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Thursday, September 26, 2024

I Like Thursday #420 fall scents, berries, videos and a poodle

 

welcome to I Like Thursday today brought to you by analogous colors Blue, Yellow gold and green

on with the show....

Watching on video:

 When dogs and cats work together

https://youtube.com/shorts/2lid78z0yM8?si=5S0ObUHg-WH5c8gI

I LOVED every part of this outfit, plus the music!

https://youtube.com/shorts/MfDs5Slx9ag?si=49c2mxO6MfJnzBkR

I had to listen twice it was so beautiful.... 

https://youtube.com/shorts/bQs-PcRxevU?si=LITlv92drX7hkGfY  

The prompts are back, this week it's: 

what is your favorite fall scent?  would you rather have a pumpkin spice drink or apple cider?
  

I always like walking into a store and smelling the cinnamon pinecones this time of year. I love pine and think of Lake Placid days when I smell it. Funny enough, colorado has pine trees but no scent

Apple cider tastes clean and simple to me, don't like pumpkin spice drinks at all. I like the most, apple cider donuts along the road in apple stands in the North east this time of year. I've tried to reduce cider to make my own but they never taste of cider.

What about you?

OMGOSH

this week dh calls me over to the slider to see a hawk in our back yard. We do find bits of half eaten critters in our yard now and then, now I know we have large birds of prey (this one was large in person) creating our own nature show.

growing things


I love the bright orange berries on bushes in the fall. I like this composition with fence and berries

it was covered in them two days ago but birds... 
I like aspen trees, but why is this tree frowning? lol

I also liked the fall display of whatever these are called, the sharp tall ones turn orange/gold/brown/and pink this time of year.

TV
I love that dancing with the stars is back, survivor, golden bachelorette who is 61  with 15 suitors who are also of age, and every one of them charming. New shows of merit to me, "High Potential" where a woman with a high IQ helps solve mysteries while being a single mother.
 Also  "Brilliant Minds" where a man with a neurological condition is a doctor who diagnoses difficult cases. It's touching, and encouraging, and well done.... two thumbs up for me, missing the good doctor and new amsterdam. On PBS "Moonflower Murders" combining a love of books, with mysticism and a mystery. 
Fine Dining 
I tried a new to me recipe for candied beets. beets being good for you plus I love them. They don't photo well though they tasted extremely good. 
recipe: https://www.wenthere8this.com/candied-beets/

ART

I am now doing two overlapping free workshops in art... and it's a lot to keep up with. I'll share all the photos eventually, mostly on my creativity post Saturdays but here is a taste:



Milo's Moment

Hiya hoomans


Mama:  On our morning walk this week, I was reminded of the old phrase, "if you aren't the lead dog, the view never changes"   
Moooooom  come on!!! There's a smell up here I can't miss!
there are worse things than looking at my tail!

Mama was watching the talky-talk (The Voice competition) this week and said, 
"I didn't know Snoop-dog was so sensitive! ) 
I said, mentally you know, that all dogs are sensitive mama!
 


please visit these folks to see what they liked this week. 

Saturday, September 21, 2024

creativity this week: painting and feathered stars in lime green

 

Little by little a bird builds her nest, and little by little I regain some strength. 

For sewing this week I made the 9th feathered star, this time in my neutral... lime green. The color of the month for the next four months at RSC is not color actually, so I chose my own for the rest of this year. 

turns out I don't have a lot of scraps in lime but look at some I used...


I love that bit of words , the daisies, a Christmas angel, spirals, and that bit of repeated lime has sparkles on it in glitter!

I pulled 3 others from the 9 completed blocks just to start thinking about how to set them
just sewn one to the other makes that cutie pattern where they come together
the pattern source
I pulled sequins and beads to add to the orange embroidered flower... let the fun begin
Look at this video by Sarah Humphreys on many ways to add sparkle to a quilt/ or embroidery


I have been watching some lessons from Tam La Porte's online free workshop... and painted three really fun pieces. I only got one pic, I'll show the rest in weeks to come, but even DH liked them! 

and the close up
there are sometimes a small part of a painting I like best. This time it was the blend of colors on the body. Wouldn't it be fun to see something like this in your own yard? 

Thursday, September 19, 2024

I Like Thursday # 419 mums the word, and poodle logic

 

I 

the sun is still intense heating the temps even more. But... Fall is coming if only in name! That means Mums to me. Back in Maryland, I could buy inexpensive pots and line the walkway to my house. 

In Colorado they are expensive like everything else. 

We ordered one 3 quart red one from HomeDepot  ($16 ) and three 1 quart gold ones from amazon ($19) and tried to make the display as showy as possible. Then I ordered a purple 3 qu (from H.D.) and another orange one too ($16 each) to show up this week. 

We didn't plant flowers this year because of the water restrictions, so I'm putting my hope in the nearly daily rains we've been having to keep these babies going. I'll water them when we don't get rain. 

Milo: I'll testify that it's still hot in the sun.... and I don't care much about the flowers but it makes Mama smile and that's enough for me! 

I ran across the show on National Geographic (NatGeo) about nature in all the national parks. 

FASCINATING! 


I watched park after park, and learned so much. I learned about eco systems and how one creature depends on others. I learned that condors mate for life, and have one egg at a time to raise. The couple I saw in Yosemite, were raising a month old baby, they'd been married 8 years. 

I watched an animal lie down next to their dead mate, and she stayed there 3 days then slowly left

I watched a land tortoise guard against a Hila lizard eating it's egg,. Watched as all the creatures lived in balance with each other, sadly eating  each other. I wondered who to root for.... 

I root for the females and those trying to feed babies. 

I saw that deer don't have a scent for the first 3-4 days of life, to protect them from predators while mama is off eating to sustain herself and make milk. 


TV shows are starting and returning, but I'm still mourning the loss of This is Us, and The Good Doctor.   (I finally got my courage up to watch the DVR'd final episode and cried through it, but saved it because it was that good)  Dancing with the stars, Survivor, Golden Bachelorette (aged 61 ) Moonflower mysteries on PBS, Big brother, the new show High Potential is gonna be great! A quirky single mom of 3, has 165 IQ and ends up helping a detective solve cases. Funny fast paced and smart

 

Painting

I'm taking the 9 day free taster class online from Tam LaPorte and 30 other artists. It's a lot each day but learning so much about light and painting it. 

Sketchook Revival starts the 23rd, overlapping Tam's course. ACK I can only really sit for one lesson a day not 5 -8 between the two courses.

If you haven't registered yet and would like to just click here!

I am not strong enough to take two awesome classes run at the same time, I can't sit at the computer for long but painted two lovely pictures  on Monday. DH said where is that? Let's move there. 

Sadly

A gift from the virus is cloudy thinking.  The flashes of light and movement from the retinal damage is lessening, 

the eye specialist said my brain will eventually ignore it. 

Audio Books 

4th in series of  school by the sea

Fine dining

I have fond memories of always eating Thousand Island salad dressing as a child. I love it on sandwiches too. But. Store bought bottles of dressing have allergens like corn syrup, and soy oil, not to mention countless chemical additives. So.... I found this recipe on Food.com and amended it a bit

https://www.food.com/recipe/thousand-island-dressing-100355 

It. was. terrific!!!! DH also gives it two thumbs up. 

photo by May I Have That Rec

My changes were to : chop bread and butter pickle slices and it's juice instead of sweet relish. I used cider vinegar. Onion powder instead of minced onion. shook in paprika, S&P, and some sugar. and just put three times mayo to ketchup and stirred. 

I'm sure following the recipe will be good too.... I made just enough for our salads to try it and we'll be making it again!

Milo's Moment

Hahaha I'm a two headed dog! 

hiya!  For my talk this week, I want to say I like my peeps together in one room where I can watch them. If I could I'd keep an eye on both of them.

This weekend we were very happy we three, outside with the peeps planting flowers then 

all of a sudden! The daddy goes in the house, the mama stays out. What's the baby supposed to do??? 

I ran to the door in time to have the slider closed in my snout! The mama let me in, I ran all over sniffing to follow dad's trail, it was out the door to the car! My hears dropped down, I turned and went back out with the mama. 

Finally after about 4 dog-months, Dad came back out with flower food. He left me for flowers? I wish they'd stay in the same room for the sake of the kid!

Mama rolled my ball but it went under the big fir tree. I do not go under things like tables, trees, chairs, desks, etc. I took the retriever's stance to show mama where it was. She couldn't bend over so I just stood there. She threw another ball, but I can't abandon the one under the tree so I took up watch again. 

Finally I crouched down, and crawled under and got the ball!!! Not that Mama deserved it but I dropped it at her feet, and ran forward. She threw that ball and get this, HIT my leg with it. Well! game over. She said come on, but nope! I draw the line at being physically hit just for a game of fetch! I went to the door, and she reluctantly followed but she has to learn, right? amiright? 

 
 
Finally, I believe in/LIKE,  Women's rights....  congress' gop's blocked a bill for the second time ensuring a woman's right to IVF, 
their 2025 plans severely limit women's rights, and their belief is only white men should vote. I remember coming of age to vote and have voted every election since. 
Oh BTW, don't worry about Aurora.... it was a lie that it was taken over.  Despite being repeated often, 
it's just not true. Same with Springfield ... lies, the only ones in danger are the innocent ones blamed for crimes they did not commit. the lie is being repeated over and over by one of the candidates despite evidence to the contrary. The woman who started it on FB has apologized and said it was false.

now please visit these people to read what they liked this week

Saturday, September 14, 2024

creativity this week.... gone color maverick!



There are no more colors of the month at RSC for the year, just "dark" and I have 8 colored blocks...

so I chose my own color, my neutral, "LIME GREEN" 

the back after basting and  hand sewing unit

I would rather have 12 colors, instead of 4 months to put the quilt together. Actually finishing a quilt isn't always my plan, I like to just look at color each month, use it, learn from it. So I plan to use these as my next 3 months focus colors

fuchsia
Gold

Gray
and went through my scraps to find great choices to enjoy. It feels great to know where I"m headed so I can relax and just do EPP when I'm ready 
I used these to help me settle on colors

close up of some of the lime patterns

loved the tiny gate scrap, barely big enough but was
Daisies, dragon flies, and the cutest gradient color lime circle fabric!

The colors so far. Now how to set them... on a white or cream background? this orientation or turned to have hexies touching on side? 
8 X 11"  the embroidery stitching is done . I loved leaving some of the top right corner fabric unstitched as the fabric is so cool on it's own. I danced from image to image, trying out stitches with different threads. No plans. Just  moving along. Now I want to sew it to a backing (no batting) on three sides, then insert a stiff board and close the last side. 
then add in the beads for sparkle and the fun of doing it
I love the variegated perle cotton thread making French knots
DH who is a more concrete thinker asked what they were supposed to be. I didn't answer because they are just pattern and color. He said, pollen? bugs? I pointed to splatter on my paintings and said, that effect. Random color dots. 
a variation of fly stitch with a flower on top. The stars were for fun, maybe little flying things

Isn't the background fabric cool? Maybe it's a hand dye... there was a small piece left
the purple blends in but I see it... lavender just sprung up next to the flower

So I hope to do my feather star blocks sing in the colors I chose to do in the next few months. They'll be easier to join, just next to each other I think. Traditional but not.

just for fun,  I saw a quick tute video on simple drawing of a giraffe and did this  on my calendar, where I try little things. He looked better before inking in but I love the quizzical look on his face


I love this little paint tute any one can do easily (by the same teacher)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tq8TjJQGOkw?si=z8m9FeLB233fXnG7


Meditation painting of sorts


linking with

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

finished or not

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

https://beadwright.blogspot.com/

art for


Thursday, September 12, 2024

I Like Thursday # 418

 welcome to this week's list of likes

we noticed someone in the neighborhood had a thriving peach tree! Just out of reach! The owner was doing yardwork, so we remarked on the lush harvest this year (none last year as a late flash freeze took out all the blooms) He said help ourselves. I told him we couldn't reach them, and he shrugged....

I didn't want to actually stand begging and ask him to hand us a few.... but we noticed them dying on the tree yesterday. I'm not in shape to jump a fence, reach up high, then jump a fence again... 

Aren't they pretty? I want a peach tree in our yard. Our yard who's soil can't support grass. 

a couple houses down had this pretty vignette
I love evergreen trees.
It's been in the 90's F still here. Waiting for Fall temps. 
I ordered some mums which if they arrive alive will make me think it's Fall. 3  1 quart orange, 1 3 quart in red for the back porch. 
my painting last week. 
I like that another sparrow has taken refuge at night on our front porch wall of stones too. The real sign of Fall is the birds fly south so as long as he's here.... hot weather continues.

Quigong Tai Chi classes online

her style is similar to the one I used to do along the banks of the Hillsborough river, on the grounds of Tampa U. Saturday morning, free, the nicest group of people. We became friends. 
I was coping with feelings from a recent break-up with my fiance, and this was like tonic. I made several male friends, which filled in the gaps... One was a dog walker, red hair, large.... as it turned out years later he walked me down the aisle when I married my now husband. He stayed at my house to watch my labradaughter Chelsea during my honeymoon, which allowed me to not worry for her. 
One was a lovely Jazz lover, with a dog. He and I often did precision dog walking together for years. The dogs tangling them selves as we untangled leashes in between laughter. I was smitten with him in the beginning, we tried going out to hear music together but he was worried we'd be shot since he was black and I was white. The three of us these two men and I would often have breakfast together after Tai Chi. Others came along too. It was a safe place and our growing friendship bond forged a safe haven for us all. 
Jazz lover read a poem at my wedding to dh 30 years ago. 
Now and then a Quigong Si-fu (expert)  came. I remember him telling me in broken English, to let the evils thrown at me by work flow past, how to dodge it, move away sway away and let it go past. To this day I remember him with appreciation and kindness and love. 
They are all firmly in my past now, but love never dies does it? 

reading the next in Fortune series by Jana DeLeon   once I get hooked on a series, it's heaven to have lots of books to read. Same with TV, discovering a series that has 20 seasons is a happy dance!

good eating

it is like firm custard, and so delish! We make home made whipped cream to go on it. The bit missing there, was from my spoon to see if it was cooked and how it tasted. (Last two pieces to photo)

crustless pumpkin pie  recipe: https://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/crustless-pumpkin-pie/

wanted some more custard/pudding and this fit the bill. Just like pumpkin pie where the crust fell off!

5 ingredients, I would add in some graham cracker crust crumbles on top next time for texture. DH and I disagreed about the sweetness. I liked it, he wanted more sweetness. 

seems like breakfast food to me

 Milo's Moment

Mama: Milo baby, why is it you refuse to keep walking when it's hot, but will come out back and lie in the full sun? 
MILO: well Mama, not all dog logic is easy for hoomans to understand. Walking in heat is just exhausting and there are no waterbowls for me on a short walk. If we go outback, I'm just a short step into the house for water, plus I like the sun for short times. PLUS I can keep two poodle eyes on those pesky neighbors all around us who don't have the dog sense to stay in their houses. 

Mama: well, I might not understand like you said, but I love you and hope you don't spontaneously combust out here. 

now please visit these people to read what they liked this week