I like Thursdays #149

Welcome to this week's list of likes. Sorry to be tardy! How about starting with a chenille flamingo tote from a quilt shop?
I liked painting, drawing, and sewing this week. I'll do a sewing post on Saturday, and a paint party post on Friday.

Here's a bouquet for you... from blobs of color and a fineline marker came this painting

I liked this little dog at the quilt expo... she anticipated blood sugar changes for her owner

small at 2 lbs but very talented and well dressed

Of course I'm partial to a certain 60 lb dog here. Milo is having a sip of water, al fresco, and we found out why his bowl is always tipped. He doesn't like his nose in it so he crooks his nose over the edge of the bowl to drink, giving him a funny look. He is so full of personality quirks!

 I liked the little mug rugs from tiny scraps of R W&B fabrics. Now who to give them to???

I liked going to the bike parade in the neighborhood, and that Milo got to play with his 1 yo weim friend along the way

Milo says, even the queen likes to pet my hair!

"MY teeth are bigger"

whew it's so hot!

let's cool off in the grass for a minute!

loved this little boy's shirt... hope he improves the environment and cherishes living creatures

I hope these girls never stop rubbing my tummy

Now that's traveling in style. Milo likes just about every dog, including the ones the size of his nose

I liked the sack races

trying out a new deck

We ran into neighbors on our walk home, and ended up talking for over an hour, and visiting their porch. Their neighbors invited us to a party later that day, and we went! It was full of people, chat, and food, as well as seeing the fireworks from the city from their yard. It's good to know your neighbors.

We headed home, and waited out the rain and three hail storms before going to the last party of the evening at another neighbor's house. Not as friendly as the first group, we fulfilled an obligation to go and left after an hour. It was good to be home anyway to support Milo through the fireworks noise.

The next day DH took the day off to go to the Cherry Creek Art Festival together. More on that later since I interviewed three artists and want that to be it's own post. The above pic of cows was from an artist who only paints cows! My kinda art! He was fun to chat with. Stay tuned.

Please visit these fine folks keeping their own list of likes

maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com 

https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/   
http://littlepenguinquilts 

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 

craftscaviescontras    
http://homesewnbyus  

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

  https://www.su-sieeemac.com/2019/07/todays-random-xiii.html
http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com     
https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/ 
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/ 
  https://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/
https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com

Linking to

https://comedy-plus.com/ Awe Mondays
Pink Saturday!
http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/

rosie and the boys nature pics  

Thursday Thirteen

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

The week ahead

Welcome to this week's Happy Homemaker post, looking at the week ahead.

The weather in Aurora CO
hot and raining. It has rained every day here for months, in dry Colorado. The bugs are everywhere, the humidity is high enough to make sweat roll down my back under my shirt, and there is the ever present thread of damaging hail

we had three sessions of hail on July 4th, luckily none here larger than marbles but north of us got big ice. Ours piled up but melted when it turned back to just rain

there is always a silver lining and a rainbow...

We don't really need to water the grass...

As I look around the house
I  woke scratching bug bites in the night, so I slept in til 7 this morning. As I look around I see a lot of dust to clear up, some kitchen towels to wash, my paints and paper to do a morning painting,  but my coffee cup is more alluring. I imagine I'll have a piece of bread and melted cheese for breakfast, and wear shorts and a cute summer shirt as it's hot and muggy.

Gardening

lobelia, creeping jenny, and celosia

 My interpretation:

To Do
Always lots to do. The daily chores, which I don't mind as I love to be home.
My house is a crafter's candy store of supplies so they are always singing their siren song, "come play with us"
decide if Milo absolutely must go in to the vet for his ears. They seem to flare up with each new pollen or season. Of course we both must take antihistamines here.
really look at the house with fresh vision, and clear out a bit of accumulated debris from the busy weekend we had. Two craft shows, a trip to Denver, and Colorado Springs, two parties on the 4th, washing off the covered back porch from bird poop as they use it as a freeway, stopping frequently to use the rest areas. We totally powerwashed the porch on Saturday but it's got more on it today.
We have to figure out how to stop them without ruining our view.
I would like to sew a lot this week, as I went to two quilt shops over the weekend and have some new toys.
Despite the rain, I still have to water the vegetables daily in their containers. I have some beans growing but no visible tomatoes or peppers, no zucchini or eggplant yet. wah.
back to the dentist on Wed. and try to get him to understand the pain I've had since he worked on me



watching
frustrated that I know who the bachelorette chose, and she's already broken up with him and the show is still dragging on. She is a hot mess, and needed therapy IMHO, which I would have happily watched instead of her bungling the chance to have a nice guy. We finished the first season of Agatha Raisin, and there's one more shorter season to watch. We've been watching Time Team, and the history of Stonehenge from BBC. I like Songland, boy are there a lot of really fine songwriters out there!
I'm watching Youtube tutorials on drawing and painting, and we caught up on podcasts while driving this weekend, of "the futility closet" which has interesting stories and mysteries solved by the husband and wife team.
The Good Witch is taking a vacation! (said by Hallmark announcer with a sing-song voice) so not that. Still like watching Master Chef.
Have you noticed shows are saying they are "new" but are re-runs with some stupid tweets at the bottom?

Reading
my nightime novel is Past due for murder, third in the librarian series. The author has a MA in library science, a second MA in liberal studies, a BA in theater and writes engrossing mysteries.
I'm trying to catch up on my magazines, and maybe look through a few quilting books this week.
All the airborne debris here has made my eyes itch and be blurry so less reading going on.

"Growing things"

Art
Painting daily, on paper and fabric. I feel the need to encourage non drawing people to try some of the techniques out there to allow you to create. Being creative is healing. Hearing loud noises and coping with other stressors is injuring us, so we all need to heal ourselves to the point we are able, to meditate or do deep breathing, to do some craft or building, to slow down and allow others to go first and facilitate kindness.

showing great restraint in the number of sparkly stars added!

I finished my table runner with gold sequin stars, and started this month's pink blocks for the online scrap challenge. I made three "mug rugs" to send friends. I want to finish the orange lady quilting this week, and try out some new fabric paints I got this weekend. It was so refreshing to go to the quilt stores and see the lovely supplies.
I was very excited by the high quality art at the Cherry Creek event. I got lots of ideas to try in my medium, and interviewed three artists for posts here later.

Conversation at a party
A neighbor asked what we thought of the area... we talked about many observations we've made as newcomers, one is the lack of kindness on the road here.
She responded in the knee-jerk reaction most people have, with no basis in fact, that the bad drivers are from CA.
Then she went on to complain about people driving 45 on a road with the limit of 55, and how she tails them and honks but they won't go faster! She was raised here. I just got more and more frustrated that she missed my point, that people drive unsafe speeds here, on bad roads with no dividers. That DH has had two accidents because of people running into him, that I've been flipped the bird many times for being in their way, that I'm just about the only person letting people merge into my lane on the highway. I find, around Aurora and some parts of Denver, that people are aggressive and blame others. She's just the latest to complain to me that someone is in her way!
No self awareness.
No allowance for others, no kindness, no grace given. And I've lived and driven in the DC area, and in Florida where there are lots of transplants and tourists.
She liked to blame an outsider when she was the problem. Kind of a trend. Made me think of how I can show more kindness and grace to others, even her, just to balance things.
If someone moves into your area listen to their take on things, as they bring awareness.
oy.

I know the post is about the happy homemaker, but this is part of my life, so I share it here.

Inspiration :
The Dalai Lama says: “All problems must be solved through dialogue, through talk. The use of violence is outdated and never solves problems.”

Inspirational quote seen at the art festival:

Eat More Ice Pops

linking to
happy homemaker monday
design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

paint party Friday

I've been painting or drawing each morning and experience is a good teacher. So are all the youtube videos I've seen, thank you to everyone who's posted one to teach me a technique!
Sometimes I get an idea to try...

This week, in sorting the studio, I ran across some more stamps my friend Ellen sent and tried them on paper and fabric. On paper I used tombow brush markers to ink the stamps and on fabric I used fabrico brush pens to ink them.

I tried this technique of stamp then paint, on watercolor paper (cold press 140 lb) first then sketch paper and compared the two.

Color is suspended for longer on the watercolor  paper, blends more, sometimes too much, including tombow markers. They do tend to make a sharp line not always blendable so I brushed them across the stamp then pressed on paper, hoping to soften them with water.

Three stamps for this composition. Then used watercolor paint to go over each one. It became pretty messy, so I went over it with the staedtler gray to define some lines, make cute window panes, outline the stars, define the sun.

At the end I added in the printed words for my husband

So for my non painting friends, using stamps, markers, and a waterbrush can make doing a piece of art easy.
Then I tried the whole experiment on sketchbook paper to see how the tombow markers behaved.
The two images have a different effect.

sharper lines to begin with... need very little water to soften the lines, so it's a delicate process, they bleed thru the thinner flatter paper

kind of interesting to see the barely there image from the back

This is the stage where I dragged the tomobow inks a bit with the brush. The ground was gray tombow directly applied and it would not soften in the least even though I immediately wet the area. I also just pulled color in from lines to give me a softer color blend on the bowl.

Finished sketchbook page

with staedtler outlining to create stone under her feet softening that harsh gray. I liked the quote (can't remember now who's it was on pinterest) did not like the hard triangle the sun stamp made on paper, but liked the quality of softening the house's lines.

The method of brushing ink onto the stamp back and pressing on paper, then painting is fun. I tried it on cloth  with permanent textile markers and the effect was quite different. Harder edges, less blending. I plan to try that again with tsunieko inks and a blending stick. I'll show you that later.

For now, get out there and experiment and show me what you make!

Meanwhile,
I enjoyed this video comparing watercolor paint brands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0k4LVZkRzk&t=1145s

This site caught my eye, with ways to use art to de-stress
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/20-art-therapy-activities-you-can-try-home-destress.html
I thought this was a clever list, found on pinterest

Linking to :

https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/
 

I Like Thursday #148

Welcome to this week's list of likes!  I love the flamingo towels I found at Joann's 75% off! Lookie at the fringe ball trim!
I like my fushias on the back porch

 and the butterflies visiting my hanging baskets

It's been so hot, this bunny hopped into the shadows to rest on the driveway, while a certain poodle watched.

"Oh, nothing, just lying around in the shade!"

I liked finishing my patriotic table runner (pattern source stitchin' therapy)

and decided to add on some little gold sequin stars!

I liked that this little fledgling who couldn't fly, found a way to hop to the shade, and Mama finally responded to his loud chirps with a fat worm she pushed into his little mouth. I'm so glad he wasn't forsaken!

I like the new PUR water system we got... the filter works even better than the britta, it pours better with no drips, and tastes a bit better. We kept the Britta for coffee and tea water, and keep the PUR in the fridge because cold water just tastes better in this heat.

I love the scent of this tree... like gardenias. I smell it in the heat while we're out walking, so I want to plant one so the wind will blow across it toward us on the back porch.

anyone know what it is?

I liked these flowers seen at the garden center

 

... "Mexican Hats" but forgot to buy them!
I like that little beans are growing in the veg garden. Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant still just flowers. I am not interested in artificially inseminating them so we'll see if there are enough pollinators to do the job. Since it rains daily here, there are certainly enough bugs around.
Would someone please train the mosquitoes to do the job, since all they do is pester us?

I like painting daily and doing the paint party Friday posts

I like the latest novel, third in Vicky Gilbert's series, Past Due for Murder

I am enjoying videos on painting, beading, and the stonehenge series from BBC (all mentioned in Monday's post) I'll try to find the one I saw comparing 10 paint brands and put it in the post tomorrow.

I like that our neighborhood has a mystery murder night planned for Sept. and that we're invited to a party tonight by one of the coffee people! It's so important to create a support network of friends near one's home.

One of the guys and I found out yesterday that we were both in marching band, and in theater. Fun!

I liked painting from stamps. I'll describe the process tomorrow but it's really an easy way to create art for non sketchers. I liked writing a new story for Sunday's Stories, I haven't done that in a bit.

I like putting a fresh white tablecloth on the kitchen table to make it seem cleaner!

Milo's moments

poodle in profile (see his ring toys?)

I like my toys. I especially like my ring toys now that I've skint the yellow skin off. I keep the three of them together. Sometimes one of them rolls off the porch into the yard, so it has to be brought back. I keep close watch over them, take them for walks, and last night insisted on bringing one to bed with me. I guess they are my pets, or children.


(LeeAnna here... I guess that makes them my grand-toys)

got my paw on one of them and my eyes on the othe

 This week Mama put one on the porch table, and I had to stand guard watching it til she gave it back. I could have been blown off that table in our big winds!!! My little baby! They are my babies and must be watched at all times except when I nap in my chair or eat. 

please visit these people keeping an I Like list too! There's always something during the week to like!
remember to let me know in comments or emails if you did an I Like post too this week!

maryinpeoriahandmade.blogspot.com 

https://julierosequilts.blogspot.com/   
http://littlepenguinquilts 

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/ 

craftscaviescontras   

http://homesewnbyus  

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/ 
http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com     
https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/ 
https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/ 
quiltingreadersgarden friday applique  
  https://quiltingreadersgarden.blogspot.com/

Linking to
Pink Saturday!
viewingnaturewitheileen.blogspot.com/
http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/

tgiffriday

 http://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/

rosie and the boys nature pics  

Thursday Thirteen

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com
http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

the week ahead

little wooden adironack chairs from Michaels on the mantel

Another week... another Monday... and this week's happy homemaker monday post

even the trees are stressed from the heat

The weather in Aurora CO
HOT. It went from cold to hot, hot hot. Nearing 100, blistering in the sun, daily rainstorms in late afternoons, much more humid than usual and lots of bugs. Everyone likes to say any negative weather isn't "normal" but we've noticed it's daily.
Some of my flowers wilted despite being watered daily.

Wearing
I admit, even with my flappy upper arms, I've been wearing cute sleeveless shirts. If it's too much for you, don't come over but it's hard to even cool the house when it's so hot outside. Oh and shorts too, lol, I haven't sunk to wearing a swimsuit in public yet.

eating
 easy to cut up foods and soups, with my temporary crowns in place. Nothing special although DH found some flan pudding cups, and it reminds me of childhood (growing up around cuban food)

explanation
I had a panic attack one night and fainted,  damaging three front teeth. Hence the dentist visit last week. Don't ask, it was awful, painful at each step,  and the temporary crowns are misshapen. Since then I've heard so many people who had a fall for whatever reason, one friend tripped over her dog, and also needed root canal and crowns on front teeth. Sports accidents, car accidents, falls of some kind. Who knew?

To Do
the usual suspects in chores.
We MUST put up some black-out curtains in the master BR as I wake at 6 each morning... y'all I'm a night person... I'm bumbling thru life so tired now.
We bought a hedge trimmer and started trimming the bushes... then realized we don't know which ones bloomed already and if those little berry things mean those will be blooming, we need help!
paint little gold stars on the patriotic table runner
call the vet because Milo has another ear issue
call the dentist to discuss the ill fitting temporary, but I may not be able to overcome the fear.
make plans for the weekend of the 4th, and I know there are two big craft shows to attend.
Purchase ear plugs for Milo so he won't freak out with fireworks (that are illegal here but people do them anyway, grrrrrrrrr) except you can't do ear plugs for dogs so figure out how to sooth him.
wash the fabric I got at the quilt expo spree last week.
Use my fabric stash freely instead of acting like it's made of spun gold
chat with some friends by phone to catch up. Can't neglect the relationships I value just because of distance.
Find out if our coffee group has finally found an alternate place to meet. The restaurant has been increasingly nasty to us for no reason and even the sweet tempered among us are now over it. I was over it long ago but like seeing the people.

art
I enjoyed this video on how to make beautiful letters with serifs, some filled in. She details how to change your letters to suit the project or your own desires

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWc6LC5XTY

I finished this table runner, and kind of love it! I want to put tiny random gold stars on with ink today.

Look at the binding... America the Beautiful

Still painting daily, and drawing. This may not be a phase, I've painted before, sketched before, but this time I am really into it. I will continue to knit, bead, sew and embroider though. Always making something with my hands.

fact: when I found out I was adopted, one thing I was told is my birth mother did a lot of needlework. I wish someone had gotten a piece from her to give me... and I've always from a little girl done crafts.

watching
Amazing Race finished last week, so what am I watching... that I can admit to? I watch TV... I enjoy PBS, Bravo, Master Chef (real people competing for a chance to publish a cook book) but there's not much to choose from on regular channels in the summer. We refer to Prime, ACORN, and netflix.

On the computer, I've been watching...

(https://www.youtube.com/)

the world of stonehenge... all about mesolithic time period, before and after... just listening to this man's accent is soothing to me but I'm fascinated with archeology and how people lived before me.
reading
I'm reading the third book of the librarian series of Victoria Gilbert, and it's as well written as her other two. Keep writing Victoria!
Past due for murder

Writing
As I go through the days, I find I think about how I'd paint an object, or sew an art quilt to represent a color or feeling, and sometimes I write a story in my mind as I walk along. I used a prompt of 12 words to write a story I really liked yesterday and would appreciate any readers and comments on it.
the link is:a bonding experience

Inspiration

this fledgling was sent from the nest. It couldn't fly really, and didn't know what to do. I feel like that a lot. We noticed him as we sat on the front porch having our breakfast. My heart felt sad to see it crying out and alone, with a poodle so close. (we held him back) It hopped and tried to stay hidden in grass or shade but other big birds were flying too close.

it's a big world out there. See the mama in the street watching her baby out in the big world?

Just as I wondered how to care for it, the mama came up with a fat worm, and popped it in the baby's mouth. Oh good, not forsaken or thrown to the "poodles" it was being cared for.
I think too many people think they are the only creatures capable of love and concern, they are the only ones with worries and threats, they can do what they want to the environment with no care to the thousands of other living organisms being affected by our choices. I was inspired Sunday morning to see some of God's small creatures, often overlooked by people, care-taking and sharing our need to protect others.
I hope this baby makes it. I hope some people wake up to realize we are merely part of the world, not the only part. With strength comes responsibility.
Know what I mean?
Sometimes I feel as alone as this little bird, but am grateful for my wee family of three, all of which cares for each other.

Linking to
Esther's blog Wednesdays 

Midweek makers wednesdays