Not Afraid of Color

Thursday, April 23, 2026

I Like Thursday # 501 phones, love 'em or not

welcome to a very short post of likes this week... starting with tulips!

I LOVE tulips and these neighbors' are pretty in purple to pinks

It's been nearly too hot to walk this week, but I have a couple photos...

(Alfie: well, it is hot and one might think the mama would appreciate her poodle reminding her to stop and smell the roses! Of course while we stop I'll be smelling the trees and grass to check my pee-mail)

the higher peaks got a bit of snow which you can't see well in this photo.... but we have temps in mid 80's plus sun heat. Some people like it hot, I'm not one of them

LOVE a good shadow photo

conversation starter this week:

For National telephone day, what is your relationship with phones? lol

always have it with you? Check it at intervals or use it mainly for calls? Remember when there was one phone for the family hanging on the wall? Remember party lines? Do you use a phone as a computer even tho the screen is so small? Fave apps on the phone?

I do not like my phone. I loved my prior phone but it was no longer supported. I do not carry it around all the time, I am not constantly scrolling on it. It's too small to see the screen well. It does not take good photos. I have a music app so I can hear 70's songs on my walks.

I grew up with a party line, and it was so weird to hear other people talking. We had a dial phone that sat on a phone table in the hall. Then when I was in high school I got an princess phone in my room but my mother made it her life's work to listen in on all my calls anyway.

In my first apt, I had a wall phone in the kitchen,,, the cord was always twisted up like my neck from holding it while I cooked.

I have a computer and an ipad for looking up stuff, so I really like to use my phone for calls.

does that make me old?

reading :

very funny, fun read, real life dialogue

listening on audio in the studio

reading on Ebook

watching survivor, finishing Emily in Paris, looking forward to Brokenwood, Virgen river, (believe it or not, Farmer wants a wife)

I'm loving the lessons in Sketchbook Revival, drawing and painting again is awesome

We were to think of ourselves in some part of life, paint a selfie, and write about the memories over it...

so far I drew the teacher, and my memory of being a teen at the beach and am thinking about what to write, hoping I don't make an ink splot on the painting

Alfie, do you have likes to add?

Alfie: sure do Mamacita. I like sleeping on my big boy bed instead of in a kennel, and keeping an eye on you all night. I like nipping at your hands, and daddy's hands to get you to play with me in our yard, I liked seeing the nice couple who stopped to chat and might, not sure, like their chihuahua Burito.

I like running up and down the stairs and if mama's there I always beat her both up and down! I'm loving it in this family!!!

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

Grammajudyb.blogspot.com
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com/
http://littlepenguinquilts

princess bubbles creates
https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/
https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
craftscaviescontras
https://quiltschmilt.ca/

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/
https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com
https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

https://brianshomeblog.com/

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

https://frenchethereal.net/

Saturday, April 18, 2026

creativity this week, drawing painting fabric arts

Because of rainbow scrap challenge's color of the month PINK

I pulled out the bag of tiny pink squares, some tiny white squares, and sewed them into little approximately 3" to 4" blocks. many of them

I pressed them but didn't trim to any one size, just laid them out to kind of match the ones next to it, and began to sew the rows together. I sort of trimmed the rows to 12" X 3-3.5"

then sewed rows together into this

which I like for the abstract design,

see as kind of a garden lattice

like the flower and other random prints

but

it's really quite small, 12 X 15 ish

so what if I added scrappy strips

hmmmm maybe, then what?

I wanted to do hexies again, by hand when I am sitting in a chair at night, watching tv, trying to ignore pain

a close up of the 37 prepped hexies in pink

I juggle paper art, fabric love, pain and puppy attention

I am enjoying Sketchbook Revival lessons, but am woefully behind. I sit long as I can, learn, draw, paint, stamp, collage.

I always start with a quick impression painting of the instructor on the page... here are some of the early lessons.... click on photos to enlarge for detail

quiet eucalyptus leaves

Sumi painting style

dandelion study of brush strokes

painting with palette knife plus acrylic paint

collage of torn handwriting papers and watercolor

writing words as the art itself

I need to find my alphabet stamps to do this one

mostly I'm using my inktense pan paints this time, but also pen, inks, watercolors, acrylic, brush pens

This workshop is free, online, and lovely

I'll end with another piece of wisdom from my puppy, whom we've had for 2 months now

Alfie: Which way should I go? " why not choose both directions and go one at a time?!

linking to some or all of these

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/

patchwork Sunday

oh Scrap Sundays

slow stitching Sundays

sewing daily challenge

https://melvalovesscraps.blogspot.com/

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/

http://www.sewcando.com/

https://myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/inspire-me-monday-335/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/

finished or not

https://myblog-lunchbreak.blogspot.com/

https://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

friday face off

https://frenchethereal.net/2026/02/18/share-your-style-487/

art on sunday DVArtist

https://www.pamspartyandpracticaltips.com/2025/09/its-time-to-dare-to-share_0372312595.html

Thursday, April 16, 2026

I Like Thursday # 500 fave song to sing

bird watching, rockin' robins!!!

welcome to this week's list of likes... starting with bird watching

The robins are back and pretty cheeky! They do not fear Alfie or me. Both of us like to watch them too

Alfie has discovered the ability to watch wild life from out back slider to the patio... bird watching has become one of his favorite hobbies, after eating, being petted, keeping watch on the Mama, playing keep away with his Kong ball in the back yard, and going for long walks.

We had a few firsts, since we've now been together 2 months! He sleeps on his bed by the mama's side of the bed, no kennel needed. He chased a bunny out of the yard, played in the sprinkler again as well as the big sprinkler in the sky.... it rained 8 drops and he snapped at one as it fell.

He also approached our across the street neighbor Mama, on his own, and nudged her hand. We were all happy he trusted her enough, so then her 6 year old daughter came up, she's been longing to pet him, and ever so gently she held out the treat I gave her in her little fingers, and Alfie ever so gently took it by the edge.

They were both so cute, sorry I didn't have a camera to capture the moment but it was happy.

They have a 4 lb yorkie but it was in the house

I didn't get as many walks in, (Pain intense all week) but did get an emergency appt with chiro.

some tulips bloomed yesterday, I love them but Alfie doesn't get why...

our lack of winter, and winter snows this year, have led to severe water restrictions, we have to pay triple if we use over some amount, but they won't tell us what that is... oy vey

Most of us decided not to turn out sprinklers so early, but we water our trees which barely make it anyway. I thought of some poem about the brown grass,

good grass, bad grass, too weak to show sass

I'm no poet. some lilac flowering bushes are highly scented this year, making my head hurt

My favorite husky puppies are about 10 months old, jaxson and Emma I MUST visit when I pass and they sing to me, and are SO CUTE! Alfie is jealous I talk to them in my singsong voice that belongs just to him. He isn't interested in dogs yet.

Couldn't resist this "puppy in repose" photo with my latest quilt, the sleeve is now sewn on so it's hanging and making me so happy to see it

I'm happy to be painting again too, learning from many fab artists at Sketchbook Revival

a free online 2 week course exploring many art forms

I tore off some copier paper, folded it, into a jumped up paint book... tiny!!!

good for some color tests, some small ideas, etc.

I love tiny things, do you?

so along with my regular large sketchbook I might dab a paint on one of my tiny book pages too

one lesson was on sketching as many imaginary trees as you could, and I did an extra one in my tiny book, using two colors I really like in the inktense ink/paint pan set that is also tiny

still playing with my photo software, a shot of tree branching and shadows converging.

Our cable just dropped a main tv channel, ABC, with no reduction in cost to us, and no shows now.

I am missing Bachelorette, High Potential, American Idol and more, because of either greed or politics.

Conversation starter for this week, do you have a fave song to sing yourself?

For years it's been Bossa nova Girl from Ipanema or show tunes from musicals I've been in, like:

"Its too damn hot" (Paqjama Game) or "So in Love" (Kiss me Kate) but I have never done karoke so if you hear me now, you're too close!

so in love:

link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfdWjZjB8RA

link in case you need it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlMWW4R1ZBM&list=RDPlMWW4R1ZBM&start_radio=1

fun video, doggie daycare

link if needed

https://youtube.com/shorts/UZ4iYjbQ0f0?si=osEAQ5RBaeWMZUZ_

Oh, we've been enjoying the hot cross buns I made last week... so good

please visit these folks to see what they liked this week, and join us, I'll add in your link