Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Mountain Craft show part deux

Part two of our trip to the Simply Vintage craft show last weekend.
This is the name of a business. Ain't it grand?  Yes! Let's all create good! 
I kept thinking as we walked through the building at the fair grounds... 
honey, we aren't in Kansas anymore... (Dorothy to scarecrow in wizard of oz) 
But there are a lot of Kansas people here!!! 


 This woman was a joyful person, so happy to be living in the mountains of CO instead of KS, as she and her husband love to fish, or live to fish! 

I mean look at her card!!  

What fun talking to her. She had joy. She was open, and held out her spirit like a handshake or a hug. 

She made jewelry and collected fun things like the turquiose skirt, for my enjoyment and purchase. 

That's a good life. She moved south of here, into the mountains to live and fish and create.
these hearts hung in her booth along with this cool poster
Looks like me as a 5 year old! I just stopped trying to use the cap gun, and bent down and hit the roll of caps between two big rocks! Pop! Pop!
Like the turquoise tutu with cowboy boots and western shirt... you know how to walk on the quirky side!

You might have to break some eggs....
Loved this idea... just plant the little seedlings... Something about this appeals to me.

These were in a really cool booth. With a REALLY quirky woman. I loved her joy of life! When I picked out a few of her figure sticks, allegedly for gifts, (right) she even gave me a discount!

Look at those faces. The whole concept is simple and captures gesture, as well as feeling QUILTY to me.
I would have loved to interview her but she was a whirling dervish of activity! She did come over to see which figures I picked, Rosemary of course, the one in pink. I love their sideways mouths!
I think I know these women... and Thyme in the blue. That's me. And of course I wanted "thyme" I mean who doesn't need more time???


She's kind of looking at the bird in this pic. I love tea. Since I gave up diet drinks I am obsessed with tea.
And he felt spring like... Along with Bunny who seems to want to get on with it!
They are merely copied drawings on paint sticks! She thought I might put them in a garden. Oh no.... I am not all together sure anything could grow in this hardtack ground anyway. Nope these guys are purely for fun.
these little birds are stamped on the stick bottoms! Life is in details!
 Their only purpose is to make me smile when I pass them. Stick around.

We were drawn to this business owner by her standard poodle. I didn't take a pic as the white female is a service dog, and the owner appreciated us not petting her. She said so many people didn't respect that and her dog was exhausted of all the attention. She was 10 years old and an epilepsy alert pup. The woman was from Georgia, and had many lovely things but this caught my eye...
I made these back in the day. Appalachian Baskets with willow, grape vines, rope, organic matter. I made many of them, and the packers hopefully got them here intact but who knows. I picked this up, I asked about the maker...
" a beautiful woman inside and out" was the answer. I put it down, and we chatted more.
 I asked the price, $12. I knew it to be worth much much more. Still, I'm in transition, I made baskets like this, I hopefully still have some of them in a box somewhere. As we were leaving, she said, make an offer! It's the end of the day! I looked at Drew, we had $8 in cash at hand, and she said, fine!
She said, don't worry about where you'll put it, or moving it again. Enjoy seeing it and you'll find the perfect place for it.

I didn't need it... I am in transition, but it is lovely. It reminds me of a time of my life. It connects me to other hands in the South carrying on traditions like I do.
Did.
Still do.
It gives me pleasure, and you can't ask more than that.

This weekend we returned books to the library and noticed a book sale going on. We looked in and DH found some CD's for me... Ottmar Leibert (jazz classical guitar) and Antonio Carlos Jobim my fave. We got them despite having no idea where the player is. Hope springs eternal.

As you can tell, I'm not quilting at the moment. I am not emotionally in that place but I am knitting a little.
super simple pattern, cast on 23, knit two, purl two to end. Turn do it again. And again....
I finished DH's scarf and will show you on Thurs likes. I loved spending time with other artists this weekend and decided I want to join an art group more than I want to join a quilt guild. I have loved belonging to quilt groups, and have already joined a local bee to commune with like minded people. I just want the stimulation of belonging to a more diverse group and don't know how to find one. Or a good PT to repair my now broken body from the first PT I tried.
oy. change is not always good.


  

Monday, January 29, 2018

Bonus likes! A mountain Craft show

We visited the "Simply Vintage Market" this weekend at the Arapaho County Fairgrounds.

I interviewed 5 artists and it was a fun mix of antiques, art from antiques and trash, and art. This is part one of the experience... enjoy

The photo above is from a silk artist who is also an art teacher in the public schools.
It's my opinion that in today's society of making money at any cost, we are losing sight of the fact that expressing ourselves in the arts (music, dance, theater, writing, painting, etc) defines us and touches us as humans.
She is a young woman, moved here from Kansas, and she was providing paper and marbling paint on water to let people experience mixing color and seeing what came of it.
In the booth next to her was a man who moved here from Wisconsin, selling curds.
Mark at Cream City Market 262 388 2083
Yep, like the nursery rhyme, curds and whey? New to me, and unappetizing in the blister pack, he was busy creating a smell of grilled cheese by... um....grilling cheese
Pretty much just curds in a cast iron pan creating these little yummy bits...

We threw caution to the wind and had some.

Yum!

He said, they are the cheddar cheese before the moisture is pressed out in a form.

I didn't purchase any... but they were good
We did purchase some pure maple syrup made in Wisconsin. The maker said they moved here but kept their farm and her husband returns every February to tap trees and make the syrup. We always bought syrup at the MD craft show, made in the NE so this was a sentimental purchase.

Moving on we saw lots of repurposed items like this suitcase put on legs... 
And memories washed over me seeing this phone bench like the one I grew up with...
except they had slapped a coat of flat gray paint on it. I remember answering the one house phone we had while sitting on a bench like this and twisting the cord in my fingers. Sitting here wishing a guy might call. Laughing with a girl friend over class.

Pretty much all our family's babies sat in something like this...
I so enjoyed meeting the owners of this business, The Ruby Bear, named for their little furbaby.
We chatted with them because of the picture, and found out the story. Like us, this little boy was their only "child" and passed two years ago at age 17. They were so bereft, they cried, they sought peace, then one day it came to them to start a business in his honor, of re-purposing items into beautiful home ornaments.
I asked if they had a large work space, and the husband said they work in the garage.

They find bits and pieces all over, and think of what it could become. Sometimes they bring home old rusty stuff not knowing what they can do with it at the time, then the magic happens (we know that feeling don't we??) and they look at an item not as it is but as it could be!

Look at these by a different artist... old window sashing turned frames...
Imagine your photo done this way! Apologies for not getting his card...I do ask before taking photos

This artist sells her repurposed and painted furniture in Boulder
I spoke to her about her technique of color mixing. It's so organic, and pleasing to me. Look at the old PE lockers... shudder.... reminds me of junior high.... I can still smell the locker room.
Anyway Claudia Schimert is the artist behind Furniture Arts by Briar Rose.
She said she loves color, and when she paints with a brush, she doesn't clean it between colors. She swipes on one color, then dips it into the next, and swipes on the next effectively blending in a linear way (my wording) It is lovely the way colors blend and emerge.





She laughed and said, she seldom cleans the brush til end of the day! I think it's a beautiful way to work. I loved the way she took old blistered furniture, and made it bright, put on new hardware then sold it to bring color into this drab place. (again my wording)

Now, lookie here! Don't you just want to get down there and dig through this pile of stuff???

 It was sold by the bag, a mix of game pieces!!!
Or climb into this display, an actual teeny little trailer...
full of new clothes. It was packed, of course two people caused it to be packed!
There was a lot of eye candy here! Look at these sillies!
I talked to lots of artists today. I asked about their process, about finding high end craft shows (it's going to be sparse here) about their lives and their hair. One artists gave me her hair dresser's name. Another one, who worked with a blow torch and metal to make jewelry, said she most loves the pieces she thought were mistakes!
She called them happy mistakes... I made this emblem, didn't like it but cut it in half, then it looked like wings, so I added it to this little squiggle...
                                  you know that story don't you? Can you relate? I sure can!!
I sure wish she lived closer to me, so that we could hang out. I was so busy talking to her, I didn't get a card or a photo but she was one cool woman! If I hadn't asked where she got her ideas, I would not have gotten to know her. It gave me a sense of connection to another artist even if we won't become hard and fast friends.

This booth was AWESOME! The owner was too! She was a bubbly young woman, who said she LOVES color! Sure, look at some of the stuff in her booth...
the flamingos drew me in, but this made me really look and chat with her.
That quilt has beautiful old feedsacks and the design and balance sang to me. It's about a double bed size and she's only asking $95. She doesn't actually make any of the items, she finds them and puts them together to make me want to have them. That's creative! As we talked, and I got to know her story a bit, I found out she's been doing this a year. She is married to a man who is working in another country deactivating bombs.
 I was astounded at her bravery!
He is away for months at a time, while she is raising her 3 children. He is in a dangerous country in a dangerous job. I asked how she handled that, and she said, "I trust him to take care! He is trained and great at what he does! We plan for the day he can live with us full time!"

When I met my DH he was flying with NOAH on P3's in hurricanes. I worried all the time! He said it was like a roller coaster, and the mechanics flew with them, so he felt safe.
 She was so full of love, her flamingos made a heart, and I loved her garlands, snipped from old paper folded over the string.  And the string through the felted balls??? so cute...That's my love in the red sweater, being patient (secretly enjoying the conversations I start)

She is the type to create love wherever she is with what is at hand!
 Look at the other hearts, the ones cut out? They are also put on string.
I purchase a few things I will share tomorrow, you'll love them too. And of course there is a story behind both purchases, and two more interviews with the artists.... you know how I am...

For now, here are a few more photos of the day...
From the Painted Gecko, I wanted this bedroom set. There was a bed, dresser and this "waterfall" makeup table.

From the 20's. She repainted it in white pink and gray, with original mirror.

Oh!
If we had a home already, this little set would have come to it with me.

It sings! I can see a woman sitting here at night, brushing out her hair with long strokes of a flat brush, patting on face powder, clasping a beaded necklace, carefully applying rouge...
I adored this large poster from Robert Fulghum. I read his book years ago, everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten
It's the way I choose friends and mates!
It says. " He said,we're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness and call it love... true love"

Whether it's love of a friend, a pet, or a mate.  Weird might be a harsher term than I would have used, I might have said quirky. Replace weird with quirky and I'm in. None of my friends are boring... we all have a story and all overcome obstacles, and all suspect we hold an important place in the universe... if only to support each other!

More tomorrow! ( link to that is HERE !)

Linking to among others on my page
https://peabea.blogspot.com.au/






Thursday, January 25, 2018

I Like Thursday #73 Quilting, iris, and movies

Welcome to this week's list of likes. 
I liked this little muschroom emerging from the snow... I love the little heart shaped dot!!!
 I admit I am not feeling very positive this week.
The whole moving experiment has become old and crunchy. Like the constant ice, snow slush.
The weather, specifically the 5 snow storms with ice since we've been here is old.Both my van and my body do not do well on ice and they do not plow the neighborhood.

 That just about sums up how I feel right now...

That said, I have done my level best to scrape together some likes to share. Here goes...

Visiting my friend Mary's Boulder Quilt guild and listening to the effervescent Angela Walters speak for an hour. A folksy story of her life and her quilting life. She got a long arm machine because she didn't know she could quilt on her domestic machine.

My face continues to get puffier as my allergies to CO build up. My body is the same but my face has just swollen. "Young and vital "is so overrated, n'est pas?


DH brought me Iris this week. Oh how the deep violet blue makes my heart sing! The baby carnations are still hanging on. I love how long they hang on. The yellow tulips have one foot in the grave but are still looking pretty in the kitchen.
 I watched two dvd's from the library. My review?

"A walk int he woods."... really good. Robert Redford is still compelling to me. He was an older man crush in my teen years, I saw him in person at his place in Utah, and he made a good film. Nick Nolte, Mary Steenburgen, Emma Thompson also star. Based on a book, a very old, very accomplished writer decides to challenge himself by doing the Appalachian trail. There were similarities between his walk and our move.

"Miss you already" was harder to watch. Usually a girlfriend movie and any Drew Barrymore movie get a thumbs up. This one involves two women friends from grade school as they navigate cancer and life. It was not an easy watch, I don't even know if I liked it. I finished it but it left a sadness despite the feel good end.

Image result for we'll meet again on pbs
I loved the PBS show reuniting people after a lifetime that has taken over the W. Gates show slot. Two women who met as girls during WW2 reunited this week. It gives me hope. I so want the researchers to take on my case.
I was adopted with little info on birth mother except the possible name of Barbara Ann Wagner.

My birth mother was from German immigrant parents, and lived in Geneva Ohio if I can trust any info from my adoptive mother. She was born around WW2 as well.  I am sorely in need of a family. If you have any leads for me, please email. I got an ancestry dna kit but it got packed and is lost in a sea of cardboard.

I like this little cocktail of Pomegranate juice and sparkle water.

I like these perfect crackers

I like having a richness of books from the library

and being able to put them on hold to be picked up all at once. Isn't that a nice feature of today's public libraries? I am trying to locate some ghost towns to visit when, IF , the damn ice ever melts and I'm free to move about the country. I went to one once, and it was sooooooo cool.

I was asked to preview a new book of quilter's stories by Frances Dowell . After I read it I will do a giveaway of a new book from the publisher. Stay tuned.

I liked this dog bed at TJMax, but Milo would never use it. His new heart throb might...
 Milo has a big like this week.
Here he is...

MILO: Hey, y'all! I went for a ridealong with my peeps on errands and to the town of Littleton. Mama's camera gave out because she uses it so much, but she got one pic of my new friend at the Creative Needle quilt store.

Adorable and fun, Ellie is 5 months old and full of fun! She kept jumping up and patting my nose with her widdle paws. I so wanted her to come with me but her mama said, she's a shop dog now.
Heh heh, well I know where to find her!
See ya!
 I liked going along for all the errands and walking around the town of Littleton. Mama kind of lost patience with me, since I felt like I both needed to guard her, and hunt around outside instead of inside a store.
I tried to explain but I think my Bark must be BIGGER than my bite, since she and Dad hold their ears when I try to explain anything to them. Sheesh! The shop keepers were all nice and invited me in but I voiced my desire for us, and by us I mean ALL of us Mama, to go outside.

Tucked up keeping warm


Please join these fine folks also listing things they liked this week,
1. .http://3poodlesandanana
3.maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
4...http://littlepenguinquilts
5. http://sandysnowden.blogspot.co.uk/
6.. http://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/
7.https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 
8...http://homesewnbyus
9..http://imworkingonaproject
10.. https://barrels-of-monkeys.blogspot.com/  

11.http://daybyday12101
12http://www.mmmquilts.com/
 

 
 
linking to some of these

Our World Tuesday
Travel_Tuesday  Our World Tuesday
Travel_Tuesday 

http://sky watch Fridays
http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com
http://asoutherndaydreamer
Thankful Thursdays pet parade
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/
http://shabbyartboutique.com
willy nilly Friday (random images)
habbyartboutique fridays