word of the year Explore... stamping

She looks a bit like Sophia Loren, no?

My word of the year, Explore!, was the inspiration to pull out my new stamps by Jane Davenport

a cleared cutting table is the right way to start a project!

The stamps are made to cling to acrylic blocks but I can't find mine so I used a discarded tupperwear lid, put the cling on the outside, used my new ink from Barnes and Noble which says it's permanent on fabric, in green the color that was on sale.
and pressed it onto a little scrap of white fabric... three times so I could experiment.

I inked the stamp, then turned it over to press onto the fabric, firm pressure, hold a few seconds, lift

the starting point. Gather some pencils to try from Dick Blick, and my brush markers

and be ready to mess it up. Started with the spiral stamp, and stamped hair in green spirals, then overstamped with the tiny heart in different colors. Valentine's day is coming up.

darken some lines with brush marker, oops too much on the eyes, went back with white gel pen to cover the thick line. Used baby blue to shade the neck which you can't see well here but it's effective.
Brushed on more color on lips and cheek.

pulled out my red scraps to see what she could become
cut a heart out of one just to see

I originally thought to do a green woman coming out of a tree... but with V-day approaching...

don't forget to heat press with iron

and three already printed to play with, the sky's the limit!

Review...
Like the stamps a lot!
Like the ink a lot!

linking to
https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/
http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/
myquiltinfatuation Thursdays
Esther's blog Wednesdays 
Let's be social Wednesdays 
Midweek makers wednesdays
 Free motion by the River Tuesdays   
https://stitchallthethings.com/ to do Tuesday

The week ahead

missing my home in Maryland

Looking out on the morning rays....

I love quiet mornings with Dad, quiet til I alert my peeps there are people on the sidewalk!

welcome to this week's Happy Homemaker post... let's get started on the week ahead shall we?

Looking around the house...
it seems dusty. We cleaned the floors yesterday but it's a bigger house than we had before. Table tops are full of books and magazines, bags of purchases from the weekend are in a chair reminding me to maintain order takes effort.

The weather in Aurora
The snow is still here from last week, but the temps have been much warmer. It's been nice to walk around without teeth chattering. The weather changes all day here, I'm not used to that. Wake to clear blue skies, then by 10 it's solid cloud cover, by 4 it could be up to 50.

Breakfast
Well! We went to Panera Bread for a late lunch of broccoli soup Sat. and got bagels, so bagels it is! Not the breakfast of champions but I'm allergic to lots of foods, and can eat these. We also love strong French coffee, now mixed half caf/half de-caf, with cream. I look forward to the first cup each day.

To do

Hahahaha, go ahead make your plans!

 And the list goes on... and the list is long...
Milo has another ear infection, and the vet already sent out a reminder he needs a booster so I guess I have to call them. We ALL hate going to the vet. We ALL feel pushed around by them. I miss my vet in MD.

This car is TOOOOO small!

 I want to spend lots of time in studio but have a scheduled PT appt which always causes me a lot of pain after. And instability of joints, so I must be really quiet for a few days.

 Anyway, I really need to focus on the Art Quilt group's book so I'll try to read it. You know how you want to read the selection and to fit in, but sometimes don't like it as well as the others do? That's how I feel about this book.

to do... go through my messy purse and clear it out!

to do, make stuff, see the craft category

To do... many many things need doing but might not get done because I am coping with a contrary body. So I'm frustrated.
I started putting away the Christmas things, but will keep out the new battery lights and garland on the mantle for now.

battery lights that come on automatically

The tree will stay up for now, because it brings me joy. Maybe I need something tall and green in that corner... a palm tree, or ficus, or maybe something fake so it doesn't dry out here.

I had a really long to do list yesterday because DH was home to help me lift things.

Reading
I'm reading a mystery by an Annapolis writer, and love the references to places I used to go. Marcia Talley, A quiet death.
DH got me two magazine subscriptions for Christmas, so I'd like to look at the current ones.

Watching
Exciting! I am enjoying, the new series with Marie Kondo on sorting and tidying ones possessions.
You know how possessions take control of you if you aren't strong? She is gentle, not about getting rid of things but about only keeping what makes you happy.
It made me write a post for later in the week. I learned so much by having to sort before moving...
Anyway, she's on Netflix and I love the families she works with, and the approach.
By the way I couldn't read her book... it made me cross, but on tv she is wonderful.

Sadly we finished up some of our fave series this week on ACORN. I went on a hunt for new series to watch so it will be okay.
We watched several episodes of the Australian series "the Moodys" which is hilarious! It is wild and funny about a wackadoodle family's Christmas each year. What a romp! I can't wait to see what outlandish things happen next.
I am also enjoying the shows, Time Team (digging around England) and Lords and Ladles (Irish chefs recreating manor house meals from 1800)

I cannot believe Hallmark is still showing Christmas movies... they need to call it Christmas year round! Enough!
I'm watching my purchased class online thru Craftsy just in case it goes away. Oh sure, the new owners, NBC (blueprint) SAY my purchase will be there as promised but greed takes over these days, and promises are thrown out, and businesses shrug their collective shoulders and say, "sorry not sorry"
My class is on painting on fabric. I'm a long time watercolor painter, but this technique uses medium instead of water so I want to try it. I bought the medium this weekend...

New stencil... blowing dandelions and thinking of wishes!

Making
I decided to pack away the Christmas bargello til next year. Kind of like starter bread, it will sit and wait for me to work on it next season. (Hallmark are you listening?) I am tired of it, and want it off the design wall so I can make the abstract snow/cattails piece in my mind.
I also want to use the stencil I just got at Michaels  to make a portable block keeper.

I want to do the rainbow scrap challenge again this year. A color is announced each month, and we make our own creations using those colored scraps. This month is red, so I began thinking of a design for this year's Valentine quilt. I make one each year since we've been married, 24 so far.

So exciting to have lots of projects to make!

Lessons
remember... injuries pile up. Bodies can heal but they always remember the injury. Most of us have something to cope with, that others can't see. Things that wear us down that are not apparent from the outside. We need to be understanding to people, as it's not obvious what they are dealing with.

We may be far away from friends, in fact most of my friends are in other states, but they are close in our hearts and a phone call away. Still there, still loving us, still our friends.
As it turned out, I got to talk to several of them last week, and it was pure joy.

I also mentioned wanting to chat to some of you I have only known through this medium... and one person contacted me and it was so much fun, meeting on phones and finding another person I really like! A friend! Like online dating! It is exciting to know I have a new friend out there, one who gets me without effort!

Inspiration this week

https://www.the-open-mind.com/

linking to
https://comedy-plus.wordless wednesday
https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays
happy homemaker monday

sunday stories

 sunday's stories continue.... the prompt is from Sunday's Whirligig again:

decorate, plain, ring, long, silence, glass, little, tea, house, chimes, heat, warm

Decorating a house

"Okay, I'm here finally. Had to put the roast in the oven for dinner!"
"Great Mama, let's get started!" said Meliss, " the house really is so plain! Don't you think we need to decorate it somehow? We don't have a lot of money but I'll have this house a long time and want it to look happy!"
"Of course darling girl!" said Mama, "let's start with the little hall here"
They looked around, and down at the floor, to the ceiling.
Silence.
"Or we could start with the bedroom! Lots of possibilities there!" said Meliss

After looking at the small bedroom, with it's plain white walls and brown rug, dirty glass in the small windows, they both fell silent again.
"maybe a soft blue for the walls?" asked Mama
"I guess... but I thought maybe pink?" said the daughter  "And the bathroom has some pink in it already, the tub and the sink"

Mama thought, she's always liked pink. Not mama's fave color. She took a sip of her tea while she waited to answer. Then she heard the little chimes on the antique clock. It was 4 already. The tea felt warm in the teacup, and she needed the heat as it was getting colder in the house as the sun went down.

"Mama? Are you paying attention?" Meliss asked. "I said, how about a little rug with pink flowers next to the bed, and some flowered curtains too?"
"that would be perfect!" Mama said.
Then she heard the timer ringing down in the kitchen.
"Honey I need to take out the roast, we've been playing for a long time!"as she stood and walked out of the room.

Meliss just looked at her little house, with all the rooms open on this side, waiting for her dolls to move in. She was so excited that she had a house of her own to decorate! Just like I'm the Mama she thought! She slowly stood up, and reached for her doll, smoothing out it's hair before trying to follow Mama. She loved the times she and Mama spent together, and loved the house Mama got her,  and hoped one day she'd have a big house of her own, and a  little girl too.

I Like Thursday # 122

My new calendar says it all!
Welcome to this week's list of likes!

I liked these mint tins at the Art Museum in Denver

I am enjoying my red carnations on the table. Red is a good color for me, so I'm keeping it around a bit longer

I like the perfume DH got me for Christmas... a tiny little pink bottle of Nanette Lapore... one of my very favorites! Her graphics are adorable too. And the Lancome box holds four miracle creams guaranteed to make me beautiful and youthful.
The box is so cute!

We found the snowbaby on the right at the Dillard after Christmas sale... the little tree has a glitter star and turns around! We got it as we bought a tree this year!
 The one on the left was last years, to represent moving. ( I cannot find my others, sad face).
The turquoise snowflake is all beads on wire, from the CUBA exhibit!
I also got a book from that exhibit, with a style I love, now I want to do a quilt like that.

I loved the Rose Parade

I watched with my buddy

I could eat the floats

I marched with our band in so many parades. I learned so much more than just how to march while playing a song...

I'm so happy these people kept up their lights. The world is getting dim... but these people are doing their part to keep it pretty.

I liked the after Christmas sales

Hot chocolate from Williams Sonoma, marshmallows from REI, fabric not shown, 6 yards for $28 various prints. The beaded flowers for the tree from Dillards

 NYE  was bitterly cold and snowed all the livelong day. And accumulated. No going anywhere!
We all bundled up for walks, and I like that my  pup accepted his snow boots with grace.

I have dainty feet, no?

He had a bath, because he was competing in the Pepe LePeu contest (just kidding) so his hair fluffed out into a thick poodle coat after, plus we put his real coat on.

Even as we were bundled up in down coats, our neighbor shoveled his walk while wearing his winter shorts and sandals. Oy vey! It was 12F.

I liked tire tracks that made the snow look like trapunto quilting!
I liked our New Year's Day dinner...

... of Turkey ham with pineapple, ginger,onion, lemon and orange juice and marsala wine, with black eyed peas and collard greens with pepper vinegar. Plus Ambrosia fruit salad, and some homemade cranberry sauce. Traditional fare for a Southerner.

MILO's MOMENTS

I had a great holiday! Here I am resting up from all the fun, on Mama's blankie. She and I even had a nap one day on the big bed, in the middle of the daylight! I was finally able to stretch out since Daddy was downstairs.

Why, I do have goals for this year, thank you for asking.

I'd like Mama to accept the fact that I'm a fun loving guy, that I chew a sock now and then, that I nip at their hands, dance around, eat snow and fro up. I'd like her to lay in a supply of leashes so I can chew them on walks as often as I want. I'd like to go to bed earlier, and eat more treats. Play with friends every day. I'd like to finally chew up all the toys in the playbox. I need to learn to resist squirrels and...
 I want to make Mama happy by learning not to pull on walks, but... you all know how hard resolutions are to keep.

This week I liked playing lots with friends, having new toys, having Daddy home, going for rideinnacar more often, and I hardly minded getting all dolled up for walks. It was cold even for me.

yes I had my snout in the snow! But no urping up this time!

now please visit mama's peeps to see what they liked this week!
 .http://homesewnbyus
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com/ 
http://sonotorganized.com/   
 
  https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/
 maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com
.http://littlepenguinquilts
 
https://grammasquiltingroom.blogspot.com/
craftscaviescontras
https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/



http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/ 
http://sandysnowden.blogspot.com/
Minou's Minute  

https://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/ 

Linking to these parties!

Pink Saturday!
saturdays-critters-
http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/
nature Friday with pets
Thankful Thursdays pet parade
http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/
http://chedcurtain.blogspot Cheesy Pictures!
http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

31 days of posts Print making at the art museum

We went to the Denver art museum yesterday afternoon. What a hassle to get there. It's okay but nothing compared to the National Gallery of Art... it's hard not to compare them since we spent the last 24 years going to the National.... I know this is our new normal.

thick fibers woven

That said, it was fun to see a new museum. While DH waited in the long line (at 2:30 PM for Pete's sake! I thought we'd be the only people still buying entrances) I looked around the shop. It's a good shop for artistic gifts.

They had Chilhuly glass chandeliers just hanging in there. Not show cased or spotlit...and these are scarves for sale.I wanted this cool flexible bracelet but the catch kept popping open...

I bought nothing... whew! 

The day before I went to the local quilt shop sale, and purchased 6 yards of various prints averaging $4 a yard. As if I needed any more fabric... only how can a quilter/collector resist that price??? 

a sketch of faces before doing the etching  No I'm not touching it! It's about 3" X 4"

We took our time going through the Rembrandt exhibit, most of which was from the collection of France (originally Louis the 16th before the revolution) I learned so much about printmaking, and about the artistic journey of one man in 1600's Holland.

tiny and detailed, lines etched through wax, then acid poured in to etch the metal

There are people who say an artist should only work in one medium, and style. Bosh! I have always careened from one form to another and each informs the others. I went through a doll making phase and learned to paint faces. Then a watercolor phase that led to fabric painting... beading (still firmly in that) that led to embellishments, knitting, weaving, macrame and pottery, silk painting, photography, languages, cross stitch and embroidery (still enjoy that) and well you get the idea. 

Rembrandt did prints. He also did pen and ink drawings, oil paintings, and three forms of printmaking all at the same time with the same composition. He might even make a tiny 2" x 3" copper plate, cover with wax, use a tiny stylus to etch itty bitty lines to create the small detailed portrait, pull a print, then correct the plate, pull #2, correct, pull #3 etc til he was satisfied with the piece. 

the start to a 17th century joke??

He must have worked non stop throughout his life as he left an enormous body of work. It was fascinating to see the same composition done by sketch, oil paint, etching, printing, etc. hanging side by side. And so very tiny and detailed. I began to wonder if his eyes were those of eagles not older humans like mine. 

Did he have a wife and life? He must have been obsessed with art. He was apparently really good at self marketing as well, and business of art. I feel good at making art but not so good at marketing my work. 

They gave us sheets of magnifiers to better see the tiny lines he etched. I'd look at a piece, see a vague landscape, then see tiny dogs and deer, hairs, when I looked through the magnifiers. 

I liked this Native American woman's art

We visited the hands on area after, to try our hand at print making.

note to self: Next time reverse the word's letters

Luckily there were children there to explain the process to me. I did a very simple hand with spiral, and a word. Forgot to reverse the word so that when I spread a thin amount of paint over the styrofoam stamp I got an abstract print of a word.

Drew's print, upside down because I think it's cool this way

 Drew's etching was lovely, tiny thin repeating lines to make a pine tree and fence. I might frame that.

the way he meant it to be

It certainly made me want to try my hand with stamp making now. We are always learning. How you apply the ink/paint makes a major difference in the image. Rembrandt inked his plate so that ink filled the tiny grooves and wiped off the surface ink. Our prints are the opposite, ink on flat side not in etched grooves.

I once made a baking tray of gelatin,  to make  monoprints on fabric and loved what came out... I hope I locate those this year.

After the print making we walked through the other floors for an overview of permanent exhibits. 

Interesting mix. I liked the interactive nature of some areas... encouraging us to try our hands. A mother and son were at an easel, drawing the horses here.

There is a Dior exhibit up til March, so we decided to return to see that with fresh eyes. It interested me to see a few peacocks among those of us dressed comfortably for 20F weather... those tall women with bored faces, clacking along in heels on hard floors, draped in scarves and designer clothing, hair and make-up done. They would sweep past me as if I were a squirrel in the park. Not looking at me, not noticing they shoved past a human, bored look in their eyes. 

As a sociologist, it intrigued me. They had more important things to do than notice mere older women in stretch chords. Or so it seemed to me.

I did not feel less than, I merely observed behavior... from more than one fashionista there.

ancient pot with flamingos painted on the neck

Isn't that grand!!!

Sometime at the 5:30 mark, my eyes were full. I said, uncharacteristically (I stay til the end, ignoring physical needs) I said, "I'm tired... let's go and see more next time" so we made our way back to the parking lot and out of the city one more time. The drive was stressful to me, but we followed the breadcrumbs back to our suburb and our quiet house with the poodle waiting for us. 

 

word of the year... Explore!

revolving, evolving worlds, color and sparkle

 

how did you do with last year's word of the year?
(the above image was taken at the Denver Museum of Art)

My word was change last year...

What a year it was, and I learned that choosing a word means you learn about all sides of it, the good and the bad.

I think in the back of my mind I hope to learn the good from a word, but I often get kicked around by them.
This year I learned change isn't always good or for the better. Changes can be too numerous and overwhelming. Many changes are not for the better, they just are life.  I learned I like changes when I choose to experience them but when they are forced on me like a bad cocktail guest, not good.

I learned it takes strength to face change, acceptance to cope with it, and mental effort to process it.

there is a lot out there to explore

This year I considered a phrase of the year, being very specific as the universe needs to know just what I want, lol. What about  "experience good things". Just for balance you understand... I've done the other side of that, now I'd like to know what it's like to fall butter side up.

Somehow our luck needs to change for the better this year.
We do everything we know to do, to prepare, to foresee issues, to handle life, but somehow we are always picking up life's pieces, with some having rolled under a sofa. 

The main word, the focus for this year,

will be "EXPLORE"

explore ideas for art, make more, see more in museums and work done by other artists. I'd like to explore new groups here, since there are groups of painters, beaders, doll makers, writers, ancestry, etc. I'll visit the groups and see if the atmosphere feels good or restrictive.

Explore publishing. I'd like to work on my novel this year. It has a mystery element, and I realized I must come up with the mystery and solve it!
Explore music again. I grew up playing piano, and have a keyboard I've not opened. I have a ukelele I want to  play again too, so maybe find a teacher this time.

Explore making art with my supplies, use them freely without concern for waste. Each time I make something I learn about the principles of design. It releases my spirit. I forget time and pain.

Explore the area... see the West... visit towns, go and do.

Explore will define itself as the year progresses. Explore will teach me, and give unexpected experiences.

At the end of 2018, I joined a small new art quilt group with people I like, who want to grow in their art. I have learned to be alone this year, but also know I thrive by being with people who are smart and funny, engaged in life, accepting of others, and that like who I am.I've learned to walk away from people who are the opposite. Age has it's merits.

My list of goals for this year... along with breathe deeply and keep going...

Take Ukelele lessons

Set up the keyboard and play piano again

Paint weekly/ draw/write on the novel

Pursue publishing

Read or look through quilting books

Organize the studio totally

     Go through patterns

     List books

     Sort fabric drawers

      UFO’s sort and decide

Journal quilts

Drink more water, eat better, try to sleep well

Dance again

See the area…get in the car and go to new towns.

Open each box in basement

Contact friends, set up dates, meet for game nights

Meet like minded people who are accepting and smart, funny and creative, and kind

Join some groups like beaders, writers, ancestry, doll makers, painters

Use my supplies with abandon even on work that won’t be shown or competitive

Learn to use my digital 'slr' camera and edit photo software

Write more studio interviews and post on blog which means visit studios

Explore

Uh Oh, me too, short arms...Oh they meant meteors... never mind!