marbled.

Judy screen printed these lovely scenes onto fabric and adhered them onto note cards.

 Gen made each of us a beautiful knitted scarf....yeah....

Val screen printed soft cotton and filled it with scented rice.....perfect right out of the microwave to soothe our aches and pains.

I made several embellished felted bowls....similar to the ones seen here.

We feasted on Gen's homemade soup and these not so attractive pepperoni/cheese stuffed breadsticks.  I had the idea to jazz up one of my homemade bread recipes...which tasted good but I need to work on the presentation! 

Denny started a tradition a couple of years ago by bringing a Yule log. Unfortuately, she's been dealing with a family emergency and was unable to attend our gathering.  Hooray.....Kate took over that duty....it was as good as it looks.

And here's another one of Gen's special touches......how about this folded tree shaped napkin!! Isn't it just great!?!

It's made by folding a two-sided half-circle of fabric. (held by Val)

As they say....a good time was had by all.  As is our custom during our Dec. meeting, we spent a bit of time making a list of 'goals' for next year....not that we even got half through all the ones we had last year.  Gosh, there so many techniques to explore!  You can be sure.....I'll be blogging about them as we turn the calendar to 2016!

AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW??

Maybe the elusive Horseshoe Mountain is at the end of this rainbow???  

Who'd think a rainbow would appear in the middle of December.....lucky us, winter still hasn't come to the mountains....yeah!!!

MOUNTAIN TREASURES

Our friends read a short article about an interesting place to visit in one of the many nearby forests.  It's called Horseshoe Mountain.  The directions seemed skimpy but with the aid of Google maps, an ipad (which of course lost its signal), and an atlas...we headed off at 10:00 AM.

 Finally hours later.....the site still eluded us.  So we stopped along a road with a pretty stream, to regroup and eat our lunch.  We'd just spent nearly an hour on a dirt, partly flooded, pot holed, switch back path....barely wide enough for a car that we feared out bottom out at any time.....even going 5-10 miles an hour.  Where the heck is this mountain?!?  Good grief it was only supposed to be about 30 some miles from our house.

There are so many hidden, unmarked roads (well not really roads.....overgrown dirt alleys would be more like it) that weave through these mountains.  At times you'd swear you went back 50 years in time.

Even though we never did find that elusive road that would take us to our destination....here's the satellite coordinates if you ever want to go on an exploration!  

Our weather has been specacular......in the mid. 60's each day......yes, yes.....this is how I like December weather in Western North Carolina to behave!

I came home with a few treasures.....the pretty stream yielded a couple of flat rocks....not as smooth as you'd think, but for thread embellishing the slight roughness is an advantage.  Now, when the spirit moves me......I'll have a few more rocks to play with.

PACKERS VS DALLAS

Did you think I forgot???  15 mins. till game time........that still gives me plenty of time to say once again......  GO PACK GO!!!!

 Santa and the gang will be cheering.

 Whether man or dog....we wear our colors proudly.

 The ultimate tribute......Dad showing his love for his daughter on her wedding day.......with a nod to his other love.

We can't express enough gratitude to the men and women serving our country and how great to see they have such great taste!!

After last week's heart attack game......we are nervously awaiting kick off.......I'm confident the corner has been turned and they are back on track....heading to the play offs......

PTA 2015 HOLIDAY PARTY

Our PTA holiday party was held at Judy's beautifully decorated home.  Describing our fun is kinda like saying....you'd have to have been there....but I'll give it a shot anyway.

Over appetizers, Georgia Bonesteel entertained us with a cute story (about a dog named SEX).  

You can see by the laughter.....she got the party started in a high mood!

 As ususal there was enough food to feed twice as many guests......all delicious!!  Party favors are not required.....but provided when a fun item strikes someone's fancy.  Judy and Barbara bought each of us a ring flash light....that is amazingly bright!  What a hoot....

 The most laughter generally comes about during our white elephant exchange....numbers are drawn and when your number comes up a gift can be selected from the pile or 'stolen' from another person's opened gift. This 'stealing' opens up lots of 'oh no's....and yeahs!!

 Bows are often turned into hair embellishments. Here's Janice....

....and here's Gen

                                                

 .......our PTA comedian Linda Cantrell didn't fail us......the package she picked contained this M & M shower radio.

 ......and this clock

 Each trip back into the bag found more adorable M & M figures...that clearly Linda love....

BUT.....oh no....the next person to choose a gift.....didn't take from the pile....she stole Linda's!!!  So, Linda had the chance to either open another wrapped gift or steal an opened gift from someone else.  She opened another gift and as you can see by her face......was a bit dismayed. It's all in good fun and everyone left with wonderful goodies....though some will probably return next year in our 2016 white elephant exchange!

Several members of our group have experienced recent family losses, made even more difficult during the holiday season.  It was heartwarming for each and every one of us to share this day together.  Perhaps you have some fiber pals who would enjoy a day of silliness, good food, and friendship?!?  So, pick up the phone or get that email program open and make it happen........